Sunday Worship 11 January | The Family on the Road

Matthew 2

After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem and asked, “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.” When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him. When he had called together all the people’s chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Messiah was to be born. “In Bethlehem in Judea,” they replied, “for this is what the prophet has written: “‘But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,    are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for out of you will come a ruler    who will shepherd my people Israel.’” Then Herod called the Magi secretly and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared. He sent them to Bethlehem and said, “Go and search carefully for the child. As soon as you find him, report to me, so that I too may go and worship him.”

After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen when it rose went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route.

When they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. “Get up,” he said, “take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him.” So he got up, took the child and his mother during the night and left for Egypt, where he stayed until the death of Herod. And so was fulfilled what the Lord had said through the prophet: “Out of Egypt I called my son.”

When Herod realized that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was furious, and he gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had learned from the Magi. Then what was said through the prophet Jeremiah was fulfilled: “A voice is heard in Ramah, weeping and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted, because they are no more.”

After Herod died, an angel of the Lord 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 trying to take the child’s life are dead.” So he got up, took the child and his mother and went to the land of Israel. But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning in Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. Having been warned in a dream, he withdrew to the district of Galilee, and he went and lived in a town called Nazareth. So was fulfilled what was said through the prophets, that he would be called a Nazarene.

That is the last we hear of the magi. We don't get to follow them home by another route, just as we lose sight of the shepherds as they disappear into the streets of Bethlehem, telling the people all they have seen. As I said earlier, over the next few weeks we'll be looking at some of the stories that come after the Christmas story, but the truth is there are lots of stories we simply do not know, and can only trust to our wondering and our sanctified imagination.

I wonder why the magi felt so compelled to visit this newborn king. Did they visit every royal baby or was there something in the way they read the stars that said this one was worth paying attention to?

I wonder why the magi chose the gifts they did. We understand them as pointing to Jesus as king and God and sacrifice, and I'm sure gold and ointments would have come in very handy for a postnatal mother far from home, but did they know any of that?

I wonder what the magi thought when they found the child they sought in such humble circumstances. Did they understand then that this was a king like no other, and what did they think he would grow up to be?

I wonder what the dream that warned the magi not to return to Herod was like. Did an angel appear to them as to Joseph, and did they recognise that the message came from God?

I wonder what the magi reported of their adventure when they returned home. Did they treasure up what they had seen as Mary did, or did they talk of it to anyone who would listen as the shepherds did?

I wonder if the magi thought of Jesus as the years went on. Did they listen for news of a king, and if they ever heard of the wandering teacher crucified as a revolutionary, did they make the connection?

I wonder if the magi continued to find God in their reading of the stars. Did this encounter change the way they practised their religion, or was that not the point?

We can't know the answers to any of these questions, and we ought to hold any thoughts our sanctified imagination offers us lightly, but asking and engaging with these kinds of questions can open up space for the Spirit to speak through scripture in new ways.

For now though, let's return to the passage and follow the characters whose journey it does take us on, the family on the road. Having previously appeared to Joseph to tell him to marry Mary and care for her child, the angel returns in a rather more troubling dream to tell him to take his new family to Egypt because Herod will try to kill the child. 

I cannot imagine how terrifying it must have been to have to flee like that. Sadly there are many people who do not have to imagine because they have lived it. As of the middle of last year, there were over one hundred and seventeen million displaced people worldwide. It is not insignificant that the God we worship has shared their experience and stands in solidarity with them. 

As the refugee crisis has worsened in recent years, or at least we have become more aware of it, artists and theologians alike have sought to emphasise this connection. The image on screen draws on traditional iconography but depicts Jesus and his parents as modern refugees. Churches in America have put their nativity scenes behind bars, or removed the figures of the holy family and left behind a note saying immigration enforcement have visited. Two years ago a church in Gaza placed their baby Jesus among the rubble. We are called to see Christ in these most vulnerable of people and situations, and to act accordingly.

In thinking about this passage, I don't think we should underestimate the significance of the family being sent to Egypt of all places. Joseph’s ancestors had been held in slavery there, and it was surely still in the collective memory as a place of oppression, yet now it has become a place of safety. It is an early indication that Christ coming into the world is shifting things, upending expectations.

But what of those who cannot flee? There are many dark moments in scripture, because there are many dark moments in human history, but the massacre of the innocents must surely rank among the darkest. A king abuses his power to murder children, lest one of them should threaten that power. And men carry out his orders, an evil which I do not believe can ever be justified by self-preservation. The great mourning spoken of by the prophet continues to echo down the years, and is heard again in the weeping of so many other mothers whose children are no more. Sometimes all we can do is weep with them.

I was talking to Mike about this passage this week, and he made the point that it rather undermines the idea that Jesus only came to die. If all that was needed for salvation was for God to provide the perfect blameless sacrifice, why not let Herod kill Jesus and be done with it, because what could be more blameless than a child? Jesus did not just come to die. He also came to live, so that he could show us how to live, what to do when weeping is not enough. This narrow escape from death should remind us to pay attention to his life.

That has been a heavy start for the new year, but there is a darkness in the Christmas story, as there is a darkness in the world. Fortunately, it is a darkness Jesus came to lighten, so that we might hope and not despair.