Good weekend to you my “Walking with Jesus” friends,
As you and I look at the world around us, this last weekend of 2025, no matter where we live in our big world, I’m sure Christmas already seems distant in the past and preparations are well underway for turning the page to a new year in our cities, right? How significant will this beginning of a new year be for you and the people of your city this year?
Yesterday I told you there are four significant events in God’s “Grand Narrative” which the Bible records as taking place in the lives of Joseph, Mary and young Jesus soon AFTER that first Christmas. Yesterday we looked at the first of these events, their encounter with Simeon the man of God in the Temple on the occasion of Jesus’ consecration to God 40 days after His birth. We also looked, yesterday, at the visit of the Magi, who had traveled from a far distant land searching for the newborn king of the Jews. We saw that those Magi were warned in a dream to return home by a different route so they would NOT enter Jerusalem or have any further contact with wicked King Herod.
Their obedience to those instructions from God likely saved their lives because when Herod realized they had left without returning to give him a report, as he had requested, his temper flared and he made a bloody plan for killing all little boys in Bethlehem under age 2. (Matt. 2:16) We assume King Herod chose that age based on the report he had received from the Magi of when they first noticed their ‘guiding star’, how long they had traveled, and who they were searching for. Combined with the fact that the Magi visited Mary and young Jesus in a house (Matt. 2:11) we conclude it may have been at least one year or more after Jesus was born that the Magi visited Bethlehem.
While Matthew does not give us the gruesome details of that horrific holocaust in Bethlehem, Matthew quotes the prophet Jeremiah in summarizing the indescribable grief of parents and grandparents as their innocent children were brutally slaughtered. (Matt. 2:16,17)
As I read those verses and imagine the terrifying scene in Bethlehem, I am horrified to consider the extreme to which many people, including politicians, judges, attorneys, doctors, nurses and even parents will go to PROTECT and PROMOTE the vicious slaughter of millions of unborn babies through abortion every year, even in well advanced, sophisticated places like North America and Europe! It is nothing less than barbaric! The only difference between what happened in Bethlehem and what happens every day in abortion clinics in our day, is the Bethlehem killing was of already birthed little boys up to two years of age.
While paranoid, angry King Herod was making his plan, rallying his soldiers and dispatching them from Jerusalem to rush quickly down the road only 6 miles to Bethlehem, God was alerting Joseph in a dream to rise from his sleep quickly, gather what few belongings they could carry, and rush out of Bethlehem with Mary and little Jesus! WHY? Because precious Jesus was THE primary target of Herod genocide and there was NO time to waste. No time for discussion or debate. No time for making a plan or asking God for more details!
God’s instructions to Joseph were clear: “Get up, take the child and His mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill Him.” (Matt. 2:13) As you reflect on your life journey have there been times when you’ve sensed clear guidance from God in an important decision and as you reflect back, do you see how your obedience saved your life or protected you from disaster? Joseph’s immediate and total obedience that night saved his life, and that of Mary and little Jesus.
As far as I know Joseph had never been further south in Israel than Bethlehem, so as they headed south toward Egypt, in the dark of that night, fleeing for their lives, each step they took was like Abraham and Sarah of old, following God into the unknown! I’ve done that, have you? Oh my, it’s an exhilarating experience isn’t it, especially when it’s a geographical move and you have your family in tow with you, to the best of your ability, following God!
We don’t know exactly where Joseph and his little family found refuge in Egypt, but it’s safe for us to assume they felt, in every way, like foreigners, strangers in a foreign land. They had only the clothes on their backs and what little they could carry. I presume that included the gifts the Magi had brought them. Those gifts would have been even more valuable in Egypt than in Israel because of the culture and economy of Egypt. Especially in the wealthier segment of Egyptian society which had various uses for Myrrh, Frankincense and especially gold.
While Matthew doesn’t tell us, I assume Joseph slowly sold off very small amounts of those precious gifts to feed his family, find housing and perhaps start a little carpentry business to provide for his family in Egypt. Joseph had no idea how long they’d be refugees in Egypt, and he was not about to seek public aid for Mary and Jesus when God had provided from Magi who may have traveled hundreds of miles to bring God’s provision for Joseph’s family! Do you see, once again, the very practical lesson of depending upon God’s sovereignty for guiding, protecting and providing for His people who will follow and obey Him?
After perhaps two years in Egypt, an angel again appeared to Joseph with the news Herod was dead and it was time to return his family to live in Israel. (Matt.2:19-23) Once again God guided Joseph to return home to the Galilee region and specifically Nazareth, their hometown. Under normal circumstances going home is often wonderful, but these were far from normal circumstances, and we should assume life would have been simpler, easier living in a town where no one knew the story of that first Christmas! Luke 2:40 makes this statement: “And the child grew and became strong; He was filled with wisdom, and the grace of God was on Him.”
And that brings us to the fourth and final significant event in the life of Joseph, Mary and Jesus after that first Christmas and before Jesus began his adult ministry. This special event is recorded for us in Luke 2:41-52 and occurred when young Jesus was 12 years old. Joseph led his family to Jerusalem for Passover and Jesus was that year of the age when He might actually have experienced what Jewish families today call a bar mitzvah and where better than at the Temple in Jerusalem.
While we have no record of that event, Luke describes the dramatic scene when young Jesus was in the Temple courts discussing the Torah and religious laws with the Jewish scholars and teaches. Joseph and Mary had already left Jerusalem heading home to Nazareth, presuming young Jesus was in the caravan somewhere.
Finding Jesus absent, Joseph and Mary returned to Jerusalem looking for Jesus and finally found Him in the Temple courts fully engaged in discussion with religious scholars. When they asked Jesus why He had stayed behind as the family headed home, His words are powerful, and they form a bridge to His adult life and ministry: “Why were you searching for Me? Didn’t you know I had to be in My Father’s house?” (Luke 2:49) For the first time teenage Jesus declared Almighty God to be His Father, a statement Jesus would repeat many, many times in His adult years. (John 10:27-30; 16:28)
While Jesus returned to Nazareth with Joseph and Mary that day, we are safe to assume life was never the same in that house or in their relationship, for Jesus had declared Himself to be the Son of God!
As we prepare for transitioning to a new year next week, how will you spend this last weekend and especially this final Sunday of 2025? How much thanks and praise are you prepared to offer Jesus for His work in your life journey this year and how ready are you for what Jesus has planned for you in 2026?
More reflection notes at the “Grand Narrative” link below and a wonderful worship song link at the bottom of this page. And I’ll be here on Monday, ready to start a new journey with you, and God bless you this weekend!
Today’s Scriptures: Matt. 2 & Luke 2.
Choose below to read or listen.
Matt. 2
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Luke 2
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Bible images provided with attribution to www.LumoProject.com.
Have a comment or question about today’s chapter? I’m ready to hear from you, contact me here.
Pastor Doug Anderson
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)
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