As we once again look at the Gospel of Matthew, we remember some of the purposes that Matthew had in writing the story of Jesus for his Jewish Christian audience. Matthew seeks to inform his audience about things they may not know about the life of Jesus and also to help them deal with questions and even persecution they may have been receiving from their family, their friends and their neighbors who attended the synagogues of the Pharisees.
In the Gospel of Matthew, it is not the Jewish people as a whole who reject Jesus. Nor is it the Gentiles as a whole who reject Jesus as shown by the account of the Magi coming from the east. The rejection of Jesus is primarily from the Jewish religious leaders, the Pharisees and the Sadducees, and from the Roman government authorities.
So today we're going to look at Matthew chapter 3 or chapter 2 rather in verses 13- 23. And in this section of Matthew's gospel once again Matthew answers the question who is Jesus? Now Matthew has explained that Jesus is the son of David, the long-awaited messianic king.
Matthew 2: 13-23 The Escape to Egypt
13 When they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. “Get up,” he said, “take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him.”
14 So he got up, took the child and his mother during the night and left for Egypt, 15 where he stayed until the death of Herod. And so was fulfilled what the Lord had said through the prophet: “Out of Egypt I called my son.”
16 When Herod realized that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was furious, and he gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had learned from the Magi. 17 Then what was said through the prophet Jeremiah was fulfilled: 18 “A voice is heard in Ramah, weeping and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted, because they are no more.”
The Return to Nazareth
19 After Herod died, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt 20 and said, “Get up, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who were trying to take the child’s life are dead.”
21 So he got up, took the child and his mother and went to the land of Israel. 22 But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning in Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. Having been warned in a dream, he withdrew to the district of Galilee, 23 and he went and lived in a town called Nazareth. So was fulfilled what was said through the prophets, that he would be called a Nazarene.
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