We leave the charming tale of the nativity and enter the dark side with Epiphany. Herod is the main player in the story of Matthew 2, not the Magi. Pharaoh plays a similar role in Exodus 1. Both are thwarted as they target children with acts of terror and genocide in order to advance their power.
Targeting children is no surprise when the power-obsessed feel threatened; they will stop at nothing. God finds those who listen to and have faith in God.
Pharaoh tries to recruit the Hebrew midwives to kill male Hebrew babies at birth. They subvert his plot by ignoring his demand. Their lame excuse somehow gains credence with Pharaoh. The midwives follow the demands of the God of their faith, acting as subversive agents for the Kingdom.
Undeterred, Pharaoh initiates a new strategy to drown the male Hebrew babies in the Nile. That backfires even worse.
Herod recruits the Magi to identify this new King of the Jews that they seem to feel has recently been born. However, the Magi heed the instructions revealed from God, and foil Herod's plans.
Undeterred, Herod dispatches death squads to kill all the male children under 2 around Bethlehem. However, he is foiled again as the holy family had been forewarned and had already fled to Egypt.
God is the source of the resistance against the evil Powers-That-Be who think nothing of targeting children, the weak and the vulnerable. That is what the Kingdom of God is all about. It brings the new and different path forward from the world's accepted norms and values to establish God's justice, righteousness, and peace. Agents of the Kingdom are always popping up to remind us of the promise of God and God's faithfulness to God's people.
Learn all about these dark and exciting stories in the sermon video below, and note the downloads below the video panel.
Targeting children is no surprise when the power-obsessed feel threatened; they will stop at nothing. God finds those who listen to and have faith in God.
Pharaoh tries to recruit the Hebrew midwives to kill male Hebrew babies at birth. They subvert his plot by ignoring his demand. Their lame excuse somehow gains credence with Pharaoh. The midwives follow the demands of the God of their faith, acting as subversive agents for the Kingdom.
Undeterred, Pharaoh initiates a new strategy to drown the male Hebrew babies in the Nile. That backfires even worse.
Herod recruits the Magi to identify this new King of the Jews that they seem to feel has recently been born. However, the Magi heed the instructions revealed from God, and foil Herod's plans.
Undeterred, Herod dispatches death squads to kill all the male children under 2 around Bethlehem. However, he is foiled again as the holy family had been forewarned and had already fled to Egypt.
God is the source of the resistance against the evil Powers-That-Be who think nothing of targeting children, the weak and the vulnerable. That is what the Kingdom of God is all about. It brings the new and different path forward from the world's accepted norms and values to establish God's justice, righteousness, and peace. Agents of the Kingdom are always popping up to remind us of the promise of God and God's faithfulness to God's people.
Learn all about these dark and exciting stories in the sermon video below, and note the downloads below the video panel.
| 01-06-19-sermon.mp3 |
| 01-06-19-ff-answers.pdf |
| 01-06-19-terror_resistance.pdf |