Matthew 2

2 After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi^[a] from the east came to Jerusalem ² and asked, “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.”

³ When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him. ⁴ When he had called together all the people’s chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Messiah was to be born. ⁵ “In Bethlehem in Judea,” they replied, “for this is what the prophet has written:

⁶ “‘But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,
    are by no means least among the rulers of Judah;
for out of you will come a ruler
    who will shepherd my people Israel.’^[b]”

⁷ Then Herod called the Magi secretly and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared. ⁸ He sent them to Bethlehem and said, “Go and search carefully for the child. As soon as you find him, report to me, so that I too may go and worship him.”

⁹ After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen when it rose went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. ¹⁰ When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. ¹¹ On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. ¹² And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route.

The Escape to Egypt

¹³ When they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. “Get up,” he said, “take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him.”
¹⁴ So he got up, took the child and his mother during the night and left for Egypt, ¹⁵ where he stayed until the death of Herod. And so was fulfilled what the Lord had said through the prophet: “Out of Egypt I called my son.”^[c]
16 When Herod realized that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was furious, and he gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had learned from the Magi. ¹⁷ Then what was said through the prophet Jeremiah was fulfilled:

¹⁸ “A voice is heard in Ramah,
    weeping and great mourning,
Rachel weeping for her children
    and refusing to be comforted,
    because they are no more.”^[d]

The Return to Nazareth

¹⁹ After Herod died, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt ²⁰ and said, “Get up, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who were trying to take the child’s life are dead.”
²¹ So he got up, took the child and his mother and went to the land of Israel. ²² But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning in Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. Having been warned in a dream, he withdrew to the district of Galilee, ²³ and he went and lived in a town called Nazareth. So was fulfilled what was said through the prophets, that he would be called a Nazarene.

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How crazy to be Joseph.  You grow up as a carpenter, begin to make a good life for yourself, find a wife and begin a family.  Then it turns out that your wife is carrying the Son of God and the calm and stable life that you had planned is regularly turned upside down as shepherds and mystics and angels regularly appear to give you gifts and messages.  You become a refugee, a family without a home.  You know God is with you but your head is always on a swivel, wondering where danger will come from next.

One might wonder: Why did they have to keep on the move?  Why could God not have hidden them or protected them in some other way?  Why send a star or notify the magi in the first place?  Would it not have been easier to allow Jesus to grow up safe and sheltered?  It reminds me of the Terminator movies where the parents are always on the run to keep the child safe.  What would that do to a person?  Knowing that there are forces in this world that want to kill you because of who you are born to be?  Knowing that hundreds of little boys were killed as an angry king was looking to hunt you down?  Some people claim that Jesus lived a normal life and then discovered later on that there was something unique about himself.  I think living like this sinks that reality in very quickly.

Matthew 1

I get to start on a Gospel!  So excited for a change of pace.  I don't need to paste this section of scripture because I have it memorized, but for those of you who didn't need to learn the genealogy of Jesus when you were young, here you go:

1 This is the genealogy^[a] of Jesus the Messiah^[b] the son of David, the son of Abraham:

² Abraham was the father of Isaac,

Isaac the father of Jacob,

Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers,

³ Judah the father of Perez and Zerah, whose mother was Tamar,

Perez the father of Hezron,

Hezron the father of Ram,

⁴ Ram the father of Amminadab,

Amminadab the father of Nahshon,

Nahshon the father of Salmon,

⁵ Salmon the father of Boaz, whose mother was Rahab,

Boaz the father of Obed, whose mother was Ruth,

Obed the father of Jesse,

⁶ and Jesse the father of King David.

David was the father of Solomon, whose mother had been Uriah’s wife,

⁷ Solomon the father of Rehoboam,

Rehoboam the father of Abijah,

Abijah the father of Asa,

⁸ Asa the father of Jehoshaphat,

Jehoshaphat the father of Jehoram,

Jehoram the father of Uzziah,

⁹ Uzziah the father of Jotham,

Jotham the father of Ahaz,

Ahaz the father of Hezekiah,

¹⁰ Hezekiah the father of Manasseh,

Manasseh the father of Amon,

Amon the father of Josiah,

¹¹ and Josiah the father of Jeconiah^[c] and his brothers at the time of the exile to Babylon.

¹² After the exile to Babylon:

Jeconiah was the father of Shealtiel,

Shealtiel the father of Zerubbabel,

¹³ Zerubbabel the father of Abihud,

Abihud the father of Eliakim,

Eliakim the father of Azor,

¹⁴ Azor the father of Zadok,

Zadok the father of Akim,

Akim the father of Elihud,

¹⁵ Elihud the father of Eleazar,

Eleazar the father of Matthan,

Matthan the father of Jacob,

¹⁶ and Jacob the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary, and Mary was the mother of Jesus who is called the Messiah.

¹⁷ Thus there were fourteen generations in all from Abraham to David, fourteen from David to the exile to Babylon, and fourteen from the exile to the Messiah.

Joseph Accepts Jesus as His Son

¹⁸ This is how the birth of Jesus the Messiah came about^[d]: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit. ¹⁹ Because Joseph her husband was faithful to the law, and yet^[e] did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly.
²⁰ But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. ²¹ She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus,^[f] because he will save his people from their sins.”
²² All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: ²³ “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel”^[g] (which means “God with us”).
²⁴ When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife. ²⁵ But he did not consummate their marriage until she gave birth to a son. And he gave him the name Jesus.

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My early teenage years were spent working on Bible Quiz, a books of the Bible competition.  One year we were focused on Matthew and I memorized the entire genealogy.  With a little bit of study I can still conjure it up and go through all 17 verses.  It is quite a bible nerd party trick, let me tell you.

I really like the genealogy for more reasons than it is emblazoned on my brain.  If you look at the line of Jesus ancestors, there are a lot of skeletons, especially among the women mentioned.  Tamar dressed up like a prostitute to get her father-in-law to sleep with her; Rahab was a prostitute; Ruth was a homeless gentile; Bathsheeba was David's greatest personal failure and the reason his line was ended; Mary was a teenage pregnancy. The men also have some stories, but not nearly as dramatic as the women.

Jesus' genealogy is a long-term look at God's redemptive power.  He takes broken people and bad choices and injustice and confusion/despair/regret and transforms them into favor and blessing.  He redeemed the darkness in order to reveal the Light of the World.

Proverbs 3

3 My son, do not forget my teaching,
    but keep my commands in your heart,
² for they will prolong your life many years
    and bring you peace and prosperity.

³ Let love and faithfulness never leave you;
    bind them around your neck,
    write them on the tablet of your heart.
⁴ Then you will win favor and a good name
    in the sight of God and man.

⁵ Trust in the Lord with all your heart
    and lean not on your own understanding;
⁶ in all your ways submit to him,
    and he will make your paths straight.^[a]

⁷ Do not be wise in your own eyes;
    fear the Lord and shun evil.
⁸ This will bring health to your body
    and nourishment to your bones.

⁹ Honor the Lord with your wealth,
    with the firstfruits of all your crops;
¹⁰ then your barns will be filled to overflowing,
    and your vats will brim over with new wine.

¹¹ My son, do not despise the Lord’s discipline,
    and do not resent his rebuke,
¹² because the Lord disciplines those he loves,
    as a father the son he delights in.^[b]

¹³ Blessed are those who find wisdom,
    those who gain understanding,
¹⁴ for she is more profitable than silver
    and yields better returns than gold.
¹⁵ She is more precious than rubies;
    nothing you desire can compare with her.
¹⁶ Long life is in her right hand;
    in her left hand are riches and honor.
¹⁷ Her ways are pleasant ways,
    and all her paths are peace.
¹⁸ She is a tree of life to those who take hold of her;
    those who hold her fast will be blessed.

¹⁹ By wisdom the Lord laid the earth’s foundations,
    by understanding he set the heavens in place;
²⁰ by his knowledge the watery depths were divided,
    and the clouds let drop the dew.

²¹ My son, do not let wisdom and understanding out of your sight,
    preserve sound judgment and discretion;
²² they will be life for you,
    an ornament to grace your neck.
²³ Then you will go on your way in safety,
    and your foot will not stumble.
²⁴ When you lie down, you will not be afraid;
    when you lie down, your sleep will be sweet.
²⁵ Have no fear of sudden disaster
    or of the ruin that overtakes the wicked,
²⁶ for the Lord will be at your side
    and will keep your foot from being snared.

²⁷ Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due,
    when it is in your power to act.
²⁸ Do not say to your neighbor,
    “Come back tomorrow and I’ll give it to you”—
    when you already have it with you.
²⁹ Do not plot harm against your neighbor,
    who lives trustfully near you.
³⁰ Do not accuse anyone for no reason—
    when they have done you no harm.

³¹ Do not envy the violent
    or choose any of their ways.

³² For the Lord detests the perverse
    but takes the upright into his confidence.
³³ The Lord’s curse is on the house of the wicked,
    but he blesses the home of the righteous.
³⁴ He mocks proud mockers
    but shows favor to the humble and oppressed.
³⁵ The wise inherit honor,
    but fools get only shame.

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Wisdom.  As we read proverbs it is revered.  It is the key to success, both materially and spiritually.  Do not trust in yourself, instead rely on God and his Wisdom.  God is the one who will provide wealth and peace and honor if you seek Him first of all.

Here's the thing: how are we sure of what is God's wisdom and what is just us?  The book of James talks about Wisdom from God and Earthly Wisdom.  I know a lot of very faithful people who do really stupid things because they are convinced that it is Wisdom from above.  "It seemed like a good idea at the time," is a common refrain among nonprofits and ministries that make highly questionable decisions.  Personally, I feel like I am making it all up as I go along, whether it be parenting or marriage or work.  I pray.  I listen.  I get ideas and pictures and hopes and goals that I then have to sift through.  Here is some wisdom that I have gleaned from people much smarter than I when it comes to discerning what God is saying:

• Does it agree with Scripture?  Does your great idea involve making a golden idol to worship?  If so it is probably Earthly Wisdom...and should be avoided at all costs.
• Does it glorify Jesus?  Will this endeavor ultimately bring people closer to Jesus or just make you look good?
• Do other believers agree?  A word on this.  You can find people to agree with anything.  What we are looking for here is people with integrity...people that you trust will hear from God...AND people who are willing to tell you "no."  I know many organizations and ministries that have died because the trusted circle of advisers were simply "yes" people and they all carried the mission off the cliff on their backs.  As a leader you must learn how to respond to "no" well.
• Does it work/come to pass?  Just because hindsight is 20/20 is no reason to completely ignore it.  If you are sure that God promised something that didn't happen, it is fairly safe to say that you heard wrong.  Take that as an opportunity to learn.  Discernment is a muscle that grows the more it is used.  Try and fail and try some more; just like training for any sport.

One other word of caution.  If there is an idea that you have that will solve all your problems...that is probably not God either.  He is not a God of get-rich-quick.  His is a God of process, much more interested in having you poor but in relationship with Him than having you rich and off doing your own thing.

Psalm 3,4 &5

Psalm 3

Trust in God under Adversity

A Psalm of David, when he fled from his son Absalom.

¹ O Lord, how many are my foes!
    Many are rising against me;
² many are saying to me,
    “There is no help for you^[a] in God.”Selah

³ But you, O Lord, are a shield around me,
    my glory, and the one who lifts up my head.
⁴ I cry aloud to the Lord,
    and he answers me from his holy hill.Selah

⁵ I lie down and sleep;
    I wake again, for the Lord sustains me.
⁶ I am not afraid of ten thousands of people
    who have set themselves against me all around.

⁷ Rise up, O Lord!
    Deliver me, O my God!
For you strike all my enemies on the cheek;
    you break the teeth of the wicked.

⁸ Deliverance belongs to the Lord;
    may your blessing be on your people!Selah

Psalm 4

Confident Plea for Deliverance from Enemies

To the leader: with stringed instruments. A Psalm of David.

¹ Answer me when I call, O God of my right!
    You gave me room when I was in distress.
    Be gracious to me, and hear my prayer.

² How long, you people, shall my honor suffer shame?
    How long will you love vain words, and seek after lies?Selah
³ But know that the Lord has set apart the faithful for himself;
    the Lord hears when I call to him.

⁴ When you are disturbed,^[a] do not sin;
    ponder it on your beds, and be silent.Selah
⁵ Offer right sacrifices,
    and put your trust in the Lord.

⁶ There are many who say, “O that we might see some good!
    Let the light of your face shine on us, O Lord!”
⁷ You have put gladness in my heart
    more than when their grain and wine abound.

⁸ I will both lie down and sleep in peace;
    for you alone, O Lord, make me lie down in safety.

Psalm 5

Trust in God for Deliverance from Enemies

To the leader: for the flutes. A Psalm of David.

¹ Give ear to my words, O Lord;
    give heed to my sighing.
² Listen to the sound of my cry,
    my King and my God,
    for to you I pray.
³ O Lord, in the morning you hear my voice;
    in the morning I plead my case to you, and watch.

⁴ For you are not a God who delights in wickedness;
    evil will not sojourn with you.
⁵ The boastful will not stand before your eyes;
    you hate all evildoers.
⁶ You destroy those who speak lies;
    the Lord abhors the bloodthirsty and deceitful.

⁷ But I, through the abundance of your steadfast love,
    will enter your house,
I will bow down toward your holy temple
    in awe of you.
⁸ Lead me, O Lord, in your righteousness
    because of my enemies;
    make your way straight before me.

⁹ For there is no truth in their mouths;
    their hearts are destruction;
their throats are open graves;
    they flatter with their tongues.
¹⁰ Make them bear their guilt, O God;
    let them fall by their own counsels;
because of their many transgressions cast them out,
    for they have rebelled against you.

¹¹ But let all who take refuge in you rejoice;
    let them ever sing for joy.
Spread your protection over them,
    so that those who love your name may exult in you.
¹² For you bless the righteous, O Lord;
    you cover them with favor as with a shield.

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You know the phrase, "Love the sinner; hate the sin."  Yeah...the psalmist does not buy into that one.  He firmly places people in either the "righteous" or "sinner" camp.  There is no in between.  

The author is deeply connected with God and I find that amazing.  There is no filter, no guarding what he is saying or feeling...just pure, raw, poetic expression of what he wants...what he needs to happen.  

I appreciate the psalms for their honesty, for the ways that they look at nature and are able to see God all around them.  I appreciate how they know what they want and feel completely free to express that to God.  I appreciate all this, yet it is completely foreign to me.  I am horrible at reflecting on what I want.  I enter into desperate situations that have a clear need so that I am free of having to discern my wants.  I am lousy at being in nature and taking in its grandeur.  

The psalms are hard for me.  Good thing that there are a bazillion of them to work through.

Exodus 40

40 Then the Lord said to Moses: ² “Set up the tabernacle, the tent of meeting, on the first day of the first month. ³ Place the ark of the covenant law in it and shield the ark with the curtain. ⁴ Bring in the table and set out what belongs on it. Then bring in the lampstand and set up its lamps. ⁵ Place the gold altar of incense in front of the ark of the covenant law and put the curtain at the entrance to the tabernacle.

⁶ “Place the altar of burnt offering in front of the entrance to the tabernacle, the tent of meeting; ⁷ place the basin between the tent of meeting and the altar and put water in it. ⁸ Set up the courtyard around it and put the curtain at the entrance to the courtyard.
⁹ “Take the anointing oil and anoint the tabernacle and everything in it; consecrate it and all its furnishings, and it will be holy. ¹⁰ Then anoint the altar of burnt offering and all its utensils; consecrate the altar, and it will be most holy. ¹¹ Anoint the basin and its stand and consecrate them.
¹² “Bring Aaron and his sons to the entrance to the tent of meeting and wash them with water. ¹³ Then dress Aaron in the sacred garments, anoint him and consecrate him so he may serve me as priest. ¹⁴ Bring his sons and dress them in tunics. ¹⁵ Anoint them just as you anointed their father, so they may serve me as priests. Their anointing will be to a priesthood that will continue throughout their generations.” ¹⁶ Moses did everything just as the Lord commanded him.
¹⁷ So the tabernacle was set up on the first day of the first month in the second year. ¹⁸ When Moses set up the tabernacle, he put the bases in place, erected the frames, inserted the crossbars and set up the posts. ¹⁹ Then he spread the tent over the tabernacle and put the covering over the tent, as the Lord commanded him.
²⁰ He took the tablets of the covenant law and placed them in the ark, attached the poles to the ark and put the atonement cover over it. ²¹ Then he brought the ark into the tabernacle and hung the shielding curtain and shielded the ark of the covenant law, as the Lord commanded him.
²² Moses placed the table in the tent of meeting on the north side of the tabernacle outside the curtain ²³ and set out the bread on it before the Lord, as the Lord commanded him.
²⁴ He placed the lampstand in the tent of meeting opposite the table on the south side of the tabernacle ²⁵ and set up the lamps before the Lord, as the Lord commanded him.
²⁶ Moses placed the gold altar in the tent of meeting in front of the curtain ²⁷ and burned fragrant incense on it, as the Lord commanded him.
²⁸ Then he put up the curtain at the entrance to the tabernacle. ²⁹ He set the altar of burnt offering near the entrance to the tabernacle, the tent of meeting, and offered on it burnt offerings and grain offerings, as the Lord commanded him.
³⁰ He placed the basin between the tent of meeting and the altar and put water in it for washing, ³¹ and Moses and Aaron and his sons used it to wash their hands and feet. ³² They washed whenever they entered the tent of meeting or approached the altar, as the Lord commanded Moses.
³³ Then Moses set up the courtyard around the tabernacle and altar and put up the curtain at the entrance to the courtyard. And so Moses finished the work.

The Glory of the Lord

³⁴ Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. ³⁵ Moses could not enter the tent of meeting because the cloud had settled on it, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle.
³⁶ In all the travels of the Israelites, whenever the cloud lifted from above the tabernacle, they would set out; ³⁷ but if the cloud did not lift, they did not set out—until the day it lifted. ³⁸ So the cloud of the Lord was over the tabernacle by day, and fire was in the cloud by night, in the sight of all the Israelites during all their travels.

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 It occurs to me that the people still have not moved from the base of the mountain.  This is the place where they agreed to be God's people and Moses went up the mountain for 40 days and came down with the 10 commandments...while the people were holding a festival for their new golden calf idol.  This is the place where God wanted to destroy them and Moses pleaded for their lives and thousands died and Moses went back to get the commandments again and then the work was done to build all these articles of worship.  This nation of 1 million souls has been here for...2 months?  3 months?  I wonder how long this all took.  And now they have a place to meet with their God.  And everyone can see the cloud, both plain by day and filled with fire by night, and when it raises off the tabernacle they move.  When it settles they put down camp.

What a crazy way to live.  There is no permanence, no security...other than the fact that you know exactly where God is and where He wants you to be.  As I think about it, those are the pieces that most people wish that they had: to know God is with them and to know where He wants them to be.  The Israelites have a very clear life: follow God wherever He leads.  Everything depends on it.  Their food, their water, their survival all depend on remaining in His favor.  No wonder there is such zeal in rooting out those members of the community who offend God.  There is no safety net, no plan B.  

On the one hand it is a very attractive way to live.  I like clear expectations and clear results.  I like the idea of being completely confident that I am following God.  On the other hand the complete and utter dependence freaks me out.  What if...there are dozens of scenarios that flood my head.  They all boil down to whether I believe that God is capable of taking care of me and if He loves me enough to bother.  I know the answer to both questions is yes.  I try to live my life that way.  And this is a much more radical picture of a committed life than I pursue.