Today, we come to the end of our series, “What Do You Fear?” that has led us through Advent and beyond. And we come to the end of the story of Jesus’ birth.
It’s the end of the story, and yet Herod is still in power.
Christ is born, yet it feels as if the world has not changed.
The Gospel of Matthew doesn’t give us a tidy ending—the magi leave quietly, warned by God to go home by another way. And when Herod discovers he’s been outwitted by them, his fury turns into devastating violence.
It’s yet another example of having a reason to hope for transformation—Jesus is born!—and then look around and think, “Nothing has really changed.”
The same systems still operate. The same people still hold power. The same fears linger.
And when fear lingers long enough, it can be tempting to give up. To grow numb. To shrink our expectations. To settle for survival instead of hope.
However, the reason Matthew tells this story it’s not to resolve our fear, but to show us how to move through it.
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Today, we come to the end of our series, “What Do You Fear?” that has led us through Advent and beyond. And we come to the end of the story of Jesus’ birth.
It’s the end of the story, and yet Herod is still in power.
Christ is born, yet it feels as if the world has not changed.
The Gospel of Matthew doesn’t give us a tidy ending—the magi leave quietly, warned by God to go home by another way. And when Herod discovers he’s been outwitted by them, his fury turns into devastating violence.
It’s yet another example of having a reason to hope for transformation—Jesus is born!—and then look around and think, “Nothing has really changed.”
The same systems still operate. The same people still hold power. The same fears linger.
And when fear lingers long enough, it can be tempting to give up. To grow numb. To shrink our expectations. To settle for survival instead of hope.
However, the reason Matthew tells this story it’s not to resolve our fear, but to show us how to move through it.
“In the time of Herod…” Luke’s gospel begins the story of Jesus’ birth with these words. It sounds like simply a timestamp—a historical reference to let us know when Jesus was born. But it’s much more than this.
What if someone began a story with, “In 2020…?“
It sounds like just a year. But for those of us who know—who lived through it, the year 2020 conjures up memories of a global pandemic and social distancing, civil unrest, social upheaval, a tumultuous presidential election, and prolonged uncertainty.
It was a time when the things we trusted to be steady suddenly weren’t—our routines, our work, our health, our plans, even our sense of safety.
The words, “In 2020…” are much more than a timestamp...
Sermon Central
Today, we come to the end of our series, “What Do You Fear?” that has led us through Advent and beyond. And we come to the end of the story of Jesus’ birth.
It’s the end of the story, and yet Herod is still in power.
Christ is born, yet it feels as if the world has not changed.
The Gospel of Matthew doesn’t give us a tidy ending—the magi leave quietly, warned by God to go home by another way. And when Herod discovers he’s been outwitted by them, his fury turns into devastating violence.
It’s yet another example of having a reason to hope for transformation—Jesus is born!—and then look around and think, “Nothing has really changed.”
The same systems still operate. The same people still hold power. The same fears linger.
And when fear lingers long enough, it can be tempting to give up. To grow numb. To shrink our expectations. To settle for survival instead of hope.
However, the reason Matthew tells this story it’s not to resolve our fear, but to show us how to move through it.
