Seek First the Kingdom: God’s Invitation to Life and Joy in the Book of MatthewChikamu

The King’s Birth

I enjoy regaling my three teenage boys with the details of their births: my first glimpse of their faces, their first screeches filling the operating rooms, and the first time I held each of them in my arms. I tell them about grandparents, aunts, and uncles gathered around the hospital viewing window and our initial days home with our bundles of joy. In my words, I hope they hear how much they were longed for, prepared for, and how much they’ve been loved from the moment I knew they were in my womb.

Births are celebrated occasions, noted in family Bibles and remembered each year. Yesterday, we learned about the King’s heritage—the grandparents and great-grandparents figuratively standing at the viewing window—and why His heritage is significant. Once Matthew set the stage for Jesus’ life being a fulfillment of Old Testament prophecies and promises, he zoomed in on Jesus’ nuclear family and the details surrounding His birth—the most significant birth story in history.

Read Matthew 1:18-25 and 2:1-23.

We’re told that Mary and Joseph were betrothed. We use this word now to mean “engaged,” but in ancient times betrothal was a binding legal agreement, requiring divorce if the agreement was broken. Betrothed couples, however, didn’t consummate their marriage or reside together until after their wedding. This explains why Joseph is called Mary’s husband and why he could consider divorce rather than merely break an engagement (1:19).

Reread Matthew 1:21 and 2:6. What actions are we told Jesus will accomplish in His life?

Matthew recorded details from Jesus’ childhood that mirror another revered Jewish patriarch’s life: Moses. Jesus’ family fled to Egypt, just like Moses (Gen. 46:3). Before He turned two, His life was threatened by the nation’s ruler, just like Moses (Ex. 1:8-22). Jesus’ family fled Egypt according to the Lord’s leadership, just as Moses led his (very large) extended family out of Egypt (Ex. 14).

Matthew seemed to foreshadow to his Jewish readers that Jesus would act as a new and better Moses.

By attaching specific names and language to the birth of Jesus, Matthew made clear to his readers that this Baby is beyond significance. He is, in fact, the One who will deliver people from sin and death, like Moses saved Israel from Pharaoh’s slavery.

Jesus is our Shepherd, guiding us in the right way to go and providing for our needs.

Do you put stipulations or conditions on your obedience to God? If so, what are they?