Stage 1 · Day 11 of 84 · Week 2

Day 11 · Love your enemies

Do the 5-minute lesson, then read today's Gospel portion and the bridge.

Today's reading

Mark 16; Matthew 1–2 · about 7.7 min · Berean Standard Bible

Mark 16

¹When the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices so they could go and anoint the body of Jesus. ²Very early on the first day of the week, just after sunrise, they went to the tomb. ³They were asking one another, “Who will roll away the stone from the entrance of the tomb?” ⁴But when they looked up, they saw that the stone had been rolled away, even though it was extremely large. ⁵When they entered the tomb, they saw a young man dressed in a white robe sitting on the right side, and they were alarmed. ⁶But he said to them, “Do not be alarmed. You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He has risen! He is not here! See the place where they put Him. ⁷But go, tell His disciples and Peter, ‘He is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see Him, just as He told you.’” ⁸So the women left the tomb and ran away, trembling and bewildered. And in their fear they did not say a word to anyone. ⁹Early on the first day of the week, after Jesus had risen, He appeared first to Mary Magdalene, from whom He had driven out seven demons. ¹⁰She went and told those who had been with Him, who were mourning and weeping. ¹¹And when they heard that Jesus was alive and she had seen Him, they did not believe it. ¹²After this, Jesus appeared in a different form to two of them as they walked along in the country. ¹³And they went back and reported it to the rest, but they did not believe them either. ¹⁴Later, as they were eating, Jesus appeared to the Eleven and rebuked them for their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they did not believe those who had seen Him after He had risen. ¹⁵And He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. ¹⁶Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. ¹⁷And these signs will accompany those who believe: In My name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues; ¹⁸they will pick up snakes with their hands, and if they drink any deadly poison, it will not harm them; they will lay their hands on the sick, and they will be made well.” ¹⁹After the Lord Jesus had spoken to them, He was taken up into heaven and sat down at the right hand of God. ²⁰And they went out and preached everywhere, and the Lord worked through them, confirming His word by the signs that accompanied it.

Matthew 1

¹This is the record of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham: ²Abraham was the father of Isaac, Isaac the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers. ³Judah was the father of Perez and Zerah by Tamar, Perez the father of Hezron, and Hezron the father of Ram. ⁴Ram was the father of Amminadab, Amminadab the father of Nahshon, and Nahshon the father of Salmon. ⁵Salmon was the father of Boaz by Rahab, Boaz the father of Obed by Ruth, Obed the father of Jesse, ⁶and Jesse the father of David the king. Next: David was the father of Solomon by Uriah’s wife, ⁷Solomon the father of Rehoboam, Rehoboam the father of Abijah, and Abijah the father of Asa. ⁸Asa was the father of Jehoshaphat, Jehoshaphat the father of Joram, and Joram the father of Uzziah. ⁹Uzziah was the father of Jotham, Jotham the father of Ahaz, and Ahaz the father of Hezekiah. ¹⁰Hezekiah was the father of Manasseh, Manasseh the father of Amon, Amon the father of Josiah, ¹¹and Josiah the father of Jeconiah and his brothers at the time of the exile to Babylon. ¹²After the exile to Babylon: Jeconiah was the father of Shealtiel, Shealtiel the father of Zerubbabel, ¹³Zerubbabel the father of Abiud, Abiud the father of Eliakim, and Eliakim the father of Azor. ¹⁴Azor was the father of Zadok, Zadok the father of Achim, and Achim the father of Eliud. ¹⁵Eliud was the father of Eleazar, Eleazar the father of Matthan, Matthan the father of Jacob, ¹⁶and Jacob the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ. ¹⁷In all, then, there were fourteen generations from Abraham to David, fourteen from David to the exile to Babylon, and fourteen from the exile to the Christ. ¹⁸This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about: His mother Mary was pledged in marriage to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit. ¹⁹Because Joseph her husband was a righteous man and was unwilling to disgrace her publicly, he resolved to divorce her quietly. ²⁰But after he had pondered these things, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to embrace Mary as your wife, for the One conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. ²¹She will give birth to a Son, and you are to give Him the name Jesus, because He will save His people from their sins.” ²²All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: ²³“Behold, the virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call Him Immanuel” (which means, “God with us”). ²⁴When Joseph woke up, he did as the angel of the Lord had commanded him, and embraced Mary as his wife. ²⁵But he had no union with her until she gave birth to a Son. And he gave Him the name Jesus.

Matthew 2

¹After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east arrived in Jerusalem, ²asking, “Where is the One who has been born King of the Jews? We saw His star in the east and have come to worship Him.” ³When King Herod heard this, he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him. ⁴And when he had assembled all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he asked them where the Christ was to be born. ⁵“In Bethlehem in Judea,” they replied, “for this is what the prophet has written: ⁶‘But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah, for out of you will come a ruler who will be the shepherd of My people Israel.’” ⁷Then Herod called the Magi secretly and learned from them the exact time the star had appeared. ⁸And sending them to Bethlehem, he said: “Go and search carefully for the Child, and when you find Him, report to me, so that I too may go and worship Him.” ⁹After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen in the east went ahead of them until it stood over the place where the Child was. ¹⁰When they saw the star, they rejoiced with great delight. ¹¹On coming to the house, they saw the Child with His mother Mary, and they fell down and worshiped Him. Then they opened their treasures and presented Him with gifts of gold and frankincense and myrrh. ¹²And having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they withdrew to their country by another route. ¹³When the Magi had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. “Get up!” he said. “Take the Child and His mother and flee to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the Child to kill Him.” ¹⁴So he got up, took the Child and His mother by night, and withdrew to Egypt, ¹⁵where he stayed until the death of Herod. This fulfilled what the Lord had spoken through the prophet: “Out of Egypt I called My Son.” ¹⁶When Herod saw that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was filled with rage. Sending orders, he put to death all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, according to the time he had learned from the Magi. ¹⁷Then what was spoken through the prophet Jeremiah was fulfilled: ¹⁸“A voice is heard in Ramah, weeping and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children, and refusing to be comforted, because they are no more.” ¹⁹After Herod died, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt. ²⁰“Get up!” he said. “Take the Child and His mother and go to the land of Israel, for those seeking the Child’s life are now dead.” ²¹So Joseph got up, took the Child and His mother, and went to the land of Israel. ²²But when he learned that Archelaus was reigning in Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. And having been warned in a dream, he withdrew to the district of Galilee, ²³and he went and lived in a town called Nazareth. So was fulfilled what was spoken through the prophets: “He will be called a Nazarene.”

Public domain (BSB). Printed here for offline use.

Bridge

Love your enemies. Mark ends with the empty tomb; Matthew begins with Jesus' birth and with Magi from far away. Enemy-love starts with seeing that God's story already includes outsiders who come to honor him — and a king who tries to destroy the child.

Matthew 2 shows welcome and threat side by side. Love that only likes safe people is not the love Jesus later teaches.

Where does today's law show up in today's reading?

In Matthew 2, the Magi come from:

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