Thread by @BenjLesLantz

It’s your weekly sermon-prep live tweet from yours truly! Working through Mt 1-4 leading up to Palm Sun. Mt 2:1-23 this week.

Last wk we summed up the chiasmic 1:1-25 with “Jesus is the King we’ve all been waiting for.”

(Disclaimer: no chiasms in 2:1-23 that I can discern. 🤷🏻‍♂️)

The main point of 2:1-23 will be “God is getting ready to launch his kingdom through King Jesus.”

Outline?

We see God
1. Proclaim his King (v. 1-12)
2. Protect his King (v. 13-18)
3. Preserve his King (v. 19-24)

Anyone have a better p-word than “preserve” for v. 19-24? 😂

Two scattered insights from the text:

(1) Herod is fearful, then angry, then violent in this story. This is significant. I think we can say that hate often (always?) lies behind violence, and fear often (always?) lies behind that hate.

(2) Matthew doesn’t offer a theodicy for the slaughter of the Bethlehem boys. He does suggest (via Scripture) two natural, normal, and appropriate responses to tragic events, though:

Tears.
Lament.

My but with 500k Covid deaths, violence, division...

we need to be Rachel.

Welp. In light of the next text I’m planning on preaching (i.e., Mt 3:1-17), I am going to change my main point for 2:1-23. (Gotta leave my “kingdom” options open for next wk, since that’s literally JBap’s jam in 3:2.

I am sincerely sorry for any inconvenience.

The new main point?

“God is getting ready to present his King to the world.”

Something like that. I reserve the right to alter it slightly.

Okay, okay. Current main point iteration:

“Watch God get ready to present King Jesus to the world!”

(And again, how does God get ready to present Jesus? He 1) proclaims him through stars and scriptures, 2) protects him from death, and 3) preserves him for his mission.)

Mmm.