Notes on Matthew 2.13-23 Sunday after Christmas 29 December 2013
This story follows the story of the Magi. Unfortunately the Lectionary has changed the order of the stories to fit the Church Calendar. The story of the Magi is connected to the Epiphany. We will read it next week.
This story shows the danger that Jesus and his parents were in. Herod ordered that all the boys in Bethlehem less than two years old were to be killed. He did not want any rivals to his rule. The grief reminds Matthew of the reference to grief in Jeremiah 31. His readers might also remember what else was said in Jeremiah 31. God made great promises of salvation and rescue in that chapter. Promises that came true in the life of Jesus.
Jesus and his parents fled to Egypt. They stayed there until Herod died. Matthew links this with the time when Israel was in Egypt. In both cases God called his son out of Egypt. Jesus will have his own “exodus” at the cross when he rescues his people from sin and death.
The second part of the passage is about Jesus’ return from Egypt. The family does not want to go back to Judea because of Herod’s son, Archelaus. So they head to Nazareth. Jesus is therefore known as a “Nazarene”. In this case it has the idea of an unimportant place. An out-of-the-way place. A person who came from there would not be famous. They would be despised.
This fits the whole of these early chapters of Matthew. The Messiah is despised and rejected right form the start.
Dale