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The Fugitive
Robyn Black • January 17, 2021
Matthew 2:9-16
We pick up the story again this week, of the Magi, wise men. They travelled following a star, believing that they would find someone extraordinary at the end of their journey. Herod, of all people, directed them to Bethlehem. I guess we can be grateful that he didn’t have them followed. The reading says they entered a house, saw Jesus in the arms of Mary, and somehow they just knew that this baby was like no other. Overcome, they kneeled and worshiped him. Then they opened their luggage and presented gifts: gold, frankincense, myrrh.
Of course, as mentioned last week, Herod was not happy with the thought of someone who might challenge his position and even though Jesus was just a baby, Herod decided he wanted to eliminate the problem. He wanted to kill Jesus. Warnings in dreams figure a fair bit in this part of the story. And in a dream, the magi were warned not to report back to Herod. So they worked out another way home, left the area without being seen, and returned to their own country. This leaves Herod furious. He doesn’t know where Jesus is but he figures if he kills every baby in the area, he should be right.
So an angel then warns Joseph in a dream “Get up! Flee to Egypt with the child and his mother,” the angel said. Joseph doesn’t feature all that much in the Christmas story. He’s usually the strong silent type at the back of the nativity scene, who could probably be mistaken for a shepherd. But this story shows that Joseph had an enormous responsibility, placed upon his shoulders to protect and preserve the life of Jesus.
This beautiful family had to flee to Egypt. Flee is the word Fugo in Greek – and this is where we get the word fugitive. They are running for their lives to a place where they have no friends or family, no temple to fulfil their religious obligations, where they have no language for communication. The wonder of a miraculous birth that we celebrate at Christmas, gives way to the brutal realities into which this baby is born.
Imagine a refugee family reading this story for the first time. This story would be so familiar to them and could be written in many eras, in many cities, in many villages. A U.N. report released yesterday said that the COVID-19 pandemic reduced the number of international migrants by 2 million by the middle of 2020 because of border closings and a halt to travel worldwide. Imagine, that’s 2 million people who are unable to flee for their lives. 2 million people who are continuing to have to live in daily fear for their lives and poverty and lack. I heard this week that half the children under 5 years in Afghanistan are starving – half the children!
Each of those children is miraculous, each with enormous potential to impact the world. Many won’t make it. The wonder of a miraculous birth gives way to the brutal realities into which their baby is born.
Back to Mary and Joseph. They are living in fear for their lives. Joseph is warned in a dream that Herod is on the war path, and he’s told to get up, take Mary and Jesus, and go to Egypt until it’s safe to come back. I was thinking about this – could God not have supernaturally protected them where they were living? If they stayed where they were, couldn’t God have protected them there?
Sometimes I think this way and maybe you do too. Sometimes in the past I’ve thought, well I’ll just stay here in this situation, and God can protect me. He can make me strong enough, to face whatever foe, and survive. But you know, sometimes God just says ‘flee, run for your life’.
When I was younger I dated one or two guys who weren’t interested in God. I thought, God will make me strong, and I’ll be an influence on them. I’ll survive. But at the end of the day, usually it was my relationship with God that
suffered, and for me, God’s word was always ‘flee Robyn, run for your life!’.
I know that there are people who’ve been through rehab who say, well, that’s all behind me now, and I’ll be strong enough, God will make me strong enough to go out for drinks after work and not have a drink. But more often than not, God would say in that situation – flee, run for your life.
Sometimes people live abusive relationships for a long time believing that God could or may change the abusive person. I was talking to a person recently who said, ‘I stayed too long’. I was like ‘But adding God to the equation can sometimes complicate things. You believe 100% that God can changed and transform people and relationships. That’s what you were praying for and that’s why you stayed’. But sometimes God would say ‘flee’.
There’s no question God is more powerful than Herod. Could he smite Herod if he wanted to? Yes! But for whatever reason, that’s not the way God seems to work. Joseph had to do the hard yards of packing the family and trekking into a lonely and unfamiliar land. There was no miraculous intervention to keep them safe from Herod - no army of angels to protect the Son of God. BUT, God did intervene to say ‘you need to go’.
The French artist Luc-Olivier Merson’s painted Rest on the Flight Into Egypt, in 1879 (pictured below). It’s quite dark, and the painting is kind of bare. Joseph sleeps on the desert floor. Mary, perhaps to protect herself and the child, is sleeping up between the feet of the Sphynx, an imposing symbol of Egypt. There’s a glow around the baby, a halo. There’s the family, alone in their journey. They have nothing, and they seem to have no-one. The environment is grey and bleak. They are in an unfamiliar and foreign land, uncertain of when they’ll be able to return to their homeland. There are many uncertainties for them. They are doing the hard yards for their future, to protect Jesus…for Mary and Joseph, there is no miracle on demand. It would have been a difficult journey.
What a responsibility for Joseph…he was entrusted with protecting this precious cargo. He had to protect the Saviour of the world, when the Savour was tiny and vulnerable. That’s a big job, but he did it successfully by relying on the wisdom and guidance of God. And acting on that wisdom. Flee to Egypt for safety, God tells Joseph, and that’s exactly what he did.
I want to say that you have been entrusted with precious cargo also. You may have family members or friends that God would ask you to care for and protect, and you may be doing the hard yards with them. You may be only too aware of your need to rely on the wisdom and guidance of God. But I think you have no greater precious cargo than the gift of your own life. Sometimes we take this gift lightly, we may not even think much of it sometimes. There are times when we forget how precious our own life is. But we have this precious gift that we have been entrusted with, our life, and the only way we can survive is by listening to the wisdom of God and acting on that wisdom.
Is there a situation that God is asking you to flee…maybe a relationship that is not a great influence on your relationship with God; maybe it’s an ongoing disagreement that you think you’ll win and change the other persons mind, and God’s saying just leave it; maybe there’s just something that you’ve been asking God to change and his answer is to flee.
The picture I was speaking about of fleeing to Egypt is dark and bleak. But there is light, God is there, in the foreign land. Not a spectacular miracle, but the miracle of His every day presence.
Sermons For The Moment
New Year - Matthew 2:13-23
Do not be afraid - Matthew 1:18-21
Luke 2: 4- 15
Luke 1: 26-33
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Ruth Chapter 4
Ruth 3
Ruth 2
Commitment from Love, Ruth 1: 1-18
This is an interesting Psalm – another psalm of ascent. We spoke about these Psalms of Ascent a few weeks ago. They were songs the Jewish people sang as they made their way to Jerusalem to go to the temple, through the forest, along the tracks, camping by the roads. And I believe songs like this kept them focussed and kept their spirits up. I can imagine days of walking together, tiring, boring, hot and dusty. And singing some of these Psalms keep them focussed on the faithfulness of God. Much better then eye spy for the kids. Journeys are not all their cracked up to be even if the destination is worth it. As you know, when I was growing up we always holidayed at Bawley Point past Ulladulla, and in those days it was about a 4 hour drive from Sydney. We always left later than we meant to…and the last 20 mins was on a dirt road. One year when I was probably about 4 years old it was dark by the time we got to the dirt road, and half way along the dirt road, was a dodgy wooden bridge over a river. I think part of the bridge had been damaged and we had to wait a bit in the pitch black darkness before we could proceed. Dad was out with a torch ensuring the bridge was safe to drive on and mum and us 4 kids were sitting in the darkness – no street lights, no moonlight. Of course, you might be able to guess what I said to mum in that car, with fearful crying…you’ve probably heard it from kids before. I said ‘I want to go home’. Mum said to me, ‘we can’t go home Robyn, we’re almost there’. In truth, after the bridge we had the last 10 minutes of a 4 hours journey left. We safely crossed the bridge and we were OK. But I remember it. I remember the feeling of being scarred in the darkness. I remember not liking this journey at all. Even though I always loved the destination. Well this psalm celebrates the end of the journey and the arrival at the destination. Psalm 126:1-3, “When the Lord brought back his exiles to Jerusalem, it was like a dream! We were filled with laughter, and we sang for joy. And the other nations said, “What amazing things the Lord has done for them.” Yes, the Lord has done amazing things for us! What joy!” Before we can understand the laughter and joy of the Israelites, we have to understand their journey. This Psalm looks back to when they arrived back in Jerusalem after 70 long years in Babylon. The captives had experienced great sorrow and mourning in exile. We read these heartbreaking words in Psalm 137: “Beside the rivers of Babylon, we sat and wept as we thought of Jerusalem. We put away our harps, hanging them on the branches of poplar trees. For our captors demanded a song from us. Our tormentors insisted on a joyful hymn: “Sing us one of those songs of Jerusalem!” But how can we sing the songs of the Lord while in a pagan land?” (Psalm 137:1-4). Their tormentors demanded they sing joyfully, but they were like – that’s impossible, it doesn’t come from our heart. So they just sat by the waters of Babylon and wept. But now by an amazing work of God they were suddenly back in Jerusalem. And so their joy came from their heart. The wait was over, the journey was complete. “We were filled with laughter, and we sang for joy.” The journey is the hard bit though isn’t it? I was reminded of this, this week. An Officer couple I was speaking to, said that their teenager said some very hurtful things to them. Stuff like, ‘you make my life worse’. As they spoke to me, I did very little but listen and pray with them. They do have other supports in their life as well, already seeing a psychologist. But what I was thinking in my head as they were speaking was ‘oh the teenage years, I’d forgotten them’. Though we have 2 wonderful young adults in P and K, they were times when it was more than tense. K wears her heart on her sleeve, and to this day apologises for some of the things she said to me. And P, you wouldn’t know what he was thinking, and then all of a sudden all his thoughts and feelings for the last 3 years would come out like molten lava everywhere. A few days later I checked in to see how the couple and their teenager were going. I mentioned in passing about teenage years and very briefly about our experiences. I didn’t want to make it all about me. But I said teenage years can be painful and those years can really hurt everyone in the family. Teenager included. They know that we have a good relationship with P and K and they said to me, you know, this is helpful. It gives us hope. I was like, yep, this too shall pass. Because when you’re in the midst of the journey of pain and sorrow, you sometimes wonder if there’s light at the end of the tunnel. If you’ll laugh again or experience joy again. You begin to wonder, “Is this all that God has for me? Will I ever be happy again?” And here’s the promise in Psalm 126:4-6, “Restore our fortunes, Lord, as streams renew the desert. Those who plant in tears will harvest with shouts of joy. They weep as they go to plant their seed, but they sing as they return with the harvest.” When you are going through a time of deep sorrow, Psalm 126 is strong medicine for your soul. It carries a powerful message of hope. It tells you that times of trouble and sorrow do not last. It tells you that God will turn your sorrow to joy and your tears to laughter. If you are going through a challenging time right now, I pray that this psalm will speak to your heart this morning. Let me tell you right up front, whatever you’re going through, it will get better. God will change your tears to joy. This week I found something I wrote about 10 years ago. I had written it on a piece of paper and there was a whole reflection about my life. At the time we had my mum living with us, she had dementia, and mostly I remember the good times and the fun times with her. I was also the Corps Officer at Glebe and Bob was the manager at William Booth House. After a page of writing I had written something like this “I’m often anxious, I’m usually stressed, I have eczema on my eyelids and ulcers in my mouth. I always feel pressed.” I went out to Bob in the lounge room and I’m like, ‘oh my goodness, eczema on my eyelids and ulcers in my mouth’, often anxious, usually stressed. The thing is, my life feels a long way from that now, and I’d forgotten what that part of my journey felt like. I’m sure when I was there I couldn’t look ahead and see a time of joy…but the truth is that “Those who plant in tears will harvest with shouts of joy. They weep as they go to plant their seed, but they sing as they return with the harvest.” This too shall pass. ‘Yes, the Lord has done amazing things for us!’ says verse 3. God is faithful – he does the healing, the restoring, he brings the streams in the desert that renews and brings fruitfulness. I don’t need to tell you – it takes time. Today, I’m praying for a work of healing in your life, a gradual restoration of joy, of laughter. Like me as a kid, sometimes we don’t like parts of this journey at all. Even though we know our destination is good. And ultimately, we have a destination like no other and that’s the promise of God. A home in heaven made possible through Jesus. May God bless you this week as you look to Him, listen to Him, find your hope in Him and find courage and healing in your journey.