Text:
13 And when they had departed, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream, saying, “Arise, take the young child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you; for Herod is about to search for the young child to destroy him.” 14 So he rose, took the young child and his mother by night, and departed to Egypt. 15 And he remained there until the death of Herod. That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying, “Out of Egypt I called my son.”
16 Then Herod, when he saw that he was mocked by the wise men, was very angry, and he sent and killed all the male children who were in Bethlehem and in all its districts, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had determined from the wise men. 17 Then was fulfilled what was spoken by Jeremiah the prophet, saying, 18 “A voice was heard in Ramah, mourning, weeping, and great wailing: Rachel weeping for her children and not wanting to be comforted, because they are no more.”
19 Now when Herod died, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt, 20 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.” 21 So he rose, took the young child and his mother, and came to the land of Israel. 22 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 into the region of Galilee. 23 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.”

the explanation:

Magi from the East saw the star of the newborn King of the Jews in the East, so they came to Jerusalem to worship him. They met King Herod, who sent them to Bethlehem, asking them to return and tell him where the newborn was, so that he could go and worship him. The star led them to the place, and they saw the child and worshiped him, offering him gifts. They returned to their country after being warned not to return to Herod (see Matthew 2:1-12).

“And when the Magi had departed, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream.” The angel of the Lord does not mean a created angel distinct from God, but rather the expression refers to the manifestation of God Himself. This expression occurs frequently in the Book of Genesis (see Genesis 16:7, 13; 22:11) and is accompanied by inspiration through dreams (Genesis 15:12; 28:12). The Evangelist Matthew, in the first and second chapters of his Gospel, uses the same method of composition as the Book of Genesis, using the same expressions.

The subject of Genesis is creation. So the Evangelist Matthew in these two chapters places us in the atmosphere of creation, but it is a creation of a different kind. The Lord Jesus is not like the first Adam, but rather the new Adam, the firstfruits of the new creation, the true Son of Man and the true Son of God. Adam fell through sin and distanced himself from God, so the image of God was distorted in him. But the Lord Jesus restored the splendor of this image in man, drawing with his obedience even to the cross the way to achieve the divine example (see Genesis 1:26-27).

“Arise, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt… Arise, take the child and his mother, and go to the land of Israel.” Only the Gospel of Matthew mentions the flight to Egypt and the return from it, reminding us of the exodus of the Israelites from Egypt in the Old Testament. We notice that the Gospel of Matthew mentions events from Jesus’ childhood in an order that reminds us of events that the Israelites had previously experienced in the Old Testament. This prompts us to ask: Why does the Gospel of Matthew want to show the Lord Jesus as embodying these same events again in his life?

“That it might be fulfilled which the Lord said by the prophet, ‘Out of Egypt I called my son’” (Hosea 11:1). The prophet Hosea meant the Israelites by this verse, and the Evangelist Matthew finds its fulfillment in the Lord Jesus. Thus, what was previously attributed to the Israelites is now attributed to the Lord Jesus, and the purpose of this is to emphasize that the Lord Jesus is the true Israel (as opposed to the Jews), and the conclusive evidence of this is that the prophecies began to be fulfilled from the first moment of the virginal conception (see Matthew 1:22-23 and 2:5-6 and 15 and 17 and 23). Thus the Evangelist Matthew shows that the Lord Jesus is the awaited Messiah and Savior and that God’s promises are fulfilled in Him.

“When Herod saw that he was mocked by the Magi, he was very angry, and he sent and killed all the boys in Bethlehem…” Herod was appointed king of the Jews by the Roman Senate, and he was very keen on the kingdom and did not tolerate any threat to his throne. It was said that he did not hesitate to kill a number of his sons and wife when he felt that they posed a threat to his throne, which shows that killing the innocent children of Bethlehem was not strange to his behavior.

“A voice was heard in Ramah, mourning, weeping, and much wailing…” (Jeremiah 31:15). The prophet Jeremiah was referring to the deportation of the Jews to Babylon after the fall of Jerusalem at the hands of Nebuchadnezzar. Scholars believe that Matthew cited this verse here to prefigure the blood of Jesus that would be shed on the cross because of the Jews’ rejection of him, which is embodied here in Herod’s rejection.

Archelaus succeeded his father Herod as governor, not as king. The Roman Empire assigned him this task, but deposed him after ten years at the request of a delegation from the people of Judea and Samaria. This shows that he was unjust and did not please the people. Perhaps this is why Joseph was afraid to return to Judea and settled in the city of Nazareth in Galilee.

The account of the birth of Jesus in chapters one and two serves as an introduction to the Gospel of Matthew, in which the writer presents the main lines of the Gospel as a whole. In today's Gospel text we find the following lines: Herod's rejection embodies the Jews' rejection of the Lord Jesus, which will end in the cross, which is indicated by the blood spilled by the killing of the children. The children refer to those who will believe in the Lord Jesus and will be subject to persecution. The worship of the Magi refers to the Gentiles' acceptance of the good news of salvation and their belief in the Lord Jesus.

My parish bulletin
Sunday, December 26, 1993
Issue 52