Backwards [Christmass 2; St. Matthew 2:13-23]

After the flight to Egypt, last week, in order to avoid Herod’s sword, we hear of the holy family returning from Egypt, as the Angel said,

“Rise, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who sought the child's life are dead.”

This is a mite backwards. Israel has already been brought out of Egypt once before. God’s people were enslaved and unable to worship the Lord, so He led them out through the Red Sea. In this flight, it was from sin to freedom.

So why is St. Joseph told to go back to the land of enslavement? Israel is in such a sad state, that there is more solace in that type of country, than in its own country.

The second thing that is backwards here is what St. Jeremiah speaks about Rachel. In Genesis, Rachel is the one who dies giving birth to Benjamin (Gen.35). She is unable to weep, because she is dead, but her children and husband weep for HER.

Before she dies, she does desire to name Benjamin, Ben-oni (son of my sorrow). So, it seems as if Rachel is weeping for herself in this case and not her children.

However, St. Jeremiah is probably speaking of the forgiven and resurrected Rachel; the Rachel with a clean heart and a right spirit who now weeps for the suffering of her children in their sin and in their own homeland.

The third backward prophesy happening in this pericope is the command from the Lord to go to Israel, yet St. Joseph goes to Nazareth. Again, the last place one would think of when told “Israel”. To the northern-most area of ancient Israel St. Joseph goes; past Jericho, by the Jordan river; past Shiloh, and past Samaria.

This is the land of Zebulun and Naphtali. This is how afraid St. Joseph is of Herod’s son. That St. Joseph would run to the land of the Tribes first exiled and had never returned to the Lord; the land that set up a second capitol city instead of Jerusalem.

Worse than finding no room at the Inn, St. Joseph finds no room in Israel for Jesus. Yet, Jesus is kept safe by Egypt and He is raised by Nazareth. No room at the Inn?! There is no room for Jesus anywhere on earth.

“Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.” (Matt.8:20)

There is no room for Jesus in your heart. In your backwards, sinful thinking, you think that since you can have many things on your mind and many things and/or people you care about in your heart, that one more, Jesus, should be no problem.

There is no room for Jesus in your heart, for Jesus is not content with just one small section. Christ will not sit idly by as the rest of your heart goes after something or someone else. Jesus demands the entire heart, the entire life, and the entire mind.

Repent. This is sin and sin says no to that. Your sin says that every thought, desire, word, and deed must be opposed to God’s Law. Your whole human nature is corrupted, by sin, beyond repair. Original sin has been passed down to you from your parents and brings guilt and condemnation.

Thus, your every action, good or bad, is corrupted. Your fear, love, and trust in God is corrupted, so much so, that you believe a tiny place in your heart, your sin-filled heart, is good enough for the Son of Man.

Jesus thinks otherwise. Your heart is not good enough, but instead of killing you and taking over, Jesus begins a backwards work; the work of making all of Creation and having to re-make it; the work of making a people for Himself that turns against Him; the work of creating a clean heart and a right spirit, for you.

Jesus is born to die for sinners and to seek and save the lost. So what does that mean you need to be, in order to be saved by Jesus?

Christ is born of a virgin in order that He is separate from the sin of Adam. In other words, Jesus is sinless and yet, He goes through life as if He were sinful. He attends the Temple Services for forgiveness. He offers sacrifices for sins. He obeys His father and mother. He is baptized. He eats and drinks and the whole host of other things He does that makes Him just like us.

Yet, He does them without sin. Jesus is just like you, but without sin. Christmass happens so that the sinless child of St. Mary would be filled with your sin and die on the cross. Your condemnation is Jesus’ condemnation. Your punishment is Jesus’ punishment. In, what is known as the Great Reversal, the sinless is destroyed for the sinful.

The places we think are free from sin are not: the holy land, St. Luke’s, our hearts, etc. By fleeing to Egypt, Jesus shows that no where on earth is “holy” in and of itself. We also think that death is the worst thing to happen to someone, yet Rachel and everyone else in heaven, weep for us, because it is sin and the loss of faith that is worse.

It may seem like St. Joseph is not going to Israel, as commanded, but he is obeying just perfectly. For not only will Jesus be of Nazareth, but He will also go to Jerusalem, suffer many things, be killed, and rise up on the third day. It is only backwards to sinful eyes.

Jesus is ridding you of your sin and the Gospel of Jesus is the only place God offers forgiveness of sins. This is the utter necessity of Jesus, His birth, His life, His words, His death and resurrection. There is no other place in which God is reconciled to man. Not in nature, not in the stars, and not in your heart.

God gives His Son freely and fully. Maybe Egypt enslaved the Hebrews once upon a time, but the Gospel is offered to them now. Maybe Rachel was weeping for the wrong reasons, but she is comforted by her Savior.

All sin is forgiven, in Christ.

So you are filled with sin and evil thoughts. So, you can not save yourself and are lost. So, you must face suffering, sickness, and even death.

You are baptized into Christ. These things harm you no longer.