Matthew 2:1-12 On his recent royal tour of Australia, King Charles got a mixed reception. So did King Jesus from the moment he came into the world, but how we respond to him is a good deal more significant, given who he is. In this passage we encounter three responses. Which best represents our own?
Matthew 1:18-25 We’re born, we live, we die. We all conform to this universal pattern. If we’re going to get out of the hole we’re in, it’s going to have to be an outside job. We need someone who breaks the chain. Someone not ordinary but extra-ordinary. And that is what we find in Jesus – a unique birth producing a unique baby.
Matthew 1:1-17 ‘Go and tell everyone everywhere they need to become my disciples and start following and obeying me’. That’s where Matthew’s Gospel ends. An outrageous thing for anyone to say, never mind a carpenter from Nazareth. Why should we take him seriously? Who even is he? That’s where Matthew’s Gospel begins.
Nahum 3 Though his name means ‘comfort,’ the message is clear—sin and shame are intertwined, and true freedom from shame comes when sin is judged.
