Matthew 2

The Joy of the Magi is on display, contrasted against Herod's rage.

“Son,'he said,' ye cannot in your present state understand eternity...That is what mortals misunderstand. They say of some temporal suffering, "No future bliss can make up for it," not knowing that Heaven, once attained, will work backwards and turn even that agony into a glory. And of some sinful pleasure they say "Let me have but this and I'll take the consequences": little dreaming how damnation will spread back and back into their past and contaminate the pleasure of the sin. Both processes begin even before death. The good man's past begins to change so that his forgiven sins and remembered sorrows take on the quality of Heaven: the bad man's past already conforms to his badness and is filled only with dreariness. And that is why...the Blessed will say "We have never lived anywhere except in Heaven, : and the Lost, "We were always in Hell." And both will speak truly.” C.S. Lewis, The Great Divorce

Art Study:

“The Adoration of the Magi” by Peter Paul Rubens

1st - LINK

2nd - LINK

Herod the Great is yet another example of the anti-peace of this world.

Matthew 2:1 - 18

"It is clear how such a man would feel when news reached him that a child was born who was destined to be king. Herod was troubled, and Jerusalem was troubled, too, for Jerusalem knew well the steps that Herod would take to pin down this story and to eliminate this child. Jerusalem knew Herod, and Jerusalem shivered as it waited for his inevitable reaction."

William Barclay

Luke 1:5–25

“Blessed are the ears which hear God’s whisper and listen not to the murmurs of the world.” Thomas A’ Kempis

Matthew 18:26 - 35

There are times when the most loving and Christlike thing you can do is say: “I forgive you…but this relationship has to change.”

Jesus is teaching us to pray in all directions:

The Now:
Give us today our daily bread.

The Past:
And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.

The Future:
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.’

“One of the most curious facts of the Gospels is that there is no definition of the Kingdom. The Kingdom is described in pictures and in analogies and in its demands and effects, but it is never in so many words defined.” William Barclay

In prayer, as in life, knowing God shapes all that follows.

“To hallow God’s name means to treat His name as ultimate, as weighty – to center our entire being around who He is, not to reduce Him to a category of convenience.” Tim Mackie

“We live, as Jesus lived, in a world all too full of injustice, hunger, malice and evil. This prayer (The Lord's Prayer) cries out for justice, bread, forgiveness and deliverance. If anyone thinks those are irrelevant in today’s world, let them read the newspaper and think again.” N.T. Wright