She then invited them to draw
a picture or write a poem describing the story.
As she was looking at the
pictures the leader said to one child, that’s very good, I can see Mary on a
donkey cart with some bundles, and Jospeh walking alongside, but what is it
with that big bug on top of the luggage?
The child replied, well I
read the story again from the Bible as you asked us to, and I noticed it said,
‘and the Lord said to Joseph, take Mary and Jesus and flee into Egypt.
Well, that’s one story, what
we might call a groan story, but this morning I want us to explore three other
stories wrapped around this incident.
The Biblical story, the
contextual story and the contemporary story.
Let’s start with the Biblical
story.
One of the overriding motifs
for Matthew is that Jesus is a Moses type figure who leads a ‘new’ Israel out
of slavery, through the desert, giving them the ‘law’ and finally leads them
into the promised land, albeit that has yet to be fully realised.
Draw to mind the infancy
story of Moses. An enslaved people ruled over by a cruel tyrant, the King of
Egypt, or as more popular known, the Pharaoh.
And what did this Pharaoh
seek to do?
To kill all the male babies
born to the Hebrews.
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.
Somewhat ironically it is
away from Israel to Egypt that Jesus is taken. But as Matthew makes very clear, this is
to set Jesus up as the new Moses figure.
So, he (Jospeh) got up, took the child and his mother during the night and left for Egypt, 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.” (Quoting Hosea 11.1)
That’s a little of the
Biblical story and serves to remind us of the importance of building up our
knowledge bank of the whole of the Scriptural narrative.
On this, as quick aside, and
for your encouragement going into 2026.
Just before Christmass, the
story broke of white-tailed eagles that had gone missing. They were part of a
repopulation programme.
Now, do you know why the
eagle is often used as a lectern, such as the one tucked away behind me.
The eagle can have a bird’s
eye view, seeing the expanse below, but also has an ‘eagle eye’ for the detail,
noting the smallest movement, the scuttling of a mouse for example.
This is the eagle that
carries the Scriptures, the Word of God. And we are invited to approach the
Scriptures as an eagle. Soaring over its pages to get the broad sweep and the
overall landscape. In technical terms, the meta-narrative of God’s redemptive
purposes for the cosmos. And we are also
invited to look at the detail, the meaning of a particular word for example. Looking
at it in Hebrew or Greek and when and where else it is used. And thankfully there are many tools to help us
with this type of exploration.
A deeper dive into the
Scriptures would be an excellent New Year’s resolution.
The Bible Project is one good place to help explore the Scriptures. Study the Story of the Bible With Free Tools | BibleProject™
Back to our stories and our second story, the contextual story.
Now I don’t know how you
would portray this story, with or without any bugs.
What we read is this…
So, he (Jospeh) got up, took
the child and his mother during the night and left for Egypt…
Now this was very unusual. People didn’t travel alone; it was too dangerous. Think of the man going down to Jericho in one of Jesus’ parables. Think of Luke’s story of Mary and Joseph taking Jesus to Jerusalem when he was twelve. They lost him for three days because they assumed that he might be amongst others in the caravan. That was the safest and the most normal way that peopled travelled. In groups, forming a caravan.
When
the Magi 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.
This is unusual, this is a
flight, this is escaping from a cruel tyrant bent on your destruction.
However strange and unusual
their flight might have been they were heading to a strong and very well-established
Jewish community in Egypt. The Jews there had their own area and were to all intents
and purposes self-governing.
And this segways into our
third story, the contemporary story.
A young couple with an infant
escaping for their lives in the night, going down an unsafe route but heading
towards a community outside the jurisdiction of those seeking them harm, but
where there is an established community of your people, your community and from
your country.
And this is a contemporary
story is it not?
However, I am not going to
make any pronouncement from this platform as I don’t believe that is an honest
use of this space and time.
However, I would invite you to
reflect on these figures taken from the UNHCR web site. Figures at a
glance | UNHCR
As of the end of June 2025, the most recent reporting
period, 117.3 million people had been forced to flee their
homes globally due to persecution, conflict, violence, human rights violations
or events seriously disturbing public order.
Among them were nearly 42.5 million refugees.
In addition, there were 67.8 million people displaced within the borders of
their own countries (IDPs)* and 8.42 million asylum-seekers.
There are also 4.4 million stateless people, who have been denied a nationality and lack access to basic rights such as education, health care, employment and freedom of movement.
That works out at an average of 1 in every 70
people on Earth have been forced to flee!
As we do this against the
backdrop of the Scriptural story we have been exploring today, I would invite
to consider this question.
When did refugees become
migrants, to then become immigrants, to then become illegal immigrants and then
to becoming a threat to our way of life?
A few weeks ago, Margaret
spoke of one of her heroes, Corrie ten Boom. Her story was told in a film
called ‘The Hiding Place.’ This was the
story of the ten Booms hiding Jews from the Nazi’s who were seeking to destroy
them.
In 1978 Corrie wrote a book
called – ‘Don’t wrestle but nestle.’ Speaking
about our need to always trust God in all circumstance and situations.
However, just a few short
days ago we celebrated the incarnation, Immanuel, God with us, in blood, flesh,
skin and bone.
Let us be very aware of those
around us who are living in a place of fear, however that fear may present
itself and from whatever source it comes from. May we be ready in a sense to be
God incarnate, Christ’s body upon earth.
I would like to imagine that
when Joseph was getting ready to escape to Egypt he would have told a few
others and maybe asked for their help in getting some things together for the
journey.
Corrie ten Boom and her
family sought to offer sanctuary and safety to those of the Jewish community being
taken of to the Nazi death camps.
Maybe, just maybe, there is a
lesson for us to learn here!
'I will trust in you' - this is a great version, but some of the pictures are a tad, mmm?
https://youtu.be/ElVC6rfX3Z8?si=7xDkVb_r4QCbFPGn
To see the sermon in context visit follow this link.
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