He Will Be Called a Nazarene
Must it require danger to get to that end?
Matthew 2:19-23
Remember how this all started: both Mary and Joseph received specific words from messengers from God about the birth of Jesus. They followed the instructions and it happened: the baby was born. It had to be amazing to them, right? No sex, child anyway. What else could they possibly doubt?
You might think the story would go perfectly from then on. They knew now for sure that God was with them, right? The testimony of the shepherds, the appearance of the magi…
But it didn’t go perfectly, did it? Joseph had to make some difficult decisions. If God could do such miraculous things as a spirit-driven conception and all else that went down on the way to the birth of Jesus, why couldn’t God make everything else go perfectly? Why the escape to Egypt? Why then, on return to Israel, the need to settle in Nazareth? Surely, Matthew tells us about the fulfillment of the prophets. But God could have just told Joseph to settle in Nazareth without the impending danger, right?
Human will and God’s inability to change it could certainly explain a bit of it (meaning Herod and then Archelaus). Perhaps it can’t be fully explained.
But what these notations can tell us is that even when we’ve experienced the fullness of God’s promise, we might yet expect that not all in life will go as easily as we might hope. The road may bring unwanted surprises, difficult chapters, and even danger.
But God will be with us all along.
Matthew 2:19-23
After King Herod died, an angel from the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt. “Get up,” the angel said, “and take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel. Those who were trying to kill the child are dead.” Joseph got up, took the child and his mother, and went to the land of Israel. But when he heard that Archelaus ruled over Judea in place of his father Herod, Joseph was afraid to go there. Having been warned in a dream, he went to the area of Galilee. He settled in a city called Nazareth so that what was spoken through the prophets might be fulfilled: He will be called a Nazarene.
Prayer
God,
I’d like to see it all and know it all. I don’t mean that I’d like to rule the world, just that I’d like to know how things will go for me and those I love. I’m sure you can understand this desire.
So help me, God: Keep my feet steady despite challenges. Help me move forward despite setbacks. Give me courage for those things that would try to bring me down. Give me faith beyond what I can see.
By your spirit & in Christ,
Amen.