Deo Gloria
Sermon for December 28, 2025
Pastor Martin Bentz
Text: Matthew 2:13-23
Theme: Now What?
Well now what? Another Christmas has come and gone. The rush of preparation has culminated in a few hours of quality time with family and friends, but now it’s over. The gifts have been opened. The food had been devoured. Now what?
The hectic pace of the Christmas season can leave us longing for a break. It can also leave us with a sense of melancholy, a sense of sadness. The tinsel and glitter, the lights and ornaments, the smells and sounds of Christmas—all of that gives way to plain, old, ordinary life again. And as a result, many people struggle with the post-holiday blahs. Now what?
I wonder if Mary and Joseph had some of those same feelings. Together they had experienced the excitement of the Son of God being born, the visit of the shepherds, and some time later the visit of the Wise Men. But now what? Those things were all past now, mere memories for Mary and Joseph. Now they had to set about the task of raising a family and making a living. The excitement of the moment was gone. Did they struggle with the post-holiday blahs?
God didn’t let them, did he? He didn’t allow Mary and Joseph to live a peaceful and quiet life in Bethlehem very long. Things couldn’t be peaceful and quiet, because the baby they were raising was the Son of God and promised Savior. Satan knew of his birth and he would do everything possible to get rid of him, to kill him. So Mary and Joseph and baby Jesus would have to leave and be placed into God’s witness protection program for a while. Eventually, after things settled down, they would move back to their hometown of Nazareth; but there was no time for them to get comfortable in Bethlehem.
For you and me living in the 21st century, the events we are looking at today have a great deal of significance. As we sit here in the after-glow of Christmas and ask ourselves, “Now what?” God answers that question this morning through his Word. There is much ahead for us, much to think about, much to look forward to. And he shows us what these things are as we focus on the early days in the life of our Savior.
It was the middle of the night. Joseph was sleeping when an angel of the Lord suddenly appeared to him in a dream. “Get up,” the angel 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”(v. 13). The Wise Men from the east had just recently visited Jesus, pausing to worship him and give him their gifts. They had told King Herod that they were on their way to visit the one who had been born king of the Jews, news which deeply troubled Herod. He was the King of the Jews, or so he thought. He was afraid this newborn child might be a threat to his throne. Then, to make matters worse, the Wise Men didn’t return and report back as he had asked them to, which made him even more upset. Any threat to his position and his power had to be eliminated—no matter what the cost. So he gave the order. The soldiers were sent to Bethlehem to massacre all the boys two-years-old and younger. “Get up, Joseph,” the angel said. “You must leave immediately. Get out of here as fast as you can. Herod is going to search for the child to kill him.” Of course, we know who was really behind this plot to get rid of Jesus, to assassinate the new-born Savior. Satan was. And it wouldn’t be the last time either. So Joseph got up in the middle of the night. And he and Mary and Jesus made a hasty departure for Egypt, where they stayed until the death of Herod.
Do you see the two things that happened here, though, the two significant things? Satan lost and prophecy was fulfilled. “And so was fulfilled what the Lord had said through the prophet: ‘Out of Egypt I called my son’”(v. 15). When the prophet Hosea wrote those words, he was referring to the nation of Israel, God’s people, God’s “son,” being called out of slavery in Egypt and brought to the promised land. Here, though, the Holy Spirit helps us see that those words had another meaning, that they actually pointed ahead to Jesus. Just as God had called the nation of Israel out of Egypt, so God also called his Son, Jesus, out of Egypt.
But now what? Joseph and Mary and Jesus are living with a group of Jews in Egypt, but not for very long. Herod dies, and an angel of the Lord appears to Joseph in a dream again, telling him that it’s safe for them to go back to the land of Israel. So Joseph and Mary pack up their belongings and make the journey back. But they soon discover that something is wrong: Herod’s son, Archelaus, is now in charge. And he was just as bad as his father. So, once again, having been warned in a dream, Joseph and Mary and Jesus move back up north, to their hometown of Nazareth. And that’s where they settle down.
But again, do you see the two things that happened here, the two significant things? Satan lost—the Messiah is safe—and prophecy is fulfilled. “And so was fulfilled what was said through the prophets: ‘He will be called a Nazarene’”(v. 23). The Old Testament prophets never actually wrote down this prophecy, but it was understood that the Messiah would be called a Nazarene, a despised person from the lowly village of Nazareth.
The devil went right to work, didn’t he? He didn’t waste any time in his efforts to get rid of the Savior; but his plans didn’t work. Instead he lost and prophecy was fulfilled. The devil is still at work today, and he still doesn’t waste any time. Right after Christmas it seems like he works extra hard, especially on Christians. He wants us not only to put our decorations away, but to put our joy and our faith away too. “You can stop being religious now,” the devil says. “You can stop being joyful now. Christmas is over. It’s time to get back to the regular things of life.” The devil attacks us with these thoughts. And unfortunately, sometimes we listen. We become melancholy. The birth of Jesus fades into the past. Our desire to worship gets put away with the lights. Our joy disappears with the wrapping paper.
Maybe our joy and happiness disappear because we have bought into the world’s thinking more than we realize or care to admit. Perhaps we believe the equation: happiness = material things. If lasting happiness could be found in material things and in being able to indulge ourselves in whatever we wanted, then most of us Americans should be delirious with joy and happy all the time. We should be producing books on happiness and poems that eloquently describe our bountiful bliss. Our literature and art should rival that of the ancient Greeks and Romans.
Instead, we find high rates of suicide, depression, child abuse, and all sorts of other social problems, even during the holidays. We find people, and sometimes ourselves too, struggling to stay joyful and upbeat, because deep down inside we have been let down by the lies of the world—that happiness is found in having all that we want and more.
But it doesn’t have to be that way. This portion of God’s Word teaches us two important truths: that Satan loses and prophecy is fulfilled. And this goes on even after Christmas is over. Throughout Jesus’ life Satan lost and prophecies were fulfilled. Think for a moment about what happened about 30 years after these events, how we see the exact opposite happen. Instead of Jesus fleeing from harm, Jesus would walk right into harm’s way. Instead of fleeing from Herod and the Roman government, Jesus would allow himself to be arrested and put to death by the Roman government. Instead of God the Father protecting his Son, God the Father would punish his Son. But even then, Satan loses and prophecy is fulfilled, the prophecies that foretold that the Messiah would suffer and die to take away the sins of the world. All our sins, even those times when we bought into Satan’s lies and looked for happiness in worldly things and worldly pleasures—all our sins have been taken away by Jesus’ death on the cross and his resurrection. Satan lost and prophecy was fulfilled. That’s why Jesus was born. And that’s what brings us joy and keeps our joy alive even after Christmas is over. These two small victories of Jesus, recorded in our verses today, are just a little taste of the big victory Jesus would one day win on the cross and at the empty tomb, victory over Satan and sin and death.
So now what? How do I respond to the grace of God? How do I say thank you to the God who has done so much for me, who sent his own Son to be my Savior and defeat the devil and all his evil plans? I can live my life the way Joseph did. I can listen, and I can obey. The angel told him to go to Egypt with his family, so he did. An angel told him to go back to Israel, so he did. He was warned to watch out for Herod #2, so he moved up north to Nazareth. Joseph listened and he obeyed. He wasn’t a self-made man, Mr. Independence, I’ll-do-my-own-thing kind of guy. He listened to what God told him, and he obeyed. That’s how he responded to the grace of God. That’s how he glorified the God who had sent the Savior into his very own family.
You and I can do the same. Today God reveals himself to us not in dreams, but through his holy Word. We too can listen and obey. We can be modern-day Josephs—people who do not rely on themselves, people who don’t always think that they know better than God, but people who listen carefully to what God says and obey. And as we do, Satan will continue to lose and God’s promises will continue to come true.
“Now what?” you ask. This morning we find the answer here in God’s Word. Now’s the time to be like Joseph and express our gratitude for all that our gracious God has done for us, to express it in our plain, old, ordinary, every day lives, to express it in a life of listening and obeying God’s Word. Amen.