Matthew 2 — The Wise Men, the Flight into Egypt, and Nazareth

I was a child in Bethlehem of Judea, in the days of Herod the king. I do not remember it the way you remember your own beginnings. I remember it the way my mother told it to me — again and again, in the quiet of our house. And every word of it was true.

Wise men came from the east, all the way to Jerusalem. And they asked a question that shook a city. Where is he that is born King of the Jews? For they had seen his star in the east, and they had come to worship him.

When Herod the king heard it, he was troubled. And all Jerusalem with him.

So he gathered all the chief priests and the scribes of the people together, and he demanded of them where the Christ should be born. And they told him plainly: in Bethlehem of Judea. For so it was written by the prophet — that out of Bethlehem, small as it was among the rulers of Judah, would come a Governor who would shepherd the people Israel.

Then Herod called the wise men privately, in secret, and inquired of them diligently what time the star appeared. And he sent them to Bethlehem, and he said: Go and search diligently for the young child; and when ye have found him, bring me word again, that I may come and worship him also. He did not mean to worship.

When they had heard the king, they departed. And the star which they saw in the east went before them, until it came and stood over where the young child was. And when they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy.

They came into the house, and they saw me with Mary my mother. And they fell down, and worshipped me. Then they opened their treasures, and presented unto me gifts: gold, and frankincense, and myrrh. Gold for a king. Frankincense for worship. And myrrh — the spice they use to bury the dead. My mother kept that third gift a long time before she understood it.

And being warned of God in a dream that they should not return to Herod, they departed into their own country another way.

When they were gone, the angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream, saying: Arise, take the young child and his mother, and flee into Egypt, and be thou there until I bring thee word — for Herod will seek the young child to destroy him.

So he arose. He took me and my mother by night, and departed into Egypt, and was there until the death of Herod. That it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying: Out of Egypt have I called my son.

I was carried out of my own country in the dark, before I could speak a single word.

Then Herod, when he saw that he was mocked of the wise men, was exceeding wroth. And he sent forth, and slew all the children that were in Bethlehem, and in all the country round about, from two years old and under — according to the time which he had diligently inquired of the wise men.

Then was fulfilled that which was spoken by Jeremiah the prophet, saying: In Ramah was there a voice heard, lamentation, and weeping, and great mourning — Rachel weeping for her children, and would not be comforted, because they are not.

Those mothers wept in the dark, and there was no one who could comfort them. Heaven heard every one of them. Their children were not forgotten. They are not forgotten now.

But when Herod was dead, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt, saying: Arise, take the young child and his mother, and go into the land of Israel — for they are dead which sought the young child's life.

And he arose, and took me and my mother, and came into the land of Israel. But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning in Judea in the place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. And being warned of God in a dream, he turned aside into the parts of Galilee.

And he came and dwelt in a city called Nazareth. That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophets: He shall be called a Nazarene.

So that is where I grew up. A small town on a hill. Dust, and carpentry, and my mother's voice. The wise men had gone home. Egypt was behind us. The king who wanted me dead was in his grave. And the story went quiet for a long, long time.

But it had already begun. Sleep well tonight.