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Matthew 2:13-18 (Escape to Egypt)

INTRODUCTION: It is the last Sunday of Advent, and we are following the story of Christ’s birth through these opening chapters of Matthew’s gospel. So far, the story has been one of joy. A young couple gets married, a child is born, Magi come bearing gifts, and prophecy is fulfilled.

But in today’s passage, the story takes a different turn. You may have noticed the title of today’s message is “Christmas Mourning,” spelled “Mourn,” as in to weep or to mourn. I wish it were a typo, but it’s not. In today’s passage we encounter the dark side of Christmas. (Read Matthew 2:16 and pray)

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Joy to the world! Have a holly, jolly Christmas! It’s the most wonderful time of the year! Most of the songs at Christmas focus on the joy of the season, and rightfully so. It is a joyful season. It is meant to be. Joy is such a huge part of the story. The angel told the shepherds: “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord” (Luke 2:10-11).

But that’s not the whole story. Not all the Christmas story is about joy and wonder. There are elements of sadness in it as well. In today’s passage we come to the heartbreaking slaughter of the innocents at Bethlehem. This is traditionally commemorated on December 28 on the church calendar. It is a stark reminder that although Christmas is primarily a time of joy and rejoicing, for many it is also a time of sorrow and tears.

One woman said very honestly, “Around Thanksgiving time I feel like going into my apartment and not answering the door until after Christmas.” We live in a broken world, and Christmas can sometimes magnify that brokenness for people.

I. A sudden crisis (13)
      – Isaiah 53:3; Revelation 12:1-6; John 10:18

One way we experience sadness at Christmas is because of a sudden crisis. Whether an accident, injury, illness or loss of employment, when these things happen at Christmas, it only seems to magnify the pain.

Joseph and Mary experienced a sudden crisis at Christmas. It happened right after the Magi left to go back to their land. Look at verse 13:

When they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. “Get up,” he said, “take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him.” (Matt. 2:13)

When Joseph and Mary went to sleep that night, all was well. They were living in a house in Bethlehem. They had a beautiful baby boy. The Magi had just come to worship the child. They presented him with lavish, expensive gifts worthy of a king. I’m sure they went to bed that night saying, “This was one of the best days in our life!”

Then the angel came. “Joseph! Get up! Now! Take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt! Herod is coming to kill your child!” Talk about a shock to the system! This, of course, threw the family into crisis mode. Joseph woke everyone up as instructed, and they made a hasty escape to Egypt in the middle of the night.

Matthew repeatedly calls Jesus “the child” in these verses. In doing so, he not only emphasizes Jesus’ humanity but also his helplessness and vulnerability. Jesus in his humanity was completely dependent on his parents in this situation. This was part of Christ’s sufferings for us. Isaiah 53:3 says that Jesus was “a man of sorrows,” and Matthew shows us that he was a refugee even from birth.

The book of Revelation pictures this scene in graphic terms. In Revelation 12 John has a vision. He sees a woman who is pregnant and about to give birth. A great dragon stands before the woman ready to devour her child as soon as it is born. She gives birth to a son, a male child, who is then snatched away from the dragon and saved.

It is a picture of the spiritual battle that has been taking place since the beginning of time. We see it in the book of Genesis with Cain murdering his brother Abel. We see it in the book of Exodus with Pharaoh murdering the young Hebrew boys in Egypt. And we see it here in Matthew with Herod seeking to take Jesus’ life. Satan would try to take Jesus’ life repeatedly in the years to come, but Jesus would not die until the time was right. Jesus himself said: “No one takes my life from me, but I lay it down of my own accord” (John 10:18).

The angel came to Joseph. He warned him about Herod, and all of a sudden, the whole family was thrown into crisis. They got up in the middle of the night and escaped into Egypt. N. T. Wright comments: “The shadow of the cross falls over the story from this moment on. Jesus is born with a price on his head.”

Sometimes we too experience sadness at Christmas because of a sudden crisis. That’s when we need to remember that God works even in the crises in our lives. God sent Jesus to Egypt to protect him, just like he sent Jacob and his family there to protect them so many years before. Your times are in God’s hands. You can trust him to help you through the various crises in your life.

II. Far from home (14-15)
      – Hosea 11:1; Matthew 8:20

Another way we experience sadness at Christmas is when we are far from home. Whether you are in the military, or you are a student, or work and circumstances have taken you away, Christmas can be an especially difficult time when you are away from home and family.

Joseph and Mary knew the pain of being far from home. Look at verses 14-15:

So he got up, took the child and his mother during the night and left for Egypt, where he stayed until the death of Herod. And so was fulfilled what the Lord had said through the prophet: “Out of Egypt I called my son.” (Matt. 2:14-15)

It was about an eighty-mile trip from Bethlehem to Egypt. I am sure they would have preferred to go back to their home in Nazareth, which was eighty miles in the opposite direction. Going to Nazareth by way of Egypt was really taking the long way home.

Not only that but they were to stay in Egypt for an unspecified period of time. They were not to leave until Herod had died and the angel issued them new traveling orders. They had no idea how long this would be. And so, they settled in Egypt, the land of bondage and slavery, far from family, far from home.

But even this was all part of God’s plan, because Matthew tells us this fulfilled what the Lord had said through the prophet: “Out of Egypt I called my son” (Hos. 11:1). This prophecy comes from Hosea 11:1, which was originally a historical note about God calling Israel out of Egypt at the time of the Exodus.

But now we learn that Hosea 11:1 is both history and prophecy all rolled into one. Throughout his gospel, Matthew draws a number of fascinating parallels between Israel and Jesus. Both are called God’s son, both were sent to Egypt for protection, and both were called out of Egypt in God’s timing. Once again, God’s plan is bigger than we realize. God could have sent Jesus anywhere to get him away from Herod, but he sent him to Egypt so that he might fulfill Hosea 11:1 in a whole new way.

By the way, this is the first time in the New Testament that Jesus is called God’s Son. So far in the gospel of Matthew he has been called the son of David, the son of Abraham, the Christ, the Savior and Emmanuel. Now you can add a new title to the list: Jesus is also the Son of God.

“Out of Egypt I called my son.” These words refer both to the exodus in the Old Testament and Jesus’ story here in the New. And so, just as we found a new “Genesis” with the genealogy in Matthew 1 (a new beginning in Christ), so now we find a new “Exodus” in Matthew 2 (a new deliverance for God’s people in the person of Jesus Christ).

Are you far from home this Christmas season? Far from family? Experiencing loneliness? Jesus knows how you feel. Jesus once said concerning himself: “Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head” (Matt. 8:20).

Jesus knew what it was like to be far from his earthly home. But even more Jesus knew what it was like to be far from his heavenly home. The story of Christmas is the story of Jesus coming down from heaven and entering our world as a little baby. As the Son of Man, Jesus left the glories of heaven in order to come to us.

Jesus knows what it’s like to be far from home at Christmas. But God took care of him. He protected him from Herod’s plot. He sent the family to Egypt. The gifts from the Magi probably helped them with their expenses. God provided in advance for the trip.

They were to stay there until the death of Herod. In other words, Herod will die, but Jesus will live! The word translated “death” in this verse is a word that means “to be finished.” Herod was finished, but Jesus was just getting started!

Jesus knows what it’s like to be away from home. God took care of Jesus, and he will take care of you as well.

III. Unspeakable loss (16-18)
      – Jeremiah 31:15-17; Matthew 5:4; Romans 12:15

And then a third way we experience sadness at Christmas (and this one is the most difficult of all) is when we have lost a loved one. Christmas is a time that holds special memories of our loved ones and times past, and so the loss is especially painful at this time of the year.

Sadly, the Christmas story itself contains an occurrence of unspeakable loss—the loss of the children at Bethlehem. Look at verse 16 with me next:

When Herod realized that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was furious, and he gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had learned from the Magi. (Matt. 2:16)

We read this and wonder how one man could be so cruel, and yet Herod had a reputation for both cruelty and paranoia. When he first came to power, he killed members of the Sanhedrin and then later slaughtered three hundred of his own court officers. He murdered members of his own family—including his wife, her mother and grandmother, and two brothers-in-law. He murdered three of his own sons. This prompted the Emperor Augustus to comment that it was safer to be Herod’s pig than Herod’s son.

The historian Josephus said that Herod “was a man of great barbarity toward all men equally.” In other words, he treated everyone like dirt. He even ordered that one person from each family in Jerusalem be executed at his own death so that when he died the whole nation would be in mourning. Fortunately, that order was never carried out.

So, we shouldn’t be surprised when we see his reaction to the Magi not coming back to him. In accordance with the time he had learned from the Magi, he gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under.

Now that doesn’t necessarily mean that Jesus was two years old at the time. In fact, considering Herod’s paranoia, it is unlikely. Herod wouldn’t want to leave any margin for error. Notice he didn’t just kill all the boys in Bethlehem but those in the surrounding areas as well. If Herod thought Jesus was two years old, he would probably have killed all the boys three years old and under, just to make sure. It is more likely Jesus was still an infant, perhaps still under a year, which would also explain why Joseph and Mary were still in Bethlehem and had not returned to Nazareth yet.

And even though this was a terrible tragedy, we shouldn’t think in terms of hundreds or thousands of infants being killed. Bethlehem was a small town. Even today its population is only about 30,000, but there were only about four or five hundred people living there at the time of Jesus. So, there would probably have been about twenty boys in Bethlehem at the time. Of course, you would also have to add in the boys in the surrounding areas as well. Either way, twenty baby boys murdered means forty bereaved parents, as well as the children’s brothers and sisters, grandparents, aunts and uncles all mourning and weeping together. This was an unspeakable loss.

One of the sad truths we find even at Christmas is that in this world we are confronted with great evil. We don’t get a pass just because it’s Christmas. There have been several school shootings that have taken place near Christmas over the years. Although we sing of peace on earth and goodwill toward men, there is almost always war going on somewhere in the world.

As we look at the evil around us in the world, we need to remember that we also are in the midst of a great spiritual battle as well. Herod’s slaughter of the innocents in Bethlehem was part of this battle. Warren Wiersbe writes: “The coming of Jesus into this world was a declaration of war.” Satan’s opposition to Christ and the church continues in the persecution of Christians around the world. Wiersbe reminds us: “People still die today because of Jesus.”

And yet none of this catches God by surprise. None of this means that God is somehow defeated. Far from it! Look at what Matthew writes next:

Then what was said through the prophet Jeremiah was fulfilled: “A voice is heard in Ramah, weeping and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted, because they are no more.” (Matt. 2:17-18)

And so, here Matthew quotes from another prophet. He’s already quoted from Isaiah and Hosea. Now he quotes from Jeremiah (Jer. 31:15) who spoke of the people of Israel being marched from Jerusalem into exile to Babylon. Jacob’s wife Rachel was buried at Ramah on the road to Bethlehem, right on the border between the two kingdoms (Gen. 35:16-20; 1 Sam. 7:17, 10:2-4). When the people of Israel were exiled to Babylon, they passed right through Ramah. And so, here in Jeremiah we find Rachel figuratively weeping for her children as they are marched off into exile.

But Matthew tells us that Jeremiah was not only speaking poetically about Rachel weeping over the exile. He was also speaking prophetically about the mothers of Bethlehem weeping over their infant sons. Rachel is symbolic of all the mothers of Israel, and so Matthew sees her weeping even now over the lost sons of Bethlehem—Rachel weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted.

How often when we are mourning, do we refuse to be comforted? And yet, God longs to comfort you. Jesus said: “Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted” (Matt. 5:4). There is a balm in Gilead for those who will receive it. God comforts us in all our sorrows, so that we may comfort others in their times of sorrow (2 Cor. 1:3-4). But we must receive his comfort first, before we can pass it on to others.

In the passage that Matthew is quoting (Jer. 31:15), Jeremiah goes on to speak about hope. The prophet continues:

“Restrain your voice from weeping and your eyes from tears, for your work will be rewarded,” declares the Lord. “They will return from the land of the enemy. So there is hope for your future,” declares the Lord. (Jer. 31:16-17)

You may be weeping now, but there is hope for your future, too. There is comfort through the Holy Spirit, and there is the hope of the resurrection for those who are in Christ. Jesus knows all that you’re going through. He has not abandoned you. He is Emmanuel. He is God-with-us, which means that he is God with you, even in the midst of your suffering and pain.

Psalm 30:5 says: “Weeping may remain for a night, but joy comes in the morning.” It may be hard to see it now, but there is life beyond grief, there is comfort from God, and there is hope for your future.

CONCLUSION: This passage from Matthew is a good reminder to us that Christmas can be a sad time for many people. Whether it’s a sudden crisis, or being far from home, or the loss of a loved one, the holidays can be a difficult time. We need to be sensitive to the needs of others and point them to God and Christ who offers us true comfort and hope.

God tells us in Romans 12:15: “Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn.” Let me encourage you to look for practical ways to reach out to people who are experiencing sadness this Christmas season. Invite them into your home. Invite them to church. Send them a card acknowledging their loss. Let them know you are praying for them.

May God comfort you in all your sorrows this Christmas season. And may God use you to comfort others in their sorrows as you look to him.

© Ray Fowler

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By Ray Fowler. © Ray Fowler. Website: https://www.rayfowler.org

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