Wise Men Still Seek Him

By Paul Lintern, Editor, the Joyful Noiseletter

Lintern’s As the Ancient World Turns
Wise Men Still Seek Him

Matthew 1

Narrator: Join me in another episode in the ongoing saga of All God's Children's on As the Ancient World Turns around the Guiding Light of the Days of All my Ancestor's Lives, brought to you as always by Noah's Ark Pet Soap, cleaning up after animals for generations. Now available in a rainbow assortment of colors. Remember, when it comes to animal mess and grime, "Just Say Noah.”

As we begin today’s episode, we find the birth of Jesus being readied after fourteen generations from Abraham to David, fourteen generations from David till the people were deported to Babylon, then fourteen generations till now.

Mary: Joseph, we have to talk.

Narrator: Mary was pledged to Joseph in marriage, and found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit.

Mary: Joseph, we really have to talk!

Narrator: Joseph, God-fearing and law-abiding, yet not wanting to humiliate Mary publicly, decided to divorce her quietly.

Joseph: I better sleep on it.

Narrator: An angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream.

Joseph: AHHHH!

Angel: Joseph Davidson, do not be afraid…

Joseph: You come from God, and I am God-fearing, pardon me if a appear a little afraid!

Angel: I mean don’t be afraid to take Mary as your wife; the Holy Spirit is giving her this baby, a son, and you will call him Jesus.

Joseph: Hey, is this Isaiah coming true?

Angel: “Virgin, birth, Immanuel.”

That’s the one.

Narrator: Then Joseph woke up and did what the angel had commanded. He took Mary as his wife, and Jesus was born, in Bethlehem.

Joseph: I’ll let Luke fill you in on those details.

Narrator: It was while they were in Bethlehem that Magi from the east came to Jerusalem, following a star.

Magi 1: We were looking for a new king, so we went to the current king to see what he knew. Not a wise idea.

Herod: King? I am King! Where is this king?

Narrator: His chief priest found it in Micah.

Priest: In Bethlehem, your Kingness.

Narrator: And when the Magi told Herod when the star appeared, he sent them to Bethlehem.

Herod: Search real good! Find him and report back to me, so I can worship him. I want to worship him real hard!

Narrator: The Magi did go to Bethlehem, and the star went ahead of them and stopped over the place where baby Jesus was.

Magi 1: This star is better than Google maps.

Narrator: And they gave gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh.

Magi 1: I thought we should have chipped in for diapers, too.

Narrator: But a dream warned them not to go back to Herod, so they went home a different way.

Magi 1: Now we do need Google maps.

Narrator: The angel returned to Joseph.

Angel: Joseph, wake up, your secret is out; Herod wants to kill Jesus. Get to Egypt.

Narrator: So they caught the earliest flight to Egypt, fulfilling what Hosea said: "Out of Egypt I called my son.” Herod was furious at being tricked, so he gave orders to kill all the boys of Bethlehem, up to two years, as the prophet Jeremiah had said.

Jeremiah: Rachel is weeping for her children; they are no more.

Narrator: And once Herod had died, Joseph was guided by yet another dream to go to Galilee, to raise Jesus in Nazareth. And will we meet up with Jesus 30 years later, in our next episode of “As the Ancient World Turns?”