December 29, 2019 Text: Matthew 2:13-23
Dear Friends in Christ,
Toni needs your prayers. For those of you visiting Toni is my wife. I am a planner. I come from a lineage of planners. I do not like it when things don’t according to plan especially when I vacation.
After last year’s winter, I know it is hard to remember it after this week of beautiful weather, I told Tone that this winter we needed to go south for my mental health. What was especially hard last winter was all the ice/snow we got on Sunday mornings. I knew coming into this January/February time period I would need a break. Other than the week we are going we are not making plans, yea, it’s true. We are going to drive where it is warm. We don’t know where we will lodge. We don’t know what activities are on the agenda. We do know we are going together and it will be south of here even if North Dakota hits 80 degrees that week. Thank you in advance for your intercessions.
Joseph and Mary had plans. After the visit of the wise men, they planned to return home to Nazareth. The Lord sends a dream and the plans change. Will it be for their good? Let’s travel along and see if God knows what He is doing.
“ACCORDING TO PLAN”
The plan as revealed in a dream is for Joseph and Mary and baby Jesus to travel to Egypt, which is 175 miles southwest of Jerusalem. Instead of heading north to Nazareth they are sent another direction. This is no small change. Going this far on foot is going to take days and weeks. What is the reason, Lord?
According to plan God has a reason – Herod is searching for the child to destroy him. They need to get out of his jurisdiction. They need to get to safety.
Have you ever had to go miles out of your way? I don’t like to go one exit out of my way, how about you? How about in your life? Does the Lord ever send you down a road you had no plan to go down? A job shift. An unexpected birth. The death of someone close you didn’t see coming. A diagnosis that ruins your plans?
Herod’s plans changed when he heard from the wise men about Jesus. His rage got the best of him and he knew Jesus had to die. The thing is Herod was right but not according to his plan. Jesus had to die but not because Herod willed it or because of a schedule Herod made. It wasn’t until the fullness of time that it all happened. It was God’s time. It was God’s plan. He had to die because of our fear when things don’t go the way we want. He had to die when we suffer anxiety because our plans get messed up. He had to die because of our unbelief when life goes off in a direction we just can’t comprehend. Our lack of trust in God’s plan can lead us to some dark places. Go to Egypt, come on Lord!
Joseph trusted. Joseph trusted the Lord. Joseph trusted the plan. The text is hard to read when we know of all the male children who were killed. That was also part of the plan, even if we don’t understand it. Why Lord? Why let those young men die?
The blame does not fall on God. Herod caused the anguish and death. God was there. God saw what happened. In the midst of Herod’s wickedness the Lord was working on his plan of salvation for the world. God is not the author of evil – man is – but God is always working to turn what is meant for evil into good.
According to plan, the family makes it to Egypt. According to plan, they eventually end up back in Nazareth. According to plan, Jesus was saved because of God’s intervention.
We too are saved by God’s intervention. His intervention led Jesus to the cross. He allowed Jesus to die so that you and I might live. His intervention led to a glorious resurrection. His intervention has given us a plan for salvation. His intervention has given us faith and an eternal future. God is still active in human history. He continues to lead babies and adults to the safety of His church through Holy Baptism. He continues to feed and nourish His Church with His Holy Word and with the precious body and blood of His Son. He continues to announce and give His forgiveness to all who confess their sins and seek His mercy.
We do not always know where God is leading us, but we can be sure that He will be with us and His plans are for our good. When Karson was 1 ½ we vacationed with my family on Cape Cod in Massachusetts. Remember again it is in the Lueck genes to plan. We did. We planned to take a day trip with my parents up the coast to Maine. Seeing a part of the country we had not been to. That night, Karson cried the whole evening. In the morning, we had to take him to the doctor. He had an ear infection. After a dose or two of antibiotics, he was fine, but there would be no trip to Maine. Plans changed. We decided instead to spend the afternoon on Martha’s Vineyard. We had a glorious rest of our day. We enjoyed the island and you couldn’t even tell that K-man had been sick.
Lesson learned. According to plan, we must be ready for things to change. Why can we be so confident? Because the one leading the way has given us the promise. His plan of salvation through Jesus always gives us hope and direction. May we all see daily where the Lord is leading us – according to plan.
Amen.