Reflection on the Gospel of the
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Matthew 2: 1-12 |
In today’s Gospel, I was struck by the contrasting attitudes of the gentile wise men and the ruling, religious classes of Israel. The gentile wise men came to Israel seeking Jesus from far away but Herod and his religious wise men wanted to seek Jesus in order to get rid of him.
Israel was waiting for its Messiah for ages. God promised to send Israel the Messiah through scripture and the prophets. Yet, it was the gentile wise men who had an encounter with Jesus with help from Jewish scriptures. It’s a striking contrast. We too often want to have an encounter with Jesus, get to know him better but we look for the stars in our lives and forget about scripture. Can we get to know Jesus more through scripture? Or are we tired of Jesus, wanting him out of our lives?