Thank you for coming to worship. There are many other things you could be doing today, but you chose to be here despite the rain and nasty weather outside. The Sunday after Christmas is typically the lowest attended Sunday of the year. Many families travel, and the holiday exhaustion often leads to lower turnout the Sunday after Christmas. Plus today, we have the wet weather. My wife got called into work at the hospital today, so even she couldn’t be here. But you are. So, perhaps God has a special Word for you today. I hope you hear Him.
The small crowd today is a big contrast to last Sunday for our wonderful Christmas cantata when so many people were here and also to the glory of the Christmas Eve service Tuesday, with a sanctuary full of beautiful candlelit faces. But perhaps it is fitting today, because today we are reminded how the Christmas story took a dark turn. Lest we naively think of Christ’s birth as only a sweet sentimental moment, the story today reminds us that Jesus’ family dealt with real life--poverty, misfortune, and the threat of death in ways we can only hope we never experience. Let us turn then to their story from Matther 2:13-18.
Matthew 2:13-18
13 After the wise men were gone, an angel of the Lord appeared
to Joseph in a dream. “Get up! Flee to Egypt with the child and his mother,”
the angel said. “Stay there until I tell you to return, because Herod is going
to search for the child to kill him.”
14 That night Joseph left
for Egypt with the child and Mary, his mother, 15 and
they stayed there until Herod’s death. This fulfilled what the Lord had spoken
through the prophet: “I called my Son out of Egypt.”
16 Herod was furious when
he realized that the wise men had outwitted him. He sent soldiers to kill all
the boys in and around Bethlehem who were two years old and under, based on the
wise men’s report of the star’s first appearance. 17 Herod’s
brutal action fulfilled what God had spoken through the prophet Jeremiah:
18 “A cry was heard in
Ramah—
weeping and great mourning.
Rachel weeps for her children,
refusing to be comforted,
for they are dead.”
In this story we see two responses to a threat. One is fight; the other is flight. First, Herod felt threatened by the birth of the Messiah. He responded by fighting to protect his throne. In a murderous plot, he killed all the babies in Bethlehem. The second response is modeled by Jesus’ family. When the Angel of the Lord warned Jesus’ family of the plot, the responded to danger by fleeing to Egypt. What a horrible and tragic story! The birth of Christ is no fairytale.
The instinct common to most animals and
humans when danger arises is fight or flight. In an instant, a creature will choose—unconsciously—to either fight with
vicious intensity or flee for safety as fast as it can.
But as I ponder this fight or
flight mechanism, I realize there are a couple other options in the
animal kingdom as well. Some animals
will simply freeze. I’ve notice this in
rabbits in my yard or when walking in the woods. I have walked up on rabbits that were frozen
so still, I hardly noticed them until I was within just a few feet. Even deer, sometimes, when they see the
bright headlights of an approaching car, will freeze unable to move—giving us
the expression for people so
surprised or frightened they cannot move or even think; they are “like a deer in
headlights”.
Other animals will “play possum”
like the opossum who may play dead when faced with a dangerous predator. The “play dead” response tries to ward off
danger by making the animal look so dead and unappealing the predator will
leave them alone. These instinctual responses can guide us as we think about our
walk with Christ.
Let’s look at the instinctual option to fight when faced danger. In some instances, our first instinct to confront challenges head-on and stand up to the enemy. We want to fight! I think of the strong-willed disciple Peter in the Garden of Gethsemane. In John 18:10-11, when soldier came to arrest Jesus, Peters first instinct was to draw his sword and strike, slashing off the right ear of the high priest’s slave. His fight reflex makes sense to many of us. When faced with an enemy trying to take Jesus away, Peter wanted to fight. But Jesus called for peace. He said, “Put your sword back into its sheath. Shall I not drink from the cup of suffering the Father has given me?”
Jesus also had the option to
fight. He could have called down 10,000 angels
to defend Him, but Jesus knew God’s plan was for Him to be arrested and die to save the whole
world. Peter responded with unthinking instinct. Jesus
responded with reason and purpose and compassion. Jesus followed God’s plan—even when it called for suffering.
Fighting is
sometimes the right response. But fighting
in our own power is often futile. And fighting for the wrong reasons (or for no reason at all) can be dangerous
and destructive. For those inclined to
fight, you must recognize you are soldier in God’s army. And a good soldier follows orders—knowing when to fight and when “put your sword back into its sheath.”
The key for good fighting soldiers is following the Lord’s orders.
For the
fighters among us, is Jesus telling you to fight or “put your sword back in it’s
sheath”?
Sometimes, fleeing is the wise choice to preserve life or sanity. The Angel of the Lord warned Joseph in a dream to flee to Egypt. It makes sense. What kind of fight could Joseph and Mary put up against Herod’s soldiers? So, they fled. But they didn’t just flee out of fear; they fled in obedience to God’s command. So even though they were “fleeing”, they were also following the Lord’s command.
There are
times God calls us to step away from toxic environments, harmful relationships,
or dangerous situations. For people with
the natural inclination to flee, that’s welcome guidance from God. They will gladly run away from a fight. But it may be hard for those who are inclined
to stay and fight. But the choice to fight
or flee is the Lord’s to make. Our job
as disciples of Christ is to follow the Lord’s commands.
Are you
listening to the Holy Spirit’s voice?
Is He telling you to stay and fight or is He saying flee to Egypt?
Of course, we cannot forget the lessons from nature. There are still two other possibilities besides fight or flight. We may freeze up and do nothing. Freezing can stem from fear or being overwhelmed. I think about the story of Lot’s wife from Genesis 19:26. When God destroyed the wicked cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, He sent an angel to evacuate Lot’s family. But as the family fled, Lot’s wife hesitated and looked back.
How could she leave behind her home and the life she’d built? Her hesitation to follow the Lord wholeheartedly and be saved froze her into a pillar of salt.
Fear can
paralyze us; so can our hesitation to leave behind the sins of the past and follow
God. Even our reluctance to forgive others can leave us frozen and unable to heal. Fear and hesitation keep us from moving forward in faith. Are you stuck in place, afraid to step out in obedience and follow the Lord?
Or maybe you’re more like a nasty possum. You just want to “play dead,” avoiding confrontation, avoiding responsibility, or avoiding the call of God.
If that’s you, you’re like the prophet Jonah who tried to escape God’s call by running in the opposite direction. God told Jonah to go to Nineveh, he didn’t want to go. Why should he preach repentance to the Ninevites? Why should they have a chance to repent. Jonah wanted them to be burned up by God’s wrath. He wouldn’t preach to them. And you probably know how that story ended. Jonah ended up in the belly of a big stinky fish.
Ignoring
God’s direction doesn’t make His call disappear. And if we can learn anything from Jonah’s story, it’s that God will have His way, one way or another. Are you pretending not to hear God’s voice?
You better watch out. There might be a big
fish coming to swallow you!
All the instincts of the animal kingdom reside in our animal bodies. But we were created to be more than animals. We are called to be God’s royal priest. We are to follow the Lord. Let us then follow the Mary and Joseph’s example. They fled because God told them to flee. They followed God’s guidance, trusting that He would provide and protect.
The same Spirit that told Joseph in a dream to flee to
Egypt lives inside you if Jesus is your Lord. God’s Holy Spirit dwells within you, guiding your steps, assuring you that God
is with you. In moments of danger, uncertainty, or fear, the best response is to listen and
follow where God leads.
You need to practice listening to God’s voice. I hope you will take this seriously in 2025. Train yourself to hear God’s guidance through the Holy Spirit.
- Stay Tuned to the Spirit: Through prayer, Scripture, and
worship.
- Surround Yourself with Godly
Counsel: Seek
wise advice from trusted believers.
- Be Willing to Move or
Surrender: Trust
that God’s way is higher than our own.
- Act in Faith, Not Fear: Even if the path ahead is
unclear, take the next step.
As we close
today, I want to pray the Wesley Covenant Prayer together. This is a traditional prayer that goes all
the way back to the 1700s and John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, who often led his
congregations to pray this prayer on New Year’s Eve as an act of spiritual reflection and recommitment, allowing individuals
to renew their covenant with God, surrendering their lives fully to His will.
As we pray this
together today, I encourage you to pray with a sincere willingness to surrender
your instinct to fight, flee, freeze, or play dead—and instead, commit yourself
to follow Christ completely, wherever He leads.
The Wesley Covenant Prayer
Leader: I am no longer my own, but Yours.
People: Put me to what You will, rank me with whom You will.
Leader: Let me be employed by You or laid aside for You, exalted for You
or brought low for You.
People: Let me be full, let me be empty. Let me have all things, let me
have nothing.
Leader: I freely and heartily yield all things to Your pleasure and
disposal.
People: And now, O glorious and blessed God, Father, Son, and Holy
Spirit, You are mine, and I am Yours. So be it.
All Together: And the covenant which I have made on earth, let it be
ratified in heaven. Amen.
