Matthew 2:13-23; 1 Peter 4:12-19; Genesis 46:1-7
In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit.
Eight days after His birth, our Lord was given the name announced by the angel Gabriel before His conception, Jesus, and then His infant flesh was cut and His blood was shed. For the Name Jesus, which means “God saves”, brings suffering, bloodshed, and death for Jesus, and for those marked with His holy Name. The prince of this world, the devil, as well as earthly princes, powers, and kings seek to destroy and to wipe out the true King and Creator of the universe along with those who follow Him.
Thus, Joseph was warned in a dream to flee that very night into Egypt, for Herod sought to murder the child and to erase His Name from the face of the earth. Herod’s hatred for the Christ child was so extreme that he ordered the slaughter of all male children under two years of age in the city of Bethlehem. And so, Jeremiah’s ancient prophecy was fulfilled, “A voice was heard in Ramah, weeping and loud lamentation, Rachel weeping for her children; she refused to be comforted, because they are no more.”
But why did God permit it? These children had done nothing to deserve such a fate. Why must all these parents suffer? It would have been so simple for God to prevent it all. Angels constantly flit in and out of the Christmas story. Why did God not send one to Herod and settle everything? But no, Joseph, the son of Jacob, although innocent, must spend two years in prison. Moses must flee from Pharaoh and hide forty years in the wilderness. David must flee before Saul. Daniel is thrown to the lions because he prays to the true God. St. Paul must suffer many things for Christ’s sake.
And today is no different. We are prone to imagine that all who surrender their life to the King and are at peace with God should be shielded from all sorrow and affliction by an omnipotent, loving God and led to experience only joys and pleasures. Instead, we see frequently that the most devout Christians suffer. That’s why God tells us stories like that in today’s Holy Gospel. He permits us a glimpse of the inside workings of His counsels that when His ways seem incomprehensible, we may cling to the one consolation: A loving, kindly disposed Father permits all for a glorious purpose.
In the story of the Holy Gospel, He lifts the veil and shows not only that there is a clearly defined purpose, but also what His purpose is. The flight into Egypt perplexes us, but there is ample evidence of His omnipotent hand. His ever-watchful eye is on the Christ Child. First, He supplies the Holy Family with funds for the journey through the rich gifts of the Magi. Then He sends an angel to warn Joseph. God sees to it that when the slaughter begins in Bethlehem, the Child is far removed from danger. In Egypt He finds a safe haven. There He can quietly await the death of His enemies. After four years the angel commands Joseph to return to the land of Israel.
What was God’s purpose? The flight into Egypt served to proclaim the Christ Child as the Savior. By it the word of the prophet was fulfilled: “Out of Egypt have I called My Son.” An attempt to give all the reasons why God permitted the murder of the Innocents would be presumptuous. One reason God Himself states is that the Scripture might be fulfilled.
But this story teaches us chiefly three things. First is that if God permits affliction, He never loses control of events. Things never get out of hand. Herod could go just so far and no farther. God set a definite limit. He always does. We are never asked to carry more than we are able. We have His promise that He will supply the strength needed to carry the carefully measured load. We need not carry it one moment longer than God wills. At all times His omnipotent hand is in complete control.
Second, we are to learn that God always has a very clearly defined purpose in view. Things do not just happen by chance. There is no blind fate. In Bethlehem God’s purpose was probably correction. Children of God must know that they are not punished, but they are disciplined and corrected. Christ has suffered all our punishment, and God will not and cannot punish the same sins twice. By permitting affliction God seeks to correct our faults in all love.
The third thing we are to learn is that God is deeply concerned about His Word. We are told three times that the Word of the Lord was fulfilled. First, by the flight to Egypt, then by the wailing of the mothers over their babes, and last when Joseph settled in Nazareth. God’s Word is important to Him. This is the same Word so many neglect and ignore. To them it is not important. As a result, they miss endlessly much in life and always remain spiritual paupers, crippled and paralyzed. The Holy Gospel impresses on us that God’s Word is always fulfilled. Not one of His Words ever fall to the ground. If this to mean anything in our lives, we must know the Word, we must know what God tells us about Himself. There is, for instance, the Word “Call upon Me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you.” If we never had a day of trouble, we should never call on God in that day; so God permits the day of trouble to come. When we know God’s Word, we call on Him confidently, and we experience that His Word is always fulfilled. Without knowledge of God’s Word and of God we should never learn to know God from this side. We would miss endlessly much if we never learned by experience how dependable His Word is.
The greatest comfort in time of affliction is the unshakable assurance that there is not a trace of wrath or punishment in it. We, God’s children, suffer because Jesus, God’s Son, suffered. In those times when you can't make sense of things, when there seems to be no valid purpose or meaning to what's going on in your lives (and that happens to us all at one time or another), God points your eyes again to the cross. For there in that greatest display of God's almighty vulnerability, there in that senseless and yet most meaningful death of Jesus, you are assured that God's love for you is limitless and unshakable. There is nothing in all of creation that can separate you from Him and His love. In fact, the Lord comes so near to you with His love that He actually gives Himself into you in the Sacrament of the Altar. He imparts to you His very own life with His body and blood. If the almighty Lord would go so far as to take on your vulnerable human flesh, to die in the flesh and shed His blood, and then give you His resurrected flesh and blood for the forgiveness of your sins, then certainly you can trust Him even in those times when there seems to be no reasonable answers to your questions. For ultimately, the answer to all of those questions, the solution to all of those problems is the One in the manger, and on the cross, and in the bread and the wine.
In the + Name of Jesus. Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment