We’re looking this week at how Jesus’ birth threatened powerful people.  Here’s the story:

Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the east came to Jerusalem, saying, “Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.” When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him; and assembling all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born. They told him, “In Bethlehem of Judea, for so it is written by the prophet:

“‘And you, O Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for from you shall come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel.’”

Then Herod summoned the wise men secretly and ascertained from them what time the star had appeared. And he sent them to Bethlehem, saying, “Go and search diligently for the child, and when you have found him, bring me word, that I too may come and worship him.” (…) And being warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they departed to their own country by another way.

Now when they had departed, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, “Rise, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you, for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him.” And he rose and took the child and his mother by night and departed to Egypt and remained there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet, “Out of Egypt I called my son.”

Then Herod, when he saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, became furious, and he sent and killed all the male children in Bethlehem and in all that region who were two years old or under, according to the time that he had ascertained from the wise men. Then was fulfilled what was spoken by the prophet Jeremiah:

“A voice was heard in Ramah, weeping and loud lamentation, Rachel weeping for her children; she refused to be comforted, because they are no more.”   (Matthew 2:1-8, 12-18 ESV)

Just like last week, you can see the story of Jesus’ birth was part of God’s big story throughout history.  There’ve been hints throughout time that these events would occur, even if people couldn’t see them in advance, many more could see them in retrospect.

We can see that from the beginning of his life…powerful people encountered Jesus and recognized who he was, even if they didn’t like it.

Here in this story we have two people, both claiming the title King of the Jews. Herod is a powerful man, but he’s a middle man.  The Romans are really in charge, but keep him as King of the local area because he’s useful to them, at least for now.

On the other side, the people under him allow him to rule because of fear.  They know he’s not a legitimate heir to the throne of Israel, even though he claims the title.

So Herod hangs on to power by removing any threat to his power.  He uses fear out of his own fear.  This is why he is so concerned by these wise men, who show up and say they’re looking for the King of the Jews.  Herod is King of the Jews!  Not by birthline or right of course, but because he got what he wanted, and has everyone afraid of him.  So if someone else claims to be the rightful King, and can claim the right bloodline, right town of birth, etc. that simply won’t do.  So instead of just telling them they’re crazy, and having this rumour get out of hand, Herod uses them.

We’ll talk more about that later…but suffice it to say he is manipulative, dangerous, uses people to keep himself in power, and moreover is illegitimate.

Question: A prophet 500 years before this happened said the Messiah would emerge as a light in “dark times.”  How was the era when Jesus came a dark time?  Are there similarities to our time?

Reminder: We have a great Christmas event coming December 14th, 2013: The Original Christmas Party.  Hope you’re coming!

Read the Bible in Sync Today

Ryan Sim - October 23, 2013

Wednesday - Change It - Becoming Like Family

Every family has routines and values, and these are closely connected. Take suburban family life as an example. On the surface, we can see routines: wake, eat, drop-off at daycare/school, commute to work, work, commute home, pickup kids, make and eat dinner, get everyone to bed, and repeat. But we have to ask what values are behind that. Why do families move to the suburbs? There are choices, you could live in country, or the city. Why here? For some, it’s where they grew up. Others want to be close to parents, or want their kids to have a yard of a certain size, or to be near nature. Whatever the values, we chose the routine because of those values. Yesterday, we saw Jesus shake up his family routine because he was pursuing a higher value. He called it the will of his Father in heaven. We have called these kingdom values, and it can be distilled down to loving God, and loving neighbour. Jesus is challenging the extended family norms of his day, and replacing them with a new one. A new kind of family. With this new family will come new routines, all because of those founding values. The other direction works, too. We are trying to instill some routines in my family like saying a prayer before a meal (grace), asking our son the best and worst part of day, so we can say thanks to God in prayer, and ask for help or say sorry for the low parts of the day. We also read a Bible story and say a prayer at bed. We do this in hopes that our son will learn some values from those routines. Let’s start simple, and look just at what it means to love God, and love neighbour. Question: Based on the values of love God, love neighbour, what do you think Jesus’ family routines would be like? What could your immediate family’s routines look like?

From Series: "Becoming Like Family"

This series looks at becoming “like family” with others learning to follow Jesus. We're exploring how the church is not a building, institution or event, but a community of people. It's important that explore what church means as we prepare to launch a new church in Ajax in 2014.

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