Interview
with Dan Aykrod
“We’re only nice to each other, it seems -- formally
-- in this society on Valentine’s Day, Thanksgiving and Christmas.
We should be nice to each other all year. We should be espousing
Judeo-Christian values of ‘Treat others like you’d wish
to be treated,’ and ‘To those much has been given, much
will be required.’ You know, these are the words of the Christ,
and they should be embraced throughout the year, not only at Christmas,
Thanksgiving and Valentine’s Day.”
(Continued here)
THE
BIBLE'S GIFT GIVING CHRISTMAS STORY Matthew 2:1-23 (Message Bible)
After Jesus was born in Bethlehem village, Judah territory—this
was during Herod's kingship—a band of scholars arrived in Jerusalem
from the East. They asked around, "Where can we find and pay
homage to the newborn King of the Jews? We observed a star in the
eastern sky that signaled his birth. We're on pilgrimage to worship
him."
When word of their inquiry got to Herod, he was terrified—and
not Herod alone, but most of Jerusalem as well. Herod lost no time.
He gathered all the high priests and religion scholars in the city
together and asked, "Where is the Messiah supposed to be born?"
They told him, "Bethlehem, Judah territory. The prophet Micah
wrote it plainly:
It's you, Bethlehem, in Judah's land,
no longer bringing up the rear.
From you will come the leader
who will shepherd-rule my people, my Israel."
Herod then arranged a secret meeting with the scholars from the East.
Pretending to be as devout as they were, he got them to tell him exactly
when the birth-announcement star appeared. Then he told them the prophecy
about Bethlehem, and said, "Go find this child. Leave no stone
unturned. As soon as you find him, send word and I'll join you at
once in your worship."
Instructed by the king, they set off. Then the star appeared again,
the same star they had seen in the eastern skies. It led them on until
it hovered over the place of the child. They could hardly contain
themselves: They were in the right place! They had arrived at the
right time!
They entered the house and saw the child in the arms of Mary, his
mother. Overcome, they kneeled and worshiped him. Then they opened
their luggage and presented gifts: gold, frankincense, myrrh.
In a dream, they were warned not to report back to Herod. So they
worked out another route, left the territory without being seen, and
returned to their own country.
After the scholars were gone, God's angel showed up again in Joseph's
dream and commanded, "Get up. Take the child and his mother and
flee to Egypt. Stay until further notice. Herod is on the hunt for
this child, and wants to kill him."
Joseph obeyed. He got up, took the child and his mother under cover
of darkness. They were out of town and well on their way by daylight.
They lived in Egypt until Herod's death. This Egyptian exile fulfilled
what Hosea had preached: "I called my son out of Egypt."
Herod, when he realized that the scholars had tricked him, flew into
a rage. He commanded the murder of every little boy two years old
and under who lived in Bethlehem and its surrounding hills. (He determined
that age from information he'd gotten from the scholars.) That's when
Jeremiah's sermon was fulfilled:
A sound was heard in Ramah,
weeping and much lament.
Rachel weeping for her children,
Rachel refusing all solace,
Her children gone,
dead and buried.
Later, when Herod died, God's angel appeared in a dream to Joseph
in Egypt: "Up, take the child and his mother and return to Israel.
All those out to murder the child are dead."
Joseph obeyed. He got up, took the child and his mother, and reentered
Israel.
When he heard, though, that Archelaus had succeeded his father, Herod,
as king in Judea, he was afraid to go there. But then Joseph was directed
in a dream to go to the hills of Galilee. On arrival, he settled in
the village of Nazareth. This move was a fulfillment of the prophetic
words, "He shall be called a Nazarene."
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