Years ago during a Christmas Pageant rehearsal, a kid said Joseph wants to take a picture of baby Jesus when cell phones had just come out. Somehow Parker heard Moses wants to take a picture, not Joseph. So when I was reviewing his lines Parker said something about when Moses comes. Panic filled my heart. Did the preacher’s kid really not know the meaning of Christmas? This prompted the pastor in me to ask if really knew the Christmas story. Of course he did and told it beautifully; Mary and Joseph going to Bethlehem and finding no room in the inn, so they stayed in the stable where Jesus was born. Whew, I could relax.
During children’s sermon, the Old Testament and New Testament get confused, the three answers I hear the most are Jesus, God then Moses. Well all of those would be great answers, because our passage this morning about Jesus has many parallels to Moses and helps to demonstrate God’s saving love.
Now if you are saying to yourself I don’t remember Herod killed the children- don’t be distressed. It was only recently added back into the lectionary reading. Yet those two verses say a great deal about the parallels we see with Moses. Moses freed the Jews, acted on God’s leading and brought God’s salvation to the Israelites. The parallels become clear when once again a powerful and cruel ruler is so threatened, he orders the end of young children. Right after Christmas we would rather not think about such things. However, it helps us to understand more about God, not just Jewish history. God saved the child, Moses, God heard the people of Israel and led them to freedom. Moses acts as the liberator, the leader, the agent of God, thereby setting the stage for understanding baby Jesus in a similar light.
Not only are there connections to Moses, but also with the other Joseph. You remember the first Joseph of scripture. Joseph with his colorful coat was sold by his brothers into slavery and taken to Egypt. In Egypt, he rose in power as a dream interpreter, interpreting dreams which ultimately saved his family and nation from starvation. The part I did not remember was that the king who came to power just after Joseph died, was the same king-Pharaoh that Moses faced. That Pharaoh feared the growing number of Israelites and so asked the midwives to kill the baby boys. It is this foundational story that is brought to mind as dreams lead Joseph, Mary and Jesus to flee to Egypt in the dead of night.
Moses, Joseph and dreams all are familiar vehicles to understand God’s saving and faithful love. It is the agency of God that brought about these past events and it will be the agency of God at work in and around Jesus. For in our gospel we see Joseph being sent to Egypt, guided by dreams, and fulfilling God’s will by caring for Jesus. For Jesus will be the new way that God will save the people.
In Matthew, Joseph was warned in a dream four times:
when faced with Mary’s pregnancy,
when Herod sought to kill Jesus,
when told he could return to Israel after Herod died,
and finally when directed to flee to Nazareth.
Each time came at a crossroads in Joseph’s life, a time of uncertainty, a time when he needed direction. Each and every time Joseph did exactly what the angel told him to do. He did not give excuses, he did not argue, he obeyed. We all have times like that; when we wish an angel would come and tell us specifically what needs to be done so we could go do it. We wish God would send us a memo on how to handle some situations in our lives. It doesn’t work that way. Yet I can’t help wondering if Joseph started thinking he was getting it wrong- being sent hither and yon. Do you ever wonder if you are hearing God’s leading? Wonder if you are getting it wrong? I think as people of faith we strive to bring God into our life decisions, seek God’s presence and guidance and trust in the outcome. However, when things change, and then change again we might start to doubt. We might wonder where God is in the midst of our confusion. Even though things keep changing, we can still trust in the agency of God at work in our life. We can trust in God’s leading. So let us take courage in Joseph’s faithful following, in being able to adapt to the new situation, in holding on to hope in the midst of uncertainty.
We are about to bring in the New Year, a time we actively seek out change. Yet let us move to this time of celebration and resolutions seeking God’s presence more than wishful self-promises. In Isaiah God says, “Surely they are my people, children who will not deal falsely.” Let us not deal falsely with God, or ourselves, seeking our own new solution or diet. Rather we seek the presence of the Lord who has the power to save us. We know that God’s salvation is in God’s presence. We come to worship, we pray, we live in God’s mercy – all to be in God’s presence. We seek out the face of God and know we are loved by the Almighty. Two days ago, we experienced God’s love made real again in the birth of His son. The very presence of God fleshed in Mary’s infant- the holy incarnate- known to us as Emmanuel, God is with us.
God is with us, just like baby Jesus and his family. I titled this sermon Immigrant Jesus noting the holy family moving in response to God’s leading in dreams. I could have also titled this Refugee Jesus because he and his family were fleeing from violence. Imagine fleeing in the dead of night for fear of your life. Think how difficult it must have been for Mary and Joseph to pick up and leave, make a new life for their family in strange places; each time having to start over. Providing safety for their son, being faithful to God was more important than comfort and security. So when we hear of children crossing our borders, like the flood this summer from Central America or the families fleeing in the Syrian exodus, let us remember that Jesus and his family were refugees, not just once but three times, fleeing for their lives. Jesus starts his life as a refugee fleeing Judea to Egypt, Egypt to Judea and Judea to Galilee. Violence, whether at the hand of a Pharaoh, a drug lord or a civil war, creates refugees. We might want to keep them all out striving to keep ourselves safe, but what would have happened if leaders of Egypt and Galilee said no to Jesus?
It all comes back to who is our neighbor. Jesus gave the great commandment to love your neighbor as yourself. First we love God with all of our being and them we love our neighbor (Mt. 22:34-40). Living from this commandment is what motivates the three women we will soon commission to travel to El Salvador. There they will build relationships with the people of Guillermo Ungo in solidarity that produces interdependence and mutual respect. To honor what the Salvadorians have gone through, one of the stops will be to a massacre site to hear testimony from one of the survivors. Later the delegation will be meeting with a Women’s organization that runs the local health clinic, bringing funds to support their work; playing with children in the community and sharing in arts and crafts, building relations. They will worship God together in Lutheran and Reformed communities of faith. And yet the heart of the mission is ongoing prayer partners. I have prayed for Jose, a young teenage boy for a year now. I just wrote him a letter and look forward to hearing from him again when the delegation returns. Our congregation partners with the mission by helping with water purification and scholarships for the children and adults to further their education. The delegation of 11 will walk along side of people who may not look like the neighbors on your street but who are certainly neighbors in God’s kingdom.
Moses, Joseph and Joseph were agents of God in the world. Caring for neighbors here and in El Salvador is a way we can be agents of God in the world too. Please pray for Karla, Marian and Lorena as they travel 2-11 January as ambassadors of Christ and this Church. Amen.
