God’s true Son (Matt 2:13-15; Hos 11:1)

One Christmas on returning home after a semester of theological study, I felt particularly vulnerable. I can’t remember what troubled me, perhaps my uncertain finances or that I had no idea where my life was going. As I was reading Matthew’s account of Jesus’s birth one morning, it struck me that Jesus knew what it was like to be vulnerable. His life was threatened by Herod’s murderous plot and, though God, He had no power as a helpless baby to defend Himself. He depended on His earthly parents to obey the angelic warning and leave the country in a hurry, and ultimately had to trust in the Father’s protection.

Into this context Matthew brings Hos 11:1, a reference to God calling Israel, His son, out of Egypt in the exodus. Sonship implies Israel’s special relationship with God and the exodus highlights His love and protection of them. However, Hosea is not speaking of a future event, so Christians who are used to prophecy being like an arrow that hits its target in the fulfilment may find Matthew’s use of it puzzling. Again, discovering a type or analogy may help us make connections. Jesus shares Israel’s experience of being persecuted (remember Pharaoh’s command to kill all male children in Exod 1:15-22) and retraces Israel’s steps of going down to Egypt because of a life-threatening situation (Jacob’s family relocates because of a famine – Gen 45:9-11) and coming out of there. Later, Matthew will highlight another parallel between Israel and Jesus: the latter is led into the desert for 40 days (Matt 4:1-2) corresponding symbolically to Israel’s wilderness wanderings for 40 years. The match is not exact, however: Jesus is not persecuted in Egypt and he will be the deliverer, not the delivered. Still, juxtaposing these two stories helps us reflect on the common pattern in Israel’s and Jesus’s experience: their special relationship to God as sons.

The comparison goes deeper, however. Sonship involves not only dignity but responsibilities. Israel, though privileged, failed to live up to God’s requirements. Hosea 11:2 says that the more Israel was enticed by false gods, the more they followed and worshipped them. Why does this matter? Not simply because of obedience for obedience’s sake. Israel was called to represent God to the world, taking up the mandate of failed humanity to bear God’s image and mediate His rule. Deuteronomy 4:5-8 tells us that God gave Israel the law so they might become a godly community reflecting His nature and that the nations would recognise the amazing character of God through them. Now Israel’s failure in turn meant that the nations were left in darkness about who the true God was.

On the other hand, Jesus representing Israel and their journey, retraces their steps and embodies and thus fulfils in Himself the obedience they were unable to give to God. By doing so, He completes the task as God’s true Son making God’s rule visible. Thus, Jesus is both Israel and ultimately Adam, the perfect image of the one true God (Col 1:15), representing Him and mediating His kingdom to all the nations. As we approach Christmas, may we be thankful not only that Jesus shares our human experience and vulnerability, but also that He completes the task that humanity and Israel failed to do drawing all to Himself.