I love this picture.  It’s a famous carving from a cathedral in Normandy showing the ‘3 Kings’ tucked up in bed and being advised about the location of that famous moving star by the Archangel Gabriel.  They look very snug…

Here are the main points we considered when we studied Matthew 2 in February:

1. Matthew is again focussing on how Jewish scripture anticipates these events and he draws from books as diverse as Numbers, Exodus, Jeremiah, Isaiah, Hosea, the Psalms and Micah.  Sometimes the connections are obvious but sometimes we need to search them out.


2. We are put in mind of the complicated politics and personal details of the Herod clan – both father and sons.  (Some parallels with the Gaddafi clan and recent events come to mind!)  This is a brutal and disturbing story that Matthew recounts; not the children’s Nativity play we are used to!  And understanding all this politics and geography really helps us understand what Matthew goes on to tell


3. The Magi, like Joseph gain God’s message through their dreams.  To what extent are we open to God’s word coming to us through media we do not value or expect?


4. What did the Magi understand and appreciate about their role of welcoming the Christ Child?  We considered the sad and profound imagery in T.S  Eliot’s poem “The Journey of the Magi”.  (See http://www.poetryarchive.org/poetryarchive/singlePoem.do?poemId=7070  )  The magi played such a key part in such a momentous event in our history and must have struggled and suffered for something they never fully understood or grasped personally and yet they doggedly did their duty.