Monthly Archives: January 2014

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Epiphany 3 – “Out of Darkness” (Matthew 4:12-25)

A-19 Epiphany 3 (Mt 4.12-23)Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, amen. The text for the sermon is the Gospel, which was read earlier.

I remember when I was on vicarage, we took the youth group camping for a week. One of the things we did was visit a cave in northern Kentucky, one that was dated “millions” of years old. It had beautiful stalactites and stalagmites, water running down the walls reflecting off of the artificial lights installed in the cave. We got to an area of the cave with benches and they had us sit. The tour guides warned us that they were going to turn out the lights and it was going to get dark, really dark. Once they turned out the lights, there was nothing but darkness, not a single bit of light shone in the caves. It was disconcerting to say the least. The reason you were seated was because your balance would be thrown off, and it was. To be thrown into utter darkness was not a comforting feeling.

As we look at our Gospel reading, we see a prophecy from Isaiah, from our Old Testament reading, fulfilled: “the people dwelling in darkness have seen a great light, and for those dwelling in the region and shadow of death, on them a light has dawned.” Light appears to cast away the darkness. That is the joy of the season of Epiphany, the light appearing. The promised light of Jesus Christ rescues us from the darkness of death for the endless light of eternal life.

As Matthew records this account for us, Jesus retreats and lives in Capernaum, in the territory of Zebulun and Naphtali. For those living in the Old Testament era, this was not the place to be living. This was the equivalent to the run-down and rough part of town, the place where no one likes to go, let alone live. This was due to the foreign kings living and reigning in that area. As Isaiah says, it was called the “Galilee of the nations.” Just so we’re clear, that’s not a compliment, but a derogatory statement. But as Isaiah points out, they did not remain in the darkness because they have seen a great light. We’re not talking about a bright light in the sky, but rather the Light of the world, Jesus Christ. They were given the promise of a Child to come who would restore God’s creation to Himself. If there were any doubts as to who the Light was going to be, we are given these words just after our texts, words that are familiar to us during the season of Christmas: “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given….”

As we return to Matthew’s Gospel, we find Jesus withdrawing to this area following the hearing of John’s arrest. He returns to Galilee in fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy, becoming the light seen by those sitting in darkness. Darkness symbolizes wickedness, ignorance, and unbelief. Most of the people did not know the way of salvation. But then Jesus, the Light of the world, came to Galilee. He proclaimed the saving truth throughout that land. He attracted huge crowds of people who followed Him from place to place to hear Him preach and see Him perform miracles.

Jesus comes to shine His light into our world of darkness, our world of sin and death. He comes preaching the same message that John the Baptist was preaching, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” This repentance that Jesus preached implied a radical change of heart and mind, followed by a corresponding change in behavior. As we saw with the Pharisees and Sadducees when John was baptizing, there was no change in heart or mind, nor was their a change in behavior. That kind of change wasn’t necessary because of their own righteousness which they had earned. But for everyone else, people started to take Jesus’ word seriously, and so they should. Jesus’ call to repentance was an invitation as well as a command.  The people could not respond positively to that invitation unless the Holy Spirit prompted such a response through the power of the Gospel. To repent and believe the Gospel is not a decision anyone can make on his own. Unfortunately, the initial enthusiasm of Jesus’ words did not last long and the people would ultimately turn against Him, leading Him to the cross.

Following His encouragement to repent, Jesus encounters two fishermen doing what they do best, fishing. He extends an invitation to them, as strange as it sounds: “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” Now let’s look at what Jesus is saying and not saying. He isn’t talking about going fishing for mermen or mermaids. He invites Simon Peter and Andrew into His inner circle of twelve to bring others into His kingdom. He invites us to become a part of Him, to be connected to Himself. After finding Simon Peter and Andrew, Jesus stumbles upon James and John and extends the same invitation to them as well.

The interesting part of Jesus choosing these four men to be His disciples is that He was the one who sought them out, not the other way around. Being the Son of God, we might imagine that Jesus would choose those who were of like-mind or well-trained to be His disciples. Instead of choosing the seminary graduate, Jesus chooses the everyday common man. Jesus does not ask them to prepare themselves for their new calling. He rather promises to make them into workers for God’s kingdom. He would teach them what they needed to know. They would see His miraculous power. They would witness the crucifixion and the empty tomb. The Holy Spirit would provide them with the gifts they needed to become fishers of men. These men had, however, met the first and foremost qualification for service to the Lord: they knew him as their personal Savior—the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world.

That same invitation to follow Jesus is extended to us. He bids us to come unto Him, to become a part of Him and He a part of us. He invites us to find rest for our souls in Him. Jesus comes looking for us to give to us what we can’t get for ourselves: His forgiveness, life in His name, salvation imparted to us by His life, death and resurrection.

What made the four disciples deserving of Jesus is the same for you and I as well — nothing. There was nothing worthy of them and there is nothing worthy of you and I either. We are not worthy of our status as redeemed children of God. We are what we are solely by the grace of God.

As Matthew ends this account, he says what the ministry of Jesus is: “teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction among the people.” While the teaching and preaching of Jesus was important, it was His healing that made all the difference. I don’t mean the earthly healing but the healing that He accomplished on the cross. It was the healing from sin and death that is needed the most. Jesus said, “The Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” His command to repent holds within it the promise to deal with the punishment of our sins. He dealt with the punishment of our sins by taking them onto Himself and carrying them to the cross. At the cross He endured the punishment of our sin with His suffering and death. There our sins died with Him. In this way, He triumphed over sin, death, and the power of the devil. As Jesus calls His disciples and begins His ministry, it is done with you in mind, to come to you, to call you, to forgive and to heal you. In the name of Jesus, amen. Now the peace of God that passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds through faith in Christ Jesus, amen.

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Epiphany 2 – “Lamb of God” (John 1:29-42a)

A-18 Epiphany 2 (Jn 1.29-42)Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, amen. The text for the sermon is the Gospel, which was read earlier.

Have you ever had that “a-ha moment,” that moment where everything just seems to click and you get it? If you’re like me, those moments are few and far between. When they happen, it’s like a great epiphany, that now all of a sudden, everything is crystal-clear. For John the Baptist, he has such an “a-ha moment” today in our text.

Just preceding our text for today, John is questioned regarding baptizing people if he is not “the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet.” Of course, the ones asking the question were the Pharisees. They were, in fact, the holy ones of the day. If any person could be called holy, surely it must be a Pharisee. They didn’t seem to be opposed to baptizing, but wondered if John had the authority to do it. In reply, John again turned the spotlight away from himself and onto Christ. He says, “I baptize with water, but among you stands one you do not know, even he who comes after me, the strap of whose sandal I am not worthy to untie.”

John could not have been more right when he said, “one you do not know.” The Pharisees didn’t care to know who Jesus was. Why would they want to know Jesus? They did all that they could throughout Jesus’ ministry to discredit Him, to trap Him, to prove Him wrong. Yet the very promised Messiah stood before the Pharisees and they did not know Him because of their blind ignorance.

The following day, John sees Jesus coming to Him. While that isn’t too out of the ordinary, it’s what John says that sets the stage for everything that Jesus does: “Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” What a bold statement to make on John’s part! Jesus is that Lamb of God who came to give Himself as the sacrifice to win forgiveness for a sinful world. He is the Passover Lamb whose blood saves us from death. He is the Lamb of the daily offering, the burnt offering, the fellowship offering. He is the sin offering through which we receive forgiveness.

Jesus lived in the flesh without sin, “a lamb without blemish or spot,” thus fulfilling God’s Law in our stead. How does He do this? He does this through His bloody sacrifice on the cross. There, the Lamb of God, who came from God and who was God, satisfied God’s wrath against the sin of the world, against your sin. This is done to fulfill all righteousness, to fulfill God’s plan of salvation for the sinner.

What insight John had! However, the Pharisees of the day did not have that insight. Many people of the day did not have that insight, comparing Jesus to Moses, Elijah or a prophet. And still many today do not have that insight that John had, looking to Christ as nothing more than a moral example to follow, but definitely not the Son of God.

John goes on to further state whom Jesus is, by recounting what He saw at Jesus’ Baptism. He says, “And I have seen and have borne witness that this is the Son of God.” Up until now, no one has made that claim except one person: God the Father at Jesus’ Baptism. Not even Jesus Himself has made that claim. So how is John able to make such a claim? John can make such a claim because He was in the presence of the Trinity at Jesus’ Baptism. He saw the Holy Spirit descend on Jesus. He heard the voice of the Father declare that Jesus is His beloved Son.

Let us stop and think about what it means that Jesus is the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. This means that the Lamb takes the load, the curse, the damnation of the total massive amount of sin onto himself. He lifts the awful burden from us and carries it to the cross. There our sin is crucified with the Lamb. There our sin is put to death. This one act of lifting and carrying away our sin is good for all time.

When John said these words, he considered the taking away to already be a done deal. The forgiveness of sins that comes as a result of the Lamb’s sacrifice was already available to all. All the saints of the Old Testament received salvation because this Lamb’s sacrifice is good for all time and all places and all people. God’s promise is as if John had already heard Jesus declare his victory from the cross with the words, “It is finished.”

Jesus is the Savior, and the Savior is the Lamb of God. The Lamb is destined to suffer and die. Who’s going to follow a Savior like that? By faith, John’s disciples do. Trusting in the Word of the Lord proclaimed by John, they are willing to abandon all and follow Him. They don’t keep it to themselves, either: right away, Andrew is telling Peter. It doesn’t seem to make sense: They follow a Savior who will never amount to much in worldly terms, a King who will never gather an army to fight and conquer. They’ll put their trust in the Son of God who will allow Himself to be arrested, beaten, spat upon and killed. And after He is risen, what will happen to His disciples? They’ll tell others of Jesus, and they too will be arrested, beaten, spat upon and killed. Not real attractive to the world.

But that is how Jesus saves. He doesn’t save through worldly means, but with His shed blood on the cross. The only way to make peace between God and man is for Jesus to sacrifice Himself. And so He does what is required of you and I. He does what is necessary and He goes to do what only He can – He gives Himself as a sacrifice. He is the perfect Lamb who goes to slaughter.

So Jesus has forgiveness for you, which leads us to the second thing for us to address: rejoice! The Lord is present with you to give you forgiveness! No one at the Jordan recognized Jesus until John the Baptist pointed Him out. When John’s disciples heard the Word about the Lamb of God, though, they believed it. Thus, they went to Jesus, came into His presence, to hear more and be strengthened in that faith.

The same has happened to you. You cannot see your Savior in remarkable glory, but you have heard the Word; you have heard your Savior take bread and say, “This is My body, given for you.” You have heard Him take the cup and say, “This cup is the new testament in My blood, which is shed for you for the forgiveness of sins.”

All of this was done for you, with you in mind. We are able to echo the words of Andrew, “We have found the Messiah.” We have found Him doing what he John says He will: taking away the sins of the world. The Son of God is with us to give us life, both now and forever. Behold. The Lamb of God declares to you that you are forgiven for all of your sins. In Jesus’ name, amen. Now the peace of God that passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds through faith in Christ Jesus, amen.

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Baptism of Our Lord – “Baptism is Christ’s Work” (Matthew 3:13-17)

A-17 Epiphany 1 (Mt 3.13-17)Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, amen. The text for the sermon is the Gospel, which was read earlier.

St. Matthew gives us a very abbreviated history of Jesus’ early life. Matthew records that Jesus is born, the wise men come and visit Jesus, and then Jesus is taken to Egypt for protection from Herod. All of this occurs before Jesus is 5 years old. Then there is no recorded history of Jesus from that point on until we get to our text.

Our account takes place after John the Baptist was performing baptisms a plenty at the Jordan River, for those who confessed their sins and were repentant and refusing to baptize the Pharisees and Sadducees for their lack of repentance. Now we find Jesus around 30 years old. Suddenly, He bursts upon the scene with little fanfare. Jesus is a grown man and makes a trip from Galilee to the Jordan River. Our Lord comes to John in order to be baptized.

Before we go any further, we need to ask a question. Why? Why would Jesus need to be baptized if He is the Son of God who is sinless? Is there a reason why Jesus needs to be baptized?

Jesus arrives at the very place where the people have been confessing that from which He has come to save them: their sins. As they confessed their sins, John was baptizing the people in response to his message, “Repent!” But what about Jesus? What does He need to repent of? Does Jesus need to be converted from unbelief to faith? The answer is clear to John – no.

Imagine the scene that is set before you. You have John the Baptist preaching a message of repentance. You have a crowd of people coming to be baptized, while at the same time confessing their sins. You have the Pharisees and Sadducees who saw no real need for repentance and yet desired John to baptize them, their true intentions unknown. And to top everything off, here comes Jesus desiring to be baptized. What is John supposed to do? He did what he knew to do – he tried to prevent Jesus from being baptized. He said, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?”

It seemed to be a reasonable request from John. You have sinners and then you have Jesus. One obviously needs to repent, confess, and be baptized while the other clearly does not. Everyone seems to get it except one person, Jesus. Jesus insisted, “Let it be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” We are left with a question. How has righteousness been fulfilled if Jesus is already righteous?

Here is the crux of the disagreement. It is not for Christ’s righteousness but it is for your righteousness. In order for sinful man to come to righteousness and receive salvation, Jesus must be baptized. He stands in the place of and for the sake of the sinner to fulfill that which God requires of the sinner – perfect obedience to God’s Law.

Here Jesus begins His ministry. Here He stands in the place of the sinner. He takes the place of John. He takes the place of those gathered. He takes the place of the Pharisees and Sadducees. He takes your place and mine. He takes upon Himself the sin of the entire world, offering us His holiness. He becomes the greatest of sinners, not with His own sin, but with our sin.

St. Paul expands on this in today’s Epistle reading from Romans: “Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.” Our baptism joins us to Christ and His baptism. Our sin becomes His and His perfection becomes ours. His innocent suffering and death are credited to us. The eternal life and salvation that He earned becomes ours. It is this great reversal that fulfills all righteousness. It is Christ taking our sin and giving us His perfection. It is Christ taking our death and giving us life.

Jesus’ baptism identified Him with the world of sinners. Paul describes Christ’s substitution for sinners by telling us, “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” Even though Jesus never sinned, God made Him to be sin. Paul then takes us back to today’s Gospel. Through baptism, we are joined to Christ. His life is for us. His death is for us. His resurrection is for us. Jesus came to John to be baptized for us.

The opening of the heavens after Jesus’ baptism was much more than the parting of clouds so that the sun could shine through. It was more like the experience of the prophet Ezekiel, “the heavens were opened, and I saw visions of God.” Immediately following Jesus’ baptism, we now see the Trinity present. What is the purpose of the Holy Spirit descending upon Jesus? The Holy Spirit manifests Himself as a dove descending upon the Son. As the symbol of peace, it is a reminder to us that, being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. At this time, the Holy Spirit bestowed upon Jesus the special gifts He would need to carry out the responsibilities of His office as the Messiah. The prophet Isaiah had foretold what these gifts would include: “And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.”

When the voice of God from heaven speaks, He says something very simple, yet very profound: “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.”  The Son has been obedient to the Father’s will. Here the Father acknowledges that the Son is indeed living a life of perfection and fulfilling the promises given through the prophets. The Father tells us that Jesus is the cause and target of His good pleasure. He tells us that Jesus is His beloved Son. Since Jesus stands in our place, the Father’s pleasure with His Son is also His pleasure with you and me. Because the Father is pleased with His Son, Jesus, He is pleased with us. We are now the Lord’s beloved children because of the work of Christ.

The baptism of Jesus in the Jordan points us forward to all the work Jesus did for us –

His perfect life, His suffering, His death, His resurrection, His ascension, and the work He still does among us as our risen and ascended Lord. It points us forward to our own baptism as a means for the Holy Spirit to deliver Christ’s salvation to us. In Jesus’ name, amen. Now the peace of God which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds through faith in Christ Jesus, amen.

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Christmas 2 – “My Father’s House” (Luke 2:40-52)

A-15 Christmas 2 (LHP) (Lu 2.40-52)Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, amen. The text for the sermon is the Gospel, which was read earlier.

I’m sure everyone has heard the phrase, “Out of the mouth of babes.” It has origins in Psalm 8:2: “Out of the mouth of babes and nursing infants
You have ordained strength,
Because of Your enemies,
That You may silence the enemy and the avenger.” That psalm has always seem to been the case, because kids, namely little kids, tend to say the darndest things. Looking at today’s text from Luke, we see that case proven once again.

The last we saw of Jesus, He was brought to the temple to be circumcised and dedicated. Today when we see Jesus, He is 12 years old. The Holy Family is off to Jerusalem for their annual celebration of the Passover festival. Everything was like it had always been for as long as they had come to Jerusalem: celebrate the Passover and return home. Why should this year be any different?

The Feast had ended and the Holy Family had packed everything up on the means of transportation and joined the caravan of family and friends and departed Jerusalem. People would peel off along the way, returning to their respective towns and would resume their daily lives. For Joseph, that meant he would return to his work as a carpenter. You can imagine that there was a fairly large number of people in the caravan, people traveling with other friends and family, as this might be one of the few times a year that you would see everyone. For you to be traveling with another part of the caravan wouldn’t be out of the ordinary. And so Joseph and Mary travelled home a day’s journey and discovered that Jesus was nowhere to be found. Back to Jerusalem they go.

Even after the Passover busyness had ended, Jerusalem was still full of people and that meant because of the crowds, it would take a while to find Jesus. After the first day of searching, no Jesus. After the second day of searching, no Jesus. Surely their luck was going to improve on the third day. Luke doesn’t record when on the third day they found Jesus, other than the fact He was found. Where He was found might have seemed like an unlikely place for some, but the obvious place for others. He was found in the temple.

While Jesus was in the temple, just what was He doing? According to Luke, Jesus was “sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. And all who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers.” Now, the first part of what Luke says wasn’t surprising. Jesus was 12 years old. That meant He would have been of the age of study so listening to the teachers of the law and asking questions would not have been out place. However, it’s the second part of Luke’s account that is out of place. Everyone who heard Jesus was amazed at His understanding and answers. Jesus was nothing more than a mere child. He had no right to be doing anything other than listening and definitely not doing anything resembling teaching.

What Luke does offer is a glimpse of Jesus beginning to make the break from some familial claims in order to commit Himself more closely to God. Here is the successful movement of Jesus out of the crib and into the world. He leaves the circle of His parents and the protection of His mother’s arms and enters a great big world of need. It might have been easier to stay sheltered in the warmth of parental attachment than to enter the world of sin and death. But Jesus has come of age. He has found His voice and taken His place. And that voice and place, we learn, are “in my Father’s house.”

Remember earlier when I said “out of the mouth of babes?” That’s Jesus at the temple. When Mary makes a fuss of looking for Jesus and how they were treated, He responds, “Why were you looking for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?” In these short utterances of Jesus we see the beginning of His break away from familial attachments in order to identify more intimately with God the Father. He is doing so in the immediate presence of His parents, presumably for the first time. His commitment to the Father now transcends His love for the family. Jesus knows that He is here for a purpose – to do the Father’s will.

Jesus’ words not only convict Mary and Joseph, but they also convict us. We too try to search for Jesus and can’t find Him. We find ourselves with Mary and Joseph in that we too are looking in the wrong places. Jesus said, “ I must be in my Father’s house.” Never the less, we look among the things of this world. We look to earthly security, wealth, power, popularity, and so forth. We look for Jesus everywhere He is not.

Today, we must be our Father’s house looking for Jesus. We need to look for Him in worship, where His Word is proclaimed, and His gifts are given – in the absolution, in the waters of Baptism, and in the Holy Supper which He lays before us every Sunday for our refreshment, and for our forgiveness, and for our blessing, and our strengthening. Here, in His holy Word. Here, in His body and blood is where you need to look. Here in the fellowship of His people – His holy body – is where He is to be found, and nowhere else.

All the work that Christ does for the Father culminates on the cross. That’s where the true intersection takes place between God and man. It takes place in Christ on the cross. Holy, perfect, and almighty God Himself gave up all of heaven in order to come down to this fallen and sinful world and take on our fallen and sinful flesh. However, Christ—in the flesh—did what fallen and sinful man can never do, no matter how hard we try. Christ Jesus lived the perfect life. He kept every one of God’s laws perfectly. He did this for us, in our place, precisely because we cannot do this. Christ Jesus took every single sin of the entire world upon Himself, taking every single one of those sins to the cross so that they would be put to death, once and for all.

This account of Jesus today gives for us a wonderful illustration of Jesus and His dedication to the work of His Father, even from the earliest of ages. He is about the Father’s work from the very beginning of His life until His death. In today’s Gospel, we might be tempted to say that Jesus was lost. In fact, Jesus was exactly where He was supposed to be. It was really Mary and Joseph who were lost. In a similar way, we are also lost – lost in our trespasses and sins. It is God who finds us and places us among the things of the Father. There the Holy Spirit works faith and makes us people of the Father. Since Jesus said, “ I must be in my Father’s house,” that means we are with Jesus. That is exactly where we are supposed to be. In Jesus’ name, amen. Now the peace of God that passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds through faith in Christ Jesus, amen.

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Pastoral Year in Review – 2013

It’s 2014 and that means it’s time to post my pastoral year in review. As always, 2013 was a busy year for me in the ministry. Then again, when is the pastoral ministry not busy? Without further ado, here’s the breakdown:

Sermons: 59 (not counting midweek Advent and Lent sermons)
Weddings: 0
Funerals 2
Baptisms: 10
Junior Confirmation: 15
Adult Confirmation/Affirmation of Faith: 4

2013 also had a couple of other eventful experiences for me. First, our daughter Maizie was born. Finally, I can say that I have daddy’s little girl. Who doesn’t want daddy’s little girl?

In October, I was contacted by KFUO to do a radio Bible study. It was at 9:00 am St. Louis time, so that meant 7:00 am my time. It started a bit later due to technical difficulties at the radio station and that resulted in a bit shorter of a Bible study than normal. Also, there was a sermonette based on the text as well. You can listen to it here.

That pretty much sums up my end of year post. Nothing too exciting, save the birth of my daughter. Tomorrow means cleaning my desk and trying to start 2014 off on the right foot.

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Christmas 1 – “Flight” (Matthew 2:13-23)

A-14 Christmas 1 (Mt 2.13-23)Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, amen. The text for the sermon is the Gospel, which was read earlier.

Everything seemed to happen so quickly. The trip to Bethlehem, the birth of Jesus, the angels, the shepherds, and the star; then after a short time, the wise men who like the shepherds before them, fell down on their faces to worship the baby Jesus, the Lord of all creation, the promised King. But as they say, all good things must come to an end. The angel of the Lord appeared again in a dream and warned the wise men to return to their homes without going back to Herod and for Joseph to take the Holy Family to Egypt right away.

That evening, Joseph took Mary and Jesus and fled to Egypt. In the morning, the wise men and the Holy Family were simply gone. No one in Bethlehem could tell where they were because no one knew.

After all the trouble and suffering the Israelites had endured in Egypt before the Exodus, it might seem like a strange place for Joseph and Mary to go with Jesus. But it was not strange at all. First, we need to know that Egypt had been a traditional place of refuge. Abraham had gone to Egypt during a time of famine. Jacob and his family of 70 souls took refuge in Egypt for the same reason, and they became a mighty nation there. They remained in Egypt until God led them out under Moses some 400 years later. Jeroboam fled to Egypt when Solomon tried to kill him, and Uriah also fled to Egypt. If you needed to get away and find protection, Egypt was the place to go. But there was another reason why the Holy Family fled – to fulfill what the prophet Hosea wrote: “When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son.”

When King Herod realized that the Magi were not coming back, he reacted in a way typical of his murderous reign. According to the report of the Magi concerning the time they saw the special star in the sky, Herod calculated how old the Christ Child must be. To hedge his bets, Herod gave himself plenty of leeway and commanded his soldiers to kill all the baby boys in and around Bethlehem up to two years old. While an exact number is not known, estimates put the total number slain between 15 and 20.

A great tragedy occurred in Bethlehem because of Herod. It is a day that the Church recognizes as the Holy Innocents, for the children who were killed by Herod are martyrs just like St. Stephen, the first martyr of the Church, for they died for the faith that Herod persecuted. However, through all of this, the mighty hand of God was at work.

Here we are presented with the new Moses. Just as Moses’ life was threatened at a tender age and he had to be hidden in a reed basket to be protected, so too was Jesus’ life in danger before He was two years old, and had to be hidden away in another land so that His life would be spared until His time had come. Moses led God’s people out of slavery in Egypt; now Jesus had come to lead all people out of their spiritual slavery to the Law. There was about to be another exodus, though this time it wouldn’t be plagues, but a cross and thorns and nails. This time it wasn’t going to be one nation that would be freed from slavery, but it would be every tribe, nation, and people.

Out of Egypt, at just the right time, God called His Son. At the death of Herod, an angel appeared to Joseph instructing him to take the Holy Family back to Israel. Once in the land of Israel, plans would change for Jesus. Upon hearing that Archelaus, son of Herod was reigning, Joseph feared going to Judea. Archelaus’ reign was so bad, it would lead to his eventual banishment. Things were not going to get any better with the descendant of Herod and so an angel revealed to Joseph to go to Galilee. Again, this was not just by simple chance, but it was done according to the words of the prophets of old. Once again, at just the right time, God called His Son.

As we look at the ministry of Jesus, for as faithful as Jesus was, the Jews of Jesus’ day rejected God’s plan of salvation. They didn’t want to abandon their traditions, their man-made laws. It was difficult to accept that God had sent His promised Messiah, but that He would come in the form of a carpenter’s Son. They preferred to remain in bondage to the Law where they were comfortable in their sin rather than trust that God had sent the Messiah to free and deliver them. They didn’t trust what Jesus was offering was far greater than anything they could earn or provide for themselves.

Nothing has changed that much since the time of Jesus. Why rely on Jesus to do something for you when you can easily do it yourself? Who needs a Baptism for the forgiveness of your sins when you don’t really sin, or at least not bad enough to warrant forgiveness? Who needs Christ’s body and blood if it really is nothing more than simple bread and wine and it gives you nothing in return?

It’s easy for us to doubt God’s plan of salvation or to question why God allows things that are unpleasant or evil to happen in our world, the old “why do bad things happen to good people” question. We never have to look very hard to find an example of something unpleasant or evil, and the world is always quick to ask, “Where was God in all this?”

With all that the month of December brings with its preparations for Christmas, it’s very easy to forget the true purpose in the coming of Christ. He comes to establish peace between God and man, to restore what once was. God works all things for His glory, including the death of the innocents. In all things evil, God works to bring about His plan of salvation for the world.

Once Herod heard the words “King of the Jews” uttered from the wise men’s lips and realized that his reign might be threatened, he knew that this baby Jesus had to die. The irony of all of this was that Herod was right. Jesus did have to die, but not at a child’s age. He would die when the fullness of God’s time had come. He would have to die for Herod’s sins. He would have to die for your sins. He would have to die for my sins. He would have to die for the sins of all people. He would have to die in order to restore creation to God.

Since it was not Jesus’ time to die, the baby Jesus was protected from Herod by God’s interventions. When the time was right, the Holy Family would return to Israel via Nazareth and the ministry of Jesus would begin – the bringing about of salvation for God’s people. All of this done according to God’s divine schedule, just as St. Paul says in our Epistle: “When the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.” Salvation has been accomplished for us, for our Lord has declared, “It is finished.” Salvation has been won for you because of Jesus Christ, who came into this world through Mary, and gave His life as a ransom for many. In the name of Jesus, amen. Now the peace of God that passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds through faith in Christ Jesus, amen.