In Matthew's Steps: Born into danger

The First Steps:Read Matthew 2

Focus Verse: “[Herod] sent them to Bethlehem and said, ‘Go and make careful search for the child. As soon as you find him, report to me, so that I too may go and worship him.’” Matthew 2:10

Meditation: Born into danger!

Like it or not... we live in a dangerous world. Every day the media bombards with reminders of that danger. Families brutally assaulted and shot in their own homes. Children carrying guns (and using them!) at school. Mothers drowning their own children! Genocide in Africa. Suicide bombers in Afghanistan.

Just last week I heard of a terrible crime! In the middle of this season of giving, where happiness and the best of the human spirit are celebrated, a couple women were robbed right after they had stashed their Christmas presents in their car and went to another store! Coming out of their cars they discovered that everything they had bought at the previous store was gone from the trunk of their car!

We live in a dangerous world. And our children, like it or not, are born into that world! For most of the world, a child’s very survival is in jeopardy until they reach the age of 2. Diseases rip many infants away from their families before they can reach that age. Those that do make it face violence at every turn throughout their lives. From the wars raging on within our own bodies to the wars outside of us! No wonder we long for peace on earth this time of year.

The Gospel of Matthew throws Jesus into the middle of this mess. Unlike Luke who announces Jesus’ birth with pretty angels in the sky and meek shepherds keeping watch in their field, the Gospel of Matthew has none of that! All we have of Jesus actual birth in this gospel is at the end of the previous chapter. “...she gave birth to a son. And [Joseph] gave him the name Jesus.” (Vs. 25). That’s it! That’s all the birth. It’s as if Matthew is saying: “Yes, Christ is born...but more importantly he’s born into a world of violence!”

Matthew starts chapter two by telling us when this Jesus is born. “After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod...” (vs. 1) The very mention of Herod, king of Judea, should invoke fear. Herod is, as history tells us, a violent man. Herod rose to power in the Roman empire through his own cunning and he himself was killed by his own son shortly after meeting the Magi. Herod is scary! For now, though, Herod is consumed with fear. Fear of losing his power his own lust for power and craves to keep his throne and position. That is why, when approached by foreign Magi from the east, Herod pretends to go along with them, asking for the location of the child so he may go and worship. Talk about political intrigue at its very best! This has the makings of a good Tom Clancy novel!

Only the foreign Magi do not agree. In a dramatic turn of events, after visiting the child, the Magi go home a different way, leaving Herod angry. But does the story stop there? Not at all! Instead, we are told Joseph whisks Mary and baby Jesus away while Herod, “realized that he had been outwitted by the Magi...gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, in accordance with the time learned from the Magi.” (vs. 16).

Christ is born into a world of violence! Infanticide! Deceit! Political unrest! A world of escaping refugees! Of political criminals. Of seekers and liars! Christ is born a wanderer. A nomad. Born into a world of power and corruption. Where the people, even the religious ones, haven’t a clue what is happening under their very nose.

It’s all there. Right from the beginning of Christ’s life in Matthew. Christ is born into a world of violence.

And that violence is with us today. Nothing has changed. I'm always amazed when people say how much people have evolved. We haven't evolved! Watch television sometime! We live in the same world as Herod and Joseph did. In our world, families are torn apart by politics and politicians and rent asunder by conflicts from within. We live in a world where children are killed by hunger and greed and in anger. A world where the most dangerous people we know are the people in our own families! Where men and women kill themselves for their faith. It’s a world of bullying and hatred, where a few words sent over an electronic media can end of the life of another person. And a world where we really don’t care as we sit all apart, with illusions of our self-sufficiency in our big warm homes.

That's the world today. And it was the world then. And that is the world Christ comes to. That is the world that needs saving.

Let’s not forget that this season of Christmas, as we hear our beloved carols call us around the fire with family and friends. As we participate in the celebration of the season by the giving and receiving of gifts. As we extend ourselves out to the needy and the poor, the broken and the abandoned. Let us not forget the world that still needs Christ. Still needs that little baby born in a manger, born into danger, to save it. And may we remember that Christ has come, not to ignore the problem or dismiss it, but to transform it through his own death and resurrection. That in his death on the cross, all the world may die with him. And in his rising from the grave, the whole world might rise to new life again. Amen.

Questions to ponder...
1) Take a look at today’s headlines. What jumps out at you? How would you characterize the world today?

2) Why do you think its important for Matthew that we are told the true state of the world when Christ was born? Why is this significant do you think?

3) What areas of your life need saving for you? Where do you find Christ coming to redeem you?

A Prayer to Pray...
Lord Jesus, we live in a dangerous world full of robberies and violence, where men commit terrible crimes against one another. And yet you loved us enough to enter in, to face the danger, the grief, the turmoil, the hatred, and the shame and to die with it and for it. Help us turn to face the dangerous world around us with your presence in our lives and your love in our hearts. Amen.