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A TRAGEDY AT THE BIRTH OF JESUS

Matt. 2:7-23   Sermon preached Dec. 16, 2012                                                                          

Intro -The tragic events of Friday in Connecticut have caused me to change what I had planned to preach. I was going to preach from Luke 1 and the appearance of the angel Gabriel to Mary...but from talking with some of you and knowing my own thoughts and feelings of the past 3 days...I decided to deal with another passage pertaining to the birth of Christ.  It is one we usually gloss over.

 

Matthew 2:7-20. READ.      Herod had summoned the wise men and asked them to search for this Christ child in Bethlehem. He lied to them in order to do him harm, not to worship as he had said. They go to Bethlehem and see the child and worship him and present their unique gifts. God warns them in a dream and they depart for their own country via another way.  The angel of the Lord appears to Joseph in a dream and tells them to rise and take the child and flee to Egypt since Herod is going to search for the child to kill him. Joseph and Mary and the baby Jesus do as the angel instructs and flee to Egypt.  Herod realizes he has been tricked. In his anger he sends soldiers to Bethlehem to kill all the male children who were 2 years old and younger. Matthew notes this is a fulfillment of a prophecy spoken by Jeremiah: “ V. 19 tells us that Herod died.