Clothe yourself with Love Col. 3:14

  The Gospel of Matthew narrates for us the story of Jesus’ birth. Very rarely do we ask our parents what was going on at the time we were born. Matthew is interested in telling us all the signs that show that this baby was the Messiah whom Israel was waiting for. This is what was going on: Mary was engaged to Joseph. According to their customs, they would live together only after they were married. However , the issue was that she was found to be pregnant while engaged. Talk about extreme family drama. If your family doesn’t have drama, you are rare! Family drama can be very difficult to navigate, especially if you are alone. For Joseph , there were options: (#1) Follow the popular view that says: denounce her and get out of it, she is pregnant, let her deal with it. (#2) is the option that he was actually considering, which was to quietly walk away. This would have minimized injury to Mary; it was kind of a safer situation. (3) Follow God’s view. But for Mary , none of th...

  When the Bible talks about the wilderness, I think of a desert. It is a harsh environment. My dictionary says that because of little rain, consequently, living conditions are hostile for plant and animal life. Some people may even say, it is a barren land, unable to produce anything even so, some plants thrive there.   In vast deserts, you need a compass to know where you are and where you are going. If your water supply is limited, you can’t survive. High temps during the day and cold in the night. This is the place where the word of God came to John the Baptist: The wilderness of Judea. He finally came back proclaiming his message to whoever would listen: “ Repent, the Kingdom of God is near ” It had been 400 years ever since the last Prophet Malachi, so this new Prophet John the Baptist was followed with great interest! Curious Israelites wanted to hear a brand-new message from God, from this weird/crazy looking prophet who by the way, dressed a lot like the famous ...