Matthew 2-3

Matthew 2-3 are considered to be part of the prologue of the book of Matthew...part of the set up for the rest of the book. There are a few points in these two short chapters that I caught today, perhaps even for the first time - and two that I want to bring up for you to think about are found in chapter 2.

The first one, Matthew 2:3 says: "When Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him." It doesn't take a genius to understand why Herod would be disturbed. He was on the "hot seat," as it were. He was thinking that this child was going to replace Herod and his lineage from ruling in Jerusalem. No ruler likes to hear about the one who will replace them, and it is easy to see why Herod was disturbed. However, why was the rest of Jerusalem disturbed? When Herod called together the chief priests and teachers of the law to ask where this child would be born (2:4-6), I have to think that they would have known that Herod was announced King of the Jews but he wasn't the king that Scripture had proclaimed. So, what possible reason would they have to: A) be disturbed, and B) give him the location of the child? The only thing I can think of is that they were scared of him. After all, Herod did kill his wife and two sons, and the Massacre of the Innocents was on his hands, so it would make sense that the Jewish people, who had long awaited the arrival of the true King of the Jews would only give him the information if they were scared for their own lives.

The second thing that I find interesting, which many people before have realize long before I caught this is that Joseph and Mary took Jesus to Egypt to escape Herod. Egypt was a source of bondage for the Jewish people, and then God delivered them using Moses. Now, another source of freedom for the Jewish people was going to come out of Egypt again. Egypt was bondage for the Jewish people, and it was also refuge for their Messiah.  It is truly amazing how God weaves the story of Israel in with the story of Jesus in such intricate ways. Love it!

Thanks for reading!

Matthew 1 - the Story of how Jesus came to be.

If you were a Jewish reader of Matthew - as many of the first people who read this book were - how would you respond to this long genealogy that leads up to the birth of this person that was later called Messiah? Remember, when this book came out, most of it's readers would have known already about Jesus' passion story - of his crucifixion, death, burial, and resurrection. They would also have know how his 12 apostles had gone on to start the Church, and many of them had been persecuted heavily. What would you think if you were a Jewish man or woman, boy or girl, who was waiting for a Rambo-style military commander who was powerful, had all the right moves, said the best lines and got all the girls? And then you encounter this story that starts with his genealogy that included well-known adulterers, murders, harlots, a low-lifes? It isn't what you would be hoping for.

But, nevertheless, that is how it started. It started with a righteous boy and girl (Joseph and Mary) who did what was right in God's sight - to the point that he picked them to have his son...the Savior and Lord.

If I were thinking of how this chapter of Matthew applied to my life, here's what I would say:
1. My job is to follow God, to know him, to grow to be more like Him every day.
2. My job is to be obedient to him.
3. My job is to know that I will screw up - AND - God will still use me as part of His redemptive purposes.

That's how I see this chapter applying to my life. This is his story and we all fit in it somewhere!

Scripture of the week and prayers.

My Scripture of the week this week is: "But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come. For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power; Avoid such men as these." 2 Tim 3:1-5 (I stole the image from the Resurgence)


I have been wrestling with what the Christian life looks like. I evaluate and re-evaluate this in my own life frequently, because I feel I should be bearing the fruit the Bible says I should be bearing as a follower of Christ. And the bottom line for me is that, even as a pastor, sometimes I don't feel like I am doing as well as maybe I should be. I don't want to be one of these people who has this "form of godliness" but denies its power. I want the power of God at work in my life to produce good fruit always and often because I am close to him, because I am obedient to him, because I don't do the things listed in the Scripture above. 


My prayer today, for this week, is that I wouldn't be one of these people. That I would be a person who is the antithesis of the things on that list. And God, I pray that you will use any means necessary to convict me when I step out of line, or when I fall into one of these things. God, make me a person after your own heart; make me a better pastor, a better husband, a better son, a better brother, a better person - not for my glory but for yours. God you are everything good in the world and no (true) good comes apart from you. I draw close to you and ask you to draw near to me, too. I love you. Amen.