Matthew 2:1-15

Sunday | December 14, 2014

Continuing this Advent series from Matthew, the drama heightens as strangers appear in Jerusalem seeking Jesus. The unexpected homage from unnamed Easterners brings riches, but also puts Jesus’ very life in danger from the despotic Herod. Already Jesus’ identity is provoking radically  differing responses from others, even as the gospel does today.


Matthew 1:1-17

Sunday | November 30, 2014

Beginning an Advent series in Matthew, we find ourselves in a literary context not far from that of Genesis. Genealogies figure prominently in Genesis, and Matthew opens his Gospel with a genealogy, using significant terms and names from Genesis narratives. The covenant promises made by God to his people in Genesis (and developed in the rest of the Hebrew Scriptures) find their fulfillment in Jesus the Messiah.