Well, that does not actually surprise me. I went back and read a few of my old posts...which was kind of fun. One thing I saw was how I described myself as very detailed, thinking through every aspect of something. Well, that is part of what contributes to my blog apathy. I've had several "Deep Thoughts" over the last 18 months...but actually writing them down, on a blog, in a way that doesn't seem dumb, rushed, or boring? Those details take me a while to think through. So....it doesn't get done. Rest assured though. I have a lot going on up here.
If you follow me on Facebook, you know that the annual Bible study that I attend just started up in September. I always enjoy returning. Not that I don't enjoy the "coming" every week...but there are certain feelings that accompany the "returning." It's easy to take the study for granted, coming week in and week out. You can get into a groove...and it's easy to slip into the regimented part of it and leave out the meditative part of it. I usually have some window like that at least once during every study, and I have to snap myself out of it. However...the "returning" part is always so refreshing. Like drinking fresh water when you're thirsty. Sadly, I don't always behave as though I'm spiritually thirsty. Which is probably why I can study a passage one year....and then read it again later, and I don't even remember it! Maybe I wasn't as thirsty that first go-around.
Well, I'm taking advantage of my current motivation and documenting some interesting things I am learning from some very familiar passages. I LOVE it when that happens! We are currently studying Matthew, and we just finished chapters 1 & 2. Jesus' birth is covered in those chapters, mostly.
Okay. I am familiar with Jesus' birth story. Very familiar. I can practically quote Luke 2. Studying it though is different. Really studying. Analyzing the responses and behaviors of each character. Discerning their motive or internal conflict. Seeing phrases that you didn't even realize were there! So, for my benefit (so I will actually remember it later) and for yours...I will make a list of the many NEW things God showed me in the story surrounding his birth.
- Tamar. You are probably thinking...what is a Tamar? Actually, it's a Who. Tamar is a woman. The story of Tamar is not familiar to most...but she does have a part to play in Jesus' birth story...which is the familiar part, or so we thought. We all know that Jesus descends from the line of Judah (the 4th of Jacob's sons from Genesis). It was prophesied that the Messiah would come through his descendants (the scepter will not depart from Judah, nor the ruler's staff from between his feet, until He comes to whom it belongs. Gen 49:10). What most people don't realize is that the "wife" that gave Judah the next son in this Messianic line (and I say wife loosely because Judah didn't actually marry her) was a Gentile, who pretended to be a prostitute in order to trick Judah into sleeping with her. She desperately wanted to be a part of Judah's family...so she forced her way. And Judah fell for the bait, in a moment of weakness.....actually in a season of weakness. A long season. And BAM! Now Tamar, the pretend prostitute, has the distinct honor of being part of the Messianic line. Judah had other children. Why did God pick the child born out of a very embarrassing part of Judah's past to further the Messianic journey? (If you want to know that, then you should attend the s-t-u-d-y where we delve into those kinds of questions). So, what does this have to do with the study of Matthew? Mathew chapter 1 lists the genealogy of Jesus....and there she is....in verse 3. Tamar. She was famous to the Jews. So famous in fact, that Matthew included her in the list when the list usually only included the men. So famous, that 1000 years later...when Ruth married Boaz (who was also in the Messianic line), the elders gave them a public blessing that their offspring would be like the one born to Judah by Tamar. Ruth 4:12. She was a Famous woman. The Messiah was to come through her, and the elders prophesied the same would be true of Ruth (another Gentile)....and He did. Never before when glancing through the genealogy in Matthew 1 did I ever realize such history or significance. Hence, read vs. study.
- Magi. Now, I have been a studier long enough to know that the Magi did not arrive to worship Jesus in the stable....contrary to the images and nativity scenes displayed at Christmas. They arrived about 2 years later....when Jesus was a toddler....in his house. I am assuming this is not news to you. If it is, read Matthew 2 again. What I didn't see before was a small phrase in 2:3. When the Magi arrived and asked Herod (the "king" appointed by Rome to keep the Jews in line) where the New King had been born...the passage said he was disturbed...and here is the new part....and all Jerusalem with him. Huh? All Jerusalem? Jerusalem was not very big. This lends us to the conclusion that the Magi arriving was a HUGE big deal that everyone was talking about.....like the Beatles coming to town (back in the day).....or the president arriving in all his fanfare. To. Your. Town. They were wealthy, kingly looking, leaders and revered people from the East. They brought REAL GOLD on their 2-year journey. And not just a little box full. Their entourage had to have been very Large to make such a showing in the town (not to mention the practical need for safety, protection, and supplies on the journey.....carrying the wealth that they were, for as long as they were). So.....that means I need to add some wisemen to my nativity this year, because there were surely a lot of them.
- Joseph. Well, this one is surely familiar to you. However, there are even things about this man that I saw which were new to me. Ok. I'll set the scene. Mary finds out she's having the Messiah. She tells Joseph (we assume). Now what? The passage goes straight to him considering leaving her quietly rather than publicly...and then the angel visits him in a dream to explain what's going on. Okay. I see a lot going on right here. Joseph had to have been Devastated. Absolutely devastated. Tears. Anguish. Confusion. Questions. Disbelief that he was so "wrong" about his future bride. He loved her. A lot. Verse 20 says he considered this (leaving her). I bet there is a lot going on in that word, considered. You know how emotionally draining it is when something devastating happens in your family? You're distracted at work....you cry when you're alone (yes, men do it too)...and sleep is your only escape from the pain. In his "considering", he had decided to leave her (v. 19)....and in his grief-stricken sleep, and angel came to him. And then he stayed. I bet there were different tears after that decision. Good ones. In Mary's embrace.
- Chief Priests and Teachers of the Law. They come on the scene in 2:4. Herod asked them (ALL of them, v.4) to come tell him what the Jewish Scriptures said about the Messiah prophesies. These were people who taught the Scriptures for a living....read them constantly....memorized them. They KNEW them. Inside and out. When Herod asked them where the Messiah was supposed to be born....Bam! They immediately quoted Micah 5:2, written hundreds of years ago. They had to have received word of this fancy Magi entourage that arrived...and what they were looking for. Now Herod calls them in. Well...you don't really see them again after this. The rest of it is between Herod and the Magi. What does that tell me? The chief priests were not interested in following this Bright Light that had been in the sky for 2 years...even though there were prophesies about that too that they had memorized. Someone else even says...Hey! We think your King has been born! Do they follow? Ask questions? Get curious? Excited even? Nope. They just return to their houses and prepare for the next day's sacrifice or sermon....about the very prophesies that are unfolding before them. And they don't even see it....even when a Gentile points it out. Blind. Totally blind. Indifferent to the truth. The truth is that your world's about to be turned upside down! Meh. I don't believe that. The world is filled with these people today too.....sitting in the pews next to us at church.....hearing the truth, knowing it, learning it, regurgitating it....not really believing it. Sad.
- Nazareth vs. Bethlehem. Joseph and Mary were from Nazareth (north of Bethlehem about 80 miles). See Luke 2:4. They left for Bethlehem for the census that the Caesar required. Okay. Already know that. Did you realize that when the Magi visited Jesus 2 years later, that they were still in Bethlehem? I always kind of thought that he was born in a barn, they finished the census, then went home with him. Nope. They stayed. Not in the barn, though, but in the town. Their new home was there. Their parents had to have been back in Nazareth....because they were just teenagers, or young adults (most likely), living with their parents until marriage. Wow. That must have been hard. It seems to me that God told them to stay in anticipation that the Magi would come to that town looking for him...because of the prophesy. Otherwise, they probably would have gone back "home." This reveals the character of Joseph and his unwavering obedience to God, despite the huge derailment of his life that being the parent of the Messiah brought to him.
- Prophecy. So, when Herod decides to kill all babies under 2 years old in and around Bethlehem, God tells Joseph to get outa dodge. Does he tell him to go north 80 miles to Nazareth, back home? No. Was Herod's people looking for him there? No. So why Egypt of all places? 225 miles southwest. 225. See 2:15. Because it had been prophesied Out of Egypt I called my son. Hosea 11:1. Egypt had spiritual significance...and God orchestrated many past events to foreshadow future ones (passover, animal sacrifices, etc). This verse (Hos 11:1) originally referred to the nation of Israel (his children) whom he called out of Egyptian slavery....an image of what would happen thousands of years later when Jesus was there....and had to be called out. Cool. So Egypt wasn't the only safe place around, and it sure wasn't convenient to get to.....but the prophesy......the prophesy had to be kept. Hence, Egypt. Second prophesy. Nazareth. When Joseph was told to go back to Israel....he trekked the 225 miles again with his family (and preschooler). Back to Bethlehem. Wait. What? Not Bethlehem God? Nope. God says it's not safe here. Keep going. Another 80 miles north. Back to Nazareth. To your family. See 2:23. He will be called a Nazarene. Not a Bethlehemite...or whatever. The prophesy. It had to be kept. (Food for thought. How did God protect John the Baptist during the Herod killings? He was the same age as Jesus. He was from Jerusalem, 6 miles from Bethlehem. Did the killings not go that far? Did God similarly protect John and family? We don't know. Interesting.)
- Worship. This is my favorite. The Magi came to worship! Intentional. Prepared. Eager. Their worship wasn't singing, like we think of it. And it wasn't just the bowing down part. Their worship was the 2-year journey. The gathering of supplies. The sacrifice of their wealthy gifts. The planning the route. The assembling of the caravan team. The eagerness and anticipation. All of this was worship. I NEVER saw that before. As a long-time Christian, I have carried in myself a lot of self-condemnation because I never developed the habit of a daily quiet time with God. Daily. Alone. Me and Him and my Bible. I've had stints, but I always fall off. I can get discouraged....which I have before. Think I'm hopeless....which I have before. But now I realize....God wants me to worship him. With the way I treat others, the encouragement of hurting people, the sacrifice of time and money, anticipation of meeting him today and in eternity, telling someone else about him, teaching children the good news, discipling someone, loving my husband and asking forgiveness, training my children in righteousness......and spending time with Him. He is pleased when I worship Him in these ways...and he is not condemning me because I did not worship him in a specific way yesterday. Yes. It is in my best interest to meet him alone. Every Day. But is my worship distasteful to Him because it is not in the form of a quiet time every day. Absolutely Not! He relishes my worship....and it is purely for his benefit that I do it (the list above). He accepts what I give, because He knows the motive in which I give it. This is not an excuse to not have a daily quiet time....for those of you who are passionate about that part. But it is a release from the self-condemnation I have felt for years...that God is displeased with me. I'm offering him what I am able to give (just like the widow), and what I am able to give grows, as I grow. Jesus publicly praised that widow, for the 2 coins she gave. And not because it was a percentage thing...like a math problem. But because her heart was in it. My heart is IN what I give. And he is so pleased with me because of it.
