Echoes

And so was fulfilled what the Lord has said through the prophet: “Out of Egypt I called my son” (Matthew 2:15b).

“Let’s play baseball.” This is now a phrase that my kids use as they prepare to play baseball in our cul-de-sac. This phrase is spoken with present-day implications in mind. But for me, this phrase is steeped in my personal and family history. It reminds me of high school baseball, Coach Stew, snacks and drinks from my parents, the year I almost quit, games in the empty lot with Adam and throwing the baseball (accidentally) through the basement window at age 4. These only begin to scratch the surface of a book that could be written.

When Matthew penned the words “out of Egypt,” he was igniting the memories of Jewish people in much the same way. He certainly meant that Jesus physically went to Egypt and then returned from out of Egypt. When he quoted from Hosea, his audience knew the quote and the verses that followed that described Israel’s failure to faithfully serve God once freed from Egypt. This phrase carries echoes of Moses and Abraham coming out of Egypt. It reminded them that Israel was saved through the waters like Israel and Noah and, ultimately, it was a call back to Genesis when God first separated the waters and produced life.

The life of Jesus is, on one hand, an echo of the whole of human and Jewish history and on the other hand, a fulfilment of that same history. The prophecies we read are more echoes than future prognostications. But just as echoes in a canyon have a source, the echoes throughout the pages of the Hebrew Bible find their culmination in Jesus, the author of a new creation.

Heavenly Father, as we celebrate Christmas this year, we will be reminded of the echoes in our own lives. Some of those echoes are haunting and some bring comfort. As we think about Jesus, may all of our echoes find their culmination in him.

Throughout This Day: Spend time with God reflecting on the echoes from the Jewish Scriptures that you have seen in the New Testament.