All Jerusalem was troubled
Kelley’s Chapel United Methodist Church — January 7, 2024
(Based on a sermon preached January 3, 2015, at First UMC Shelbyville)
Some people think of Christmas as a one-day holiday, December 25. But Christmas under the liturgical calendar is a season, lasting 12 days — that’s where the song “The 12 Days of Christmas,” about that partridge in a pear tree, comes from. Well, the bad news is that Christmas ended on Friday. This weekend, we begin a new season, the season of Epiphany. But that season starts with a Bible story that most of us associate with Christmas:
Matthew 2:1–12 (CEB)
After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in the territory of Judea during the rule of King Herod, magi came from the east to Jerusalem. They asked, “Where is the newborn king of the Jews? We’ve seen his star in the east, and we’ve come to honor him.”
When King Herod heard this, he was troubled, and everyone in Jerusalem was troubled with him. He gathered all the chief priests and the legal experts and asked them where the Christ was to be born. They said, “In Bethlehem of Judea, for this is what the prophet wrote:
“‘You, Bethlehem, land of Judah,
by no means are you least among the rulers of Judah,
because from you will come one who governs,
who will shepherd my…
