Off by Nine Miles. (Living by the Word)

Brueggemann, Walter, The Christian Century

Sunday, January 6
Isaiah 60:1-7; Matthew 2:1-12

MATTHEW IS NOT the first one to imagine three rich wise guys from the East coming to Jerusalem. His story line and plot come from Isaiah 60, a poem recited to Jews in Jerusalem about 580 B.C.E. These Jews had been in exile in Iraq for a couple of generations and had come back to the bombed-out city of Jerusalem. They were in despair. Who wants to live in a city where the towers are torn down and the economy has failed, and nobody knows what to do about it?

In the middle of the mess, an amazing poet invites his depressed, discouraged contemporaries to look up, to hope and to expect everything to change. "Rise, shine, for your light has come." The poet anticipates that Jerusalem will become a beehive of …

Questia, a part of Gale, Cengage Learning. www.questia.com
Publication information: Article title: Off by Nine Miles. (Living by the Word). Contributors: Brueggemann, Walter - Author. Magazine title: The Christian Century. Volume: 118. Issue: 35 Publication date: December 19, 2001. Page number: 15. © 2009 The Christian Century Foundation. COPYRIGHT 2001 Gale Group.

This material is protected by copyright and, with the exception of fair use, may not be further copied, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means.