Opening Prayer
Remember Your congregation, which You have purchased of old, The tribe of Your inheritance, which You have redeemed (Psa 74:2).
Text: Matthew 2:19-23
But when Herod was dead, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt, saying, “Arise, take the young Child and His mother, and go to the land of Israel, for those who sought the young Child’s life are dead.” Then he arose, took the young Child and His mother, and came into the land of Israel. But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning over Judea instead of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. And being warned by God in a dream, he turned aside into the region of Galilee. And he came and dwelt in a city called Nazareth, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophets, “He shall be called a Nazarene.”
Devotion
Our Lord became an exile and was despised here on earth. Hunted by Herod, the devil’s tool, soon after His birth He had to flee to Egypt, and when He returned, He was not able to grow up in the city of His father David, but had to become the despised Nazarene. In this connection we note three things. First, in this way the Scripture would be fulfilled. The people of Israel, who are called the firstborn son of God, were strangers in Egypt and entered Canaan. This was a prophecy about Jesus, concerning whom the Lord says: “Out of Egypt I called My Son” (Hos 11:1). In despised Galilee, the land of Zebulun and Naphthali, the Glorious One would grow up (Isa 9:1ff). A little Branch, a Shoot, which in Hebrew is Netzer,4 is what the Lord is to be, despised and rejected (Isa 11:1; 53:2-3). These prophecies Herod and Archelaus had to help bring to fulfillment.
Secondly, it is part of the atonement for our sin that God’s Son became not only poor, but also an exile and completely despised on earth. For not only did Adam deserve to be thrown out of Paradise because of sin, but we all have really deserved to be cast out of our homeland and from all that we have. Now on account of Jesus’ gracious fleeing to Egypt, we live in our land in peace, in His Church with all blessing, and at home in heaven with eternal salvation. We lost the glory of God and would have fallen to everlasting shame. Now Jesus has freed us from this by becoming the Nazarene, despised even to death as a criminal, and we now bear the honored name of children of God and sons of Israel and shall inherit the crown of glory in heaven.
For the third point, we learn here that our path to glory with Christ passes through mockery, persecution, and tribulation. Let this be our honor: to be like Jesus! Let this be our comfort: that He walked the way ahead of us! Let this be our strength: that in this way the Scriptures are fulfilled also in us!
Closing Prayer
Lord God, heavenly Father, help us to come home to our eternal homeland, saved for Jesus’ sake. Amen.
Hymn
O Jesus, who In exile came to earth,
Despised were You In poverty undue,
Suff’ring for my sins on earth,
O sweetest God, Be still mild With Your child,
A stranger here I roam
And have no lasting home!
Help me now my steps to trace;
Ne’er forget me in Your grace;
Lead me to that blessed place!
Kingo: O Jesus, som Udi Landflygtighed L 187 tr. DeGarmeaux;
tune: I Jesu Navn (ELH 4); alternate hymn: Children of the heavenly Father ELH 174