There’s a famous optical illusion drawing that, depending on how a person perceives the image, shows an elderly woman or a young lady with her head turned away from us.
You can see it here – and what’s fascinating is while one person may see a young lady and another an older person, the image itself is unchanged – only our perception and interpretation of the image.
We’re going to be continuing our study in the Gospel of Matthew this Sunday, and we’ll be reading about some very different reactions and responses to the news that the Messiah King had been born in Israel. It was perceived as either good or bad news, depending on what a person may have felt was at stake in the arrival of a new King.
We’ll be reading Matthew 2:1-23.
The text introduces us to some characters that we’ll have to try and get familiar with.
We’ll meet King Herod (or Herod the Great) who was the Roman puppet ruler over Israel at that time. We’ll also meet the Magi, or Wise Men as our modern translations call them. They are apparently court astrologers who travel from the East because they observed astronomical phenomena that they interpreted as the portent of the arrival of an important King.
We’ll also hear from the religious scribes, the keepers of the Torah. All of these people react to the news of the birth of Messiah – and all of them react differently. What do the Magi state as their intentions? What does Herod say he wants to do compared with what he does? Who is this text portraying in a positive way, and who is negatively represented? What might we infer from that?
We’re going to pay attention the the tension and conflict that emerges as Jesus comes on the scene and consider what that tells us about the world we live in, as well as the condition of our own hearts.
It will be both a challenge and an encouragement! Hope you can join us this Sunday at 10 AM!
Click here for a pdf of the teaching slideshow.