The Second Sunday after Christmas
Day.
The
Collect.
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LMIGHTY
God, who hast poured upon us the new light of thine incarnate Word; Grant that
the same light enkindled in our hearts may shine forth in our lives; through
Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
The Epistle
Isaiah lxi. 1.
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HE
Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me; because the LORD
hath
anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up
the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the
prison to them that are bound; to proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD,
and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn; to appoint unto
them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for
mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be
called trees of righteousness, the planting of the LORD,
that he might be glorified.
The Gospel
St. Matthew ii. 19.
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HEN
Herod was dead, behold, an angel of the Lord appeareth in a dream to Joseph in
Egypt, saying, Arise, and take the young child and his mother, and go into the
land of Israel: for they are dead which sought the young child’s life. And he
arose, and took the young child and his mother, and came into the land of
Israel. But when he heard that Archelaus did reign in Judæa in the room of his
father Herod, he was afraid to go thither: notwithstanding, being warned of God
in a dream, he turned aside into the parts 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.
Just as all mortals born of woman are destined for the grave and good as dead
at birth, there is a second death of far greater consequence; that death is
unto eternal damnation. This is the death suffered by King Herod (the Great)
after his horrific murders of the innocents at Bethlehem. Herod was a vain and
pompous politician who murdered even his own son out of coveted jealousy. The
Jewish historian, Josephus states, "many slaughters followed the
prediction of a new king"; and is more manifestly referred to by
Macrobius, a Heathen author, who reports, that "when Augustus heard,
that among the children under two years of age, whom Herod king of the Jews
ordered to be slain in Syria, that his son was also killed, said, it was better
to be Herod's hog than his son.''
Based on traditional computations, it appears most likely to me that Herod died
when our Lord Jesus Christ (sojourning in Egypt) was about three years of age.
Herod died a horrible death, not in God's vengeance for the murder of the
innocents in Bethlehem, but as a sign of terror to any who would be as evil as
Herod. There will be ample torture in the first five minutes of Hell to atone
for his cruel murder of the innocents. His death was unusually gross as was
that of his son later mentioned in Acts. Josephus says that King Herod died of
an extreme condition (probably kidney failure) which caused his whole flesh to
burn and itch interminable, and Josephus further states that his "private
parts were eaten by maggots." The text simply says that Herod, and those
who sought the death of baby Jesus, were dead. Herod's son Antipater was
complicit with his father in the carnage at Bethlehem and even Antipater was
killed by his father five days before Herod's death. At the final moments of
his cursed life, Herod changed his will to allow his younger son, Archelaus to
take power in Judea. He, too, was unmatched for wickedness.
The death of Herod is profoundly informative to those who would live an evil
and wicked life. Though all who are born into this world are subject to the
first death, woe to those who are destined to die TWICE. As Jude says: trees
whose fruit withereth, without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots. (Jude 1:12) Being
plucked up by the roots means there is no further source for life and all hope
is forlorn. We read, as well in Hebrews: And as it is appointed unto men
once to die, but after this the judgment. (Heb 9:27) Some men go to their graves with
the second judgment a foregone conclusion - such was Herod. Those who persevere
in Christ to the end have no need of worry of that second death: He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death.
(Rev 2:11)
Egypt, prophetically speaking, represents the land of sin. We all are born in
Egypt (sin) and need to be brought out by the strong, outstretched arm of the
Lord. Like Joseph, Jesus was taken into Egypt to escape the treachery of the
rulers in Judea. Joseph, son of Jacob, too, was carried into Egypt for the sake
of being the savior of his brothers who had sold him into bondage. Jesus was
kept secure in Egypt for a time in order to save all who will believe and
persevere. But we are never to make our permanent home in bondage to sin
(Egypt). We must be liberated by that precious blood of Christ!
There is a wonderfully powerful painting entitled on exhibit at the Louvre in
Paris entitled, Rest on the Flight into Egypt, by Orazio Gentileschi,
(1628) that depicts the Virgin Mary seated at the feet of the Sphinx. In the
distance behind are the shadowed pyramids, and before the scene are Joseph and
his donkey resting beside the only fire light. The light is reflecting from
before the Sphinx and around the Holy Family; but to the rear of the scene and
behind the Sphinx, the wilderness recedes in darkness. I take the meaning to
portray the only Light of the World resting amid the sins of the world (Egypt),
and all of the darkness of the past receding from His presence. I was only a
child when my father took me to see this great work of art, but its memory is
emblazoned on my soul.
We should never get comfortable in our sins, but feel an undying urge to leave
them behind by the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. In due time, and Angel of
the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph to direct him to leave Egypt and return
to Israel. Later, he would direct Joseph to avoid Judea due to the evil
Archelaus ruling in the stead of his deceased father. Both were equally evil
and Herod Archelaus would suffer a fate no less gruesome than that of his
father. (Acts
12:21-23).
So Joseph circumvented the area of danger and proceeded to Nazareth. Nazareth
means ‘guarded.’ It is situated in a pristine little valley surrounded by
hills. It appears as a rose nestled among the rugged hills of Galilee. Nazareth
was a secluded little hamlet that was looked down upon by the more ‘sophisticated’
urban dwellers of Jerusalem. That which the world rejects most often is
precisely what the Lord approves. 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. (Verse 23) Nazarene means ‘separated one, or anointed.’ Our Lord
was certainly separated from the sinful world for the purpose of our salvation,
and He was anointed for the task by His Heavenly Father. Christ was not the
separated, or anointed, one because He dwelt in Nazareth. He was anointed and
separated to be our Redeemer before the foundations of the world.
Our constant hope and assurance is in God to bring about good for us from the
most reviling of evil hearts. Though we may suffer a short time of immeasurable
hurt from the world, our Lord offers a love and joy that surpasses all
understanding for a period of all eternity. And never mind our desires to exact
vengeance on those who persecute and despitefully use us – that remains the realm
and domain of a Holy God.
I tremble at the thought of the price that God will exact on those demons of
the Islamic faith who are beheading innocents today in the same country as
Herod before them! Let not our souls be soiled with the imaginations of such
evil. Trust in God, and that will be sufficient.
