Tag: Galilee

The Kingdom expands

Dancing in the Kingdom- Table of Contents

Dancing In the Kingdom – Part 2 – The Kingdom Revealed – Chapter 11 – The Kingdom Enters

The Kingdom expands

[Bible references: Matthew 8:5-13; 15:21-28]

Jesus did not travel far. He spent most of the time in the area around Jerusalem and around Galilee. His focus was on teaching and serving the Jews. However, there were a few occasions when Jesus did interact with the Gentiles, and those occasions showed that the Gentiles were capable of great faith. There was a case of a centurion who recognized the authority that Jesus had. The centurion did not ask Jesus to come to his household to heal his child, but rather asked Jesus to heal his daughter from wherever Jesus was. In another case, Jesus had gone to Tyre, and there a Syrophoenician woman who, knowing Jesus ministered mainly to the Jews, still asked for Jesus to cure her daughter with the humble attitude that “even dogs eat the children’s crumbs.”

Observe

Read Matthew 8:5-13; 15:21-28. How do these vignettes challenge our faith?

Expectant Magi and the non-expectant king

Dancing in the Kingdom- Table of Contents

Dancing In the Kingdom – Part 2 – The Kingdom Revealed – Chapter 11 – The Kingdom Enters

Expectant Magi and the non-expectant king

[Bible references: Matthew 2:1-23; Hosea 11:1; Jeremiah 31:15; Micah 5:1-4]

Some people in a foreign country east of Jerusalem were also waiting for the Messiah. Perhaps because they were aware of the writings of Daniel, the Magi had hearts that were open to God and invested time and money to travel to Jerusalem looking for this newborn “king of the Jews.” However, when they arrived in Jerusalem, no one there was ready for this news. While the chief priests and teachers of the law could belatedly figure out that the birth was supposed to happen in Bethlehem, they obviously had not been looking for the Messiah.

Herod’s claim to the throne was sketchy, but he was a politician who had proven his ability to “keep the peace” by means of violent suppression and so Rome had installed him as king. So, upon learning from the Magi about the “King of the Jews” being born, Herod was threatened by what he thought was a rival king and tried to use the Magi to find out who this rival was.

However, the Magi had been warned in a dream about Herod’s ruse and after visiting Jesus they returned home another way. Joseph also had a dream in which he was warned that Herod was going to search for Jesus in order to kill him and so Joseph and Mary took Jesus to Egypt. Sure enough, when Herod realized that the Magi were not going to return, he put out an order kill all babies less than two years old in Bethlehem to eliminate His potential rival.

Joseph and his family stayed in Egypt until he learned in a dream that Herod died. However, when Joseph returned to Bethlehem, he learned that Herod’s brother was now king, he took the family to Nazareth in the region of Galilee. All these moves made it possible to make now sense out of three seemingly contradictory prophecies: that Jesus would be born in Bethlehem and come out of Egypt and that he would be called a Nazarene.

Observe

Read Matthew 2:1-23 Micah 5:1-4; Hosea 11:1; Jeremiah 31:15. Some Biblical prophecies were hard to make sense out of until they were fulfilled. What does that mean in regards to how we handle seemingly contradictory scripture passages?

Joseph and Mary

Dancing in the Kingdom- Table of Contents

Dancing In the Kingdom – Part 2 – The Kingdom Revealed – Chapter 11 – The Kingdom Enters

Joseph and Mary

[Bible references: Matthew 1:18-25; 2:1-18; Luke 1:26-56; 2:1-20, 41-51]

Jesus was born to an apparently ordinary, non-descript couple, Joseph, and Mary. There was nothing outside the ordinary about Mary except that, unlike Zechariah, she believed and accepted the words of the angel, Gabriel, and the miracle was to come upon her. Joseph was only an ordinary tekton[1] (stone mason or carpenter), but he also accepted the words of the angel and received Mary as his wife. The responsibility that this humble couple accepted was full of unknowns for this was no ordinary boy that they were supposed to raise. The unknown hardships they would endure included 1) a trip from Galilee to Bethlehem while Mary was heavily pregnant, [2] 2) giving birth in first floor of a house overflowing with guests and needing to use a feeding trough as a crib[3] 3) and then a trip to Egypt where they stayed for an extended period while the life of Jesus was in danger from Herod, 4) then when Herod died, back to Bethlehem only to find Herod’s son, Archelaus, in charge so they fled past Jerusalem to Nazareth. Joseph and Mary also witnessed several supernatural events around the birth of Jesus: the appearance of shepherds who witnessed the angelic announcement, the prophetic announcements of Simeon and Anna when they brought Jesus to be circumcised[4], the appearance of Magi from the east. Outside those events, Mary and Joseph seemed to have ordinary lives as shown by the reaction they had when twelve-year-old Jesus was accidentally left behind during a family trip to Jerusalem.

[1] Galatty, Robby, “Was Jesus a Carpenter or a Stonemason?” The Christian Post 29 Apr 2017 www.christianpost.com/news/jesus-carpenter-or-stonemason-181531.

[2] Jesus Trail Tours, “Hiking the Nativity Trail from Nazareth to Bethlehem” Jesus Trail Tours jesustrail.com/blog/hiking-the-nativity-trail-from-nazareth-to-bethlehem

[3] Paul, Ian. “Jesus was not born in a stable, says theologian” 23 Dec 2014 The Guardian www.theguardian.com/world/2014/dec/23/jesus-christ-not-born-in-stable-theologian-new-testament

[4] Bible Project “The Jewish Exile – How it made the Bible” Bible Project 1 Feb 2018 bibleproject.com/podcast/jewish-exile-how-it-made-bible/

Observe

Read Luke 2:41-51. After Mary and Joseph left 12-year-old Jesus behind during a family trip to Jerusalem, what didn’t they understand about Jesus’ answer?