January 1, 2017
God’s Word
Matthew 2:13-23
13
When they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a
dream. “Get up,” he said, “take the child and his mother and escape to
Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to
kill him.”
14
So he got up, took the child and his mother during the night and left for
Egypt, 15 where he stayed until the death of Herod. And so was
fulfilled what the Lord had said through the prophet: “Out of Egypt I called
my son.”
16
When Herod realized that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was
furious, and he gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity
who were two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had
learned from the Magi. 17 Then what was said through the prophet Jeremiah
was fulfilled:
18
“A voice is heard in Ramah,
weeping and great mourning,
Rachel weeping for her children
and refusing to be comforted,
because they are no more.”
19
After Herod died, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in
Egypt 20 and said, “Get up, take the child and his mother and go to the land
of Israel, for those who were trying to take the child’s life are dead.”
21
So he got up, took the child and his mother and went to the land of
Israel. 22 But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning in Judea in place
of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. Having been warned in a
dream, he withdrew to the district of Galilee, 23 and he went and lived in a
town called Nazareth. So was fulfilled what was said through the prophets,
that he would be called a Nazarene.
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Hebrews 2:10-18
In bringing many sons and daughters to glory, it was fitting that God, for
whom and through whom everything exists, should make the pioneer of
their salvation perfect through what he suffered. 11 Both the one who makes
people holy and those who are made holy are of the same family. So Jesus
is not ashamed to call them brothers and sisters. 12 He says,
10
“I will declare your name to my brothers and sisters;
in the assembly I will sing your praises.”
13
And again,
“I will put my trust in him.”
And again he says,
“Here am I, and the children God has given me.”
14
Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their
humanity so that by his death he might break the power of him who holds
the power of death—that is, the devil— 15 and free those who all their lives
were held in slavery by their fear of death. 16 For surely it is not angels he
helps, but Abraham’s descendants. 17 For this reason he had to be made
like them, fully human in every way, in order that he might become a
merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that he might make
atonement for the sins of the people. 18 Because he himself suffered when
he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.
Reflection on God’s Word
What if God Were a Refugee?
In December of every year a number of American organizations
announce their choices of “Word of the Year.” Like Time magazine’s
“Person of the Year” it is a thoughtfully chosen word that has somehow
risen in importance and usage in the English language that year. In most
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cases, simply remembering the words of previous years will bring to mind a
defining event in that particular year. For example:
- In 2007 the Word of the Year for the American Dialect Society was
“subprime” as in, “risky or less than prime mortgages”. Remember?
- This same Society gave the 2011 Word of the Year to “occupy”, as
in the Occupy Movement, and
- “Hashtag” was the 2012 Word of the year.
- “Selfie” was the Word of the Year way back in 2013.
But what about this past year?
Because 2016 was a year defined by political surprise, the MerriamWebster Dictionary editors announced that their Word of the Year would be
“surreal”, literally “something above or beyond reality,””.. an experience
marked by the intense irrational reality of a dream.”
The Oxford
Dictionary chose their own Word of the Year; “post-truth;” an adjective
defined as “relating to or denoting circumstances in which objective facts
are less influential in shaping public opinion than appeals to emotion and
personal belief”.
I don’t know about you, but that is a scary word to a pastor who
believes in an objective truth; the truth that is Jesus, the way, the truth and
the life, the truth that will set us free. The folks editing the Oxford Dictionary
are in essence saying that just as our world experienced post-renaissance
and post-modern eras, we are now entering a post-truth era where
objective facts will be set aside as our emotions and personal beliefs will
define what is true.
If they are right, we’re in for a bumpy ride with escalating emotions
and declining dialogue. After all, why have a discussion if your truth is yours
and my truth is mine?
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This week as I thought about these American “Words of the Year”, I
began wondering what word might best define our world in 2016. In some
ways “surreal” seems to work, but in my mind there is a more obvious
choice;
For the year 2016 I think I would choose the noun “Refugee”: “one
that flees”; especially, “ a person who flees to a foreign country or
power to escape danger or persecution.”
(https://w ww.m erriam - w ebster.com /dictionary/refugee ).
And I would choose this word because of the growing number of
refugees and the impact they are having on our world. Influxes of refugees
are straining and changing European countries and the European Union as
a whole. And obviously, America’s response to the refugee crisis became a
big political issue in 2016, and is a major question mark as a new
administration takes power.
- What will be America’s position on refugees?
- What will be ours, the Christian community’s position on refugees?
So as we begin 2017, I feel that it was important for us to consider a biblical
response to refugees because in a “post-truth” world where emotions and
personal belief define “knee-jerk” reactions to the rapid changes going on
all around us, we as Christians need to seek and apply God’s truth found in
His Word.
- That is why we read the Bible.
- That is why we expect a Bible-based message every Sunday
Worship, and,
- That is why we gather for Bible Studies.
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For it is in all those settings that our hearts are being molded by God’s truth
so that when faced with new and oftentimes unexpected realities, our
immediate response will be tempered by God’s Word; and our thinking will
reflect that of our Lord Jesus.
And so this morning I want to explore the reality of refugees from a
biblical perspective. And I want to begin by asking the question “What if
God were a Refugee?” And I do so because Jesus asked His followers, in
Matthew 25 to see Him whenever they encounter the hungry, the thirsty, the
stranger, the naked, the sick and the imprisoned. Indeed, in Jesus parable,
those who did so entered into the blessed Kingdom while those who didn’t
were cast “into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.”
Do you see, as I do, a comprehensive definition of the needs of
refugees in Jesus’ description; those Jesus referred to as His “brothers”
and “sisters?”
So let me ask;
If God were a refugee how would you treat refugees?
Those of you who know your Bible, or were listening carefully as I just
read our Matthew 2 passage; you already know that my question is far from
being imaginary, for in fact, God was a refugee in Jesus.
- He was one of those babies or young children you see regularly
on the news; uprooted from “home” and living in a foreign country
because his life was threatened in his own country.
- Joseph and Mary was that couple we saw on the news, willing to
risk their lives by boarding unsafe boats; fleeing “home” and
certain death, and not knowing when, or even if, they would ever
return.
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When we read the morning passage from Hebrews; about Jesus’
ability to relate to human suffering, we can specifically say that God in
Christ experienced the difficulties of living as a refugee. And for me, that
truth makes it even more crucial that, as followers of Jesus Christ, we
understand and react to refugees from a biblical perspective, and not a
political or personal belief perspective.
One of the ways we can do that is to hear the stories of refugees,
which you can do so easily if you tune into a powerful 2-hour documentary
called “Exodus” that can be found on PBS’s Frontline program. All refugees
have a story which are good to know, because these stories awaken us to
our common humanity and the reality that all of us depend upon the grace
of others to get by in life.
So what made Jesus a refugee? His story is told in the Bible.
Jesus was literally born in the shadow of Herod the Great’s fortress.
This “king”, appointed by Caesar Augustus in 37 B.C., exercised power
over a large empire. That is why he was called “great”. He was certainly not
“great” because of a legacy for dispensing justice.
In fact, Jesus was born into a world ruled by a very cruel man. When
Herod was first appointed to his powerful position by Rome which was
occupying Israel in those days, he assassinated the Jewish Supreme
Court; that is, he assassinated the members of the Sanhedrin. Then he
took 300 more leaders out of Jerusalem and had them slaughtered.
Herod’s violence was not just aimed a foreigners. Herod just didn’t trust
people in general, and his insanely jealous streak coupled with his paranoia
and the power of his office allowed him to murder anyone he wanted. This
included his own family.
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Herod was married to ten women; he had fifteen children including
ten sons. As his ten sons grew up and became men, they were destined to
become kings. But Herod didn’t trust his sons; he outright accused two of
his sons of treason. They were assassinated in the year 6 B. C.; the same
year we believe Jesus was born. History also records that five days before
Herod the Great died in the year 4 B.C., he executed yet another son.
Herod was an insanely jealous murderer.
This is the world into which Jesus was born. And it is the same world
into which today’s refugees are born, each with their own stories of cruel
and powerful leaders threatening the very lives of those they govern. And
while there has been great focus on Syrian refugees because of America’s
involvement in the region of the world, persecution has caused hundredsof-thousands if not millions of refugees to leave many other countries as
well:
- Afghanistan
- Somalia
- Sudan & South Sudan
- Congo
- Iraq, and
- Colombia, where child and teenagers are being forced to join
murderous gangs under threat that their families will be killed if
they don’t. So out of desperation, these children and teens are
sent north by their parents in the hope that if they get there safely,
Americans will graciously welcome them.
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For every refugee, there is a story worth hearing. Like Jesus’ story, it
is important that we hear their stories so that we can understand why
refugees need a new place to live life until they can return to a safe
homeland.
Jesus’ story tells us why He and Joseph and Mary needed to flee; it
was the evil and powerful nature of Herod awakened by Magi from the east
who stopped in Jerusalem and spoke of the birth of a Jewish King
announced in the heavens.
Next week we will go back to the story of the Magi, but suffice it to
say this week that the Magi’s news, coupled with Herod’s paranoid-driven
power, sent soldiers into Bethlehem to wipe out all the baby boys two years
and younger. The Christian Churches referred to this action as “The
Slaughter of the Innocents” and recognizes these baby boys as the first
Christian martyrs who died because of Jesus.
The darkness of this world seen in Herod’s actions sought to
extinguish the light which had come to save us, and though Jesus escaped
horrible things happened in the world. And they continue to happen as,
almost daily, we hear news of the innocent victims of war; of bombs that kill
parents and their children many of whom just trying to flee their homes and
find refuge else ware.
Simply put, this is the world in which we live. It was the world into
which Jesus’ was born, and the world into which each one of us was born
and continues to live. Today, more so than any time in history, people are
at war, lives are threatened, and refugees are fleeing. Like Mary & Joseph
they are waiting for a time when the threats in their own country will
diminish and they can return.
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But what is our response to these refugees in the meantime? How
would we respond to Jesus, Mary & Joseph if they came looking for help?
For Mary, Joseph & Jesus, an angelic warning instigated an escape
from Bethlehem in Israel to Egypt. History informs us that God’s children
had been fleeing to Egypt for centuries because Egypt had become a safe
country for Jews. Oftentimes there was family, friends or distant relatives
there to offer help during New Testament days. For many of the same
reason refugees in our world want to come to the United States.
Archeologists tell us that in New Testament times the capital of Egypt
was Alexandria, and there were a million Jews living there. We know that
the Septuagint version of the Old Testament was translated in Alexandria
as was one of our most ancient manuscripts of the New Testament.
In other words, there was a large vibrant Jewish community living in
Alexandria, and like America, it was a good place to live and raise a family,
until one could go back home. And that was God’s plan; after Herod the
Great died Joseph took his family back home to Israel where he found the
safest place to raise his family; a town called Nazareth.
As we look beyond the story of Mary, Joseph and Jesus we see throughout
the scriptures that God has always taught his children to show mercy on
the foreigner living in their mists. And, one of the reasons we do so is that
at one time we too were the foreigners in need of mercy. The Israelites
were instructed to never forget this as they were called to regularly recite:
Deuteronomy 26:5
“My father was a wandering Aramean …..
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Or to sing a psalm stating….
Psalm 39:12
“Hear my prayer, LORD,
listen to my cry for help;
do not be deaf to my weeping.
I dwell with you as a foreigner,
a stranger, as all my ancestors were.
God’s children were taught:
Exodus 23:9
“Do not oppress a foreigner; you yourselves know how it feels to be
foreigners, because you were foreigners in Egypt.
And they were to always remember and emulate God’s nature:
Deuteronomy 10:18-19
18
He defends the cause of the fatherless and the widow, and loves the
foreigner residing among you, giving them food and clothing.
19
And you are to love those who are foreigners,
for you yourselves were foreigners in Egypt.
And as we noted again from Matthew, Jesus followers are to care for these
needy ones as if they were Jesus; hungry, thirsty, naked, sick, and a
stranger.
“Well done”, Jesus will say, if we do so.
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Today we live in a very challenging time where faith in God and
obedience to His Word is facing off squarely against fear; the fear that an
openness to welcome the foreigner; specifically refugees, will be the
downfall of our country.
But I would argue today that the greater threat to our country is living
in disobedience to God. God’s Word calls us to acts of compassion for the
foreigner; for these acts are evidence of the faith we have in God, or as
James would say they are the works that prove our faith is alive.
So rather than allowing fear to push away the needy strangers, let our
present fears mobilize us to make immigration vetting as secure as
possible, and then welcome and minister to people needing a refuge from
the violence in their homeland. For while we will never be without fear in
this world of sin, our faith in action will reveal the power of God’s love to
transform hearts; the hearts of refugees and our hearts as well.
God was a refugee.
God cares for the refugee.
So let us care for the refugees and aliens who already live among us as
God has directed, and then, as followers of Christ, let us push our
governing leaders for immigration reform that allows us to do what God has
asked us to do.
AMEN
Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011
by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
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