Matthew 2:1-11. I still remember my first attempt at reading through the Bible from Genesis to Revelation. My mum gave my elder sister and me a classic reading plan during my first year at university, with a small prize for whoever finished first. At first, I was motivated by the reward. But somewhere along the way, something deeper happened. When I reached Genesis 6:5-6 and read about humanity’s sin and the grief of God, the weight of our brokenness became real to me. As I continued through the Old Testament, I journeyed with the strong sense of awareness that: the world was lost, and we needed rescue. But when I arrived at the first two chapters of Matthew, I found the hope. Particularly in this verse “She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.” (Matt. 1:21) For me, it was as though the grief of ...
