Matthew 2 - We three kings of Orient "R" ...

When I was little and sang the Christmas carol, "We Three Kings" I always assumed that the place they were from was a place called, "Orient R"! No kidding. :) But instead it is, of course, 'We three kings of Orient, are bearing gifts, we traverse afar ...'

Chapter 2 of Matthew seems full of kings. The birth of the King, the tyrant who was king and now the magi or wise men who have been called kings as well. Their motivation to find Jesus is in sharp contrast with that of King Herod.

9 After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen in the east went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. 10When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. 11 On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him.

Isaiah prophesied their visit as recorded in Isaiah 60:3

3 Nations will come to your light,
and kings to the brightness of your dawn.

Although there isn't a lot of historical detail about these visitors it is believed that they may have come from the region of Babylon and perhaps had heard prophecy of the coming Messiah during the time of the Israelites' captivity. It isn't known really how many visitors came to see Jesus, but that their visit occurred after Mary and Joseph had found a more permanent lodging. see Matt 2:11

What's caught my attention about these wise men is their singular focus.

The wise men realized what, or rather, who, was the most important person in the world. It would seem that knowing this they made a very intentional, direct journey to find Him. Their eyes fixed on the unusual star, their minds replaying the prophecies of old, they continued their journey until its goal. They used external circumstance to find Jesus - to see Him. They used biblical teaching to guide them.

It reminds me of the verse in Hebrews...

Hebrews 12:2
Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

Jesus had a singular focus - His priorities in order - His mind calmly centred on God's will.

As the holiday season ramps up with its wonderful extra opportunities I'm again reminded to keep my eyes on Him whose birth we celebrate, and who, like the wise men, I want to worship.

O Star of wonder, star of night
Star with royal beauty bright
Westward leading, still proceeding
Guide us to Thy perfect light

Matthew 2 - King Herod

Matthew 2:1-9

"After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem 2 and asked, "Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star in the east and have come to worship him."

Jesus was born in the time of King Herod, and in the region over which King Herod reigned. At first glance Herod appears to recognize Jesus as King. He calls him "King of the Jews". But very quickly we learn he is not in awe of Him, he is jealous.

Herod started out his political career as a military prefect. He ruled his army with an iron fist. He showed his military prowess by the vigour with which he suppressed opposing forces. He was ruthless. His ability to get things done militarily was noticed by Antony and Octavian who gave Herod the title, "king of the Jews" after which he governed Judaea for 33 years on behalf of the Roman Empire.

It's interesting the wise men called Jesus "King of the Jews" as this was King Herod's title. No one else had called Jesus this as of yet. Even though Jesus was just a baby did Herod see Jesus as a replacement? As a threat? Yes!

Herod's rise to power was continually interrupted by bouts of jealousy and fits of rage. He married Mariamne Hasmonaean, the grand daughter of the former high priest Hyrcanus II. The in-laws didn't appreciate this union. Their dislike of Herod resulted in him murdering the family - including his wife!

In an effort to regain some popularity after this massacre Herod put in motion the rebuilding of the temple of Jerusalem. This was no small task. This could have solidified the loyalty of the Jewish people. However, Herod undid any rebuilding of his reputation by the construction of other temples to pagan deities.

Herod's family life continued to be in a state of friction. His children fought amongst themselves. His two sons by Mariamne, Alexander and Aristobulus, were to be his heirs. Their half brother Antipater, jealous of this fact, turned their father against them resulting in their execution. It didn't really help Antipater out though, as not long afterwards Herod found reason to execute him too!

Herod's suspicious nature is seen in this chapter as he plots to find Jesus - not to worship him, but to eliminate this future king. His ruthless nature is revealed again by his murder of the infants.

Herod's actions are extreme. His actions reveal one who is paranoid. Yet his part in this saga can reveal things about us too.

Herod wanted to rule. He wanted no other king. Although I know no one like Herod - and I am not at all like Herod - I find myself thinking, who rules in me? Am I totally free of the desire to rule my life supremely? I don't think so. Do I cling to things, try to fix things on my own, try to run my life on my own, try to rule in my domain, when I should be relinquishing that reign to Him? Is there any part of me I say to God, 'This is my domain'?

Herod was confused about Jesus. He thought Jesus was a rival. But Jesus didn't come to take over his country or region - he came to free him from his sins and to reign in his heart. Jesus could have brought Herod true peace; something he sorely lacked, if he only recognized Jesus for who he truly was and is.

Today may we see the real Jesus. Not a warped version skewed by our fears and misconceptions, but the Son of God, come to earth not to dominate with an iron fist but to draw us to Him in love.

Matthew 2

Matthew 2 (New International Version)

The Visit of the Magi

1 After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem 2 and asked, "Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star in the east and have come to worship him."
3 When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him. 4 When he had called together all the people's chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Christ was to be born. 5 "In Bethlehem in Judea," they replied, "for this is what the prophet has written:

6 " '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 be the shepherd of my people Israel.'"

7 Then Herod called the Magi secretly and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared. 8He sent them to Bethlehem and said, "Go and make a careful search for the child. As soon as you find him, report to me, so that I too may go and worship him."

9 After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen in the east went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. 10 When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. 11 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 and of incense and of myrrh. 12 And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route.

The Escape to Egypt

13 When they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. "Get up," he said, "take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him." 14 So he got up, took the child and his mother during the night and left for Egypt, 15 where he stayed until the death of Herod. And so was fulfilled what the Lord had said through the prophet: "Out of Egypt I called my son."

16 When Herod realized that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was furious, and he gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had learned from the Magi. 17 Then what was said through the prophet Jeremiah was fulfilled:

18 "A voice is heard in Ramah,
weeping and great mourning,
Rachel weeping for her children
and refusing to be comforted,
because they are no more."

The Return to Nazareth

19 After Herod died, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt 20and said, "Get up, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who were trying to take the child's life are dead."
21 So he got up, took the child and his mother and went to the land of Israel. 22But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning in Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. Having been warned in a dream, he withdrew to the district of Galilee, 23 and he went and lived in a town called Nazareth. So was fulfilled what was said through the prophets: "He will be called a Nazarene."

Matthew 1 - Joseph

I've been thinking about Joseph ever since I got into this first chapter. Matthew's rendition of the birth of Jesus really focuses on Joseph rather than Mary. Here's the passage I've been thinking about ...

18This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit. 19Because Joseph her husband was a righteous man and did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly.
20But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, "Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. 21She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus,[c] because he will save his people from their sins."

22All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: 23"The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel"[d]—which means, "God with us."

24When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife. 25But he had no union with her until she gave birth to a son. And he gave him the name Jesus.


What a nightmare he found himself a part of! His fiance with child - and not even his child - which would have been disgraceful but without the infidelity attached to it. Imagine how he felt ... anger, hurt, disgust, confusion. And yet he decides to not punish Mary but show her mercy. That's interesting isn't it? Before he's even been shown the mercy of God through Christ, Joseph is prepared to show Mary mercy.

But then he has a dream ... an angelic encounter. I wonder what he thought when he awoke? Distress? More confusion? Uncertainty (was that really an angel or was it just my psychological upset causing me to feel/see something so out of the ordinary)? It seems whatever feelings Joseph had when he woke up he put aside and did what was asked of him - he obeyed. He followed the instructions of God ... taking Mary as his wife, delaying consumating his marriage, naming his first born son Jesus.

Matthew says Joseph was a righteous man. It would appear that Joseph's actions live up to that description. And I find myself inspired to live like that too. How about you?

-------------

Within the last two years I've read a couple of fictional books on the life of Mary & Joseph & Jesus. I wouldn't recommend all the books these two authors have written but the following are good and give an interesting glimpse into the culture and times of Jesus' birth.

Anne Rice, "Christ the Lord: The Road to Cana"

Elizabeth Berg, "The Handmaid and the Carpenter" 2006

Both can be found in the public library system. :)

Matthew 1 - Commentaries ... interesting thoughts

I've been looking through a couple of commentaries. Do you have a favourite series? I really like the NIV Application Commentary but haven't got that one for Matthew - yet. So far the ones I've used have been:

The New American Commentary: An Exegetical and Theological Exposition of Holy Scripture. NIV Text. by Craig L. Blomberg c1992

The Expositor's Bible Commentary - Volume 8 - D.A. Carson c1984

The Message of Matthew: The Kingdom of heaven by Michael Green from "The Bible Speaks today" commentary with N.T. series editor John Stott c2000.

Everyman's Bible Commentary: Matthew by Arthur Robertson c1983

Some of the interesting things I've come across so far ...

The word 'genaelogy' (which I am struggling to spell correctly each time!!) has its origin in the word 'genesis' meaning: 'origin' or 'history' and is found only twice in the Old Testament (Gen. 2:4 refering to the creation account, Gen. 2:4-25 a genealogy). The first two chapters of Matthew provide the origin of Jesus ... the basis for all that will follow. Matthew includes the list of names to show where Jesus has come from - to validate his point that this person is from a pure line and therefore worthy of being hailed the saviour.

The genaelogy is divided into 3 groups of, on average, 14 names. The names don't necessarily represent the only generations within that time span. There were probably more relatives in the list not included. The Hebrew name "David" contains 14consonants and Blomberg states that this is perhaps the reason for the 14 names.

The genaeology focuses on a. the time of Abraham, to highlight Jesus' link and fulfillment of the prophecy that Abraham would be the father of all nations, b. the time of David and the kings, to prove that Jesus was the fulfillment of the Davidic prophecy that the saviour would come from David's line, c. the time after the Babylonian invasion, which leads up to the birth of Jesus.

Prophecy fulfilled.

Prophecy fulfilled - this is important. Matthew is claiming Jesus is the long awaited saviour. Although we find this a 'matter of fact' this was radical news.

Matthew's Gospel is filled with proofs of Jesus fulfilling the Old Testament prophecy. In this chapter: 22 All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: 23"The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel" which means, "God with us." This quote comes from Isaiah chapter 7.

Matthew's use of the title "Jesus Christ the son of David, the son of Abraham" is significant. "Christ" is roughly the Greek equivalent to "Messiah" or "Annointed". It was a term used to refer to a variety of people 'anointed' for a special function. "In Jesus' day Palestine was rife with messianic expectation. Not all of it was coherent and many Jews expected two different 'Messiahs'. But Matthew's linking of "Christ" and "son of David" leaves no doubt of what he is claiming for Jesus." (Carson, p61)

The virgin birth (or as two commentaries name it, "the virginal conception" - good point)

Blomberg writes, "...even the relatively primative stage of first-century science was sufficiently advanced for people to know that in every other known instance it required a biological father as well as a biological mother to produce a human child." (Blomberg 58) The virigin birth has been questioned from the time of Christ. Rumours recorded in secular writings reveal that it was said Mary had been raped by a Roman soldier. Matthew, however sees the remarkable prophetic completion in Isaiah's words, through the virgin birth of Jesus.

Carson comments that Matthew's record is to stress that the virgin birth is extraordinary; as is the angelic intervention with Joseph. The coming of the Messiah is an unprecedented event in history.

There are many other finer points in Carson's work ... but this seems like enough to chew on until next time.

It's interesting to be thinking about this at the beginning of Advent isn't it? Will post again tomorrow... perhaps some more 'fascinating facts' but then some thoughts on how does this impact us today? me today? Is there some application to be put into practice? Let me know what you think.

:)

Matthew 1 - Initial thoughts

I chuckle when I think of starting the "Matthew project". I was so excited about the thought of blogging. I prayed about it, thought about it, tried to figure how much of the Bible to read through and settled on just the book of Matthew - and then I opened my Bible to the first chapter and went ... ugh! All those names ... lists ... what on earth am I going to write about that?!?!?!?!?? They put me off - do they do that to you? I usually would skip this chapter when I've read through Matthew before ... but not this time.

I guess I have just scanned this passage before - not really looking at it carefully. These last few days I've been reading it and thinking about what's there. It is amazing the number of names - and of course the names aren't just names but people - listed in the geneology. Lori had a great point yesterday; it is wonderful to see the Gentile women listed reminding us that we are all able to be part of God's plan. It's amazing to see the Patriarchs of the faith: Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and kings David and Solomon listed as well. What a mixed bag of relatives Jesus had!

Jesus.

I almost missed the point when I was looking at the list thinking it was all about those various people listed, but when I looked more closely at the chapter I found Jesus at the start and the finish. The first verse: "A record of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham" and the last sentence: "And he gave him the name Jesus". The whole point is Jesus.... it seems Matthew is setting out to explain who Jesus is, where he came from, who he came from, and who He would be. Verse 21 tells us, "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." Jesus will save us. Verse 23 further explains ..."The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel"—which means, "God with us." Jesus - God incarnate - God with me.

Now that I see it - see that Jesus is the focus - I think 'how could I have missed this?!?!?' The first chapter is not boring at all! Really, I find it fascinating now - even from a literary stand point with the 'inclusio' format, the type of book ends naming Jesus at the start and finish - how Jesus is introduced to us - to the Jewish audience of Matthew's day.

And this realization refocuses my mind and heart for this day. Jesus. First and last. Jesus - God with me - right here - right now. Hmmmm.

Matthew 1

The Genealogy of Jesus

1 A record of the genealogy of Jesus Christ the son of David, the son of Abraham:

2 Abraham was the father of Isaac, Isaac the father of Jacob, Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers,

3 Judah the father of Perez and Zerah, whose mother was Tamar, Perez the father of Hezron, Hezron the father of Ram,

4 Ram the father of Amminadab, Amminadab the father of Nahshon, Nahshon the father of Salmon,

5 Salmon the father of Boaz, whose mother was Rahab, Boaz the father of Obed, whose mother was Ruth, Obed the father of Jesse,

6 and Jesse the father of King David. David was the father of Solomon, whose mother had been Uriah's wife,

7 Solomon the father of Rehoboam, Rehoboam the father of Abijah, Abijah the father of Asa,

8 Asa the father of Jehoshaphat, Jehoshaphat the father of Jehoram, Jehoram the father of Uzziah,

9 Uzziah the father of Jotham, Jotham the father of Ahaz, Ahaz the father of Hezekiah,

10 Hezekiah the father of Manasseh, Manasseh the father of Amon, Amon the father of Josiah,

11 and Josiah the father of Jeconiah[a] and his brothers at the time of the exile to Babylon.

12 After the exile to Babylon: Jeconiah was the father of Shealtiel, Shealtiel the father of Zerubbabel,

13 Zerubbabel the father of Abiud, Abiud the father of Eliakim, Eliakim the father of Azor,

14 Azor the father of Zadok, Zadok the father of Akim, Akim the father of Eliud,

15 Eliud the father of Eleazar, Eleazar the father of Matthan, Matthan the father of Jacob,

16 and Jacob the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ.

17 Thus there were fourteen generations in all from Abraham to David, fourteen from David to the exile to Babylon, and fourteen from the exile to the Christ.

The Birth of Jesus Christ

18 This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit. 19 Because Joseph her husband was a righteous man and did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly.

20 But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, "Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. 21 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."

22 All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: 23"The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel" which means, "God with us."

24 When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife. 25But he had no union with her until she gave birth to a son. And he gave him the name Jesus.

Just thinking

I've been thinking a bit about how to continue this - that's humorous I haven't even got to chapter one - but I want to have a bit of a plan... so here it is ... I think at the beginning of next week I will start with chapter one. The first blog will just be my thoughts as I read the chapter; the second one will incorporate facts or more 'meat' than I can muster on my own with the help of commentaries. Perhaps a third one will emerge when I've thought things through over the week and come up with ways the insights and teaching can make a difference in life today.

What keeps running through my head about the Gospel of Matthew is the placement of it in the Bible. The first book of the NT. Some commentaries call it a bridge between the end of the OT ... that 400 years of silence ... and the life of Jesus.

Other commentaries note that a key theme within the book is that of Kingship.

I think the early chapters will confirm these two ideas. It will be interesting to see what other themes emerge.

Most commentaries I've looked at mention that the author was writing to Jews on the verge of accepting Christ as thier Saviour. This might be good to keep in mind as we read through.

Until next time ... :)

Authorship

"As Jesus went on from there, He saw a man at a tax collector's booth. "Follow me," he told him, and Matthew got up and followed Him." Matthew 9:9

Do you like mysteries? I used to read mystery books as a kid ... my favourite, "Encyclopedia Brown". Each chapter is a self contained mystery that the reader is challenged to solve. The answers are listed at the back of the book. Well, I never knew when I started "The Matthew Project" that there would be a bit of a mystery but here it is.

Who wrote the "Gospel of Matthew"?

To me there has never been a question - it was always the disciple Matthew - the tax collector - the one with whom Jesus had dinner. In actual fact, no one signed the original manuscript. Back in the early 50's (not the 1950's ... just the 0050's) the genre of Gospel was a new thing. People were compiling facts and first hand accounts of the life of Jesus and calling them Gospel. They weren't history per se, or biography - though they contained both. People were also compiling lists of prophesies fulfilled and lists of the sayings of Jesus. It is suspected that the tax collector Matthew was someone who did this.

Back in the 2nd century literary people started commenting about Matthew's writings. Iranaeus (an incredible theologian and Christian bishop of the 2nd century) wrote that, "Matthew published a book of the gospel among the Hebrews, in their own dialect" (interesting to note that he calls it a book of 'the' gospel - the good news - there was no other good news floating around but of the message of Jesus the saviour.) Iranaeaus points to writings in Hebrew.

Jerome, the one who published the Vulgate (the Latin translation of the Scriptures) also claims Matthew was the author. And by the time of Justin Martyr, the Gospel of Matthew was being used to support his arguments of faith.

Lots of evidence to point to Matthew the tax collector as author, yet there is no existing copy of the Hebrew text, but rather a Greek one. There is no direct comment within the text to claim Matthew as the author.

Yet nothing either to say he was not.

So there is the mystery ... and sadly, it would seem, there is no answer at the back of the book.

What does it matter? That's been rolling around in my head ... why has this issue of authorship caused me to read and scour the few books still covering my dining room table?

Originally I wanted to know the author so that I could gain a deeper sense of the book. Where is he coming from? What's his personality? What's his slant on things?

Even without the precise knowledge of author we can still know some of these things .... We can know that the author was capable of writing in Greek. He was organized enough - and wise enough - to think to gather up this text for the future generations (thank you!). He was someone who was humble; he didn't feel it necessary for his name to be prominent (it's said that the title "Gospel according to Matthew" might have been added when the four Gospels appeared together - all of which were anonymous - to distinguish the different sources). He was someone who was there around the time of Jesus life. ... Can you imagine that?!?! Really? Isn't it totally incredible to think that Jesus could be sitting right there beside you, share a meal with you, call your name to follow Him!!

I think that is part of the reason for all this time spent on the author ... I want to know and to sense this is real - more than the one dimensional picture in Sunday school depicts - more than the familiar passages, so familiar that they've lost their true meaning. This is so real in that "Matthew" was a real person who knew Jesus, the living God, and who wrote it down so that we could know Him too.

Hmmmm... just thinking ... because of Matthew's writings we come to know the ultimate 'author' of the book don't we?

Update

Ah yes ... do you find this happens to you? You have a great idea and then life happens ... and the great idea quickly gets placed on the back burner.

Just to keep you in the know, I have picked up some books from Tyndale library - a stack of commentaries - and will begin to study and post more informative things very soon. I wanted to write though to keep in the ... or more like 'get into the' ... habit of blogging. This is still new to me.

Do you find this hesitation or interruption to study Scripture happens to you? Each morning when I wake I think, 'I should get up and sit and read and pray' but the bed is so warm and the rocker seems so far away, and so I pray while laying in bed. This is good but I always feel like I've missed something when I haven't been filled with God's voice. It isn't enough just to talk to Him - I need to hear Him speak to me - to be reminded of His love for me, of His instruction, of His plans, of His past and the future promises.

I need to do more than talk about reading the Bible - or read about reading the Bible - so, thanks for reading, and thanks for this blogging method; a means to keep me moving forward ...

:)

Potential

The other night when I finally settled on a title for this blog I realized my son Matthew was hanging out near the computer. I noticed him gazing at the title and found myself reassuring him it was not a blog about him (yet here I am writing about him - sorry Matt!). Matthew is ... in fact all three boys are ... inspiring to me. Matthew is hooked on running and has a goal of running in the Olympics one day. He's in the process of joining a running club and attempting to get into Birchmount high school for their athletics program. Jonathan is currently writing his second novel. When November rolls around it is novel writing time for him ... 30 days ... 50,000 words!! It's incredible. David also is an inspiration; an inspiration of imagination. He composes songs almost daily singing about his friends and the made up crazy things they do (I think they are made up!?!? Hmmm... :) All three are full of potential - amazing potential.

I've been thinking about Matthew lately - the author of the book of Matthew. I'm going to check out some passages that talk directly about him, to get an idea about where he was coming from when he wrote the gospel. What do you know? What can you share?

As I thought about it a bit - even before really 'studying' - I remembered the passage where Matthew was called by Jesus. It must be from a picture from a Sunday school lesson I taught or something but I have this mental picture of Matthew sitting at a little table on the top of a hill with people walking by, paying their taxes to him. Matthew was a tax collector - and a Jew - employed by the Romans - and as a result he was probably not the most popular person in town. So why did Jesus call him? What did He see in him? Did He see someone who could do a job competantly? Did He see someone who one day would be capable of organizing thousands of people on a hill for a picnic? Did He see someone who endured people's distrust and dislike and think he might be someone who could empathize with Him one day? Did He see a whole lot of potential in Matthew?

What does God see in me? Does He see me for what I can be? for what I can bring to Him? Hmmm. What does God see in you? Does God look at our potential?

I was thinking about this in the middle of the night last night. It's been rolling around in my head a bit. But what dawned on me as I thought about it was this... perhaps Jesus did not think so much about what Matthew could do for Him, but what Jesus - spending time with Him, knowing Him - could do for Matthew. Jesus' impact on Matthew enabled him to do what he did - enabled him (inspired by God) to write the gospel. Jesus' relationship with Matthew changed his life forever and resulted in this book that has in turn, changed others lives as they too have come into contact with Jesus.

The potential for a changed life ... for a life of worth ... for an abundant life ... for a life lived in service for Jesus ... this comes as I, as all people, spend time with Him. What a thought!

Getting started

Well, here I am entering the world of blogging! I never imagined I would do this :) but here I go!

I've been following a couple of blogs over the last little while and think it's cool the way you can connect with others and get encouragement along the way for a journey or a challenge. I thought that I would tackle my ongoing desire to read the whole Bible ... inspired by Dawne's blog "365 days to a new me!" ... 365 days through the Bible. But I have failed at that a couple of times. Plus, the fact is, I don't want to rush through. So then I thought I would attempt just the New Testament ... beginning at the beginning with Matthew. I am finding though, that even just one book is going to take a while and so I am choosing not to rush but to savour the time to reflect upon God's word throughout the day, throughout the night even and to focus, for now, on Matthew.

I have a dream that perhaps, one day, this might become a devotional book. I have looked for a devotional book that would cover one biblical book and haven't found one. Has anyone? As a mom with little kids and now a mom (equally busy) with bigger kids I find time to sit and reflect is a rare commodity. Time to really study and dig deep into the Word is rarer still. And so I'd love to create something that provides this - short daily devotionals that dig deep, give food for thought, and take the reader through a Bible book so that they feel they have accomplished something ... and so that they get the benefit of the overall message of the book.

I must confess I'm a little nervous ... will I follow through? what is it like to have your words available for others to read? But as I start I am praying that God will use this 'project' to speak His message into my life, to speak it into yours, as we journey through the book of Matthew.

Here we go! :)