Why ideas matter.
Why ideas matter.
Mary and Joseph came from Nazareth and when it was safe they took Jesus back there to live. At the time of Jesus, to call someone a Nazarene (meaning from Nazareth) was the same as saying he was “despised.” John…
King Herod was a very wicked man. He could not stand the thought that there was a baby born who might replace him as king. Remember the Magi had referred to the baby as “the King of the Jews.” What…
Only the Gospel of Matthew relates Mary and Joseph taking the Christ child to Egypt to protect his life. At the time of the Patriarchs, Egypt was a place of refuge for the Israelites when God led Jacob and his…
After meeting with king Herod, the Magi continued to follow the star to the place where they found Jesus with his mother. They gave valuable gifts to the child. The fact that three gifts are listed has given rise to the…
Our reading now shifts back to the Gospel of Matthew, as Matthew relates part of the Christmas story that Luke doesn’t. Matthew doesn’t say much about the birth of Christ, instead, he focuses on what happened after. Matthew is the…
After Jesus was born, Mary and Joseph fulfilled what the Jewish law said to do after the birth of a son. They had Jesus circumcised on the eighth day. After 40 days of a purification period, they went to the temple in…
Looking at the sheep in the stable reminds us not only that Jesus is the Lamb of God, it also reminds us that we are lost sheep in need of a shepherd. In Micah 5:4-5a a prophecy about the Savior says, “He…
Having sheep in the manger scene reminds us of two things. First, Jesus is the sacrificial lamb that takes away the sin of the world. John 1:29 says, “The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the…
We do not know for sure what animals were in the stable when Jesus was born, but we can imagine that there were perhaps a donkey and some sheep and these are the animals we will look at in this…
Once they got over their terror, the shepherds must have been awestruck when the heavenly host appeared to them. Their response was to go and see what they had been told. They believed and so they obeyed. We too must believe the…