I.Theme – God/Christ as Redeemer and Revealer
Guido of Siena,13th Century Italian
The lectionary readings are here
Jeremiah 31:7-14
Psalm 84
Ephesians 1:3-6,15-19a
Luke 2:41-52
Matthew 2:13-15,19-23
The details of the Gospel story, the flight into Egypt, makes it easy to forget the intent of it that shows God in control and not Herod or his son, even though it looks that way on the face of it with Joseph’s family side stepping the political moves of the day and winning out. God is leading us and with us even when events do not go our way. We are not alone. We have to look at the bigger picture, often difficult to see while we are going through life.
This is a realistic story with our current world situation – the numbers of babies killed in Syria and the migrations away from that worn-torn land to Turkey and Lebanon.
In Ephesians God has revealed his will in the sending of Christ, and he seeks to "gather up all things" in both heaven and earth in Christ. Christ is therefore both the Redeemer and the Revealer through the Holy Spirit. God’s accomplishing all things according to his will in Christ’s resurrection and reign.
The idea of redeemer and revealer is present in the Old Testament reading of Jeremiah. The people deported from Jerusalem in Babylonia will return. There are images of redemption – God’s love and faithfulness to promises made remain intact through Israel’s infidelity and consequent judgment. God rescues this and builds a new life out of the rubble. There are images of revelation and promise – those who lived on the outside of society will not live that way. The hope is those who have suffered.
This psalm praises God as the longed-for goal of the pilgrim. The “dwelling” of God is the Temple (and perhaps also the land of Israel). To live in the Temple is greatly to be desired: those who live there have security and happiness, even the birds (v. 3) who nest in the Temple area. Making a pilgrimage to the Temple offers these hopes.
II. Articles for this week in WorkingPreacher:
Old Testament – Jeremiah 31:7-14
Psalm – Psalm 84
Epistle – Ephesians 1:3-6,15-19
Gospel – Luke 2:41-52
Gospel – Matthew 2:13-15,19-23
III. Summary
1. Matthew
This passage is somewhat out of order with the beginning of Epiphany. The magi have come (Matthew 2:1-12) – and left.
Once Herod realizes that the magi have circumvented the conspiracy to eliminate this newly king of the Jews, his instinct to preserve his power at all costs kicks in. He knows the approximate date of the child’s birth thanks to the magi’s calculations, and so he orders the extermination of all children born "in and around Bethlehem." Herod will not take the chance that this child has slipped out of the city. According to Matthew, Jeremiah 31:15 had already prophesied the cries of anguish that would arise in Israel over such grievous oppression.
Jesus comes as God’s chosen king, the one who is to bring about the peace, justice, and equity of the kingdom of God. And so all earthly kings who put their own power and privilege first are terrified.
This short passage , in particular, full of quotations from the Hebrew Bible. The entire story of the passage is based on the typological parallel of Moses’ birth story in Exodus 1:8-2:10, and each of the three scenes in the passage (vv.13-15, 16-18, and 19-23) ends with a direct quotation from the Hebrew Bible (v.15 from Hos 11:1 and Deut1:31; v.18 from Jer 31:15; v.23 from Zec 3:8 and Is 11:1). Matthew weaves these quotations to present Jesus’ birth story as breaking news about God’s salvation in human history.
We not only have Israel going down into Egypt and being called up out of Egypt in the Exodus as God’s son (hence the quotation of Hosea 11:1 in 2:15), but we also have echoes of the attempt of the Pharoah to kill Hebrew infants which led to Moses being set among the bulrushes. Jewish legends about this event also have dream warnings just as we have here and it is very likely that these were known to Matthew in composing the story.
Joseph is a man of action . Like Joseph, we need to discern God’s voice in the midst of the dark and obey God’s commandment to take immediate action against evil. From the very first, the road Jesus walks is marked by both God’s promises and human resistance. Jesus is both the living presence of God’s promises and a consistent irritant to those in power
In a short number of verses, there are 3 Geographical locations with Joseph’s trek of the new family.
Egypt (vv. 13-15) is a land with ambiguous connotations. It is, of course, the place of bondage from which God had to deliver the people in the exodus. But it is also sometimes a place of refuge (1 Kings 11:40; 2 Kings 25:6; Jer. 43:1-7). Matthew tells the story of the holy family’s flight to Egypt with incredible irony. In the exodus story, babies were slaughtered in Egypt by the wicked pharaoh. But now, righteous Jews must flee to Egypt to escape a massacre of infants in their own land (Matt. 2:16-18). It is not, of course, a detour without precedent: another Joseph, who was also guided by God through dreams, once brought his family here (Gen. 37–50). And, as it turns out, Jesus’ sojourn here is a brief one. Soon, the family is directed back to Israel (vv. 20, 21), where they belong. But, alas! Another problem arises, and they wind up settling in Galilee.
Galilee was commonly known as "Galilee of the Gentiles" (Matt. 4:15). Though once a part of the northern kingdom of Israel, the land had never really been recovered since its fall to the Assyrians, and it was now widely populated with "foreigners." The Jews in Judea considered Galilean Jews only a step above Samaritans. Settling here was definitely not a wise career move for anyone who wanted credentials as a Messiah (cf. John 7:41).
After an angel announces the death of Herod to Joseph, the coast is clear for the family to return home to Bethlehem of Judea. However, after learning that Herod’s son Archelaus now ruled Judea, the family makes a new home in Nazareth in Galilee. For the third time, Matthew points to a prophetic promise: "He will be called a Nazarene."
Nazareth is even worse. This little agricultural village, with a population of about 500, was so insignificant that, at one time, some historians and archaeologists denied that such a place had ever existed. "Can anything good come out of Nazareth?" may have been a proverb of the day. Certainly, these words of Nathanael recorded in John 4:46 would have represented a popular sentiment
Matthew advises us that everything is transpiring according to God’s plan. The major turn is that after leading us to believe that Jesus would be one before whom kings of the earth would either kneel or tremble (Matt 2:3, 11), Matthew now reveals that Jesus is to be identified with helpless, and vulnerable people of this world. In time, this will include his followers, who like him will be pursued from town to town (Matt. 10:23).
A terrible reality of life is that a great many people in many parts of the world are simply at the mercy of political tyrants or unpredictable forces of nature that determine where, when, how, and whether they will live. Jesus is seeing life as many of us see it – disappointment, fear, violence, even death.
And God is part of that as well, holding on to us, comforting us, blessing us with promise that God will stay with us through the good and the bad, drawing us ever more deeply into God’s loving embrace and promising that nothing – not even death – will separate us from God. Indeed Jesus name Emmanuel means “God is With Us”
2.Luke
This reading provides another sense of commentary on the Holy Family. Here Jesus seeks a sense of the Family to which he was destined to belong. In following these traditions, Jesus becomes a pilgrim with them, and a seeker after and giver of knowledge.
The story of Jesus’ visit to Jerusalem during Passover sets forth several of Luke’s favorite themes. Mary and Joseph are presented as faithful keepers of the law. Although there were three major pilgrim festivals during the year, by this time Jews living outside Jerusalem generally came only for Passover.
At the age of 13, a Jewish boy becomes bar mitzvah, a son of the law, taking upon himself the responsibility of the commitment made for him by his parents in his circumcision. The year preceding this is spent in preparation, and the trip to Jerusalem for Passover may have been part of Jesus’ training.
Joseph and Mary find Jesus in God’s house, where Luke previously described important divine revelations to Zechariah, Simeon and Anna. Jesus is asking and answering questions, the normal Jewish method of learning. In replying to his mother, he expresses the sense of necessity and devotion to God’s will that characterizes his whole life (Hebrews 10:7).
The experience of divine Fatherhood, hitherto claimed only for the covenant people of Israel and for the king, is for Jesus an intimate personal relationship. Yet he returns to Nazareth in obedience and continues to mature in age and wisdom. The focus on Jerusalem, the emphasis on Sonship and the three-day search also foreshadow the passion and resurrection.
Here,Luke begins to comment on who it is the Jesus really is. It is signaled to us in the phrase, “And all who heard him were amazed,” a standard sign from Luke that Jesus is calling a group or an individual to belief. It is used of the parents as well, “When his parents saw him they were astonished” It is a beginning but does not exhibit the full understanding. Nonetheless, Jesus continues to be obedient, and Mary continues to ponder and treasure.
3. Ephesians
This letter of Paul was written from prison, probably in Rome. This book celebrates the life of the church, a unique community established by God through the work of Jesus Christ, who is its head, and also the head of the whole creation.
There are echoes of the Gospel of John but this Gospel extends these ideas to highlight Christ’s role with us
John said “All things came into being through him” and Ephesians 1:4 says “just as he chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless before him in love.
The passage is filled with assertions about God the Father, Christ, and the Holy Spirit.
In its "God statements," it sets forth an image of God as one who:
has chosen believers
has destined them for adoption as his children
continues to bless them
showers his grace upon them
He has revealed his will in the sending of Christ, and he seeks to "gather up all things" in both heaven and earth in Christ.
In its "Christ statements," the passage portrays Jesus as one whose death is redemptive — in this case explicitly meaning the forgiveness of sins — and whose coming into the world is revelatory; he has made known "the mystery" of God’s will. In him we have gained an "inheritance" and have "the word of truth," which is "the gospel of [our] salvation."
Part of the exploration of gifts lavished on us” includes spiritual inheritance of which the gift of the Holy Spirit. The view that the Spirit would be poured out and distributed among believers in the early days of the Christian church was widely held. Christ is therefore both the Redeemer and the Revealer. Of course, these are the two main functions of Christ throughout the New Testament.
One phrase occurring toward the end of the passage is “all things”
The first time, "all things" refers to everything in God’s universe. All things are important to God and to Christ, so we look out upon the world with new "ecological eyes."
The second time "all things" is used, it refers to God’s accomplishing all things according to his will in Christ’s resurrection and reign. Since God has done all things that are truly needful for us in Christ, we can therefore have a renewed hope, living for the praise of his glory, which is also expressed twice (1:12, 14).
4. Jeremiah
Jeremiah probably wrote this message of hope about 600 BC. Most of his book is directed to the people of Judah (the southern kingdom, conquered by Babylon in 587 BC) but this passage is directed to Israel, the northern kingdom, which was at the time loosely subject to Assyrian rule.
The chapters from 30-33 provide hope in this book . Even though the passage has images of homecoming, restoration, and renewed relationships, the vision of the restoration retains much the language of pain and divine judgment. In the great company, there is lameness and blindness (cf. Jeremiah 5:21), weeping (Jeremiah 3:21), (not) stumbling (Jeremiah 6:21) — all language that Jeremiah has used to describe the people’s suffering and God’s punishment.
The images used throughout Jeremiah 31 are predominantly familial rather than political or military. Female images, especially those associated with birth and new life, are prominent. The return to the everyday life of the village, with its familiar tasks and joys, is given special attention. God is imaged as a loving, nurturing parent (both father and mother), comforting those who sorrow and caring for the needs of a bruised community.
The opening verses of Jeremiah 31 are important in evaluating verses 7-14. God’s word to Israel is strong and clear: "I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore I have continued my faithfulness to you" (31:2). God’s love and faithfulness to promises made remain intact through Israel’s infidelity and consequent judgment. Even in the worst of times! That divine love and faithfulness was now at work to recreate Israel out of the rubble of exile. Out of death God brings new life.
It is this understanding of God that undergirds 31:7-14.
In the first section (vv. 7-9) the people are called to praise God, who is leading the people back, gathering them together. It is cause for celebration.
Vv. 7-8 are a call for celebration. Words common to the psalms of praise and thanksgiving dominate: sing, shout, proclaim, and praise (31:7). The call is to sing "for" Israel, the chief of nations; it is probably a word to the exiles themselves ( “Jacob” refers to Israel; the “chief of the nations” means the foremost: Israel is paramount because God cares about it. The “land of the north” (v. 8) is Assyria. The people – even the “blind and the lame” – will be gathered together, and will return from exile. (They were deported in 722 BC.) Such a caravan crossing the Arabian desert will indeed be a miraculous event.
This leading and gathering by God is presented using two central images, that of the shepherd, and that of the Exodus. The shepherd image is present in the concept of God gathering the people. It is evocative of the shepherd gathering the lost sheep, and in God’s leading by water, and in straight paths (v. 9; cf. Psalm 23 and Isa 40:1-11). The Exodus imagery is invoked in v. 9 where God becomes ‘a father to Israel, and Ephraim is my firstborn.’ This image of God as father is not common in the Old Testament and only emerges late in Israel’s history (Isa 63:16; 64:8), but it is evocative of Exod 4:22, where God names Israel as his firstborn son.
In V7, memories of devastation and war resonate in the people’s self- identification as "the remnant of Israel", suggesting that they see themselves as survivors. Perhaps trauma also explains the awkward fit between the call to sing and praise (verse 7a) and the plea to "save" (in verse 7b). The expected response to a call to praise is stymied inexplicably with a petition: "Save, O YHWH, your people."
Verses 8-9 state the reason for the praise of verse 7: God is going to bring the remnant of Israel back from Babylon ("the land of the north") and from other places where they had been scattered.
This combination of imagery suggests the return of the people of Israel/Judah from exile in Babylon. The returning community, however, is a very different one to that which was carried off into exile Notably, those returning home will not consist simply of the healthy and able-bodied. The returnees will include the weak and the disabled and even women who are in labor. The point here is a democratization in the experience of deliverance; those who return will include not simply the leaders and the affluent, but people from all walks of life and in every physical condition
The return will be a time of joy and gladness, but it will also be a time of weeping (verse 9; see verses 15-20). Joy and weeping often go together at such times of homecoming, especially when those involved remember all the friends and loved ones who have died and are not able to return. God will personally lead them back and comfort them with words of consolation. As the great company limps back in to the land consoled and led by God (31:9) — the same God who punished them with disturbing zeal — the weakness and brokenness of the past and present has not been not be eradicated. The memory of God as holy terror lives in their bones. Straight into the heart of that fear, Jeremiah injects a little beauty and tentative moments of consolation. While he is interested in justifying God’s punitive actions against Judah, he resists papering over God’s role in the people’s misery.
In Jeremiah’s restored community, the lame and the broken will no longer be relegated to the edges of society, left to glean the leftovers. Instead in this new society, they — the blind and the lame, and the pregnant and laboring women — will no longer live on the periphery. They will be revered as — and at — the heart of the community. Images like this one encourage Israel to view its marginality as the core of its communal identity. Instead of decrying and lamenting their marginal status (as an exiled people in Babylon or as a people stifled under Persian rule), their vulnerability should, according to Jeremiah, now define them.
God’s act of gathering the people back to the land restores them to blessing but not necessarily to power, at least in a traditional sense. Nationalism, military might, and full treasuries — even temple glories — are not objects of hope for Jeremiah. Instead Jeremiah sees hope in the faces of the broken and the forgotten. There he finds the essence of Israelite identity… and the basis for his particular image of renewal
In 31:10, all the nations are called upon to listen to this word about God’s children; indeed, they are to help broadcast this fact out and about so that everyone will hear of God’s work of salvation (see Isaiah 48:20). What they are to proclaim is specified in verse 10b. The God who scattered Israel in judgment is the same God who will now gather them (see 23:3) and keep them as a shepherd keeps his flock.
God will again gather the people, and will continue to love and rescue the people of Israel and Judah. The image of the shepherd is made more explicit here (v. 10) but again, the shepherd is not the only image. God is one who ransoms, or redeems the people – as a close relative can buy back one sold into slavery for debt (v. 11). Water, and the image of abundance that it brings in this dry land is the final vision for this time of return. The passage concludes with a summary of the rejoicing of the people, with dancing and joy, and an end to mourning and sadness.
The reason for this testimony is stated in verse 11 ("for"). Israel’s salvation is here anticipated, even in the midst of the worst of disasters. Deliverance from the strong arm of Babylon is linked by the vocabulary of "ransom" (of the firstborn) and "redeem" to Israel’s deliverance from Egypt
In verses 12-13, the people come rejoicing and dancing . As they climb the heights of Jerusalem they will be radiant over the gifts of grain, wine, oil, and the young of flock and herd . The land which had mourned (Jeremiah 12:4-13; 14:1-6) will once again be productive and provide sustenance for both people and animals. Their lives will become like a watered garden, flourishing and fruitful, and they will never (!) languish again (see Isaiah 58:11).
It is notable that the language of creation is drawn so strongly into this response to the saving work of God. Salvation is not simply for people; salvation is also for the land and for all of its creatures (devastated earlier, see Jeremiah 9:10). The abundance associated with the life of worship and its sacrifices is also picked up (verse 14).
5. Psalm
This psalm praises God as the longed-for goal of the pilgrim. The “dwelling” of God is the Temple (and perhaps also the land of Israel). To live in the Temple is greatly to be desired: those who live there have security and happiness, even the birds (v. 3) who nest in the Temple area. Making a pilgrimage to the Temple offers these hopes. When the pilgrims pass through the arid “valley of Baca” (v. 6) en route to the Temple, it becomes fertile. They become more and more godly (“strength to strength”, v. 7) as they travel, increasing in their knowledge of God. V. 9 is a prayer for the king. (The word translated “anointed” is messiah; later it was taken as referring to the ideal future king who would restore the nation.) Perhaps v. 10 contrasts the fate of the godly and the wicked. God is both “sun and shield” (v. 11): he illuminates and protects, and bestows of blessings.