The King from Nowhere—Matthew 2

The English language is full of ways of saying that someone comes from an unimportant place. He's from the sticks. The boonies. Some podunk down. The hood. The middle of nowhere. In western North Carolina, where I grew up, there is a country town called Swannanoa. People sometimes called it Swannanowhere.

Jesus was from such a nowhere. But what I want to show you from Matthew 2 is that Jesus, the King from nowhere, brings joy to a weeping world.

Matthew actually tells us about three places Jesus came from. First, Jesus is from Bethlehem. Second, Jesus is (surprise) from Egypt. And third, Jesus is from Nazareth -- the middle of nowhere.

Jesus is From Bethlehem

The first of Jesus' hometowns that Matthew mentions is Bethlehem. Jesus was born in Bethlehem, and that means he has the credentials to be the heir of King David. Bethlehem was David's hometown too, and the prophets said that the Christ would come from Bethlehem. So Jesus has the birth certificate to show that he's the true Messiah. He's the new David

But hardly anyone seems to care, and of the people who care, not everyone likes it. Most people paid no attention to a boy born to a poor family. The chief priests and scribes knew that the Christ was supposed to be born in Bethlehem, and they quoted the prophet Micah to prove it, but they didn't bother to go and see him. Herod cared, but only because he wanted to kill his rival. Almost the only people who got what was going on, strangely, were three wise men or magicians of some sort from the east. They saw his star, and maybe they knew about Balaam's prophecy from the book of Numbers: "I see him, but not now; I behold him, but not near: a star shall come out of Jacob, and a scepter shall rise out of Israel" (Numbers 24:17). Perhaps they knew how well, and how poorly, David himself had fulfilled that prophecy. But somehow they understood that it would be fulfilled again -- fulfilled in full.

Christmas stories tend to focus on the gifts that the wise men brought Jesus: gold, francincense, and myrrh, reminiscent of the gifts the Queen of Sheba brought to Solomon. What's even more worth noting is that they worshiped him. The Greek word translated "worship" can mean just "bow down," like you might to show respect for a king. Stay tuned in Matthew to see if Jesus is worthy of more than that. The other thing that sometimes gets missed, as we focus on what the wise men gave Jesus, is what he gave them: great joy. The insiders -- Herod, the chief priests, and the scribes -- missed it, but the outsiders, the eastern non-Jews, got it. If you are an outsider, take heart. You can have Jesus too.

Jesus is From Egypt

But Jesus isn't just from Bethlehem. He's also, weirdly, from Egypt. And Matthew shows us that this means he isn't just the new David, but the new Israel and the new Moses, too.

Herod planned to kill all the baby boys in Bethlehem, so an angel warned Joseph to take Jesus and Mary to Egypt, and he did. And Matthew says, "This was to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet, 'Out of Egypt I called my son.'"

Interestingly, when the Lord first said "Out of Egypt I called my son," in the book of Hosea, he was talking about bringing the nation of Israel out of Egypt. So Matthew is telling us that the nation of Israel itself is fulfilled in Jesus. This is an enormous claim: that events in the life of this little boy are events on the scale of the Exodus.

And then we have to ask ourselves, who is Pharaoh in this story? Surely it is Herod, who is killing baby boys just like Pharaoh. But this means that the nation of Israel in Jesus' day has become like Egypt. Notice that Matthew doesn't quote "Out of Egypt I called my son" to describe Jesus' return from Egypt. He quotes it to describe his flight from Israel. Israel is the new Egypt; Jesus is the new Israel.

And Jesus, the new David, the new Israel, becomes a refugee. This means that not only outsiders, but also outcasts, can be sure to find a home in him.

Jesus is From Nazareth

Finally Jesus is from Nazareth. In other words, he's a nobody from nowhere. John tells us about Nathanael asking, "Can anything good come out of Nazareth?" Think of the poorest rural town you know of, with the worst reputation for ignorance and lack of sophistication. That's where Jesus grew up.

And Matthew says it happened "so that what was spoken by the prophets might be fulfilled, that he would be called a Nazarene." Notice that here Matthew says, "the prophets," plural. In other words, he isn't quoting a single particular prophecy. He's summarizing what the prophets have said. People have searched the Old Testament for an exact prophecy Matthew might be quoting, but no one has found a perfect match. In fact, Nazareth isn't even mentioned in the Old Testament.

In other words, Matthew must be going crazy, or he must have something more subtle in mind. I think the best explanation is that, what with Nazareth's bad reputation, Matthew is basically saying, "The prophets said that people would call him names. They would call him a nobody from nowhere. They would call him 'a root out of dry ground' (see Isaiah for that). You people think that prophets said he would be someone glorious, David's son from Bethlehem. Yes, he's David's son from Bethlehem, but he's also a nobody from Nazareth."

Jesus Brings Joy to a Weeping World

And that is precisely why Jesus can bring joy to a weeping world.

Let's go back to the other prophecy that Matthew saw fulfilled: "A voice was heard in Ramah, weeping and loud lamentation, Rachel weeping for her children; she refused to be comforted, because they are no more." Jeremiah said this about the exiles leaving Jerusalem for Babylon. What good does it do to quote it about the death of the children in Bethlehem?

It turns out that Jeremiah 31, where this comes from, is a chapter of joyful comfort. Here's what Jeremiah says next: "Thus says the LORD: 'Keep your voice from weeping, and your eyes from tears, for there is a reward for your work, declares the LORD, and they shall come back from the land of the enemy. There is a hope for your future, declares the LORD, and your children shall come back to their own country." In other words, those boys that died in Bethlehem -- Jesus is the one to bring them back to life.

That's the mission of this King from nowhere. That's why he became a nobody from a no-good town, and was mocked, and suffered, and died at last on the cross. It was to defeat death by paying for the sins of his people, so that he might become the Resurrection and the Life, the one who can bring this dead "back to their own country." I bet, when he raises the dead, we'll even meet some of those boys from Bethlehem whom Herod killed. This is a world full of weeping, and danger, and suffering, and death. But Jesus Christ died and rose again, to give all his people eternal life.

Pastor Nate Jeffries