A Call Back to Service (Matthew 2:19-23) November 22, 2020
Channel: Pacific Beach Presbyterian Church
Date: 2020-11-22

Salvation on the Move
A Call Back to Service
Matthew 2: 19-23
November 22, 2020

19 When Herod died, an angel of the Lord suddenly appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt and said, 20 “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.” 21 Then Joseph[a] got up, took the child and his mother, and went to the land of Israel. 22 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. 23 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.”

The evil intentions of Herod drove Joseph and Mary to Egypt to escape the wrath of Herod. But the trouble for the family was not quite over. Archelaus, Herod’s son, was still carrying on a witch hunt to find the child, and was also a very determined and domineering king. Therefore, Joseph and Mary were stopped from coming back to Judea, where Herod ruled and they had lived. Instead, they took a turn west and went to the area of Galilee, settling in the small town of Nazareth. Matthew sees in this turn a fulfillment of the prophetic statement, “He will be called a Nazorean.” But if you go looking for this statement in the Old Testament you will not find it. It is most likely a statement that became used during the years just prior to Jesus’ birth, which was a conflation of many different statements throughout the Old Testament. Matthew used it as a means of connecting Jesus with the Messiah.

The move to Nazareth provided two advantages for the family. First, it was out of the way. An almost unknown town. This provided some anonymity against the forces and gaze of Archelaus. Secondly, it provided Jesus the opportunity to get to know travelers on their way to the big city of Tiberius and Capernaum. Travelers coming from the south would have to go through this small town to get to these significant centers of learning and commerce around the Sea of Galilee. Jesus, being curious, would have enjoyed talking to these important people and what they believed. It was a tutelage you couldn’t get in school. So, the stage was set for his education, development and understanding of the world around him. These learning centers were also spiritual centers, where theology and history would have been embedded courses.

Again, salvation was on the move, after a brief set back because of the forces of evil becoming present in Herod. God prepared the way for the instrument of salvation to be saved from Herod, and to provide him a place to stay that would have plenty of spiritual and educational stimulation. But also, a quiet place of reflection that provided the necessary conversation with his heavenly father, in which the future was under discussion.

There is a mistaken idea in Christianity that salvation is saying some words and changing the mind of God about how you feel about yourself. But this is simply a shallow understanding of what God provides in His offer of salvation. If we look hard at this story and the life of Jesus, we will come to understand that salvation is an internal change that works itself out in our direction in life. Jesus’ life was not just contemplation, it was a life of action. Joseph and Mary acted upon the command of God, through the Angel of the Lord, and worked things out from an internal acceptance of God’s word. The world acknowledges the salvation of God through the actions of God’s servants.

Building on the sermon from last week the first action for Joseph and Mary, and eventually for Jesus in his temptations, was to face evil and its desire to turn them from our faith in God. Salvation is about obedience. Confessing our sins is the necessary pre-condition to compel us into a world of service for God. Confessing sins is a way of acknowledging our human mistakes and vulnerability, making us aware of how much we need God. But if we believe that is all we need to do, to be true servants of God, then we are mistaken. We become subject to the purpose of evil, with a greater capacity to succumb.

When Jesus answered the young ruler, who asked him, “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” Jesus remarked, “You shall love the Lord your God, with all you heart, all your soul and all your mind. And your neighbor as yourself.” This is a wholistic understanding of salvation. We are to turn our confession into loving God, with our whole being. Word and Deed. Then turn that it into an intentional plan of loving our neighbor.

Joseph and Mary followed the angels advise and then worked out their salvation “in fear and trembling” to enhance the chance of God’s instrument moving into the world, and taking shape for its benefit.