Ugly Childhood

You are listening to a message from Thrive Community Church, a church located in Southwest Florida. For more info, visit us at thrive-fl.org. Good morning. I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, and now the Sunday after Christmas that you are still in the midst of having celebrations of the goodness and grace of God as we see it in Jesus Christ. It's been an ugly year, 2020. We've all recognized that in so many ways. And today we're finishing off our series, An Ugly Christmas, where we're finding the meaning right in the middle of the mess in our lives. And we come to a passage that I think was the actual inspiration for this whole series, by the way. It comes from the Gospel of Matthew in an account that seems out of sync with all our idyllic understandings of the Christmas story itself. Because we see an ugly event, right smack dab against the birth of Jesus Christ. What theologians have called over the years, the slaughter of the innocents. These children that are killed in Bethlehem by a paranoid, insecure, potentate King Herod the Great, who at an aged in many years himself has decided to try to get rid of his rival, though an infant. Makes really no sense because by the time this infant is even 10 years old, King Herod will be dead. And yet he gets rid of them all. Tries to get rid of any child that would be in his way in the matter of Bethlehem. As if anyone can really thwart the plans of God if they set their minds to it. You know, most stories about the birth of Jesus are filled with glad tidings of great joy for all people. But this is a dark episode. And as we finish it up, I think it is a good place to conclude. So we're going to be reading from Matthew chapter 2 today. Now, when they had departed, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, Rise, take the child and his mother and flee to Egypt and remain there until I tell you, for Herod is about to search for the child to destroy him. And he rose and took the child and his mother by night and departed to Egypt and remained there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet, out of Egypt I called my son. Then Herod, when he saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, became furious and he sent and killed all male children in Bethlehem and in all that region who were two years old or younger, according to the time that had been ascertained from the wise men. Then was fulfilled what was spoken by the prophet Jeremiah. A voice was heard in Ramah, weeping and loud lamentation, Rachel weeping for her children. She refused to be comforted because they were no more. But when Herod died, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt saying, Rise, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who sought the child's life are dead. And he rose and he took the child and his mother and went to the land of Israel. But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning over Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. And being warned in a dream, he withdrew to the district of Galilee and he went and lived in a city called Nazareth, so that what was spoken by the prophets might be fulfilled that he would be called a Nazarene. So far from the gospel of Matthew. Let's pray. Lord God, this day, this Sunday after Christmas, Lord, towards the end of a very ugly year, we just pray for your beauty to shine through this passage and into our lives, that we find the meaning in the mess of all the things that have happened over the course of this year, that we realize the messiness and the ugliness of our own human nature and yet the beauty and glory of your promises. We lift up to many who are ill and sick in our nation right now in the midst of this pandemic and the fear and the isolation. We lift up to those who are facing economic difficulties right now, Lord, food insecurities. We thank you that you have used us in many ways to over this past eight months or so, Lord, to feed those who are hungry and to care for those who are lonely. We pray that you continue to use us as your servants in this world, Lord God, into this new year. And may this new year be one, Lord, where you receive all the glory, all the praise, all the honor, and that you have no rival, that there is no king but you, Lord Jesus. Father, that you are the Ancient of Days, the Lord of Lords, the King of Kings, and Jesus Christ is Lord to your glory in all things in our lives. All this we pray this Christmas, first Sunday after Christmas Day, in Jesus' name. Amen. Now, what's interesting about this story is Matthew places it right here in chapter 2 for a number of reasons. And I think he does that because he wants to show us that Jesus' birth does not instantaneously change everything. Though it is a huge change, a huge movement in the whole story from before Christ to after Christ, B.C. to A.D., it doesn't change everything. It's not magical, his birth, but...