The Flight Into Egypt

 Matthew 2:13-23 

Now when they had departed, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream, saying, "Arise and take the Child and His mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you; for Herod is going to search for the Child to destroy Him."  And he arose and took the Child and His mother by night, and departed for Egypt; and was there until the death of Herod, that what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet might be fulfilled, saying, "OUT OF EGYPT DID I CALL MY SON."

Then when Herod saw that he had been tricked by the magi, he became very enraged, and sent and slew all the male children who were in Bethlehem and in all its environs, from two years old and under, according to the time which h e had ascertained from the magi.  Then that which was spoken through Jeremiah the prophet was fulfilled, saying, "A VOICE WAS HEARD IN RAMAH, WEEPING AND GREAT MOURNING, RACHEL WEEPING FOR HER CHILDREN; AND SHE REFUSED TO BE COMFORTED, BECAUSE THEY WERE NO MORE."

But when Herod was dead, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt, saying, "Arise and take the Child and His mother, and go into the land of Israel; for those who sought the Child's life are dead."  And he arose and took the Child and His mother, and came into the land of Israel.  But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning over Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. And being warned by God in a dream, he departed for the regions of Galilee, and came and resided in a city called Nazareth, that what was spoken through the prophets might be fulfilled, "He shall be called a Nazarene."

Sermon for The Sunday after Christmas                               12/28/25

 The Flight into Egypt

My Brothers and Sisters in Christ:

I've spoken in the last few sermons about repentance and forgiveness, about the joy and happiness of Christmas, about the blessings God poured out and pours out today, and about blessed Christmas is.  There is an opposing view, however.  There is a certain group who were none too pleased to see Christmas roll around.  I am speaking of Satan and his servants.  None of them were particularly pleased to see this promised arrival actually take place.  Satan had not lost track of the promise of God made to Adam and Eve in the garden.  It had been centuries, millennia, but he still remembered that promise; "I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between your seed and her seed, He shall bruise thy head and thou shalt bruise his heel."

Satan was confident that he could defeat God when he rebelled in heaven.   Satan was still confident in the garden.  It would stand to reason that Satan still  thought he could  beat God.  Now Satan was out to end the plan of salvation by killing the infant Jesus, and God had to protect His Son.

So we have our Gospel, the flight into Egypt.  In the middle of the right, Joseph is visited by an angel in a dream.  It is difficult to say how anyone could tell that it wasn't just another dream, but Joseph had no trouble.  God made him sure that he was to get up right way and flee to Egypt, and He  told Joseph that someone was planning to search for Jesus and kill him.  So, Joseph awakened the whole family, packed up, and left right then, in the middle of the night.  The next morning it caused quite a commotion to find that the wise men from the east had departed, and the young family, who had drawn such majestic attention were gone too.  One night the family was there, the next morning, they were gone.

Secular history and Scripture both record the temper tantrum of Herod, when he learned that the Wise men had left without telling him where the child was.  His spies in the city told him that the family in the house which the Wise Men visited were not there the next morning.  Herod seemed confident that they had only moved to escape his attention, so he ordered all of the male children two years old and younger to be killed.

But Satan had lost again, and the Christ-child was still safe.  God had protected his Son.  But God didn't use any special magic to do it.  There were no force fields, no mystical disappearances, no pillars of fire to rescue His Son. There was just a word given to one of God's willing servants, Joseph.  All of the actual work involved in saving Jesus was done by Joseph.  God gave him a job, and he did it to a Tee.

If Joseph had failed, I'm sure God would have worked something else out.  He cannot be frustrated in His plan of salvation – except by our unbelief.  We would never have heard of Joseph's dream, if he had just rolled over and drifted back off to sleep.  But he didn't.  He acted.  When there were easier, more direct, and probably more effective means to do the job at His disposal, God used a man.  He handed out the job assignment, and counted on Joseph to do what needed to be done.  That's quite an honor.  Lucky Joseph!  He lived in the day when God still spoke out loud to His people, albeit through angels (a word which means messenger)  but He still gave men specific tasks to do for Him.  

Wouldn't it be wonderful to have that same opportunity?  Wouldn't you jump at the chance to do a job, given directly to you from God?  Think of the honor it would be!  You, a servant of the Most High, with marching orders from God!  Talk about status!  That's the sort of thing that people just dream of!  Just like an Old Testament prophet!  God's messenger, God's tool!  Specially chosen to do His work for Him!  The thought is mind boggling!

Lucky Joseph should be as lucky as you!  God has important work for each one of you.  And he has sent it to you by means of an angel.  After all, "angel" means messenger – and I am God's messenger to you, speaking the Word of God to you.  God has a job He needs done, and he has assigned it to you.  Now, you can wrestle among yourselves for the honor of doing this part, or that part, for the glory of God, But it needs to be done.  It is an important job, and God has left it up to you to do it.

You see, your job is spreading the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  Well, it is actually bigger than just spreading it, it includes nurturing it, and doing public relations, and fertilizing it, and training others to do the same work, and running the business end of the operation.  There's a task in there for each one of you to do.  God has tailored a task to fit each of you somehow.  There are singing tasks, and janitor work.  There is talking, visiting, sharing, witnessing.  We have room for writers.  We need people good with math.  We need teachers -- and there is on-the-job training available.  We need motivators and we need students. There are several openings for examples – you know, people who model the Christian faith, or the Christian life, something every single one of is to be doing – and there are a number of positions open in the generous giver field.  We could use several willing workers, and followers of every kind are needed.  There are tasks for the young and the old.  There is no retirement age, and you are never too young to do some of the really important work.  We also have jobs for women and minorities.  We are truly and equal opportunity employer.

What??  You say that all of this is just regular church work?  You don't see anything special?  And you thought Joseph was lucky!  What's so special about running scared across the desert?  What is so unique about having a wife and a young child to care for – and that in the least favorable of conditions?  All Joseph had was a responsibility and everyday life – everyday life made considerably harder by that angel's message.  And he couldn't even talk back to the angel.  You ever tried talking back to a dream?  You could give me excuses.  You could even belt me one if you don't like what I say, but talk back to a dream?

Joseph had a special job.  He was the earthly step-father of the Son of God.  It was a very responsible position, and it was probably very difficult.  Joseph was called into retirement from that task sometime before Jesus was thirty years old.  But Joseph's oh-so-special job was just everyday to Joseph.  No one even realized he was doing any special job for God.  He didn't get special notice, and he didn't get extra money.  If I understand Satan's ways, Joseph probably got a lot of devilish harassment for his trouble.

Now God is giving you a job.  He is not offering it.  He never does.   He has the job and He expects you to fill it.  If you choose not to, He may work it out in some other way, perhaps taking some blessings from you,  or He may just allow it to go undone here - and bring great disaster to your children and grand children.  They may grow up without the Gospel.  You see, your job is to be the Church, the sanctuary and safekeeping place of the Word of God.  Others have had this job and failed to take it seriously, some have refused even to do it.  They had excuses, too, but their churches soon became social clubs, or places where the preachers talked about drunk-driving, or politics, or pretty, flowery poetry, or their churches have died out completely.  In any case their families have lost the Word of God and become caught up in the pseudo-religion of feeling happy for the moment, and taking the path of least resistance.

You have a job.  For some of you it is to actively proclaim Christ crucified, and Christ resurrected, and the marvelous salvation He brings.  It is telling people about the forgiveness of sins, purchased on the cross of calvary, or the free gift of eternal life in Christ Jesus.  If you are able to do that.

But, some of you simply cannot.  Some of you can only speak to children, like in Sunday School.  And so, that is your job.  There are those who can sing but not talk.  There are some who can write but not sing, some who can help run the business part of the church, some who can help repair the church's physical plant.  There are those who are gifted at inviting people to worship, and others who can't do any of those things, but can visit the sick and the shut-in.  Maybe you can listen to a person's problems or give a cheerful greeting to others on Sunday.  It might be that you can't do any of that, either, but you can live a life so clearly given to the Lord that we can all admire you and draw strength from your example and praise God for men and women such as you!  Perhaps you have a faith that could move mountains.  But there is one job that you can all do, attend worship every Sunday, and pray for us and the church, and yourself.  After all, only a shut-in can't come to church, and only the dead cannot pray.

God is counting on you.  There are hundreds of people in our area who need the Word of God.  There are hundreds who unknowingly count on you to bring it to them.  Our entire congregation counts on your support to make this congregation loving, encouraging, strengthening.  All of these are common and unglamourous tasks, but they are tasks which God has given us to do, and they are jobs that give satisfaction, jobs with blessings attached.  And your part may just go undone if you don't do it.

Joseph had the flight to Egypt.  We have the great commission.  We each have our jobs to do, given to us by God.  Let us be like Joseph.  Let us do what God has called us and equipped us to do.

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.

(Let the people say Amen)

What Did You Come Here to See?

 Matthew 11:2-10 

Now when John in prison heard of the works of Christ, he sent word by his disciples, and said to Him, "Are You the Expected One, or shall we look for someone else?"  And Jesus answered and said to them, "Go and report to John what you hear and see: the BLIND RECEIVE SIGHT and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and the POOR HAVE THE GOSPEL PREACHED TO THEM. And blessed is he who keeps from stumbling over Me."

And as these were going away, Jesus began to speak to the multitudes about John, "What did you go out into the wilderness to look at? A reed shaken by the wind?  But what did you go out to see? A man dressed in soft clothing? Behold, those who wear soft clothing are in kings' palaces.  But why did you go out? To see a prophet? Yes, I say to you, and one who is more than a prophet.  This is the one about whom it is written, ‘BEHOLD, I SEND MY MESSENGER BEFORE YOUR FACE, WHO WILL PREPARE YOUR WAY BEFORE YOU.'"

Sermon for Third Sunday in Advent                    12/14/25

 What Did You Come Here to See?

My Brothers and Sisters in Christ:

Our Gospel lesson this morning revolves around two questions – the question of John to Jesus – Are you the Coming One, or shall we look for someone else?, and the question of Jesus about John, What did you go out into the wilderness to look at?  What did you go out to see?  Both of them are questions that we could consider – one of them we must consider.  The question about John, though, is not so significant to us unless we translate it into our modern age, and place our congregation and its mission here in the place of the prophet John.  When we do that, we change the question of Jesus into the theme of our sermon this morning, What did you come here to see?

First, however, is the question John asked of Jesus.  Are you the Coming One or shall we look for someone else?  That is the question that rings through the ages in one form or another – What do you think of Jesus Christ?  Is He God, or simply a good man?  Is He really and fully human, or does it just seem that way?  Is Jesus Savior, or is He Judge?  Is He the Center of your existence, or simply an embellishment to it?  Do you believe in the Jesus of the Bible or the modern, politically correct, socially sensitive, humanistic Jesus?  Was Jesus the One, or are you still looking for someone else?

It sounds silly, doesn't it?  The question seems out of place here in a Lutheran Church.  Unfortunately, it is not.  It is never  out of place.  The devil is at work all of the time, trying to get us to imagine a "Jesus Christ" other than the One who existed and who died for us, and then to believe in that Jesus.  In the days of Jesus, the people who were waiting for the Messiah were often waiting for someone else.  When they met the Messiah, they didn't want to believe that this humble man was the One.  They wanted someone else.  

Their problem was just the same as ours.  They had come to look for the One they wanted, not the One actually promised or the One who came.  Today, many people want another Jesus.  They want the "Sweetheart of a Guy" Jesus who takes everyone just the way they are, and asks for nothing, expects no changes, overlooks anything and everything.  Or, perhaps, they want the Ecumenical Jesus, the one who doesn't care if we know Him, who measures us by our public niceness to others, and who is pleased if people simply learn to pay lip service to the existence of a deity of one sort or another.  Others have a Jesus in mind who changes His opinions as frequently as they do, and always agrees with them.  Doctrine, morality, history – these people believe that they are all in flux because these people are not willing to commit themselves to anything, and their Jesus is just like them.

Jesus gave John the answer: look at the Jesus who IS, and know Him.  Jesus told John's disciples to look at what they saw and hear in Him.  Jesus mentioned in specific the things which He had done, that the Messiah was going to do, according to the prophets.  Then Jesus said, And blessed is he who keeps from stumbling over Me.  In other words, blessed is the one who believes in the Messiah who has come – who does not stumble over the real Jesus or who does not have another Jesus, a preferable Jesus, in mind.  Jesus told John to face the reality that was reported – for us, that is the Jesus of the Bible, with the values and morality and doctrines of the Bible.  We cannot have Jesus if we reject Him and what He taught just because it feels good, or because someone we love has already rejected Him, and we don't want to face an uncomfortable truth about their spiritual life.

Which leads quite naturally to the questions of Jesus for the crowd.  He asked them what they had come for – pointing to John rather than Himself, but asking them if they were about reality – the man that was out in the wilderness or about some unrealistic fantasy – something not real.  But when Jesus pointed to John, He was actually pointing to Himself.  John was His messenger.  The conclusions they drew about John would also form the conclusions they drew about Jesus.

So, what have you come here to see?  Did you come here to confront holy mysteries and deal with Jesus as He is, or did you come here for some other purpose, with another agenda in mind?  What do you see here?

If you see this congregation as just a social organization of wonderful people, you are not here for Jesus.  If you see a worship service as simply a place one can go to in order to feel good, you are not seeing reality.  If you see the messenger of Christ as simply opinionated and peculiar, and reject him out of hand, without examining what is taught and preached in the Word, you have not come to see Jesus.  If you have come expecting something like a fast-food place where you can get your religion served up hot and fresh and just the way you like it, you have not come to see Jesus.  You want the nearest Burger King .

This is an assembly of Christ's holy people.  He has gathered His holy priesthood together here.   We have come here by His invitation, to eat of His body and drink of His blood in this holy Meal before us, and to hear His holy Word, and He has called His servant to proclaim His Word and distribute His sacrament faithfully. 

 We expect to be refreshed and strengthened.  He has promised it to us, and we believe His promises.  He has promised that our sins will be forgiven and we will have eternal life on account of what He has accomplished on the cross.  He has promised that those who remain faithful will rise from their graves in glory unto everlasting life and joy.  

He has not promised, however, that it will feel good, or please our intellect, or appeal to any part of us that may be included in the description "our sinful flesh."  His doctrines may not appeal to you – but if they are His, drawn clearly from His holy Word, they are also ours to keep and to believe and to confess.  He has also called us to serve Him in good times and in difficult times.

God may ask you to stand firm in the face of persecution.  If you have come to see Jesus, then you will.  It won't be fun, but it will be what you will want to do, if it is what God lays before you.  Or enduring illness.  Or facing certain death.  Or patiently confessing Christ, or some truth about Him drawn from His Word, before those who will not accept it, and who will not accept you if you do not change – oftentimes people whom you respect and from whom you covet approval.  In each of these circumstances we can see the pain, the pressure, the difficulty, but we cannot imagine the blessings and we cannot see what God is at work accomplishing through our faithfulness.  But it doesn't matter.  He is God, and we are "poor miserable sinners" who have been redeemed and saved by Him.

We often cannot imagine what difference it would make if we did what we ought not to do, or if we surrendered some piece of the truth, seemingly inconsequential, in order to achieve some goal or maintain some imagined good.  Well, it isn't ours to imagine.  Not if you have come here to see the Jesus who is.  Trust in the LORD with all your heart, And do not lean on your own understanding.  In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He will make your paths straight.  We do it His way, and we trust His Word because it is His, and we are His.  He is God, after all, and we are not.

Jesus asked them what they went out to see when they went out after John.  Of course, the only thing they could see was what was there – the prophet of God.  Even if they denied the prophet, that is all that there was out there for them to see.  Even when people deny the truth, or want God and their religion on their own terms, there is still only one God, and one true faith – and only one salvation.  If we come with any other agenda than God's agenda, they come in vain, without purpose and without success.

God has called you to His Word, and to His Supper, and into His family.  He has forgiven you all of your sins for Jesus' sake, and set His great love on you.  He has called you to know Him and His Word.  He has called you to serve Him by loving one another, and by faithfully living in the light of His great love day by day, in whatever circumstance you find yourself right now.

He has not called you to understanding every detail or enjoying every moment.  He has not called you to feeling good or being happy.  It is okay if you do, it is wonderful if you can, but it is not part of the promise – at least not for life in this world.  He has promised us sorrow, and pain, and the hatred and persecution of the world in this life.  And He has given us His Word and the Sacraments  –  and each other  –  for strength and comfort and encouragement as we stand faithful by His power and though His grace.

What did you come here to see?  All there is to see is the mystery of God's love in Jesus Christ, the purity of the Word, the refreshment of the Sacrament, and the fellowship of the saints.  In it and through it all He gives us forgiveness and resurrection and eternal life for the sake of Jesus Christ.  If you have come here for anything else, you will be disappointed.  If you have come to find any other Jesus than the One the Bible teaches us about, you have come to the wrong place – but if you have come for the false, let us show you the true Jesus, and stick with us and let us show you the true mysteries – the wonders of God and of God's love for you.  You will be glad, and we will be glad, and the angels of God will rejoice that you did!

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.

(Let the people say Amen)