Thoughts for the Day

'... an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, ‘Get up, 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.’ Then Joseph got up, took the child and his mother by night, and went to Egypt, and remained there until the death of Herod.'

(Lectionary, New Revised Standard Version)

Thoughts

We've heard little of Joseph in these readings this Christmas, but earlier in Matthew's Gospel Joseph had a first dream in which an angel told him that child that Mary had conceived "was from the Holy Spirit" and that he should not be afraid to take her as his wife. Now he has another dream, and we should note the speed with which he acts. He appears almost literally to get up and go! Yet the journey that he and his little family must travel is some 400 miles, which must be accomplished, walking and leading a donkey. However, Joseph has learnt from the first visitation to trust the angel and therefore to trust God's word, so he will undertake this huge journey so that they will stay there safe in Egypt until the death of Herod, before returning to Israel.

There is no mention in the history books of Herod's killing of the children, but he was known for his vicious actions, even to the extent of jailing all the Jewish leaders just before his death and leaving instructions that they should be killed when he died. Bethlehem was small at this time and the number of children would have been very low, it seems, sadly, that it didn't rank as anything unusual during Herod's reign.

We can learn from this little episode of the angel and Joseph. We should never restrict how God speaks to His people!

Lord Jesus Christ
as Your servant Joseph
listened and acted
on hearing God's message
for his family,
may we too be aware
of how You speak to us -
through Your written word,
through words spoken by others,
through our conscience,
and through the example
of other christians.
May we be as quick to
respond as did Joseph.
Amen.