Sermon 12.29.2024: Walk Like an Egyptian
Jesus was a refugee. When King Herod's regime became murderous, Joseph fled to Egypt with Mary and the baby Jesus. The story of our faith is—and always has been—about standing with the vulnerable and providing sanctuary.
Scripture
Matthew 2:13-23
Now after [the Magi] had left, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, ‘Get up, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you; for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him.’ Then Joseph got up, took the child and his mother by night, and went to Egypt, and remained there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfill what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet, ‘Out of Egypt I have called my son.’
When Herod saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, he was infuriated, and he sent and killed all the children in and around Bethlehem who were two years old or under, according to the time that he had learned from the wise men. Then was fulfilled what had been spoken through the prophet Jeremiah:
‘A voice was heard in Ramah,
wailing and loud lamentation,
Rachel weeping for her children;
she refused to be consoled, because they are no more.’
When Herod died, an angel of the Lord suddenly appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt and said, ‘Get up, take the child and his mother, and go to the land of Israel, for those who were seeking the child’s life are dead.’ Then Joseph got up, took the child and his mother, and went to the land of Israel. But when he heard that Archelaus was ruling over Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. And after being warned in a dream, he went away to the district of Galilee. There he made his home in a town called Nazareth, so that what had been spoken through the prophets might be fulfilled, ‘He will be called a Nazorean.’
Sermon
Freedom Incarnate
Matthew 2:13-23
Now after [the wise men] left, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, ‘Get up, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you; for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him. ’Then Joseph got up, took the child and [Mary] by night, and went to Egypt, and remained there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfill what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet [Hosea], ‘Out of Egypt I have called my son.’ When Herod saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, he was infuriated, and [Herod] sent and killed all the children in and around Bethlehem who were two years old or under, according to the time that he had learned from the wise men. Then was fulfilled what had been spoken through the prophet Jeremiah:
‘A voice was heard in Ramah [1],
wailing and loud lamentation,
Rachel [2] weeping for her children;
she refused to be consoled,
because they are no more.’
When Herod died, an angel of the Lord suddenly appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt and said, ‘Get up, take the child and his mother, and go to the land of Israel, for those who were seeking the child’s life are dead. ’Then Joseph got up, took the child and his mother, and went to the land of Israel. But when he heard that Archelaus was ruling over Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. And after being warned in a dream, he went away to the district of Galilee. There he made his home in a town called Nazareth, so that what had been spoken through the prophets might be fulfilled, ‘He will be called a Nazorean. [3]’
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Dreams
Today, we’ll explore how the Holy Family fled to an alien land seeking refuge, all because of a dream. Paul McCartney went around for a month asking his friends if they’d ever heard the song “Yesterday” after he had dreamed it. He said it was like finding something that he needed to turn in to the police. Eventually, he accepted it as a gift. Never ignore your dreams. Niels Bohr dreamed about the structure of atoms before formulating his quantum theory in real life. (There’s quantum poetry in that.) Einstein dreamed he was sledding down a mountain super fast, and the theory of relativity was on the way to this world, at the speed of light. You’ve had dreams too meaningful to ignore. I have sometimes woken up laughing. I love those dreams. They are too rare. We tend to rationalize the mystery out of our dreams, and they fade away, unrealized. What if we were to let our dreams live in us a little longer, and take on shape and form this world? If the image of God is within each one of us, the answers to our problems are within us, too. Can God still get through to us in dreams?
God With Us
Truman Capote recounts A Christmas Memory from his childhood. He companions an old woman he calls “my friend.” She moves in a kind of dreamworld. Lying in a frosty December meadow in rural Alabama, she prophesies “in a tone of discovery, smiling…at a point beyond…” saying:
“I’ve always thought a body would have to be sick and dying before they saw the Lord. And I imagined that when he came, it would be like looking at the Baptist window: pretty as colored glass with the sun pouring through, such a shine you don’t know it’s getting dark. And it’s been a comfort: to think of that shine taking away all the spooky feeling. But I’ll wager it never happens. I’ll wager at the very end a body realizes the Lord has already shown Himself. That things as they are"—her hand circles in a gesture that gathers clouds… and grass…—“just what they've always seen, was seeing [Jesus]…I could leave the world with today in my eyes.”[4]
In Matthew’s version of the Good News, the good guys listen to their dreams. In dreams, Joseph is reassured that Mary’s child was conceived by the Holy Spirit. In dreams, the Magi are told to dupe King Herod. Later on, during Jesus’ final days, Pontius Pilate’s wife is troubled by her dreams and begs Pilate: “Have nothing to do with that innocent man.” (27:19) Good people are open to dreams.
Messianic Identity
Matthew’s gospel is careful to connect the story of Jesus to the sacred stories of the Torah and prophets. For example, baby Jesus finds refuge in Egypt like baby Moses. Then, like Moses, Jesus is called “out of Egypt.” Weeping Rachel in this passage refers to Jacob’s second wife, mother of tribal fathers Benjamin and (the original) Joseph, of amazing dreamcoat fame. Remember how Joseph’s brothers tried to kill him because he wore flamboyant clothing, but Joseph found asylum in Egypt, and work. These details witness to Jesus as Messiah—in Greek: Christ—in English: Savior—the Anointed One who comes to free the people.
Liberator
I’m currently reading Timothy Snyder’s new book, On Freedom. Snyder examines recent history through philosophy and theology, while wrestling with one central question: What is freedom? King Herod served the Empire, the source of negative freedom, what Timothy Snyder would call “unfreedom”—the freedom to survive while submitting to the whims of self-absorbed despots. Life requires more than negative freedom.
True freedom is the undoing of empire.
The Scourge of the Herod Consciousness
Desperate to subvert the Messiah, Herod orders his “men of might” [5] to kill every baby in and around Bethlehem. Heeding separate dreams, the Three Wise Men and Joseph undermine Herod the Great’s plans. Let them inspire us to resist all of the “Whoever" the Greats to come.
Herod was not unlike some of our leaders today, immoral and vulgar. He had a thing for his stepdaughter, Salome. He executed John the Baptist to please her. He killed babies. He was an agent of evil. But preacher, aren’t you Rev. Judgmental Self-McRigheousness today! Somebody might misunderstand. Shouldn’t we love tyrants and pray for them? What would Jesus do? Well, someone in Calvary’s online congregation supplied me with these words from Quaker pastor Philip Gulley, who wonders:
How come no one ever mentions that Jesus had not one good word to say about Herod? Not one good word. I ’ve looked. … Were we to follow the example of Jesus, we would notice the Light-swallowing qualities of [our Herods] and speak against [them]. Were we to follow the example of Jesus, we would point out [their] never-ending tendency to defile all that is honorable, good, and true, and we would raise our voices in objection. [6]
As Pastor Marci says, Jesus is not a pushover.
Freedom
There will always be a Herod who tries to douse the Light. Their rule, fraught with violence and chaos, will end. And, like Herod, when they are gone—and they will go—the Light will shine a little less-hindered. In the meantime, remember that we are creatures borne of a Light nothing can overcome. The birth of Jesus changes everything. God has torn open the heavens and now inhabits human flesh. Emmanuel, God with us, God inhabits us. The miracle of Incarnation is our shot at freedom. If that is too weird for you, translate it into secular words, like Snyder does. How you arrive at true freedom doesn’t matter; God will meet you there.
Realizing Goodness
Among Snyder’s many statements on freedom, this one is my current favorite. “Freedom is the state in which we can affirm what we think is good and bring it into the world.” [7] What is good, you’re wondering. “God has told you, O mortal, what is good, and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice and to love kindness and to walk humbly with your God?” (Micah 6:8) Belief is a solid step one. Christianity is more than a membership, it’s more than what we are. Christianity is what we do, an imperative verb that commands us to love God, and love our neighbor as you love ourselves. As the New Year approaches, may I remind you that purchasing a gym membership does not equal actually working out. Likewise, Christianity works if you work it.
Bringing Good Into the World
If you don’t have time to work your faith, let’s resolve to make the time in the New Year. Remember the parable of the Good Samaritan? Only the Samaritan, unlike the pious passersby, takes the time to act upon their convictions. That Samaritan was probably weighed down by life as much as we are, but none of us are entirely weighed down. Donna Schaper writes: “Our bodies are subject to inertia, but we can choose to stop by the side of the road. Our bodies are pulled down by gravity, but we can raise someone else up from the ditch.”[8] In Jesus’ most famous parable, only the Samaritan—the alien, the outsider—is free.
Doing Justice
Now I will brag on you. About six weeks ago, Calvary’s Racial Equity Initiative group hosted a simulation of what it's like to be released, “set free” from prison.
What we participants experienced was negative freedom—freedom from incarceration. We were not free enough to live. We were still captives but now to an willfully-dysfunctional system. Here’s your bus ticket, but when you get there, your parole officer is out today, and she was going to recommend a job for you. You didn’t think to get a transfer, and without another ticket, you have to walk 3 miles to sell your plasma. With that money, do you buy food for your family, medication for your dying mother, or avoid arrest for not paying restitution to the court? Negative freedom is not freedom. Freedom is the state of knowing what is good and bringing that goodness into being.
Loving Kindness
Much of the Bible is the story of immigrants, told by immigrants, for immigrants. [9] Through Calvary’s sanctuary ministry, many of you accompany immigrants to ICE check-ins, court appearances, the DMV, grocery and appliance shopping. Why would a church draw on itself such a target for the haters in this day and age? Because the moment Joseph heeded the angel’s warning, our Lord and Savior became a refugee. A picture of the Holy Refugee Family hangs on the front of this church.
Walking Humbly With God
Our next president successfully campaigned on ending the restrictions that keep ICE officers from entering hospitals, schools and churches, weddings and funerals, and he promises the largest mass deportation in history. Methodist pastor Sean Anglin writes:
Maybe we do want ICE to show up in hospital maternity wards as a mother gives birth. Maybe we do want ICE officers blending into the line at school drop-offs. Maybe we do want them standing in the church narthex, waiting for the benediction… before pushing through [the congregation] looking for their intended “target.”
But Calvary is a Matthew 25 congregation, and Anglin reminds us that’s where:
Jesus said, “Whatsoever you do to the least, you do unto me.” So, if you want a personal relationship with Jesus, then have a personal relationship with the poor…With the immigrant… Then, you will know something about Jesus and yourself. It is humbling, and it is intended to be that way. To get our politics out of our hearts and minds and to [make real] our common humanity front and center.[10]
Then we will be free. Amen.
1 Some think that Rachel is buried at Ramah.
2 Jacob’s second wife, one of the mothers of the 12 tribes, specifically Joseph and Benjamin
3 There is no accepted interpretation of this verse that ends Matthew’s birth narrative. The prophets did not say “he will be called a Narorean (Nazarene).”
4 from “A Christmas Memory” by Truman Capote, Mademoiselle Magazine, December 1956.
5 The Coventry Carol <https://youtu.be/5IiR_UvQqt0?si=Ovxfnd4hL4F114gm> was sung just before this sermon. Verse two: “Herod the King in his raging charged he had this day | his men of might in his own sight | all young children to slay.”
6
< https://philipgulley.substack.com/p/our-task-is-clear> Thank you to Dr. Robin Aladeen.
7 Snyder, Timothy. On Freedom (p. 81). Crown. Kindle Edition.
8 Ibid.
9 Donna Schaper, The Mess in Messiah, 2024 Advent Devotional Booklet, United Church of Christ.
10 < https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnbc-opinion/trump-ice-deportation-churches-rcna183888> Thank you to Laine Clifford.
