12.08.24 - The First Noel

December 08, 2024

Jay Vanderbur

Matthew 2 reads like an action movie.  A group of Magi (they aren’t from around here) show up in Jerusalem to bring gifts and pay homage to the new king... Herod, the guy in charge at the time, doesn’t take kindly to this news.  Plots are hatched.  Herod gives orders to do the unthinkable.  The baby Jesus essentially has a price on His head.  An angel warns Joseph.  Jesus lives.  This is not a scene from a snow globe!  Matthew insists that we see in Jesus, even when things are darkest, the promises of God fulfilled.  In this world there is pain.  In this world there is trouble.  In Matthew 2 we see that Jesus, our Immanuel, really is God-with-us - entering a world of violence and injustice to give us hope!