Grace, mercy and peace be to you from God our Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ.
Text (Matthew 2:13-23):
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.”
Prayer: May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen.
In Isaiah 45, we read these beautiful words:
Truly, you are a God who hides yourself, O God of Israel, the Saviour.
All of them are put to shame and confounded, the makers of idols go in confusion together. But Israel is saved by the Lord with everlasting salvation; you shall not be put to shame or confounded to all eternity.
Think and chew over those words for a little bit!: Truly, you are a God who hides yourself, O God of Israel, the Saviour.
God is always hiding himself. Just when we think we want something from him, he gives us the exact opposite of what we ask. Why? Because he wants us to keep looking for him, but more importantly to keep hearing.
I don’t know if many of you have travelled around the world or even in Australia and seen the practices of many other religions. When I was a young teenager (not last year, by the way!) I went on a trip to Japan and visited a city called Kyoto which is famous for its temples. (You’ve probably heard about the Kyoto Protocol.) One thing that was particularly noticeable about these temples is that they were full of enormous statues of various gods.
There are many religions around the world which have what the bible calls “idols”. Now people who “worship idols” don’t generally worship the actual piece of wood, or stone. But the idol is believed to be the place where people have access to the god. So when people come and place an offering in front of the statue, they believe that they are offering it to the god.
I’ll read to you a little quote from a Tibetan Buddhist website:
“In the Tibetan tradition, holy statues enshrined in monasteries are filled with precious items and blessed in a special consecration ceremony during which the ultimate awareness is invited to enter in and merge with the statues. In this way, the statue becomes a living entity capable of bestowing blessing.”
Now in the bible, idols are forbidden. And in the same way, God did not give people access to himself like this. We also notice, that God doesn’t even show his face to people.
Instead, as Isaiah says:
Truly, you are a God who hides yourself, O God of Israel, the Saviour.
All of them are put to shame and confounded, the makers of idols go in confusion together. But Israel is saved by the Lord with everlasting salvation; you shall not be put to shame or confounded to all eternity.
Now, why do you think God doesn’t show himself? Why do you think he doesn’t show his face? Why do you think he doesn’t want the Israelites to set up an idol to him?
Because he wants them to listen to him. It’s the Word of God which people need to hear, and so he doesn’t distract people by showing himself to them.
Truly, you are a God who hides yourself.
But there’s a twist to this in the New Testament.
First of all, we can see God, because we can see Jesus. Colossians says that Jesus is the “image of the invisible God.” And also, Jesus says, “He who has seen me has seen the Father.” But notice that Jesus is not a statue, he is a human being. The Word of God did not become wood, or stone. The Word of God became flesh!
Now in the church, sometimes we have pictures or statues of Jesus. But if we have them, they are not allowed to be worshipped. We also don’t consecrate a picture or a crucifix, or something, like they do in idol-worshipping religions. They’re just there as a pictorial reminder, to help us bring to mind that Jesus Christ was a real human being, and that he lived in time and space. In fact, having a picture of Jesus proves that he was a real human being, and that he wasn’t just some ghost. If we were living in the time of Jesus’ earthly ministry, we’d probably take a photo of him to prove it.
But even though Jesus is a human being, and that through Jesus Christ, we can now see God, in a sense, the words of Isaiah are still true:
Truly, you are a God who hides yourself.
Even though we can see God in Jesus, he still hides himself through suffering and hardship. Have a look at the life of Jesus. He is hidden in the womb of his mother Mary. He is hidden in a stable in Bethlehem.
Jesus is truly God, and yet he hides himself in such a way that many people don’t recognise him as God. “He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him”.
Jesus is truly God, and yet he hides himself as God by suffering, and dying on the cross. Who would think that a suffering, bleeding man were actually God?
Truly, you are a God who hides yourself.
And in our reading today, we have three very unusual events about the baby Jesus.
There are three events, and all these things have three things in common:
First of all, we have an angel telling Joseph in a dream to go somewhere with his family.
Secondly, Joseph moves somewhere with his family.
And thirdly, the thing happens in order to fulfil a prophecy.
The first event has to do with going to Egypt.
The angel tells Joseph to go to Egypt with Mary and the baby Jesus.
So Joseph takes them to Egypt.
And then we read that this happened because of the prophecy: “Out of Egypt I have called my son.”
The second event has to do with the killing of the children in Bethlehem.
The prophecy says: “A voice was heard in Ramah, weeping and loud lamentation, Rachel weeping for her children; she refused to be comforted, because they are no more.”
The angel tells Joseph to go back to Israel with Mary and Jesus because Herod is dead.
So Joseph does.
The third event has to do with Joseph and his family settling into their home.
Joseph is afraid because Herod’s son is ruling in his place.
The angel warns Joseph in a dream and tells him to go to Galilee.
So Joseph, Mary and Jesus go to Galilee, and live in Nazareth.
And the prophecy says: “He shall be called a Nazarene.”
There are three events: The escape of Joseph, Mary and Jesus to Egypt; the killing of the children in Bethlehem; and Joseph, Mary and Jesus settling into their home.
Each of these events have an angel speaking to Joseph in a dream, each of these events has Joseph move somewhere with his family, and each of these events happens in order to fulfil a prophecy.
But what we also see in each of these events is God hiding himself. None of these events are easy for people. None of these things is a happy story.
The first thing is, Joseph, Mary, and Jesus have to immediately flee their homeland. They have to go to a foreign country where they don’t know the language. (Many people in our parish know what that is like.)
The second thing is, King Herod kills every baby boy two years and under. Every woman with a child in Bethlehem weeps and wails, cries and laments. (There are also people in our parish who know what it’s like to lose a child.)
And the third thing is, Joseph comes back to Israel with his family, and he still fears for his life. One king comes and he’s worried that the next one will be the same. Do you know what it’s like to be innocent, and have the government authorities chasing you?
And so we come back to the words of Isaiah:
Truly, you are a God who hides himself.
God hides himself in such a way that we can’t see him, to look into his face and know that he is looking at us back. We can’t do that on earth. St Paul says, that in the next life we will see “face to face”, but not here. Statues and pictures don’t give us access to God, even though they might help remind us of Jesus.
The Israelites couldn’t stand this though! God was invisible. We read in Exodus 20, that he hid himself in darkness. So what did they do? They went and built a golden calf! But when they did this, they exchanged the living God for a dead thing!
When God became a human being, when the word became flesh when Jesus became a baby, God also hides himself. He shows to the world a man who suffers: a baby at the mercy of kings, a fragile baby whose only protection is the arms of his mother, a man who rides into Jerusalem on a donkey, rather than on 100 white horses, a man who suffers and dies on the cross. And this baby, this suffering man, who we know to be Jesus Christ, is God. If God was a God who wanted to show off, and make a big splash, he wouldn’t have wasted his time becoming a baby. He wouldn’t actually go to suffer and die. Truly, you are a God who hides yourself.
And most people can’t stand this either! They want a different Jesus. A Jesus who gives them what they want right now! A Jesus who suits them, a Jesus who gives them money and influence and power.
Truly, you are a God who hides yourself.
And isn’t it strange how among the people we meet, Jesus wants us to find him in the “least of these”. He says, “I was hungry and you gave me food, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.”
And isn’t it strange how we see so much suffering and sadness and fear in our gospel reading today. Isn’t it strange that we see so much suffering and sadness and fear surrounding the baby Jesus who is supposed to bring peace on earth and good will.
Isn’t it strange that we see God most clearly in those times when we have suffered the most in our lives, the darkest times? Isn’t it strange that those times when we asked the question, Is there a God, are the times when we look back and realise that he was carrying us through that time all along? Isn’t it strange that in our gospel reading three prophecies are fulfilled along with three events of great suffering?
Relevation 3:19 doesn’t say, “Those whom I hate, I reprove and discipline”, but “Those whom I love.”
Truly, you are God who hides himself. He hides himself in the flesh of the baby Jesus. He hides himself in great suffering and humility. He hides his Holy Spirit in Holy Baptism. He hides his good news in the simple words of Scripture. And he hides the body and blood of his Son in bread and wine.
Because when it comes to Jesus, every thing comes with a cross. But with every cross there is a blessing. So it’s no wonder that when we bless, we always make a sign of the cross.
Amen.
Lord Jesus Christ, truly you are God who hides yourself. Bless us with your Holy Spirit, and keep us strong in our weaknesses. Open our eyes to those who are in need that we may help those who are suffering. Even if this new year may bring us suffering and crosses, still give us your peace which passes all understanding. Amen.
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