David Orendorff · Matthew 2:13-23

Today’s scripture is not the cheery scripture of Christmas Eve. I thought about picking a different scripture but I don’t like dodging the difficult. But preaching the full gospel of Jesus also means always remembering and ending with the goodnews of God’s mercy, grace and new life. We are never left hanging upon the cross; always we are promised and then given resurrection.

A good soul friend reminded of how Christmas and Easter go together with an Easter hymn wrapped in a Christmas Carol. It goes like this:

Silent night, holy night,
All is calm, all is bright
He lives, he lives, Christ Jesus lives today,
round yon virgin, mother and child,
He walks with me and talks with me along life’s narrow way
holy infant, so tender and mild
He lives, he lives, salvation to impart.
sleep in heavenly peace,
You ask me how I know he lives?
sleep in heavenly peace,
He lives within my heart!

Today’s scripture quickly lets us know that Jesus’ birth threatens to lead to an early Good Friday when Herod searches to destroy the messiah. But then we are given Easter when Joseph dreams an angel’s warning and with his little family escapes to Egypt. But then sadly Good Friday returns as babies are slaughtered and mothers weep.1 Though we don’t have an independent record of this massacre it is certainly consistent with the character of Herod. Augustus once said he would rather be Herod’s pig (us) than his son (uios). The Interpreter’s Bible, Abingdon Press, Nashville, 1951, volume 7, p. 260, And then we are again at Easter as Joseph, Mary and Jesus return home to fulfill God’s salvation for the world.

Life has hard times, and then good times, and then hard times and yet again good times; back and forth it goes until all time is finally good. God knows this is our journey and comes to be with us as a baby, as a messiah and as Holy Spirit to not only comfort us, but to lead us to safety that in our exodus we finally come to the promised land. Today’s scripture not only reminds us that Good Friday invades Christmas, it reminds us that Easter conquers Good Friday. In this scripture I see strategies to help us.

Strategy #1: Pay attention to your dreams.

Joseph’s dream tells him there is danger from Herod before his conscious mind knows of the danger. Matthew believes dreams with angels are messages from God. In the first two chapters Joseph has three dreams and the Magi have one, all which direct them away from danger. Dreams, the wise have long known, are not just fanciful musings of the mind in the middle of the night. From early writings in every culture we have stories of how dreams have been God’s way of communicating with us. Remember the story of an earlier Joseph, the son of Jacob, who was warned in dreams that his brothers would betray him into slavery, but whose dreams also guided him to personal greatness and to be the savior of his family and nation. Our unconscious minds are thinking all the time and though this thinking process is out of reach of our conscious mind, every so often the conclusions of the unconscious will explode upon the conscious as dreams and strong intuitions. As difficult as it is to understand their sometimes confusing language and images, dreams are sometimes messages from God.

This is the study portion of being a disciple. By our hours of personal prayer, meditation and reading we prepare ourselves to hear God speak to us. By our work together in small groups of study and action we prepare ourselves to hear God tell us what God would have us know and do. In our study we strive to be as ready as Joseph to the will of God. Paying attention to dreams and all the many other ways God communicates with us to prepare us for the Holy Spirit’s transformation to save us from danger.

Strategy #2: Don’t be afraid to runaway.

Joseph could be called a coward because he fled rather than faced the danger. Or Joseph could be called a hero because he knew that the life of Jesus was more valuable than his personal honor and it running away he saved the life of the messiah. It seems to me that sometimes it is right to flee and wait for a better day. I think Joseph was a hero for running away. And because of Joseph’s bravery Jesus grew to be a man and begin the remarkable transformation of the world for which he is known.

Our primary discipline technique for our young children was to tell them to run away to their bedroom and stay there for so many minutes. We called this “time
outs.” When we got smarter we started giving ourselves time outs.

There have been times in Vickie’s and my marriage when a marriage retreat, a time away from the conflict around us and some guided work on our relationship was what we most needed and wisely took.

After being a pastor for 20 years some conflicts in the midst of ministry made me seriously wonder if I could do pastoral ministry any more and even if God wanted me to do pastoral ministry any more. At first I tried to work harder and be smarter than the trouble. But the pit and darkness only deepened.

Then in August of 1999 I ran away to a Benedictine Retreat Center in Canada and spent eight days in silence and under the guidance of a spiritual director. Then again in the summer of 2000 for another eight days I ran to the same retreat center and spiritual director. Those retreats led me to flee ministry in Montana and start anew in Anacortes. That I listened to God telling me to run away from conflict saved my life and my ministry.

The most obvious spiritual retreat is Sunday morning worship in which we pull away from the world and renew ourselves in faithful company. This is why regular worship is so critical to being a disciple of Jesus. If you are looking for a more extended retreat with God at the center there areseveral opportunities around us. There are the weekend Walk to Emmaus (or for youth Chrysalis) retreats. There are all kinds of church camp opportunities for all ages. If you are looking for a quieter kind of retreat St. Placid’s Monastery and Spiritual Center in Lacey is near by. It has become my local choice for running away when I need to be with God.

Sometimes God says, “This is not the battle I want you to fight, flee this war and wait for my calling.” A God directed retreat is not running away, but is preparation for returning to the world and confronting life with a greater wisdom and a stronger soul.

Strategy #3: Listen for the voice of God calling you to the time of ministry that is yours to do for God’s desire.

There will come a time when God will come, as he did to Joseph and say, “Now return and stand for me in this place.” Joseph paid attention to scripture and dreams so that he not only heard God tell him to flee, he heard God tell him to go to Nazareth and to raise this baby for the purposes of heaven. Joseph did his job well for Jesus grew in God and like his father Joseph listened to God in scripture, prayer and dream and so knew when it was time to retreat in the wilderness, when it was time to heal and teach in Galilee, and when it was time to go to Jerusalem and die before being raised on the third day. Listening for our call to go into the world to do a particular ministry is the third aspect of being a disciple, it is the service portion of being a disciple. Just as God tells us (in our study) when to retreat (worship), God also tells us when and where to return to the world of suffering to serve.

It is my experience that sometimes we make the service piece way to hard. Think of it this way. If God called every one of us to be Mother Teresa or Albert Schweitzer the world couldn’t function and we would all die.

Joseph wasn’t asked to do any more than protect and raise a son. But by his humble role as a father he gave the world a savior. Being the mother of your children, changing diapers, bandaging wounds, making lunch and giving hugs, is for most of us the most important ministry we will ever do.

Being a compassionate and just in our work ripples into the world in ways we cannot imagine and brings the word of God and the hand of Christ to the wounded. So going to work is not just the daily grind, it is the opportunity to serve God by serving everyone with whom we have contact.

Where ever you are and what ever is yours to do is the ministry to which God calls you. It may be quiet as slinging mud from someone’s house, or so big it makes the cover of Time Magazine, but what ever it is, it is what God has asked us to do and it is the healing of life’s suffering.

A baby is born and the trouble begins. Joseph pays attention to the messages of his dreams (study) and retreats (worships) until God calls him home to serve. It was a good strategy for Joseph, Mary and Jesus. And it is a good strategy for Bearcreekians who want to practice being a disciple of Jesus.

Shalom and Amen.

[1] Though we don’t have an independent record of this massacre it is certainly consistent with the character of Herod. Augustus once said he would rather be Herod’s pig (us) than his son (uios). The Interpreter’s Bible, Abingdon Press, Nashville, 1951, volume 7, p. 260,