Matthew 2:13-23 - Homiletics

The Lord's infancy.

I. THE FLIGHT INTO EGYPT .

1 . The dream of Joseph. The visit of the Wise Men, with their adoring worship and their costly gifts, is followed by persecution and distress. The opening life of the Lord exhibits those vicissitudes which were to occur again and again in the history of his Church and in the lives of individual Christians. The bright sunshine of success and popularity is soon clouded by seeming failure, by perplexity and persecution. It is what we are to expect. The disciple is not above his Master, nor the servant above his Lord. But God cares for his own; his providence prepares them for the coming trials; in his hands we are safe. "Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord, and against his Anointed." But "he that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh; the Lord shall have them in derision." The humblest of his servants sometimes defeat the designs of the mightiest of his foes, for he is with them. Joseph saves the infant Jesus from the cruel hands of Herod. But it was under the Divine guidance. The angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream; God spoke to him by his messenger in the visions of the night; God guided him in his difficulties, as he will guide us in ours, if we trust in him with the humble submission, with the undoubting obedience, of the holy Joseph.

2 . His journey. He obeyed at once; he took the young Child and his mother by night, and departed into Egypt. In Egypt, long ago, another Joseph had nourished his father and his brethren, the patriarchs, when the famine was sore in the land of Canaan; in Egypt, now, the little Babe was cherished who was to be the Bread of life, the Bread which came down from heaven and giveth life to the world. In Egypt the children of the patriarchs, Israel, the people of God, had lived long in exile and in bondage; in Egypt the heavenly Babe sojourned for a while, an outcast and a fugitive. God had called his son out of Egypt; he had said to Pharaoh, by the mouth of Moses, "Israel is my son, even my firstborn: and I say unto thee, Let my son go" ( Exodus 4:22 , Exodus 4:23 ). "When Israel was a child, then I loved him, and called my son out of Egypt." But those words of Hosea were pregnant with a deeper meaning—a meaning possibly not present to the mind of the prophet, but now unfolded by the Holy Ghost. God called his only begotten Son out of Egypt. God had a mighty work for him to do, and the scene of that work was to be, not Egypt, but the Holy Land. God sometimes seems to separate us from our work, to banish us from what seems to us our proper field of labour. We must trust him, as Joseph did; he will bring to pass in his own good time the purposes of his love and wisdom.

3 . The slaughter of the innocents.

II. THE RETURN .

1 . Herod was dead. The wicked king, on whose conscience lay the death of so many sufferers, had now to meet death himself. His last days were passed in the extremest misery, sometimes in planning acts of cruelty, sometimes in fits of the deepest despair. His wealth and power could not save him from a frightful death. "There is no peace, saith my God, unto the wicked." His death teaches the solemn lesson, "Envy thou not the oppressor." Wickedness, however gilded by rank and riches, must end in misery, probably in this world, certainly in the world to come. Herod was dead; the Lord Jesus was yet an Infant. The two, so utterly unlike, are mentioned here together. For a moment they almost crossed each other's path—the old man and the little Babe; the Idumaean and the Son of David; the despot in all his barbaric splendour, and the Child who had been cradled in the manger; the mighty tyrant with his soldiers, and the helpless Infant with one only earthly protector; the one intensely wicked, guilty beyond the ordinary range of human guilt, the other Holiest of holies, gentle, loving, self-sacrificing beyond all that human heart can conceive. For a moment their paths almost met, and then they parted—the one to die in torture, in misery of soul and body, thirsting for blood to the last moments of his evil life; the other to live a life most holy and most blessed, and at the last to lay down his life, a spotless Sacrifice, for the sins of the whole world. Herod was dead: who would envy the pomp and luxury of a life doomed to issue in such a death? They carried him to his tomb in royal majesty; the corpse lay on a bier of gold adorned with the costliest jewels. It seemed a ghastly mockery; that pomp could not follow him beyond the grave, it could not help the poor soul that was gone.

2 . The call. Again the angel's voice aroused the sleeping Joseph; again he recognized the word of God, and obeyed, as was his wont, at once. He took the young Child and his mother. Mary had suffered much; she was highly favoured; but those who are nearest to God are often called to pass through great affliction. She was in exile, far from home and country; she must have been in great distress and anxiety for the safety of the precious Child. She had trusted herself to God before: "Behold the handmaid of the Lord." Doubtless she trusted him always. He cared for her; he guided her. It is a comforting thought for anxious mothers.

3 . Nazareth.

LESSONS .

1 . God will bring to pass the purposes of his love; wicked men cannot overthrow them. "In quietness and confidence shall be your strength."

2 . Trust the little ones to God; he cares for them.

3 . Be humble and gentle, like the holy Child.