Sermons

01/05/2025

2nd Sunday after Christmas

Text: Matthew 2:13-23

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.

 God’s Son becomes man and He lives as a man so that we might live in Him. He rescues us from sin and death and makes us alive in Him. We live a new life in Christ. His life is our life. His death to sin, our death to sin, His resurrection, our resurrection, His holiness our holiness, His righteousness our righteousness.

Your entire life as a Christian is conformed to Jesus’ life. To say it as simply as possible, if it happened to Jesus, it’ll happen to you.

That is why St Peter writes in our Epistle, “Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice insofar as you share Christ’s sufferings.” Christ’s life is your life. If it happened to Jesus, it’ll happen to you. That means you’ll face the trial of suffering innocently. You’ll face the world’s enmity and persecutions because Jesus faced enmity and persecution.

Jesus, true God, is born of the virgin in Bethlehem. He is born free from sin. He’s pure and innocent. The Shepherds worship Him as their Savior and the Wise Men from the east come and bow before Him. You would think that no one could find fault with this child. But Herod does. He intends to kill Jesus.

Joseph is warned in a dream to flee. He takes Mary and Jesus by night and goes to Egypt, far from Herod’s reach. Enraged that Jesus escaped, Herod has every baby boy two years or under living in Bethlehem killed for the sake of that child. Until he died, Herod sought Jesus’ life because he knows that Jesus wasn’t killed with the other children.

The innocent Christ faced hostility and persecution. So do Christians. As Jesus Himself will later say, “No servant is above his master. But if they hate the master, what will they do to his servants?” Like the little boys born in Bethlehem, Christians face persecution from the world. The sinful unbelieving world hates the Lord Jesus. It doesn’t make sense. Jesus comes as a meek boy so that we won’t be driven away by divine holiness. But unbelief doesn’t care. Evil hates the good. And so sinful people hate the goodness of Jesus and lash out against it. They lash out against Christians, too.

Herod killed those children, and countless other Christians have died for the sake of Christ after them. They die unjustly. They have committed no crime. But they confess Christ and the world hates that.

We might not live in a country where people are beheaded or shot for confessing Christ, but you’re not going to go through life without facing hostility for your life as a Christian. Christians face attacks because they confess that marriage is between a man and woman only or because they confess that you can’t change yourself into a woman or a man. When you hear about Christians being fired or harassed for confessing these truths, you see the fiery trial we undergo in life, the world’s enmity.

So be prepared for it. It happened in Jesus’ life. That means it might just happen in your life. But despite your innocence and your courteous demeanor, evil will lash out at you with a vengeance. Bear it patiently as a fiery trial that will test your faith. Persecution must be suffered, even if it means death.

 Look to Jesus. He suffered persecution and was delivered. God did not intend that Herod would kill Jesus, so it didn’t happen. Jesus went down to Egypt. Throughout the arduous journey with his parents, the young Jesus happily and cheerfully trusted in God with all the content simplicity of a two-year old. He believed that God was His God who loved Him and would preserve Him and His earthly parents. He bore the suffering in perfect faith, the faith of an infant who trusts and knows nothing of doubt or worry.

Now, God allowed the other children to be killed. But Herod’s evil could only go so far. He could kill their little bodies but he could not destroy their eternal souls. They died innocently and were taken from this evil world to heaven as the first Christians persecuted for Christ’s sake. God does the same for many who suffer persecution. He supplies the strength to endure it and by His grace He gives them the power to be faithful unto death. If it happened to Jesus, it’ll happen to you. Whatever the persecution, God will give you the strength to endure it, for you belong to Jesus. His life is your life. Just as He went to the cross and endured its agony, so you can face death with His strength of will.

If it happens to Jesus it’ll happen to you. Joseph was told in a dream to “Rise, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who sought the child’s life are dead.” Joseph takes Jesus and Mary back to Israel, but has to withdraw to the district of Galilee, to the town of Nazareth, for fear that Herod’s son will seek the life his father desired to take. The time of persecution ended. But a humble life of poverty began. This was in fulfillment of the Prophets words, that Christ would be despised by the world. Nazareth wasn’t a nice suburb but a dinky backwater village where the hicks lived. To say you were from Nazareth was to get the response, “Where’s that, bumpkin?”

That was the life Jesus settled into in his youth. A life marked not by great prosperity or prestige but humbleness. If it happened to Jesus, it’ll happen to you. The opportunities for wealth, status, and social involvement often dry up if you want to live as a faithful Christian. The greatest success in life comes at the cost of sacrificing your values and time raising your children to fear the Lord or living with your brothers and sisters in your church. People in power don’t want boring, prissy Christians running things. They’ll make sure they keep them out.

Being a Christian often means giving up what the world has to offer. But that’s because you confess that God has something more to offer you. Life eternal is better than life’s fleeting pleasures now.

Look to Jesus. He wasn’t disappointed that He lacked opportunity or that His earthly parents couldn’t give Him everything you could ever wish for. But He grew up giving thanks for the simple food God gave Him to eat and for His loving parents in their small home. He was content to work as a builder until He began His ministry. The world’s disdain didn’t bother Him. For He came not to raise up a showy earthly kingdom but to offer up His innocent life on the cross and to rise glorious from the dead and ascend to reign at His Father’s right hand above the highest heavens, all so that we might be redeemed to live with Him forever.

If it happened to Jesus, it’ll happen to us. Don’t be surprised that your life as a Christian will mean challenges for you. They might be big like facing death or they might be small like being snubbed by the worldly. Whatever happens, they’ll be crosses and suffering. People will depart the faith, loved ones will die, and you’ll face illness and eventually die yourself.

But these things cannot hurt you eternally. They’re trials to endure but they have their end because what happens to Jesus will happen to you. He suffered and He died. But God raised Him from the dead. God vindicated Him and glorified Him. Jesus lived and died and rose so that you might live in Him, die in Him, and rise again with Him. His life is your life. God delivered Jesus and so He will deliver you.

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.