Chapter 1 - Jesus' royal bloodline is established;
Chapter 2 - the visit of the Magi and Herod's attempt to kill Jesus further establish Jesus' identity as King;
Chapter 3 - John the Baptist serves as herald, making the King's introduction, and baptizes him as a sort of coronation.
Matthew is telling Jesus' story, organized like a classic story of an ancient king or hero. There is only one element left in the story's introduction: the Test. Every hero must have one. If he passes, he proves worthy and proceeds into greatness; if he fails, his story becomes a tragedy, where the fatal flaw revealed in the test becomes his undoing. The test is painful, lonely, and extremely difficult.
The Bible's first hero, Adam, failed the Test, and his story (and ours) became a tragedy, the story of the fatal flaw of human weakness. When Jesus passed the Test, he proved himself worthy, but he did much more than that: he proved it was possible to reverse the curse of Adam's failure. It was no longer inevitable that Satan would always win in the Test. Jesus' story would not be a tragedy, and because of him, neither would ours.
...he too shared in their humanity
so that by his death he might break the power
of him who holds the power of death—
of him who holds the power of death—
that is, the devil—
and free those who all their lives were held in slavery
by their fear of death.
by their fear of death.
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Because he himself suffered when he was tempted,
he is able to help those who are being tempted.
-from Hebrews 2:14-18
Do you have confidence in your Hero? How has He freed you from the slavery of fear, and helped you when you were being tempted?
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