Transcript
Years ago, while I was living in the Washington DC area, I had the blessing of attending a Bible Study at the White House.
And the subject of the Bible Study ended up being this passage that we just heard. The Flight to Egypt—Joseph, Mary, and Jesus fleeing Judea to escape the terror of Herod—finding safety in Egypt, a foreign land.
The Gold.
You have resources that God has given to you. Gifts of immense value. You may have no idea when and why you will need or use them.
King’s Quest.
You have a bag. Baggage. But there’s gold in there too. Your experiences. Your successes. Your failures. Your trials. Buried in there is wisdom. Like pure Gold. God has given it to you to sustain you. Or, to sustain someone else.
I want to show you something else about this passage. God speaks to Joseph in a dream. It’s interesting. This is Matthew’s Gospel. In the Gospel of Luke, God speaks directly to Mary. Here in Matthew’s Gospel, it’s Joseph. Anyway, God speaks to Joseph in a dream. But watch this. He does it again. And then again. Three dreams—three sets of instructions on where to go. And each time, Joseph listens, and then obeys.
What’s the point? When God speaks to you; he won’t just do it once. I believe that God is speaking to us all the time. It can be hard to hear God’s voice. Here’s your encouragement for 2026. Keep listening. Get some sleep. Get up and give yourself enough time to sit and listen. God has secrets to tell you in the morning silence.
How does God speak to us?
God speaks to us in prayer.
God speaks to us through Scripture.
God speaks to us through other people.
I don’t know if I’ve ever told this story, but the reason I became a priest. Well, one reason, is that I received a card in the mail from a priest that Danielle and I had met on Nantucket Island in Massachusetts. His name was Joel Ives.
He wrote, “Matthew: I’ve only known you and Danielle for a short time, but something tells me that you should become a priest.” And, well, I did. Father Ives, if you’re out there—thank you.
God is speaking to you. Do your best to listen. Every day.
There’s this prayer in the prayerbook which I love:
“This is another day, O Lord. I know not what it will bring forth, but make me ready, Lord, for whatever it may be. If I am to stand up, help me to stand bravely. If I am to sit still, help me to sit quietly. If I am to lie low, help me to do it patiently. And if I am to do nothing, let me do it gallantly. Make these words more than words, and give me the Spirit of Jesus. Amen.”
There’s something else I want to show you in this passage. Jesus comes out of Egypt.
The Gospel of Matthew—as you may know—was written primarily to a Jewish audience. And it would be immediately apparent to this audience that Matthew is drawing Jesus as a sort of new Moses.
Jesus is born in turbulent times, under Roman rule in Judea. Many years before, Moses was born in turbulent times under Pharaoh’s rule in Egypt. Jesus, as a baby, escapes from being killed by Herod. Moses, as baby, escaped from being killed by Pharaoh. Jesus then comes up out of Egypt. Moses came out of Egypt. Later in the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus will go up to a mountain to deliver the sermon on the mount. Moses, we remember, went up Mount Sinai to receive the 10 Commandments.
Why does this matter? The Gospel of Matthew asserts that Moses is the one who receives God’s law, and then Jesus is the one who fulfills God’s law.
Even Jesus had to come out of Egypt. When Moses comes through the Red Sea—through water—that’s a birth. A second birth. Jesus comes out Egypt.
Then, later he’ll be Baptized and then spend 40 days in the desert. 40 days, like the 40 years that Moses and the Israelites wandered in the desert.
What’s the point? It’s like, birth is struggle. Rebirth is struggle. But it’s new life.
Jesus comes up out of Egypt. We’re all coming out of something. And God’s calling us into something.
Let me show you one more thing.
It says that they settled in Nazareth.
Jesus grows up in Nazareth. Why is this important? Well, exactly because Nazareth was not important. Nazareth was barely a town at Jesus’ time. It was barely a village, maybe 100 to 400 people. Archeologist have now proven that Nazareth existed during Jesus’ time. But it was quite insignificant. Outside of the New Testament , it’s not even mentioned by ancient historians or geographers of that time.
I don’t know about you, but there are times in my life when I sense my smallness or insignificance. Even when I do well, I’m just one person. With one short life to live.
But the Christian life tells us that Jesus is drawn to unimportant people. And unimportant places. And in his Kingdom, he likes to take people from the margins and bring them into the center.
Whatever your advantages. Whatever your disadvantages. Whatever your successes. Whatever your failures. Jesus looks at you and says, “Well, you’re important to me.”
And Jesus says:
“This life that you are living, it’s important to me.”
I think about the loaves and the fishes. There are thousands of people. They’re hungry.
And the disciples are like, We don’t have any food to feed these people.
And Jesus is like, “Yeah don’t tell me what you don’t have. Tell me what you DO have.”
We have five loaves of bread and two fish. Ok, says Jesus. Give that to me. I can work with that.
I come to Jesus, and I’m like, There’s so much to do! I don’t have enough time. I don’t have enough skill. I don’t have enough love. I don’t have enough trust. I don’t have enough faith.
And Jesus is like, “Ok, don’t tell me about what you don’t have. Tell me about what you do have.”
Do you have a little bit of faith?
Do you have a little bit of trust?
Do you have a little bit of hope.
Give that to me, says Jesus. I can work with that.
Let me close with 1 Peter 1. This is a little long, but so good. Let it wash over you.
Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls.
