Check out all the previous Christmas readings here.
Christmas Reading Plan | Week 4 | Day 5
Prayer
God thank you for all the good you did in my life yesterday, and thank you for all the good you are bringing into my life today.
Bible Reading: Matthew 2:1-12
Read these verses three times slowly.
After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem and asked, “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.”
When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him. When he had called together all the people’s chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Messiah was to be born. “In Bethlehem in Judea,” they replied, “for this is what the prophet has written:
“‘But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,
are by no means least among the rulers of Judah;
for out of you will come a ruler
who will shepherd my people Israel.’”
Then Herod called the Magi secretly and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared. He sent them to Bethlehem and said, “Go and search carefully for the child. As soon as you find him, report to me, so that I too may go and worship him.”
After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen when it rose went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route.
Reflection & Questions
I’m sure your Christmas was filled with many different types of visitors. Sometimes having a visitor can be stressful, like when you work hard to clean the house when your mother-in-law visits. No matter how much of a deep clean you do to the house, for some reason every time she visits she always asks the question, “Oh, did you not get a chance to clean?” Sometimes having a visitor can be encouraging because they know you so well, and they know how to lift your spirits in a way that just fills up your emotional tank. Whatever the case for you this Christmas chances are you understand how Merry and Joseph must have felt with their special visitors.
Kings from the east got wind of the Savior being born before anyone in Jerusalem found out. So they packed up a caravan to go visit him. Following a star they found Jesus. They presented very nice and expensive gifts and worshiped little 9lbs 8oz baby Jesus. That sounds really encouraging if you’re Mary and Joseph.
The greatest encouragement was not the gifts or the worship from great men of power; it was the visitor Jesus. Jesus the baby born was a visitor who would grow to be a man, that would talk about a radical life. He would challenge people to love your neighbor as yourself, to respect all women with dignity, to forgive those who persecute you and the list could go on. The baby, worthy of worship, not from this world, was the greater visitor. Jesus was the one who would come to sacrifice Himself to be our greatest gift, our Savior.
- If you were Mary, how would the visit of the wise men encourage you?
- Who is someone that has had a hard Christmas, that you could encourage by just being present with them before the end of the year?
Prayer
God your visit to earth changed me, help me to always desire to worship you.
Worship Song
You might use this song today to worship Jesus today:
Check out more Bible Reading Plans here.
Questions?
Ed Applegate
