Little Christmas.

 Today is Jan. 6, the feast of the Epiphany when the Wise Men arrived at the stable bearing their gifts of frankincense, gold and myrrh.  They had trudged, following the star, to find this New King.  

It was a time of evil King Herod who ruled via force and feared the justice that the promised Savior of the Jewish people would bring...

God warned the Kings not to return to Herod's land, so they returned to their own home countries on a different path than they came in on.  God warned Joseph, the baby's father, in a dream too, so to protect his son and wife, he took them first to Egypt to wait out Herod's death then to Nazareth in Galilee, thus fulfilling the prophecy that the New King would be a Nazarene.

King Herod feared in his heart that he would lose his power, so he conspired to kill off the boy babies in his lands, thinking that would stop what was coming...  Didn't work. God had protected his son, who was safe in Egypt out of the reach of the evil king and his soldiers, whose mission it was to slaughter children.

That's what Jan. 6 is all about, Charlie Brown.  Educated people know the Bible stories, even if they do not accept the Gospel truth.  It's a rich story, one dare I say, we can see repeating in the Holy Land today...

Have faith. The good guys win in the end over the evil king, and as baby Jesus grew up and accepted his role, he presumably had a good childhood getting ready to fulfill the book as the ultimate sacrifice to God, who cast off the old covenants with his people and through Jesus, allowed all of us if we so choose to be accepted as Children of God alongside the heirs of Abram (father of a multitude).  

We are all equals in the eyes of a loving God.  Our lives all have value, none more than others.  There is still an awful lot of fear in those statements today. The haters just don't get it.

Matthew 2:12-23 ERV

But God warned the wise men in a dream not to go back to Herod. So they went home to their own country a different way. After the wise men left, an angel from the Lord came to Joseph in a dream. The angel said, “Get up! Take the child with his mother and escape to Egypt. Herod wants to kill the child and will soon start looking for him. Stay in Egypt until I tell you to come back.” So Joseph got ready and left for Egypt with the child and the mother. They left during the night. Joseph stayed in Egypt until Herod died. This gave full meaning to what the Lord said through the prophet: “I called my son to come out of Egypt.” Herod saw that the wise men had fooled him, and he was very angry. So he gave an order to kill all the baby boys in Bethlehem and the whole area around Bethlehem. Herod had learned from the wise men the time the baby was born. It was now two years from that time. So he said to kill all the boys who were two years old and younger. This gave full meaning to what God said through the prophet Jeremiah: “A sound was heard in Ramah— bitter crying and great sadness. Rachel cries for her children, and she cannot be comforted, because her children are gone.” While Joseph was in Egypt, Herod died. An angel from the Lord came to Joseph in a dream and said, “Get up! Take the child with his mother and go to Israel. Those who were trying to kill the child are now dead.” So Joseph took the child and the mother and went to Israel. But he heard that Archelaus was now king in Judea. Archelaus became king when his father Herod died. So Joseph was afraid to go there. Then, after being warned in a dream, he went away to the area of Galilee. He went to a town called Nazareth and lived there. This gave full meaning to what God said through the prophets. God said the Messiah would be called a Nazarene.