“About His Reception”                                                             The Christmas Story You Thought You Knew

Matthew 2:1-3, “After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem ² and asked, ‘Where is the One who has been born King of the Jews? We saw His star when it rose and have come to worship Him.’ ³ When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him.”

Matthew 2:4-9,12-13,16, “ When he had called together all the people’s chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Messiah was to be born. ⁵ ‘In Bethlehem in Judea,’ they replied, ‘for this is what the prophet has written: “But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for out of you will come a ruler who will be the Shepherd of My people Israel.”’ Then Herod called the Magi secretly and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared. ⁸ He sent them to Bethlehem and said, ‘Go and search carefully for the Child. As soon as you find Him, report to me, so that I too may go and worship Him.’ ⁹ After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen when it rose went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was…. And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route. ¹³ When they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. ‘Get up,’ he said, ‘take the Child and His mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the Child to kill Him.’… When Herod realized that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was furious, and he gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had learned from the Magi.”