The Belt of Truth: Matthew 2:13-18

Matthew’s Gospel shows us how an infant Christ reigns and rules despite rejection and persecution. 

God is directing all events in the narrative and we see how Jesus is the fulfillment of Old Testament Scripture. Here we see what it means that Jesus is God’s Son. It is both who Jesus is by right and a function he carries out. 

After the magi depart, an angel directs Joseph to flee with Mary and Jesus into Egypt. Jesus, like Moses, flees from the wrath of hostile rulers and is delivered by God’s providence. 

Since Herod figures that the Magi saw the star proclaiming Jesus’ birth, he orders the death of the children of Bethlehem. A terrible evil that points us to how God knows man’s rejection and the evil it will cause. 

But Christ escapes, the one who will save his people, even the children of Bethlehem from all their sins and the evil they suffered.