December 29, 2019 – Matthew 2:13-23
Matthew 2:13-23
The Holy Family is a Refugee Family
First Sunday of Christmas – December 29, 2019
First Lutheran Church – Winnipeg, MB
Everyone is gathered around the Baby Jesus in our Nativity Scene.
The shepherd. The Angel. The magi. The animals.
Jesus seems safe and secure. Jesus seems home.
But soon enough the shepherd goes back to the field (remove shepherd).
The angel goes back to heaven. (remove Angel)
Thee magi return back to their homeland far away. (remove magi)
And even the animals leave. (remove animals)
The holy family is starting to look less at home, and more alone.
In a dream, Joseph is warned by an angel that Jesus is suddenly in great danger.
Herod, the ruler of the land, is seeking to take Jesus’ life because he has heard that
Jesus is also a ruler – and there can be only one ruler.
So the angel tells Joseph that in order to keep Jesus safe, Joseph should take Mary and Jesus
to another country, to Egypt, where they will all be safe. (remove Holy Family)
Joseph and Mary and Jesus must make a dangerous trip to a country far away where
They will not know the language, and the food will be strange,
And they will not know anyone – they will have no family members or friends.
It’s a good thing they do: for Herod in his rage sends out soldiers to kill all the newborn children
under 2 years of age in Bethlehem, hoping Jesus will be among them.
The mothers of these children wail and weep.
And there is no one to comfort them.
But Jesus, at least, is kept safe, so that one day, he will be able to comfort them and
work for a world in which it is safe for everyone –
this is the fallen world, though, that Jesus comes to save.
For two years or so, Mary and Joseph and Jesus remain in Egypt.
Until one day, an angel once again appears to Joseph in a dream and tells him Herod has died
and so it is safe to return home!
And so they make the long journey back.
But when they arrive they see that Herod’s son is now ruling there and that
Herod’s son is just as violent and cruel as his father.
And so they go a new unfamiliar place in Galilee up north which is safe,
and there, in a town called Nazareth, Jesus grows up to be an adult and
eventually begins his ministry.
The Holy Family is a refugee family, as Matthew makes very plain to us.
Jesus knew the struggles of being displaced because of political violence.
He knew what it was to be an outsider. He knew what it was to be vulnerable.
He knew what it was to be isolated and alone.
He knew what it was to not know the language and customs of the places he lived in.
Later on, when Jesus is grown up, he himself will summarize his existence from
the time he was a child: “Foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests;
but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.” (Matthew 8:20)
surely one of the saddest lines in the Gospels.
Nevertheless, Jesus the refugee forges a new family from those committed to
God’s mission to love, bless, heal and set free this whole world and every person in it.
He forges a new family with his fellow baptized and grows to find purpose in
providing comfort to those who mourn – like the mothers of those children –
in providing welcome to others who seem to have no place,
in providing love to those who feel themselves to be loveless.
The one with no home grows to become a home for many.
Many find a home in him.
We have many in our congregation who have gone through experiences very much like Jesus.
Jesus knows what it is like to be a refugee – knows what it is like to have to flee your home
because your home is no longer safe.
Our brothers and sisters from the Congo and from South Sudan know first hand
what it is like to have to flee your home and go somewhere unfamiliar in order to be safe.
They know what it is like to flee violence, and go to a place that is safer, if not altogether safe.
They know what it is like to have to leave home to go somewhere where the language,
and the food, and the customs are all so different and unfamiliar.
But they also know what it is like, like Jesus, to know that God has been with them.
That, like Jesus, God has protected them.
That, like Jesus, God knows what it is like and has been with them.
Like Jesus, these brothers and sisters know what it is like to find a new home –
and to make a new home among those committed to God’s mission to love bless and
heal and set free this whole world and every person in it.
These brothers and sisters are very close to Jesus – for they have walked in Jesus’ shoes.
And Jesus has walked with them.
They have known great uncertainty, and so,
in our uncertainties, they bring us gifts of the assurance of God’s presence with us.
Together we have found a home in one another.
In the words of our new member Rebecca Deng, together we are home.
Joseph was a dreamer, and once again in this story from Matthew Joseph takes centre stage.
The dreaming, trusting father takes action and secures the safety of Jesus and Mary.
What dream do you wish Joseph could have today?
Instead of nightmares in which families have to flee for their safety,
perhaps we could dream a dream in which endangered people could find welcome and
safety – and home.
If we dream that together, perhaps, in a small way, it could come true.
Perhaps, in a small way, it is already becoming true right here at Sargent and Victor.
Jesus has made a home right here (bring Jesus back).
Jesus is home here, and we together home in one another in him.
It is here, providentially, that God is working to gather us all around Jesus,
and homing us in one another.
Jesus extends his rule in love one redeeming act a time, day by day by day.
God’s presence in messy earthly life in uncertain times assures of the truth of the promise:
Jesus is God with us, our Emmanuel.
So together, let continue to home in one another, and let us say, “Amen.”
Pastor Michael Kurtz
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