Grace and peace to you in the name of our born, crucified, resurrected, and ascended Lord Jesus. Amen.

Lord Jesus Christ, you were born as a human baby in great poverty. Yet hidden behind your humble appearance was the Lord of the universe. Try as he might, Herod could not kill you. Open our eyes today to see God’s ultimate plan in your life and in our lives. It wasn’t time for you to die yet. That would come later. Let us see today that your heavenly Father also has a plan for our lives. Amen.

Another year is quickly drawing to a close. The holiday season is just about over. The gifts have been opened, the Christmas cards have been sent, the food has been devoured. Now what?

In a "Marvin" comic strip, the baby Marvin asks that same question. He looks at all his new toys and says, "Okay … my first Christmas pretty much lived up to all of the hype I’d heard." Then he looks around and waits. Then he asks, "So … what’s next?"

Following the hectic pace of the holiday season, we, too, may be asking ourselves, "What’s next?" We may be happy for the break. But, we may also be left with a sense of melancholy, a sense of sadness. The tinsel and the glitter, the lights and the decorations, the smells and the sounds of Christmas – they are all being replaced. Now we move on to the mundane sameness of life. After New Year’s, the next big holiday that we have to look forward to is February 6^th, when the Green Bay Packers are in the Super Bowl. Many people struggle with the post-holiday blahs. They feel there is nothing to look forward to. So now what?

I wonder if Mary and Joseph felt some of those same things. The excitement of the Son of God being born that night, the visit of the shepherds, and some time after that - the visit of the Magi from the east, bringing gifts. But now what? Those things are done - in the past, distant memories for Mary and Joseph. They have moved out of the stable into a home. They had set about the task of raising a family, making a living – the excitement of the moment was gone. Did they struggle with post-holiday blahs?

God didn’t allow the holy family to live a peaceful and quiet life in Bethlehem for very long. Things couldn’t be peaceful and quiet, because the baby they were raising was the very Son of God, the Savior of the world. Satan used King Herod to try to assassinate the Savior.

God had to protect his Son and his foster parents. God placed Mary and Joseph into his "witness protection program" for a little while. They moved to Egypt.

For you and I as Christians living in the 21st century, the events we are looking at today have a great deal of significance. We sit here, at the end of the year, as all the holiday-type things come to a close, and we ask ourselves, now what? Through his Word, God answers that question for us. Jesus couldn’t die yet. There was much ahead for him. He had work to complete; things to do; souls to save.

Although Christmas may be over, there is still much that God wants us to do. There is much to think about, much to look forward to, the Lord’s work to do, and souls to save.

When the Magi couldn’t find the new king of the Jews they stopped in Jerusalem to ask King Herod. When they told King Herod who they were looking for, he became very agitated and worried. He wondered if this newborn child would be a threat to his throne. Any threat to his position of power must be eliminated. He told them to go find the child, then return to him, so that he might go and worship him. However, Herod had no interest in worship. He was only interested in execution.

After worshiping the baby Jesus and giving him their gifts, the Wise Men, who had been warned in a dream, returned home without contacting Herod.

That night, while Joseph was sleeping, an angel appeared to him in a dream. "Get up, 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." And so, Joseph and Mary packed up to leave for Egypt. They kind of remind me of how Shelley and I always seem to pack the night before we leave for somewhere.

When Herod realized that the Wise Men had outwitted him, he was furious. He sent soldiers to Bethlehem and its vicinity to massacre all the boys under the age of two. Possibly 15 to 20 baby boys died because of Herod’s insecurity and paranoia. Jesus wasn’t that old yet, but Herod was just giving himself a generous margin for error. We have to understand that Satan was behind this whole thing. This was his first attempt to assassinate the Messiah.

Do you see the two things that happened here? Satan lost, and a prophecy was fulfilled. One of my favorite Christmas movies is "The Grinch Who Stole Christmas." Satan was the original "Grinch." In Revelation 12 there is a "heavenly movie" about an enormous red dragon that attempted to devour the baby as soon as it was born. This is a picture of what Satan was doing behind the scenes at that first Christmas.

Although we picture the first Christmas as full of peace, behind the scenes the devil was plotting to ruin Christmas. Satan used King Herod’s jealousy in an attempt to destroy Jesus while he still looked so vulnerable as a baby. But God’s plans always come out on top and Mary and Joseph were warned to flee before any harm came to the child Jesus. Psalm 2:2,4 is a good reminder here: "The kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers gather together against the LORD and against his Anointed One. The One enthroned in heaven laughs; the Lord scoffs at them."

Satan lost and a prophecy was fulfilled. The prophet Hosea had written, "Out of Egypt I called my son." (Hosea 11:1) When Hosea wrote that, he was referring to the nation of Israel, God’s spiritual son, being called out of the slavery of Egypt into the Promised Land. But here, the Holy Spirit led Matthew to also apply this prophecy to Jesus. God had preserved Israel in Egypt and kept his covenant promise with Abraham in spite of Pharaoh’s opposition. God also preserved his Son in Egypt in the face of Herod’s plot. God’s plans cannot be cancelled by earthly kings. All things are under the control of our all-gracious, all-powerful God.

Now what? Joseph, Jesus, and Mary were living in Egypt, but not for very long. A few months later, Herod died, and an angel appeared in a dream to Joseph again, and told him that it was safe for him to go back to the land of Israel. So Joseph and Mary and Jesus returned to Israel. But, something was wrong – Herod’s son, Archelaus was in charge now, and he was just as bad as his father. Now what? Once again, Joseph was warned in a dream to leave the area. He moved north, to the town of Nazareth in Galilee, and that is where he stayed.

Do you see the two things that happened here? The Messiah is safe. So once again, Satan lost and a prophecy was fulfilled. And so was fulfilled what was said through the prophets: "He will be called a Nazarene." The prophets of the Old Testament never wrote this prophecy down in Scripture, but it was understood that the Messiah would be called a Nazarene, a despised person from a small town in the middle of nowhere.

The devil went to work right after Jesus was born. But his plans didn’t succeed. Instead, he lost, and prophecies were fulfilled. The devil is still at work today, and right after Christmas, it seems that he works extra hard on us. Since Satan couldn’t destroy the Savior, he works to destroy our connection with the Savior. He wants you to not only put your decorations away, but to put your joy away, and your faith away. "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, we sometimes listen. We become melancholy – the birth of Jesus Christ fades into the past. Our desire to worship goes down with the lights. Our joy disappears with the wrapping paper.

Maybe our joy and desire disappear because we have bought into the world’s thinking more than we realize. Perhaps we believe the equation: happiness equals material things. In another comic strips, (I love the comics, what can I say) Jason from "Fox Trot" says to his mother, "I’ve noticed something depressing about the way we celebrate Christmas. Too often it seems like it’s just about toys, toys, toys … instead of toys, toys, toys, toys, toys, toys, toys, toys." If lasting happiness could be found in having material things, and in being able to indulge ourselves in whatever we wanted, then most of us in America should be delirious with joy, and happy beyond description, all the time.

Instead, we find high rates of suicide, depression, child abuse, and other personal and social problems, especially during the holidays. We find people, and sometimes ourselves, struggling to stay joyful, because deep down inside we have been let down by the lies of the world, particularly the lie that happiness is found in having all we want.

Now what? Throughout Jesus’ life, Satan lost, and prophecies were fulfilled. Think about what happened about 30 years after these events - really, the opposite of our story for today. Instead of Jesus fleeing from harm, Jesus walked right into harm’s way. Instead of fleeing from Herod and the Roman government, Jesus allowed himself to be executed by the Roman government. Instead of God the Father protecting Jesus, God the Father punished Jesus - the opposite of our story for today. But even there, Satan lost, and prophecies were fulfilled. The prophecies that foretold that the Messiah would someday suffer and die to take away the sins of the world came true.

All of our sins - even those moments when we buy into the lies of the devil – all of our sins have been washed away by Jesus on the cross. Satan lost, and prophecies were 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 for today, are just a taste of the big victory that Jesus would someday win for us at the cross, and at the empty tomb.

And so now what? How do I respond to the grace of God? How do I say thank you? How do I glorify the God who has done all this for me? I can live my life like Joseph lived. What was the pattern of Joseph’s life? He listened, and he obeyed. The angel told him to go to Egypt, so he went to Egypt. Go to Israel, so he went to Israel. Watch out for Herod number two, so he moved to Nazareth. Joseph listened, and obeyed. He wasn’t a self-made man, Mr. Independence, I’ll-do-my-own-thing-kind-of-guy. He listened, 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 thing. Today, God reveals himself to us not in dreams, but through his written Word. We can listen, and obey. We can be modern-day Joseph’s – people who do not rely on themselves, but listen closely to the Word of God, and obey. Throughout our lives, Satan will continue to lose, and God will continue to keep all the promises he has made to us – that pattern will never change. May God bless you with a joy and love for him that lasts long after the Christmas season is over.

It was Christmas and the pastor had planned a visit to the pre-school Sunday School class. The teacher, wanting to impress the pastor had each child draw a picture of some part of the Christmas story. The teacher put the artwork on the wall; the pastor came and he was impressed as he identified each drawing’s meaning. There was one with a barn and a man and a woman. It was obvious that this was Joseph, Mary, and Jesus at the manger. Another had sheep, men, and angels in the sky. This was the shepherds. Another had a caravan with camels and a star in the sky. This was wise men seeking the Christ-child.

But one picture puzzled him. It was an airplane with three figures going up the steps boarding the plane and one other figure in the cockpit. He thought and thought until he had to ask what it meant. A little boy spoke up, "It’s Jesus’ flight to Egypt." "Ok," said the pastor, "but who is that up front? "Oh, That’s Pontius the pilot."

Jesus’ flight to Egypt demonstrates that Jesus had work to do. It wasn’t enough for him to just be born and worshiped by some shepherds and wise men. He eventually had to meet Pontius Pilate and die on the cross. Jesus had work to do. The same is true for you and me. The holidays are over. You may ask yourself, "Now what?" The answer? Although Christmas may be over, there is still much that God wants us to do. There are Bible lessons to learn, God’s work to do, and there are souls to save. Amen.

And now may the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, keep your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:7)