Matthew 2:1-12 (13-17) Dear Partner in Preaching, This isn’t the Christmas story most of us shared with the kids and grandkids in our lives. It’s not the Christmas story any of us read on Christmas Eve. And, truth be told, it’s not the Christmas story we like to remember. (And the lectionary, for some reason, spares us the worst part!) But it is in Scripture, and it’s important to take it seriously. Here are the troubling elements most briefly: An easily threatened and manipulative despot who turns to violence when thwarted; traveling and well-intentioned astrologers/seekers first duped, but then enlightened into...
The Feast of the Epiphany
posted by DJL
An epiphany is a revelation or awakening and comes from a Greek word that is translated most literally as a “revealing,” a manifestation of the divine. We use the word in everyday language to talk about a moment of deep insight or awareness when all the pieces fall together. In Christian use, Epiphany names the day, January 6th, when we celebrate that revelation that Jesus Christ is the light of the world. Of the whole world, actually, and that’s where the connection between Epiphany and the story of the three magi in Matthew comes. For while Jesus is the Jewish Messiah, Christians confess that through him God seeks to save the whole...
Matthew 2:12-13
posted by DJL
And having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they left for their own country by another road. Now after they had left, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, “Get up, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you; for...
Matthew 2:9-11
posted by DJL
When they had heard the king, they set out; and there, ahead of them, went the star that they had seen at its rising, until it stopped over the place where the child was. When they saw that the star had stopped, they were overwhelmed with joy. On entering the house, they saw the child with...
Matthew 2:7-8
posted by DJL
Then Herod secretly called for the wise men and learned from them the exact time when the star had appeared. Then he sent them to Bethlehem, saying, “Go and search diligently for the child; and when you have found him, bring me word so that I may also go and pay him homage.” It strikes me...