Hi First Presbyterian Church,

It’s time for our Mid-Week Meet-Up! Our one-year Bible reading journey has begun! For the next month, we will be reading our way through Genesis and the Gospel of Matthew (along with the Psalms and Proverbs). For the next three Sundays, I will be preaching on the texts we’re reading in Genesis. My aim is for my sermons to help you in your understanding of the story of Genesis. So… as an additional aid, I thought I’d use my Mid-Week Meet-Ups to provide you with some context and explanation for our reading of the Gospel of Matthew. So, here we go!

Specifically, I want to dray your attention to two passages: Matthew 2:13-15 (which we read yesterday) and Matthew 4:1-11 (which we read today).

Keep in mind what I wrote to you on August 28 - that the main emphasis of the Gospel of Matthew is help us see how the story of Jesus is really a continuation of the story of God’s faithfulness to Israel in the Old Testament. Take a look at 2:13-15. Mary, Joseph, and the baby Jesus flee to Egypt to escape the violence of Herod the Great. Matthew tells us that they fled to Egypt in order to fulfill what had been written by the prophet: “Out of Egypt I have called my son.” Matthew is quoting the prophet Hosea, specifically Hosea 11:1. Based on the fact that Matthew says that Jesus fleeing to Egypt was a fulfillment of prophecy, you might assume that Hosea 11:1 is a prophesy about the future Messiah. However, if you look at the entire chapter of Hosea 11, you’ll notice that it doesn’t seem to be about the Messiah at all! In fact, Hosea 11 is a history of the people of Israel, specifically when they were slaves in Egypt and God delivered them out of slavery. When Hosea says “Out of Egypt I have called my Son,” he’s quoting God talking about delivering Israel from slavery in Egypt. Why would Matthew say that that verse is a "fulfilled prophecy" in Jesus? Great question!

Here is what Matthew is doing. He wants us to remember the story of Israel - God delivered them out of Egypt and, yet, after all that God had done for them, they neglected to love God in return. They forgot about God and worshipped other gods instead. What Jesus does is retraces all of Israel’s footsteps, and, where Israel went astray and rejected God, Jesus corrects their mistakes and lives in perfect obedience to God. Matthew wants us to see this! All of us are like Israel in this way. Despite all God has done for us, we often find ourselves going astray and following our own way instead of God’s way. This is why Jesus is trustworthy - because he knows how to live in perfect submission to God. Friends, you can trust Jesus today to help you follow the ways of God.

I want to just make one brief comment about a passage from our reading today (Matthew 4:1-11). In this passage, Jesus is in the desert for forty days and is tempted by the devil. Here’s what I want you to notice. Every time Jesus is tempted, what does he do? He quotes from the Bible - specifically from the book of Deuteronomy. I think we should follow the example of Jesus here and recognize the power of scripture to help us resist temptation. This is one of the reasons this one-year Bible reading journey is so important. If along this journey, a particular passage of scripture really speaks to your heart, I encourage you to take the time to memorize it. I guarantee you - it will prove useful to you at some point when you are faced with a difficult decision or temptation.

As we trust in Jesus today to help us follow the ways of God, let us also give thanks to God for the incredible gift of the Bible.

Peace to you,

Pastor Aaron