Sunday
12/29/19 - Sidney UMC
Sermon Title: “Time to Move!”
Old Testament
Scripture: Isaiah 63:7-9
New Testament
Scripture: Hebrews 2:10-18
Gospel Lesson:
Matthew 2:13-23
Merry Christmas,
as we continue this morning, moving through the twelve-day season of Christmas!
While Christmas is on December 25th every year, the season of
Christmas will continue through next Sunday, which is also Epiphany Sunday. So
we can still say Merry Christmas, and we can still sing Christmas songs and
hymns, as we are still in the season of Christmas. In fact, today is the fifth
day of Christmas, so I think that someone here might be getting five golden rings.
Good news for that person!
This past Thursday, I was driving to visit one of our
church members that recently had surgery. While I was on the way to this person’s
house, I was listening to the radio in my car. As I was listening, I heard a
news report that said that Thursday December 26th was the busiest
travel day of this year, 2019, in the United States. This wasn’t the busiest
travel day of the month according to this report, but the busiest travel day of
the whole year.
It would seem then that Christmas Eve and Christmas morning
as far as being with family and friends doesn’t last. How do I know this? Well
according to the news reports that I heard on the radio, Thursday December 26th
was the busiest travel day this year in our country. It seems that people
swooped home for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, and then swooped on out.
Anyone here have people leave the day after Christmas? Or maybe they came and
left before Christmas Day or on Christmas Eve?
We might ask, well why can’t they just stay longer? Or some
of you say, thank God they went back home! We all know the answers of why they
left, work, family, other Christmas gatherings, being hopeful for another
Sidney UMC Christmas Cantata, and etc. In the same way, the birth of Christ on
Christmas Eve into Christmas morning didn’t stay that way for long. It was
quick.
By this I mean, the Wise Men, after giving the gifts of
gold, frankincense, and myrrh, then left and made the long journey back home.
The shepherds also left, as the gospel of Luke says they did. The day after
Christmas in Bethlehem, it would seem, wasn’t as exciting as Christmas Day. So
the Christmas moment of the birth of Christ, didn’t last long. The Shepherds
had to go back to shepherding there sheep, and the Wise Men needed to make the
long journey back home. The day after that first Christmas in Bethlehem. I
wonder if there was a similarity to Time Square in New York City the day after
the New Year’s celebration. The day after New Year’s, Time Square just isn’t as
exciting.
So as I said, we are still in the season of Christmas, but
the Christmas moment, the birth of Jesus, the climax, has past. Some of us are
resting up, cleaning our houses, going through things, putting things away, returning
things, and etc. The Christmas moment has passed, even though we are still in
the twelve day season of Christmas.
Still though, many of us love and are drawn to the
Christmas moment of the birth of Christ. We are drawn to the Bethlehem Star in
the sky, to the Wise Men, to the Shepherds, and to all of the others that
probably came. What we often forget though, is that those folks left and
returned home quickly.
While they were honored, overwhelmed, and all changed by
seeing baby Jesus, soon after they said that it was “Time to Move!” They
couldn’t stay physically in the Christmas moment, as they had to do something
with the Christmas moment. By this I mean, after what they saw and then
experienced they then had to go and tell many. This wouldn’t have happened if
they stayed with Joseph and Mary at the manger.
I have also read articles about how some people are a little
down or blue after Christmas and New Years. The reason for this, is that there
was a big build up to that Christmas moment and then the New Year’s moment, and
then things go right back down. We are called to keep the spirit of Christmas
in us all year round, but the moment, the holiday itself, passes quickly. Some
of your kids and grandkids then have to leave to go back to work, to other
Christmas events, and etc. It then ended as quickly as it started, just like
the birth of Christ. It ended, because it was “Time to move!” We can’t stay in
the Christmas moment of the event of Christ’s birth forever, we need to leave
the manger and be about God’s business and His calling on our lives.
In our gospel of Matthew account for this morning, we have
passed the birth account of Jesus, and we are told of the Wise Men that after
they have just visited Jesus that:
“having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they
left for their own country by another road” (Mt. 2:12,
NRSV).
In our gospel lesson for this morning once again, the angel
of the Lord then appeared to Joseph in a dream that same night telling him:
“Get up, take the child and his
mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you; for Herod is
about to search for the child, to destroy him.” Then Joseph got
up, took the child and his mother by night, and went to Egypt, and remained
there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfill what had been spoken by the
Lord through the prophet, “Out of Egypt I have called my son” (Mt. 2:13b-15, NRSV).
From this gospel lesson for this morning, this is where I got
my sermon title, “Time to Move!” Joseph, Mary, and Jesus, right after the visit
from the Wise Men had to move and go to Egypt for safety, the way many of us
have had to leave and go to other places after Christmas.
Now before getting into the scriptures for this morning more,
in the other birth account of Jesus in the gospel of Luke, Jesus is born and
the angels appeared to the shepherds, and the shepherds went to behold Jesus in
the manger (Lk. 2:1-20, NRSV).
In the gospel of Luke account of the birth of Christ, it then
says this of baby Jesus in Luke 2:21:
“After eight days had passed, it
was time to circumcise the child; and he was called Jesus, the name given by
the angel before he was conceived in the womb” (Lk.
2:21, NRSV).
The gospel account of Luke, then says that Mary and Joseph
present Jesus at the great Temple in Jerusalem, and offered either a pair of
turtle doves or young pigeons as a sacrifice, as was the Jewish Law. (Lk.
2:22-24, NRSV).
The gospel of Luke then goes on to say in 2:39-40, that Mary
and Joseph then take baby Jesus back to Nazareth to raise him into a man. This
is why Jesus is often called Jesus of Nazareth, and we even have Nazareth
College in Rochester, NY. Jesus is also called the Nazarene, as we have a Christian
Denomination called the “Church of the Nazarene”.
So, some have asked me, “Pastor Paul, if the gospel of Matthew
says that after the Wise Men left, that an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph
and told him to get Mary and Jesus to safety in Egypt, then how come the gospel
of Luke account says that Mary and Joseph had Jesus circumcised and presented
at the great Temple in Jerusalem when he was eight days old?”
In fancy seminary language, we call this the “Synoptic Problem.”
The first three gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke are considered to be the
first three gospels written. They are often called the “Synoptic Gospels,” but
how do we reconcile these differences in and around the two birth accounts of
Christ in the gospel of Matthew and Luke?
This is what I think, I think all of these events happened,
but maybe just not in the order that we believe that they did. Matthew and Luke
had two different accounts of the birth narrative of Jesus. Both Matthew and
Luke both have the birth itself, but the gospel of Luke has the angels and the
shepherds. Matthew has the Wise Men and the part with King Herod, and Luke does
not.
So what do I think happened? We let me read to you once again
what Mathew 2:11-12 says about the visit of the three Wise Men:
“On entering the house,
they saw the child with Mary his mother; and they knelt down and paid him
homage. Then, opening their treasure chests, they offered him gifts of gold,
frankincense, and myrrh. And having been warned in a dream not to return to
Herod, they left for their own country by another road” (Mt. 2:11-12, NRSV).
So, the Wise
Men, according to the only gospel of account of them in the gospel of Matthew, did
not come to the manger where Jesus was born, instead the gospel says, “On
entering the house”. Well what house, I thought that there was no room at the
inn for Mary and Joseph?
Next Sunday, we celebrate Epiphany Sunday, which is a fancy
title for the visit of the three Wise Men or Magi. Why would we have a special
Sunday for their visit with gold, frankincense, and myrrh, at the end of the
season of Christmas? I mean didn’t the three Wise Men show up when the
shepherds and others did? The answer is, probably not.
So how then were Mary and Joseph in a house when the Wise Men
came? The answer is, since Joseph came to Bethlehem with Mary to be registered
in the Roman Emperor’s population census, Joseph probably had family there. I
think that after Jesus was born, that Joseph tracked down his family members,
and I think that Joseph, Mary, and Jesus stayed in the house of Joseph’s family
members for a while. As the gospel of Luke says, I believe that Joseph and Mary
had Jesus circumcised on the eight day of his life and had him presented at the
temple.
Luke then says that Mary and Joseph then took Jesus to
Nazareth to raise him. I think though that after Jesus being circumcised on his
eight day, and being presented at the great Temple in Jerusalem, that Joseph,
Mary, and Jesus went back to Joseph’s family’s house in Bethlehem. Bethlehem is
only about six miles from Jerusalem.
I think then at some point, the Wise Men appeared, as they
had journeyed a long distance, and they then came to that house that Joseph,
Mary, and Jesus were staying in. They then gave Jesus the gifts of gold,
frankincense, and myrrh. The angel of Lord came to Joseph in a dream that
night, and the family fled to safety to Egypt. Then as both of the gospels of Luke
and Matthew say, Joseph and Mary took Jesus back to Nazareth in Israel, to
raise Jesus of Nazareth.
So then one might ask, “But Pastor Paul, if time elapsed
between the birth of Christ, and the shepherds, the angels, and others, then
why didn’t King Herod just try to kill him immediately?” I think that King
Herod may have been aware of Jesus’ birth on some lever, but maybe the Wise Men
coming into Jerusalem with great pomp and splendor drove King Herod to the terrible
genocide that we have in the gospel of Matthew from this morning. Let’s go
through this morning’s gospel of Matthew account once again. Once again, this
gospel account of Matthew 2:13-23 citing the Wise Men’s recent departure says:
“Now after they had left, an angel of
the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, “Get up, take the child and
his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you; for Herod is
about to search for the child, to destroy him.” Then Joseph got up,
took the child and his mother by night, and went to Egypt, and remained
there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfill what had been spoken by the
Lord through the prophet, “Out of Egypt I have called my son” (Mt.
2:13-15, NRSV).
So in the gospel of Matthew account
for this morning, the Wise Men have just let, or “Time to Move!” Joseph then
takes Mary and Jesus to safety in Egypt. This was also prophesized in the Old
Testament, as well.
Now I think that after meeting with
the Wise Men, that King Herod paid much more attention to this new child named
Jesus. As a result of this, the gospel of Matthew lesson for this morning then
says:
“When Herod saw that he had been tricked
by the wise men, he was infuriated, and he sent and killed all the children in
and around Bethlehem who were two years old or under, according to the time
that he had learned from the wise men. Then was fulfilled what had
been spoken through the prophet Jeremiah: “A voice was heard in Ramah, wailing and loud lamentation,
Rachel weeping for her children; she
refused to be consoled, because they are no more” (Mt.
2:16-18, NRSV).
So King Herod’s massacre of all the children
two and under in and around Bethlehem excluded Jesus, because Joseph and Mary
got Jesus out. This was also predicted in the Old Testament. I also find it
interesting that King Herod ordered that all children in and around Bethlehem
who were two years old or under be killed. So how long did it take after Joseph
and Mary got back with little Jesus from him being circumcised and presented at
the temple, until the Wise Men came? Two weeks, a month, a year? We don’t
really know, as the Wise Men came to the house, not the manger.
Our gospel lesson for this morning
once again ends like this:
“When Herod died, an angel of the Lord
suddenly appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt and said, “Get up, take the
child and his mother, and go to the land of Israel, for those who were seeking
the child’s life are dead.” Then Joseph got up, took the child and
his mother, and went to the land of Israel. But when he heard that Archelaus
was ruling over Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there.
And after being warned in a dream, he went away to the district of Galilee. There
he made his home in a town called Nazareth, so that what had been spoken
through the prophets might be fulfilled, “He will be called a Nazorean” (Mt.
2:19-23, NRSV),
So
both gospels say that Mary and Joseph then took Jesus to Nazareth and raised
him there. Joseph and Mary were in Nazareth until the Roman Emperor ordered the
population census, and this then sent Mary and Joseph to Bethlehem. Basically
then, Mary, Joseph, and Jesus just came back to Nazareth a little later.
Yet, as I have just laid out, we this “Synoptic
Problem,” of differences and discrepancies in the gospel accounts. So is one gospel
wrong? No, I don’t think so. I just think that the gospel writers had two
different portions of the story of the birth and the early days of Jesus.
I also believe that we are the ones
that have put them together the way that we have. Of course our nativity scenes
have the shepherds and the wise men together, even though they probably weren’t
there at the exact same time. This is part of the reason why we have Epiphany Sunday
next Sunday, or the Sunday that celebrates the coming of the Wise Men. Is there
anything wrong with putting these all together on Christmas? No, but it
probably didn’t happen that way exactly.
So again, I think all of these events
happened, but maybe not the exact same way that we thought that they did.
I believe that the Bible is God’s
inspired word, and I believe that what it says is the truth. With this said
though, the Bible must be interpreted.
Circling back, what does all of this
have to with my sermon title, “Time to Move!”? Well, do all of our family
members show up at the exact time every Christmas? For many of us the answer is
no. Some come one day, and maybe some come another. Or maybe they all came the
same day, likely not at the same exact time, but maybe they leave on different
days. Maybe some of your family leave on Christmas Day, the day after, or maybe
they stay to New Year’s.
It’s not important that they all
arrived at the same minute of the same day, or even when they left. What is
important is that they came. I believe that all of the details of the birth and
first days of Christ happened, but maybe not in the exact way that we think
they did. What is certain though, is that for many of us, after that moment of Christmas,
we have to go back to our homes and our lives. When Christmas is over, it’s “Time
to Move!” Amen.
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