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December 21 - Matthew 2 · A Chapter a Day Bible Reading

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  Hello friends. Sean, here it is Thursday.
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  It is getting close. It's the 21st of December and I
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  hope you are doing just fine. I hope you are finding some
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  moments of peace and joy and reflection as the world is just
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  so busy around you. Or maybe you've passed through
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  the business and you have entered into this magical quiet
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  space in the lead up to Christmas.
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  Although I imagine that's not very many of you as there's so
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  much going on and last minute preparations for celebrations
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  and everything else that's going on.
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  But here we are, and today we continue reading this Christmas
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  story. Well, we're going to read the
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  second chapter of Matthew, which will go through the story of
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  some special visitors from the East, which is a wonderful part
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  of our Christmas tradition that we love to celebrate.
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  And even though this happened a little while after Christmas, it
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  kind of get condensed as we celebrate this time of year.
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  So settle in as we read this together and get our hearts
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  ready to welcome that Saviour born on Christmas Day in only
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  four short days time as we read together.
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  Matthew, chapter 2. Jesus was born in Bethlehem in
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  Judea during the reign of King Herod.
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  About that time some wise men from eastern lands arrived in
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  Jerusalem asking where is the newborn king of the Jews.
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  We saw his star as it rose, and we have come to worship him.
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  King Herod was deeply disturbed when he heard this, as was
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  everyone in Jerusalem. He called the meeting of the
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  leading priests and teachers of religious law and asked where is
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  the Messiah supposed to be born? In Bethlehem in Judea, they
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  said. For this is what the prophet
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  wrote. And you, O Bethlehem and the
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  land of Judea, are not least among the ruling cities of
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  Judah. For a ruler will come from you
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  who will be the shepherd for my people Israel.
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  When Herod called for a private meeting with the wives men, and
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  he learned from them the time when the star first appeared.
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  Then he told them, go to Bethlehem and search carefully
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  for the child, and when you find him come back and tell me so
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  that I can go and worship him too.
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  After this interview the wives men went their way and the star
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  they had seen in the east guided them to Bethlehem.
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  It went ahead of them and stopped over the place where the
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  child was. When they saw the star they were
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  filled with joy. They entered the house and saw
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  the child with his mother Mary and they bowed down and
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  worshipped him. Then they opened their treasure
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  chests and gave him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.
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  When it was time to leave, they returned to their own country by
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  another route, for God had warned them in a dream not to
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  return to Herod. After the wise men were gone, an
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  Angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream.
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  Get up, flee to Egypt with the child and his mother, the Angel
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  said. Stay there until I tell you to
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  return, because Herod is going to search for the child to kill
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  him. That night, Joseph left for
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  Egypt with the child and Mary his mother, and they stayed
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  there until Herod's death. This fulfilled what the Lord had
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  spoken through the prophet. I called my son out of Egypt.
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  Herod was furious when he realized that the wise men had
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  outwitted him. He sent soldiers to kill all the
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  boys in and around Bethlehem who were two years old and under.
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  Based on the wise men's report of the star's first appearance,
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  Herod's brutal action fulfilled what God had spoken through the
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  prophet Jeremiah. A cry was heard in Rama, weeping
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  and great mourning. Rachel weeps for her children,
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  refusing to be comforted, for they are dead.
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  When Herod died, an Angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to
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  Joseph in Egypt. Get up, the Angel said.
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  Take the child and his mother back to the land of Israel,
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  because those who were trying to kill the child are dead.
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  So Joseph got up and returned to the land of Israel with Jesus
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  and his mother. But when he learned that the new
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  ruler of Judea was Herod's son Archelaus, he was afraid to go
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  there. Then after being warned in a
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  dream, he left for the region of Galilee.
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  So the family went and lived in a town called Nazareth.
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  This fulfilled what the Prophet said.
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  He will be called a Nazareian. Jesus, give us moment to pause.
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  Give us quiet times in the next coming days as we approach
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  Christmas. To settle our hearts and to open
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  them to you. To open them to the incredible
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  gift of you. Of your birth.
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  Of you coming miraculously from your heavenly form to this
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  vulnerable little baby, putting yourself in our way in the midst
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  of us so that we could not miss you, so that we could know who
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  you are and what you're like. Thank you, Jesus, for this
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  incredible gift of yourself to us.
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  We love you and we just treasure you and all that you do for us.
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  As we approach this special time of celebration.
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  We pray all of this in your wonderful name.
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  Amen.