NUDGINGS: a journey into the unknown

‘Now after they had left, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, ‘Get up, 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.’ Then Joseph got up, took the child and his mother by night, and went to Egypt, and remained there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfil what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet, ‘Out of Egypt I have called my son.’ Matthew 2; 13-15 The Massacre of the Innocents, Holy Innocents’ Day, or Innocents Day is celebrated by the church on December 28th each year. It remembers the act of infanticide by Herod the Great, that Joseph and his young family are fleeing in this passage. By using this story the author of Matthew is referencing the Old Testament passage “Thus says the Lord: A voice is heard in Ramah, lamentation and bitter weeping. Rachel is weeping for her children;she refuses to be comforted for her children, because they a...

‘When they had heard the king, they set out; and there, ahead of them, went the star that they had seen at its rising, until it stopped over the place where the child was. When they saw that the star had stopped, they were overwhelmed with joy. On entering the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother; and they knelt down and paid him homage.’ Matthew 2:9-11[a] å As we have seen in an earlier post re the wise men, the magi were priests  who paid particular attention to the stars, gaining an international reputation for astrology, which at that time highly regarded as a science. So the fact that they were following a star or a comet was not an unusual or unexpected thing for them to do. In fact they were simply doing what most of us do every day, going about their work, following their vocation. And in following that vocation they were fulfilled, had a sense of purpose, that they were doing that which they were meant to do. It was the mundane, a normal experience in th...

‘When King Herod heard this, he was frightened, and all Jerusalem with him; and calling together all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Messiah was to be born. They told him, ‘In Bethlehem of Judea; for so it has been written by the prophet:   “And you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,  are by no means least among the rulers of Judah;  for from you shall come a ruler  who is to shepherd my people Israel.”  Then Herod secretly called for the wise men and learned from them the exact time when the star had appeared.’ Matthew 2:3-7 Herod the Great [74 BCE - 4 BCE] was King of the Jews and Ruler of Galilee from 37 BCE until his death [about 7 decades before this story was written]. According to Wikipedia, ’Herod's support from the Roman Empire played a major role in allowing him to maintain his authority over Judea. There have been mixed interpretations concerning Herod's popularity during his reign. In The Jewis...

One of the readers of last week's blog about the shepherds,  sent me the following message:   Lynn - when we were in Winnipeg last week I thought the wise men on camels on an insurance building across from the legislature were really out of place. Instead it could be Louis Riel, Gabriel Dumont and a Cree chief on horseback.   What a great lead-in to this week's blog! ‘In the time of King Herod, after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, asking, ‘Where is the child who has been born king of the Jews? For we observed his star at its rising, and have come to pay him homage.’ Matthew 2:1-2 So when was this gospel written and by whom? Both of these questions have a bearing on the ‘why’ this particular story came to be written:  “Most scholars believe the Gospel of Matthew was composed between 80 and 90 CE, with a range of possibility between 70 to 110 CE … The anonymous author was probably a male Jew, ...

Just who were these shepherds that Luke has in his version of the Christmas Story? Why pick them? What was their role to be? ‘ In that region there were shepherds living in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. Then an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, ‘Do not be afraid; for see—I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people: to you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, who is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign for you: you will find a child wrapped in bands of cloth and lying in a manger.’ And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying,  ‘Glory to God in the highest heaven,  and on earth peace among those whom he favours!’  When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, ‘Let us go now to Bethlehem and see this thing that has ta...