马太福音2:13-15 天国移民
马太福音2:13 他们去后，有主的使者向约瑟梦中显现，说：「起来！带着小孩子同他母亲逃往埃及，住在那里，等我吩咐你；因为希律必寻找小孩子，要除灭他。」14 约瑟就起来，夜间带着小孩子和他母亲往埃及去，15 住在那里，直到希律死了。这是要应验主借先知所说的话，说：「我从埃及召出我的儿子来。」
没有人能比上帝更好地计划一切。这个年轻的家庭如何能到埃及旅行？离开自己的家乡并且到很远的地方本身就很昂贵。在异国他乡生活很贵，而且也很可怕。但是他们从东方博士那里得到了昂贵的礼物，为他们的旅途预备了钱，这可能是他们在埃及逗留所需的全部资金。哦，顺便说一句，另一个预言应验了，就是“我从埃及召出我的儿子来。”这是神之前计划实现的另一个例子。
我发现许多家庭最后终结在癌症或其他可能夺去生命的疾病，我也曾与许多家庭一起处理关于生命终结的问题。我一直告诉他们不要担心，因为上帝已经在他的脑海里写下了他们上天堂的旅程的样子。我告诉他们，当旅程结束时，你会想上帝是如何使一切都完成的，甚至超出了你的想象。即使我们可能怀疑这些事情，有时神的真实目的和计划也从我们的眼中隐藏了。但是，你的一生都是上帝计划的！
关于这段经文还有有意思的一个话题。您是否知道我们的救主曾经是异国移民？他知道那是什么样子。而且更重要的是，你这一生无论在哪里生活，是否要去别的地方生活，是否移民，是否能够过安逸的生活，这并不是最重要的，记住，你是天国的移民，那是你在这个必要朽坏的世上的日子要结束的时候，最终要永恒生活的地方。
祷告：主耶稣，您没有来到这个世界上，你没有犯罪却为我们受罪，你没有过着安逸的生活。您经历了我们必须经历的所有艰辛。但是，甚至希律王也无法强迫让您的父亲执行他的计划！在我一生的艰难时期，请帮助我，记住上帝也为我制定了一个计划，因为我通过对你儿子耶稣的信仰而成为您的孩子，天国的移民，直到永远。阿们
Matthew 2:13-15:13 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.”
No one plans in advance better than God does. How could this young family survive traveling to Egypt? Uprooting your family and getting out of town fast is expensive. Living in a foreign land is expensive – and scary, too. But they had the expensive gifts from the Magi to give them money for their journey, which was probably all they needed to fund their stay in Egypt. Oh, and by the way, another prophecy is fulfilled, which is another example of God’s advanced planning.
I have worked with many families on end of life issues when they found out they had cancer or some other illness that would take their life. I’ve always told them not to worry, because God has already scripted in his mind what their journey to heaven will look like. I’ve told them that when this journey comes to an end, you will wonder at how God made everything work out, even beyond what you could have imagined. And even when we might have reason to doubt those things, sometimes God’s real purposes and plans are hidden from our eyes. Your whole life has been planned by God!
One other comment for today on this text. Do you realize that our Savior was for a time an immigrant in a foreign land? He knows what that’s like. When you meet an immigrant, instead of asking in your mind whether or not they are legal or illegal, just remember to receive them in Jesus’ name. Being here is scary enough. Our acts of kindness in Jesus’ name are important.
Prayer: Lord Jesus, you did not come into this world to suffer no wrong or to live a life of ease. You came to experience all the hardships that we must experience. But not even Herod could your Father from carrying out his plan! In the difficult days of my life, help me to remember that God has a plan for me, too, because I am his child through faith in you. Amen.
马太福音2:16-20 为儿女哀哭的母亲
马太福音2:16 希律见自己被博士愚弄，就大大发怒，差人将伯利恒城里并四境所有的男孩，照着他向博士仔细查问的时候，凡两岁以里的，都杀尽了。17 这就应了先知耶利米的话，说：18 在拉玛听见号咷大哭的声音，是拉结哭她儿女，不肯受安慰，因为他们都不在了。19 希律死了以后，有主的使者在埃及向约瑟梦中显现，说：20 「起来！带着小孩子和他母亲往以色列地去，因为要害小孩子性命的人已经死了。」
希律王是一个冷血动物。一个无辜的孩子能对他的王国有什么威胁？然而，他下令杀死伯利恒地区所有两岁以下的男孩。你能想象成百上千个痛苦而悲伤的母亲吗？今天，人们对堕胎习以为常，你知道，这杀害的是成千上万的无辜儿童吗？无辜的孩子会对母亲的生命造成什么威胁？难道就不能生下来，而非得在医院里被杀死吗？
在所有这一切中，除了孩子的生命之外，还有另外的代价。你是否曾经与一个因流产而因孩子的死亡感到悲痛的女人说话？我有。我不知道我是否曾经遇到过比这个更沉重的悲伤。失去孩子是一个可怕的悲痛，想象着那个孩子可能会变成什么样。当罪咎感使这种悲伤更加复杂时，它会成为压倒性的力量。
你对这种罪恶感怎么说？请你告诉那个人，他们的罪孽在耶稣里面得到了宽恕。你抛弃自己的愤怒，以同情怜悯的心说话，因为你也是一个罪人，你每天跪在十字架脚下，来面对今天的罪恶和过去的罪恶。一个母亲每次看到一个标志说堕胎夺走了人命，她都会被逼入绝望和罪恶之地。只有甘甜的福音告诉我们，十字架上被夺走生命的那位，饶恕了我们的罪恶，他医治充满罪恶和悲伤的灵魂。
祷告：天父，当我们看到我们的文化变得如此僵硬，以至于甚至允许一个孩子出生之前就被摧毁时，我们感到难过。睁开我们国家的眼睛，看到每个孩子都是保护和养育的宝藏。如果我们将资源投入到保护未出生的胎儿，我们将不仅从他们那里，而且从您那里获得很多倍的回报。给每个母亲和准妈妈一个对她孩子的爱。对于那些为死在自己手中而死的孩子感到悲伤的人，带来只有您的宽恕才能带来的和平与康复。阿们
Herod was a brutal monster. What threat was an innocent child to his kingdom? Yet he gave the order to kill all the boys in the region of Bethlehem who were two or younger. Can you imagine the hundreds of mothers who grieved for their loss?
Yesterday we heard on the news that New York passed legislation that would permit the abortion of children up to the time of their birth. How many thousands of innocent children will be slaughtered? And what threat does an innocent child make to the life of its mother? Couldn’t this life be spared and given to another rather than murdered in the doctor’s office?
There is another cost than just the life of a child in all of this. Have you ever spoken to a woman who grieved for rest of her life the death of her child through abortion? I have. I don’t know if I have ever encountered a grief so deep and burdensome as that. Losing a child is a horrible grief, imagining what that child might have become. When that grief is compounded by guilt, it is overwhelming.
What do you say to such a guilt? You tell that person that their sins are forgiven in Jesus. You set aside your anger and revulsion and speak with the compassion that only another sinner can have who kneels at the foot of the cross every day for today’s sin and past sins. Realize that every time that mother sees a sign that says that abortion takes a human life, she will be driven into that pit of despair and guilt. Only the sweet gospel can cure the soul that is filled with guilt and grief at the same time.
Prayer: Heavenly Father, we are saddened when we see our culture become so hardened that it would permit a child to be destroyed even before it is born. Open the eyes of our nation to see that every child is a treasure to protect and nurture. If we poured our resources into protecting the unborn, we would realize a dividend many times over, not only from them, but from you. Give every mother and mother-to-be a love for her child. And for those who grieve a child who died at their hands, bring peace and healing that only your forgiveness can give. Amen.