Today we read Matthew 3 and once again meet John the Baptist who is preparing the way of the Lord, pointing people to Jesus as the long-awaited Messiah. Also, notice the Trinity at the end of the chapter: God the Father is well pleased with Jesus; God the Son is being baptized; and God the Holy Spirit descends on Jesus as a dove. One God in three persons.

Today we read Matthew 2. Here we have the well-known account of the wise men (sometimes called “three kings”), following a star to find the Messiah, the baby Jesus. At least one of these wise men possibly came from Persia! Once again, Old Testament prophecies are fulfilled: from Numbers 24:17 (that a star would come out of Bethlehem) and from Micah 5:2 (that the Messiah Jesus would be born in Bethlehem). These prophesies–and so many more– are all fulfilled in Jesus Christ!

Today we start reading another of the four Gospel books: the Gospel of Matthew. In Matthew 1, we read about the birth of Jesus. We learn that his mother Mary is a human, but that she conceived not from a man, as is the case for all of us with our mother and our father. Rather, the Holy Spirit came upon her in a very special way. This is why Jesus is one hundred percent human yet also one hundred percent God. This is difficult to understand, but that should not trouble us. The Trinity is a miracle that we can never fully comprehend. We also learn in this chapter that Mary remained a virgin when she conceived Jesus. That too is a miracle, but it was prophesied hundreds of years earlier in the Old Testament (in Isaiah, chapter 7): “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel” (which means “God with us”). This is one of many, many Old Testament prophesies about the coming Messiah that Jesus of Nazareth fulfilled. Amen.

Today we read the last chapter of Mark. Here, Jesus commands His disciples to go out into the world and proclaim His Good News to all of creation. Two thousand years later, we pastors and missionaries are doing the same thing–now on the Internet, so wherever you are reading this, you may believe that Jesus died for your sins and rose again to grant you eternal life. Hallelujah!