The Greatest Story of All - God's Enduring Vision

This week we come to the end of Matthew’s telling of the birth of Jesus. Last week we foreshadowed Herod’s reaction to being betrayed by the Magi. Matthew now turns to the holy family and their response to the actions of Herod and the leading of the Holy Spirit. What we find is a story of God’s protection and salvation. God watches over His son and guides the family out of danger so that His purpose for the world might come to pass. After all, the story of redemption is God’s story, and it is God who guards and preserves His vision. He does this in order that we might know true freedom and wholeness. 

His story is one of salvation, renewal, and human flourishing, and stands in contrast to the various competing visions of the world. God directs His purpose for the world, subversively, and undermines the wisdom of this world that while promising freedom and happiness actually brings pain and destruction. However, for those that love God and are His children, He watches over them and guides them in His vision of the world. He brings about His purpose in the midst of improbably and even impossible circumstances. The Apostle Paul echoes the words of Matthew when he writes to the Romans, “…we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose.” Not only for the Romans, God also works in all things, every circumstance, for our good and for our flourishing.

Rev. Adam Thornton