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Great Joy, Violent Fury (Matthew 2)

Scott Kercheville
12/22/19 - Sun AM

Image: "Scene of the Massacre of the Innocents"

I recently saw this painting which depicts a scared mother in Bethlehem when Herod killed all the boys two years old and under. Other depictions of a nativity scene often go around during Christmas, but I like this one because it reminds us of a different side of Christmas, of the birth of Jesus." God with us" is not simply news that calls for another round of hot cocoa. Magi — wise men — came from the East with gifts because they knew something of what the good news meant. Herod, on the other hand, pulled out a sword and flexed his power because he too knew what this news meant.

We will consider Matthew 2 this morning and ask the question, "Now that Immanuel —God with us — has been born, what does that mean? And how will we react? "And we will find that gives us the opportunity to see both the great controversy and great hope this news brings to us and our world today. Notice and consider Matthew 2 with me.

Long ago Israel demanded to God that he give them a king like the nations had to rule them, and for most of their history, that's exactly what they had — kings like the nations. But while David and Solomon were kings in Israel, they were ruled by men who generally had the heart and wisdom and spirit of God in them. David became this gold standard and the prophets always reminded the people of God's promise: one day the son of David will come to reign, he will crush oppression, and the nations will be obedient to him.

But during the days of Jesus, not only did Israel not rule the nations, the nations ruled them. Rome placed Herod, an Idumean or Edomite king over them, a descendant of Esau. We know from here and extra-biblical history that he was a suspicious king, always killing potential threats and rivals, even his own wife and children. These were dark days of hopelessness when God's people were oppressed.

The text tells us something shocking: when Jesus was born, it was not Jews who went out telling the good news to the world, but rather a group of Magi from the east. And to add to the irony, the Magi clearly anticipated this good news, but notice verse 3: Herod was troubled and all Jerusalem with him. And then to make it even wilder, once everyone hears this news and sees in Scripture that he will be born in Bethlehem, nobody goes to see him but the magi-and the only reason Herod told them where he was was so he could try to kill him later. But it seems the magi find Jesus and his mother because this is what God wants: he knew where they were looking and he guided them by the star. And they are thrilled to find him, they fall before this baby, worship him, and give him their treasures. This sounds a lot like what Isaiah said the nations would do for Israel in the future, "They shall bring gold and frankincense, and shall bring good news, the praises of the Lord. " (Isaiah 60: 6)

But all was not merry and bright. The wise men were warned by a dream to not return to Herod. Joseph was warned of Herod by a dream. And, of all places to flee, they fled to Egypt. Things are so bad in Judea that the future king must flee to the great enemy of Israel for refuge.

When Herod realized the Magi had tricked him, he was furious and ordered that all male children in Bethlehem and in all that region be killed. Not hundreds, but terrible nonetheless, as this painting illustrates. In time, Herod died and Jesus' family was able to return to live in the north (Nazareth). This story is well-known to many of us. But as with all familiar stories, sometimes our familiarity needs to be refreshed so we can freshly consider what it really means. How does this account teach us of what it really means for "Immanuel," God with us, the king of the Jews to be born into the world? We will just scratch the surface of this text and this idea.

1. Herod and Jerusalem's reaction teaches us we may not want the true king — "God with us" — as much as we may claim.

Israel had originally rejected God as king in favor of a king like the nations. And we can certainly imagine that plenty of Jews probably said in word that if it were up to them, they would have never made the same decision. They'd never choose a king like the nations, they'd never be like those who said they'd return to Egypt. Luke certainly shows us that there were plenty who genuinely felt this. And yet Matthew shows us another side: when Herod and Jerusalem hear the news, they are troubled.

Now, Jerusalem may feel this way for a couple of reasons. Maybe they simply like life as is and don't want the true king. Maybe it is because they fear the political fallout because they know Herod is a madman. Much like Israel in Egypt when Moses said he'd free them, they were distraught because this caused Pharaoh to crack down on them harder. They had a king in Herod who was like Pharaoh-killing their baby boys to keep his power-but where is Jerusalem, where are the priests, where are the scribes? why is no one joining these wise men to honor the true king? Ah, that's because having "God with us" as our king sounds great in theory, but we know all to well that if we declare "there is another king, Jesus" to whom we pay a higher allegiance, the fallout from that can often be more than we are willing to pay. If we acknowledge the true king, that means I don't get to declare my feelings and my truth as the highest authority. It means I don't get to do life, money, marriage, family, sexuality, and politics as I want. It means many people may not be happy with us because we never talk about the next candidate or man in the office like he's the Messiah.

We say we want our true king to come, but does that change too much? Let's ask ourselves: if we want God with us so much, why do we keep holding onto our will, that sin, that distracting priority, that part of our lives so much? If our chief desire is to see our king, why does the world charm us away from him so easily?

2. Herod's massacre reminds us that the problem with the world is that it doesn't want God with us.

Why else is there so much pain in our world except that we continue rejecting God's kingship over our world and lives?. We see here what happened when Herod didn't want the true king — it didn't matter if dozens of baby boys got in the way, he was going to stop it somehow. To help us see the significance of this event, Matthew says it fulfills Jeremiah 31:15. He's not saying Jeremiah predicted this event, he's saying the same statement and lamentation that was true Jeremiah's day is true in Jesus' day.

Rachel, who had demanded to Jacob, "Give me children or I'll die!" wanted kids so much, but the danger and pain of childbearing were too much, and when Benjamin was born the curse of sin took her life and — in a sense — took her children from her. She was buried on the way from Bethel to Bethlehem, probably near Ramah. And many years later when the exiles passed by her tomb, Jeremiah says, "You can just hear Rachel weeping for her children." And now that Herod has slaughtered all the baby boys-not just in Bethlehem but the whole region — Matthew says, "Ah, you can just hear her crying all over again." Matthew's reminding us that though the people are living in their land, they're still in exile, still in Egypt, still in Babylon, still ruled by another king-foreigners in the land of promise. He's reminding us of the terrible sadness and curse sin has brought upon our world. He's reminding us the horror of what happens to our world and our own children when we reject God's kingship over us.

How sad that these bright-eyed infants and toddlers got caught in the crosshairs of a battle they didn't even know was happening. You know, this is what happens when we fight God with us. We like to think sin is innocent, it only affects me, but people — kids and babies — get hurt. This is what has happened in America: in the name of freedom we exterminate unborn babies. See Michelle wolf if you don't believe me. But it's easy to point at Herod or everyone else and not see what we do. We say we want heaven, we want Eden, we want God with us, but every time we run from God's instructions, every time we say "my way," every time we hold out part of our life, our time, our family, our schools, companies, cities, and government from being ruled by God, we make our world a little darker. Maybe we have been more like Herod killing the babies and the priests putting Jesus on the cross than we like to admit. Just think, who keeps getting caught in the crosshairs of our sin?

But what is really instructive is when you look at this Jeremiah quotation more closely in context. Turn to Jeremiah 31:16.

3. God with us means he won't let the world rule itself, he won't let darkness win, for Jesus is leading a new exodus from Egypt.

This text in Jeremiah is straight from the comforting center of the book. Rachel is characterized as weeping for her children, but notice the Lord's response in verses 16-20.

This quotation of verse Is is meant to empathize with later generations who similarly see the horrors sin has brought on their world, it is also meant to point them to the hope on the horizon. This is not the end of God's children. This is the dark before the dawn, the slavery before exodus, the exile before return, the valley of the shadow of death before a home in the Lord's house forevermore. Our world, our nation is bent on evil and they will keep trying to break free from the chains of God and his king, and we along with many innocents will get caught in the crosshairs — we will suffer. But God came in the form of human flesh, escaped massacre, went down into Egypt and out, went to the cross and the grave and out again to tell us that he is with us, he will be with us and they will not win. He became a man and lived as a perfect man to show us there is hope for man.

"Christmas" is the greatest news ever because it means that while we were still enemies, knowing we would rebuff him as our king, he came and endured rejection anyway. God Creator was created, and then the Fount of Eternal Life drank the Cup of mortality so he could set us free. In the cold, dark winter, what better news to celebrate? When it is 'cold and dark outside, it's a great time to be reminded that the light of the world lived among us and will live among us again once more.