Old Testament: Zechariah 7 & 8
Poetry: Psalm 145
*New Testament: Matthew 2
Tuesday, December 26, 2023. The Second Day of Christmas, Mathew 2
Have you ever noticed how the really good stories keep being retold? Sometimes it’s a remake. Like Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory- with Gene Wilder in the iconic role when I was a child, remade with Johnny Depp playing Wonka. Sometimes they take a classic story and give the backstory, which it seems they are doing with Wonka, with Timothée Chalamet showing a younger version. Some of the classic stories get some real twists- Romeo and Juliet was modernized and musicalized into West Side Story and Homer’s The Odyssey got Southernized in O Brother, Where Art Thou. You get the point. Great stories have the kind of universal themes that carry over from generation to generation.
We see the same thing when we read the Bible. Some of the key stories in the Old Testament reappear in the Gospels. That’s no accident. Jesus so identifies with the nation of Israel and its story that he, in a sense, re-experiences their story in his own story. Hebrews 4:15 says that he was tempted in every way as the people he gave himself up for were tempted.
Today’s reading in Matthew 2 is a great illustration of how Jesus relives the story of Israel. Let’s take a moment to consider the ways Jesus recapitulates Israel’s story. In the story of Moses, the evil Pharaoh was afraid that the enslaved Israelites were becoming too large and powerful and posed a threat to his power in Egypt, so he decreed that all the male Israelite babies born were to be killed. Moses was spared while many other male children were not. Moses, the one who was spared grew up to lead Israel out of their bondage and go toward the promised land. Notice in today’s reading, Herod is afraid that Jesus would be a threat to his power so he seeks to have Jesus killed as a baby. In the process of trying to have Jesus killed Herod murders all the innocent boys of Bethlehem. Just as Moses was spared, Jesus’ life was spared, and he went down to Egypt until Herod died and it was safe to leave Egypt and come to Israel.
Another part of the story was a dream that warned the wise men not to return to tell Herod where Jesus was living. Dreams are an important part of the story of Israel. Jacob’s son Joseph had a dream about his family bowing down to him, which led to him being kidnapped and sold by his brothers where he eventually arrived in Egypt and became a powerful leader of Egypt, and his brothers did indeed come to buy grain from him and bowed before him, just as he had dreamed. In Matthew chapter 1, another Joseph, betrothed to Mary was told that the baby in Mary’s womb was the son of God and that Joseph was to marry her and raise Jesus as his own son.
After Jesus grew up and went through the waters of baptism, he went into the wilderness for 40 days where he was tempted. This was a reenactment of Israel as a nation that went through the Red Sea and into the wilderness for 40 years where they were tempted. Jesus relives Israel’s story in so many ways.
Israel celebrated God sparing their firstborn children by passing over their homes wherever the blood of the lamb that was slain was over their entrance. They celebrated God’s saving them each year by eating unleavened bread, drinking wine, and eating lamb. Jesus became the lamb of God whose blood was shed to spare us from death. During communion, we eat unleavened bread and drink wine (or unfermented grape juice) to remember that Jesus is the lamb of God who takes away our sins through his death on the cross so that we might have life everlasting.
As you read through the Bible during Seek, Grow, Love, notice how the same story is retold in many ways. The question is, is Jesus’ story a retelling of Israel’s story, or is Israel’s story lived in anticipation of the greatest story ever told, the story of Jesus? Either way, you and I can make Jesus’ story our own story if we follow him.
-Jeff Fletcher
Reflection Questions
- What is the value in reading and knowing the Old Testament?
- What do you love best about Israel’s story? What do you love best about Jesus’ story?
- How is Jesus’ story your story?
- What do you learn about the author of Israel’s and Jesus’ stories?
Seek Grow Love 