Genesis 46:1-7; 1 Peter 4:12-19; St Matthew 2:13-23
In the Name + of JESUS. Amen.
The flight of the child Jesus to Egypt and his return occurred right after the Magi from the East came to Bethlehem to worship Him. Their visit is recounted in the Gospel lesson for Epiphany. Tomorrow. The 13th Day of Christmas, which begins a new season of the Church Year. The season of Epiphany features our Lord revealing His glory as the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. It is during the season of Epiphany that we see Jesus in the Temple showing wisdom fall beyond His age. See Him doing His first miracle, changing water into wine. See Him Baptized and Transfigured. Revealing, that is, ephiphanying, His glory.
But not today. Right after Jesus receives the worship of the Magi He has to run away from a murderous king bent on taking His life. God becomes a Baby and is immediately set upon. His Mother has to undertake a treacherous journey not long after giving birth. Joseph must travel to a far away place he has never seen. St Peter is right. Judgment begins at the household of God. And if it began with Baby Jesus, beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you.
Yet we look at these events and wonder why God permits what He permits. People put God on trial for not taking care of His business properly. Why should the Son of God have to flee from a murderous king> Why not stay the hand of the killer who murdered as many as twenty innocent little boys in his attempt to kill the newborn King of the Jews? What is God doing?
Organizations like Planned Parenthood that profit from killing unborn babies receive government subsidies so they can further profit from what, in a civilized society, would be criminal activity. Those who protest the mass slaughter of the unborn are portrayed by the media and entertainment industry as fanatics. While those who do the killing lay claim to constitution protection for their gruesome trade. Where is God in all this? Why does He do nothing? The millions of babies killed in their mothers’ wombs cries out to heaven for vengeance. But their killers retire on pensions and die peaceful deaths. Where is God?
As an aside, if you’re as saddened by this travesty as I am, consider participating in the March for Life Indianapolis this year. Wednesday the 22nd a special Divine Service will be held here at 10a followed by a carpool downtown to March with our brothers and sisters in Christ, fellow Pro-Lifers, and a joyous congregation of people walking to the State House to speak for those whose voice has been silenced. To tell our political leaders what those little boys and girls can’t say for themselves.
If the conscience of our political leaders today is callused to this issue, Herod the Great had no conscience at all. He was a murderer. He killed several members of his own family. He was so paranoid about threats to his position that he killed literally thousands of people in his lifelong grasp for power. He came to a miserable end. He died of an excruciatingly painful, putrefying illness of an uncertain cause. It became known as “Herod’s evil.” As he was facing death he arranged to have several prominent citizens killed so that when he died the people would mourn. His orders were not carried out.
People ask why God permits such wickedness to occur. Why should God be held responsible for sins committed against Him? He loves little children. But why is He to blame for the crimes of Herod or Planned Parenthood? Rachel weeps for her dead children. But she doesn’t blame God. We cannot blame God.
We cannot blame God because He is not to blame. It’s not just that God isn’t responsible for the evil actions of men. Men are. But it’s also that He has addressed this evil in such a way as to overcome it and destroy it. Only it wasn’t in the way that you might expect. God doesn’t think like we think. Sinful human beings judge God by sinful human standards and find Him wanting. Those who are steeped in sin and bound by a will that is hostile to God and incapable of obeying in faith Him presume to stand in judgment of Him who is holy. It’s not a matter of the pot calling the kettle black. It’s a matter of evil judging good and calling good evil.
Herod is evil. Jesus is good. Herod is king (small k) of the Jews. Jesus is King of the Jews. Herod wants to kill Jesus so as to protect his own power. He can’t imagine any other kind of power than the power of force. Chairman Mao said that political power grows out of the barrel of a gun. This is the only kind of power Herod understood. He’s not alone. Many folks who would consider themselves quite religious think that religion is all about the Law and only about the Law. About what you have to do and can’t do. The Law is inextricably bound to coercion and punishment.
So then, why does the good God permit evil? Why does the God who loves the little children, all the children of the world, permit a bloodthirsty maniac like Herod to murder the babies of Bethlehem? Why does He permit the “legal” slaughter of the innocents in America and around the world? Where is God when human cruelty cause such terrible human misery?
He is running away! His descent from Jacob’s ladder to assume Jacob’s flesh and blood and to redeem all of humanity was not a descent from heaven to a heavenly chamber here on earth. He wore no halo. He received little honor. he humbled Himself from the time He was conceived and born. He had the kind of power Herod revealed in, but He didn’t exercise it.
Why not? Why not steel against steel? Why not a superior Law against a depraved and corrupted one? Why not establish the kind of justice that rids the world of baby killing savages and makes it what a good God created it to be? Isn’t that what a good God would do?
Jesus fled from Herod not because He was conceding the battle or merely biding His time or waiting for a more opportune moment. Jesus ran away to Egypt to fulfill God’s promise. I Myself will go down with you to Egypt and I will also bring you up again. Our Lord’s Gospel promise has always been the answer to evil of every description. St Paul writes, Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good (Rm 12:21). This is how the Gospel works. It overcomes evil with good.
On His way to Egypt, Jesus passed by Mt Sinai where God gave His holy Law. The Law His people disobeyed. The Law that condemned the crimes of Herod and ours. The Law He came to fulfill. He, our Passover Lamb, traveled near where the first Passover lamb was killed. He, our Israel, was carried down into Egypt by His adopted father. He who was lifted up on the Cross traveled near the place that Moses lifted up the bronze serpent. He fled His homeland so that you could return to yours. He made Himself a sojourner that you could find your way home where you belong.
It looks like weakness, but it is almighty power. Who is this helpless Child traveling across hostile countryside? Who but the Creator of heaven and earth! He humbles Himself. People loved by God, don’t be put off by His humility. For you haven’t got a prayer without it. Unless the almighty God came down to earth to become our representative, to fulfill the Law in our stead, to suffer and die for us, we would remain bound to the sin that captured our own hearts from the time we were conceived and born.
You cannot force good into evil. You need a Savior who will bear the evil, conquer your sin in His own Body, and thus achieve what you needed, but couldn’t do. Christ’s life was lived for you. The vicarious purpose of His life is why we celebrate this Holy Season. He was born, not just to show us how to live or how to die, but to do for us, in our stead, what we owed. And to suffer for us, as our Substitute, what we deserved. This required Him to humble Himself. No steel against steel. No gun against gun. No fist against fist. But the pure, holy, and perfect submissive love of Jesus offered up to His heavenly Father as our offering.
The life of Christ is our life. We stand on our pride and demanded to be treated as we think we deserve. But He didn’t latch onto His status. He made a humiliating journey through the desert running away from a vicious thug. The Prince of Peace fleeing from the killer of babies! How embarrassing! If only we had a god who stood up to tyranny and wickedness! A god who would trample out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored! Instead, He runs away.
But see where He is going. Don’t judge Him. He fulfills God’s promise: Out of Egypt I have called My Son. Hosea was not only recounting God’s son Israel, but giving us a promise that God the Father would call His only begotten Son out of Egypt, return Him to the Holy Land, and fulfill every single promise given through the prophets. He would keep the covenant God’s people broke.
He would overcome evil with good in His own Body. By His humble obedience, all the way to the Cross, where He died bearing the weight of the world’s sin, He would gain an eternal Kingdom. And in His resurrection He would bring life and immortality to light. And through His Gospel preached to all nations He would call sinners out of darkness into the wonderful light of His saving truth.
In the meantime, what do we do with the baby killing Herods who appear to become more and more emboldened? How do we defeat their evil designs? We love them. We love those for whom Jesus died. We pray for their conversion to the truth. We march right up to their steps and confess the saving truth to them. Just as the almighty God hid His power under the appearance of weakness as Jesus fled from Herod’s anger, so today He hides His almighty power under the humble forms the Gospel takes among us. Word and water, bread and wine.
But His Word which endures forever is always powerful to save sinners and to usher them into Christ’s Kingdom of grace.
In the Name of the Father and + of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
In the Name + of JESUS. Amen.
The flight of the child Jesus to Egypt and his return occurred right after the Magi from the East came to Bethlehem to worship Him. Their visit is recounted in the Gospel lesson for Epiphany. Tomorrow. The 13th Day of Christmas, which begins a new season of the Church Year. The season of Epiphany features our Lord revealing His glory as the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. It is during the season of Epiphany that we see Jesus in the Temple showing wisdom fall beyond His age. See Him doing His first miracle, changing water into wine. See Him Baptized and Transfigured. Revealing, that is, ephiphanying, His glory.
But not today. Right after Jesus receives the worship of the Magi He has to run away from a murderous king bent on taking His life. God becomes a Baby and is immediately set upon. His Mother has to undertake a treacherous journey not long after giving birth. Joseph must travel to a far away place he has never seen. St Peter is right. Judgment begins at the household of God. And if it began with Baby Jesus, beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you.
Yet we look at these events and wonder why God permits what He permits. People put God on trial for not taking care of His business properly. Why should the Son of God have to flee from a murderous king> Why not stay the hand of the killer who murdered as many as twenty innocent little boys in his attempt to kill the newborn King of the Jews? What is God doing?
Organizations like Planned Parenthood that profit from killing unborn babies receive government subsidies so they can further profit from what, in a civilized society, would be criminal activity. Those who protest the mass slaughter of the unborn are portrayed by the media and entertainment industry as fanatics. While those who do the killing lay claim to constitution protection for their gruesome trade. Where is God in all this? Why does He do nothing? The millions of babies killed in their mothers’ wombs cries out to heaven for vengeance. But their killers retire on pensions and die peaceful deaths. Where is God?
As an aside, if you’re as saddened by this travesty as I am, consider participating in the March for Life Indianapolis this year. Wednesday the 22nd a special Divine Service will be held here at 10a followed by a carpool downtown to March with our brothers and sisters in Christ, fellow Pro-Lifers, and a joyous congregation of people walking to the State House to speak for those whose voice has been silenced. To tell our political leaders what those little boys and girls can’t say for themselves.
If the conscience of our political leaders today is callused to this issue, Herod the Great had no conscience at all. He was a murderer. He killed several members of his own family. He was so paranoid about threats to his position that he killed literally thousands of people in his lifelong grasp for power. He came to a miserable end. He died of an excruciatingly painful, putrefying illness of an uncertain cause. It became known as “Herod’s evil.” As he was facing death he arranged to have several prominent citizens killed so that when he died the people would mourn. His orders were not carried out.
People ask why God permits such wickedness to occur. Why should God be held responsible for sins committed against Him? He loves little children. But why is He to blame for the crimes of Herod or Planned Parenthood? Rachel weeps for her dead children. But she doesn’t blame God. We cannot blame God.
We cannot blame God because He is not to blame. It’s not just that God isn’t responsible for the evil actions of men. Men are. But it’s also that He has addressed this evil in such a way as to overcome it and destroy it. Only it wasn’t in the way that you might expect. God doesn’t think like we think. Sinful human beings judge God by sinful human standards and find Him wanting. Those who are steeped in sin and bound by a will that is hostile to God and incapable of obeying in faith Him presume to stand in judgment of Him who is holy. It’s not a matter of the pot calling the kettle black. It’s a matter of evil judging good and calling good evil.
Herod is evil. Jesus is good. Herod is king (small k) of the Jews. Jesus is King of the Jews. Herod wants to kill Jesus so as to protect his own power. He can’t imagine any other kind of power than the power of force. Chairman Mao said that political power grows out of the barrel of a gun. This is the only kind of power Herod understood. He’s not alone. Many folks who would consider themselves quite religious think that religion is all about the Law and only about the Law. About what you have to do and can’t do. The Law is inextricably bound to coercion and punishment.
So then, why does the good God permit evil? Why does the God who loves the little children, all the children of the world, permit a bloodthirsty maniac like Herod to murder the babies of Bethlehem? Why does He permit the “legal” slaughter of the innocents in America and around the world? Where is God when human cruelty cause such terrible human misery?
He is running away! His descent from Jacob’s ladder to assume Jacob’s flesh and blood and to redeem all of humanity was not a descent from heaven to a heavenly chamber here on earth. He wore no halo. He received little honor. he humbled Himself from the time He was conceived and born. He had the kind of power Herod revealed in, but He didn’t exercise it.
Why not? Why not steel against steel? Why not a superior Law against a depraved and corrupted one? Why not establish the kind of justice that rids the world of baby killing savages and makes it what a good God created it to be? Isn’t that what a good God would do?
Jesus fled from Herod not because He was conceding the battle or merely biding His time or waiting for a more opportune moment. Jesus ran away to Egypt to fulfill God’s promise. I Myself will go down with you to Egypt and I will also bring you up again. Our Lord’s Gospel promise has always been the answer to evil of every description. St Paul writes, Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good (Rm 12:21). This is how the Gospel works. It overcomes evil with good.
On His way to Egypt, Jesus passed by Mt Sinai where God gave His holy Law. The Law His people disobeyed. The Law that condemned the crimes of Herod and ours. The Law He came to fulfill. He, our Passover Lamb, traveled near where the first Passover lamb was killed. He, our Israel, was carried down into Egypt by His adopted father. He who was lifted up on the Cross traveled near the place that Moses lifted up the bronze serpent. He fled His homeland so that you could return to yours. He made Himself a sojourner that you could find your way home where you belong.
It looks like weakness, but it is almighty power. Who is this helpless Child traveling across hostile countryside? Who but the Creator of heaven and earth! He humbles Himself. People loved by God, don’t be put off by His humility. For you haven’t got a prayer without it. Unless the almighty God came down to earth to become our representative, to fulfill the Law in our stead, to suffer and die for us, we would remain bound to the sin that captured our own hearts from the time we were conceived and born.
You cannot force good into evil. You need a Savior who will bear the evil, conquer your sin in His own Body, and thus achieve what you needed, but couldn’t do. Christ’s life was lived for you. The vicarious purpose of His life is why we celebrate this Holy Season. He was born, not just to show us how to live or how to die, but to do for us, in our stead, what we owed. And to suffer for us, as our Substitute, what we deserved. This required Him to humble Himself. No steel against steel. No gun against gun. No fist against fist. But the pure, holy, and perfect submissive love of Jesus offered up to His heavenly Father as our offering.
The life of Christ is our life. We stand on our pride and demanded to be treated as we think we deserve. But He didn’t latch onto His status. He made a humiliating journey through the desert running away from a vicious thug. The Prince of Peace fleeing from the killer of babies! How embarrassing! If only we had a god who stood up to tyranny and wickedness! A god who would trample out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored! Instead, He runs away.
But see where He is going. Don’t judge Him. He fulfills God’s promise: Out of Egypt I have called My Son. Hosea was not only recounting God’s son Israel, but giving us a promise that God the Father would call His only begotten Son out of Egypt, return Him to the Holy Land, and fulfill every single promise given through the prophets. He would keep the covenant God’s people broke.
He would overcome evil with good in His own Body. By His humble obedience, all the way to the Cross, where He died bearing the weight of the world’s sin, He would gain an eternal Kingdom. And in His resurrection He would bring life and immortality to light. And through His Gospel preached to all nations He would call sinners out of darkness into the wonderful light of His saving truth.
In the meantime, what do we do with the baby killing Herods who appear to become more and more emboldened? How do we defeat their evil designs? We love them. We love those for whom Jesus died. We pray for their conversion to the truth. We march right up to their steps and confess the saving truth to them. Just as the almighty God hid His power under the appearance of weakness as Jesus fled from Herod’s anger, so today He hides His almighty power under the humble forms the Gospel takes among us. Word and water, bread and wine.
But His Word which endures forever is always powerful to save sinners and to usher them into Christ’s Kingdom of grace.
In the Name of the Father and + of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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