January 18, 2026

GOD’S WORD FOR TODAY:

“After Herod died, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt and said, “Get up, take the child and His mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who were trying to take the child’s life are dead.” (Matthew 2.19-20)

TODAY’S REFLECTION ON GOD’S WORD:

Historians will never be of a consensus opinion concerning the events and timing of the birth of Jesus of Nazareth in Bethlehem. I do not find this disconcerting since such a mystery has allowed the modern celebration of Christmas to be so open to interpretation as to the meaning and purpose of the season itself. Mystery loves company and it draws many into the story itself. It is for us, mighty ones of God, to decide for ourselves, as in the words of Joshua to the people of Israel as they were called to Shechem to decide their true intention to be the people of God, “Whom shall you serve, choose today? As for me and my house, we will trust in the Lord and serve Him only.” (Joshua 24.14f) I mean by that assertion that we who trust that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God, born of a virgin, served as a man of God, died on the cross as the Lamb of God who came to take away the sting of sin which is eternal death and was raised by the promise of God to do so to be restored to His throne in Heaven to rule with justice over both Heaven and earth will speak of the heart and soul of the gospel birth narrative. This is a tremendous caveat in our personal witness and testimony of faith! It commits us to understanding as completely as possible the full context, concept and commission which is revealed to us to be His disciples and thus make disciples in and of every nation. (Matthew 28.20) I believe this is exactly what Matthew and Luke did as it pertains to the gospel birth narratives. It was to the best of their understanding either as eyewitnesses or to the collection of eyewitness testimony to the life and ministry of Jesus of Nazareth who was, is and will forever be King of kings and Lord of lords, Prince of Peace, Everlasting Father and mighty God upon whose shoulders the true governance of the world rested being equally yoked with God His Heavenly Father bound by the power and authority of the Holy Spirit. And while I realize that sounds terribly creedal in its scope, I make no apologies for it. It is more and more apparent that the modern-day believers in this post-modern world must commit to fully embracing what “serving the Lord with all your heart, mind, body and soul” means as the fulfillment of the paradigm by which our lives will truly be evaluated; that is “to love your neighbor as yourself” as well as the further defining commandment which Jesus Himself declared for the next generation of believers, the Church, which was to “love one another.” Without such clarity of definition and determination to live into the very words by which Jesus committed Himself in the Garden of Gethsemane, “Not My will but Yours, Father, be done,” we will find ourselves not only at war with ourselves and the world but with God Himself who sets before us His Son as “the way, the truth and the life by which we find the only means of gaining the joy and fruitfulness of eternal and abundant life.“

In the past several reflections on God’s word, indeed throughout the whole of those Ephiphany reflections presented as inspired and taught by the “Twelve Days of Christmas” poem, song and ultimately the catechism, I have invited us to compare and contrast those gospel birth narratives. They stand distinct in their “facts.” Each is spoken with a differing set of agendas and circumstantial evidence. Each affirms the birth of Jesus and importantly His transition from Bethlehem to Nazareth. Why Nazareth? Matthew tells us it is because His identity as a “Nazarene” further fulfills prophecy as validates Him as the true Messiah of God. Luke makes no such declaration. Perhaps what we can read into the story of Luke is that Jesus returns “home” where Joseph and Mary first learned of His conception as the One born of God to be Messiah and Savior of all Israel and the world. They left family and friends behind to avoid scandal of an unwed mother and a faithful Jewish man who would accept her as his wife regardless of what the world might say. Their decision in Bethlehem testified of the depth and scope of the own covenant as in the days of Joshua, “Choose this day whom you will serve!” Indeed, Joseph and his house, chose to serve the Lord their God with every fiber of their resource and being.

This would be no less true as the message of Matthew’s gospel birth narrative. We could argue about the differences in timelines between the two gospel narratives only to find that their story’s highlights remain irrevocably true. Luke speaks of the tradition of the Law as a pattern which guided that family in being “followers of Christ as the Word of God.” Explaining the simplicity of faith not by works but by sight aligns with the teachings of the Apostle Paul whom Luke travelled with and corresponded with often. That message was given to those who gave up foreign practices and beliefs, call them Gentiles, to become Christians, followers of Jesus as the Christ. They were the “next generation” not by their chronological age but by their decision to be members of the body of Christ, the Church. For Matthew, we hear the “spirit” of the Law” which was revealed in dreams and revelations. That mystic sweet and sometimes dangerous experience was no less authoritative and motivational for Joseph and his family as it would be for those who would surrender their learned Jewish ways as interpreted by the Scribes, Pharisees and Teachers of the Law, to become followers of Jesus as the Christ. Little wonder, mighty ones of God, that I so believe in the words of Jesus to the woman at the well, a Samaritan- part Jew and part Gentile, who declared with no excuse and by firm conviction of “the way, truth and life” that we will not worship on this or that mountain, nor die on this or that hill, but that we will “worship in spirit and in truth as the true believers and worshipers of God.” The two threads I had mentioned a week ago which existed in the beginning as God created the heavens and the earth, remain distinct and yet finely woven into the full gospel of Jesus as the Christ. Mighty ones of God, it is our gospel as well. It is the irrefutable definition of our lives as the people of God who are called to dwell in the world and not be of it. We, as the Church, are set in place, just as Adam and Eve were set in the Garden, to steward, shepherd and serve there bringing glory to God and promoting authentic life as those blessed with mercy and grace regardless of their abilities and inabilities. Mighty ones of God, we are set into the world for the very same purpose. We are not called to serve ourselves but God. We are called to love one another just as we have been loved. We must do so adhering to “the spirit of the Law” as well as the “letter of the Law.” What is the spirit and letter of the Law? It is simple, my friends. It is none other that Jesus who is the Word and the Life for all people. Regardless of the course of our journeys, there is only one true destination. It is the call to “come home to God the Father united with Him as the two become one in Christ alone.”

TODAY’S PRAYER IN RESPONSE TO GOD’S WORD:

Father, in these days we are finding the need to believe even more than ever before. We all have known trouble, some in greater ways than others, but You are offering us the assurance that we will not be consumed by it forever. Regardless of the “time” we are in and the “time” we have been given, we ask for Your Holy Spirit which Jesus asked You to share with us, to lead and guide and direct us in the paths we should go. Teach us what we still need to learn. Empower us to put that learning into action. Bless our actions not as a works righteousness but as righteous works of faith, hope and love in Jesus’ name. AMEN.