Sermon Tone Analysis
Overall tone of the sermon
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Introduction -
Suffering is a common experience all humans share in.
From birth to life every human will experience their share of suffering.
No amount of wealth will save us from suffering.
Like death suffering is common to all humanity.
The holy family is no different than the rest of us when it comes to suffering.
From the scandal of the Virgin Conception, to the long journey on foot during the ninth month of pregnancy, Mary the mother of Jesus understood human suffering.
Even Jesus Himself was acquainted with suffering.
From midnight escape to Egypt to the nails hammered into his hands.
Why?
Why do we suffer and what is the point of suffering?
Today Matthew will take us through the journey of suffering in the holy family.
And I hope we are able to see that God has given even our suffering purpose.
So much purpose that one could say that suffering is a treasure.
But before we jump into that, we will examine the history of Matthew, as well as the purpose of today's passage to the first century Hebrew listeners.
We have a lot to cover so, let’s jump right into it today.
Let’s jump right into it today.
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History
Verses 13-14
Departed due to a hit placed on the life of Jesus by Herod.
Left in the middle of the night to travel to Egypt (Most likely Alexandria.)
Around 350 mile walk.
A one to two month walk.
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Matthew
REMEZ
Hosea is speaking of Israel -
Matthew uses it to speak of Jesus -
What is Matthew’s point - Jesus is the true Israel.
What Israel was called to do ( - Kingdom of Priests to a Prodigal planet).
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Herod has all the boy children ages 2 and under murdered in Bethlehem and the surrounding villages.
Though no writings have been discovered that confirm this story, it fits the nature of Herod the Great.
With the population of Bethlehem being around 400 - 500 and the surrounding villages making up another 200 the likely number of murdered boy children would be between 10-30.
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Matthew 2:
REMEZ
Again Matthew uses the Remez method of interpretation.
Jeremiah is using poetic language when he says Rachel is weeping.
Rachel was seen as the Matriarch of the nation of Israel.
Jeremiah is saying that the slavery to Babylon was such a time of suffering that Rachel wept in her grave.
Matthew uses this again to point out that the deaths of these children is a great a tragedy.
He is also again pointing out that in Jesus, Israel finds it’s fulfillment.
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After a few short months in Egypt the holy family again makes the long journey back to their home in Bethlehem.
(Suffering)
Learning that Herod’s son Archelaus was now the ruler over Judea he turned his family towards Mary’s home town of Nazareth.
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Remez
Matthew tells us they returned to Nazareth to fulfill the “PROPHETS”.
Yet Matthew does not quote any prophecy as he did previously.
There is no OT prophecy that tells us Messiah would live in Nazareth.
So, what is Matthew trying to say.
(Look at the ESV note on the slide.)
There is also one more analogy that Matthew is hinting at.
Nazareth is made up of a root word that means “Branch” Netzer
Matthew is hinting to two incredible facts.
The prophets all point to a suffering messiah.
What better place than the obscure Nazareth to live.
No fan fare, no one would think of the Messiah coming from there.
“Can anything good come from Nazareth?”
Matthew is also using a word play and pointing out that Nazareth is made up of the Hebrew word Branch.
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What was Matthew trying to get across to the 1st century Hebrew audience?
Jesus is the fulfilled Israel -
Israel came out of Egypt - Jesus came out of Egypt.
Rachel weeps over Israeli Babylonian slaves - Rachel weeps over the children who were killed as Jesus escaped.
12 tribes of Israel - 12 Disciples of Jesus
Jesus is the new Moses or better yet, Moses was a type and foreshadow of Jesus.
As Pharo killed the Hebrew children and Moses was rescued by going into the house of Pharo so, Herod killed the children and Jesus was rescued by Egypt.
As Moses left Egypt and with him the Hebrew children were freed from slavery and made into a new nation, Israel.
Jesus came out of Egypt and eventually lead people out of slavery to their sin and creating them into a Holy nation or Kingdom.
This idea of Jesus as the new Moses will be played out by Matthew in chapters 3-7.
Moses recieved the Torah (teachings) after 40 days on Mt Sion.
Jesus gave his interpretation of the Torah after fasting 40 days in the wilderness.
Moses set up 70 judges
Jesus sent out 70 disciples.
Moses prayed for a miracle to feed the Hebrews and bread fell from the sky.
Jesus fed 500 with a couple loafs of bread.
And there are many more we will see later in Matthew.
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Matthew is telling His audience that this Jesus/Yeshua
Is the new or fulfilled Israel
and that Yeshua is the Greater Moses who has come to deliver us from slavery.
Not the slavery to nations but the slavery to sin.
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What can we in the 21st century learn about God through this incredible story Matthew paints for us so well?
God is with us in our darkest moments.
Imagine how Marry must have felt –
She is a young virgin, impregnated by God through the power of the Holy Spirit.
Her future husband threatens to divorce her but then takes her as his wife because of a vision he had.
She then must leave too Bethlehem (90 mile walk) while at the end of her pregnancy.
Gives birth in a crowded stable
Joseph provides for a house but within a year or two, they then must leave amid night because the King has put out a hit for her new little boy.
During the two or three-month long journey to Egypt she gets word that all the boys 2 and under in Bethlehem have been murdered by Herod’s men.
She is now not only trying to protect her own son but must carry the weight of the deaths of all those little boys.
For they died because of Herod’s fear of Jesus.
After only a few months in Egypt the family gets word that Herod has died and now they make the long journey back home.
Finally, instead of going back to Bethlehem where they had planned, they again out of fear of Herod’s son must move to Nazareth.
Everyone in Nazareth knows Mary was pregnant before she was married.
She is the scorn of the town.
She is the woman with the scarlet letter.
Imagine the talk Jesus has to hear about his mother as he was growing up.
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Imagine the fear, the guilt and the burden Marry must have felt.
Imagine the prayers she would have been praying.
“Why us Lord?” Help us Lord, save us Lord, Lord where are you.
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Mary was caring for the hope of the world, the promise of God to all peoples and yet, she went through Hell on earth the first few years of the life of Jesus.
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She lived in a n emotional roller coaster where she experienced delight, awe, fear, and guilt and likely many times at the same time.
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