The King and His Kingdom
Jesus in the Gospel of Matthew
The King's Birth
Estrategia pedagógica
The focus of this lesson is on the birth of Jesus. Of special note in this lesson is Matthew’s account showing the royal birth of Jesus.
Resultados del aprendizaje de los estudiantes
- Know: Summarize the events leading up to and surrounding the birth of Jesus as shown in the Gospel of Matthew.
- Feel: Defend Jesus as the long-prophesied Messiah.
- Do: Commit to faithful service to the King.
Cuerpo de la lección
Preguntas de discusión
A continuación se sugieren preguntas para utilizar durante la parte de debate guiado de la lección. También se sugieren respuestas a las preguntas para ayudar a los alumnos a comprender los distintos conceptos. Se proporcionan para ayudar al debate y no se consideran respuestas "correctas o incorrectas".
Each gospel writer saw the events of the life of Jesus from their understanding and perspective and wrote to present Jesus to varying audiences. Matthew describes Jesus as a royal figure, the king of the Jews or the King of Heaven. Mark describes Jesus as the powerful Son of God by focusing on Jesus' miracles. Luke shows Jesus as fully human demonstrating that Jesus was no less human who experienced human life. John uses the imagery of Jesus as light to convey the concept that Jesus was the embodiment of God's truth showing us the way to a loving God.
Answers will vary as to the events of Jesus' birth based on the popular myths.
True or false, and why: There were three wise men and they presented gifts to Jesus in the manger. False. This belief comes from the presentation of three gifts. As stated by Matthew, they visited Jesus in a home. Jesus was born in a manger but the wise men visited Him at a place where Joseph had moved his family after Jesus was born.
Jesus was born in Bethlehem with glorious events seen in the heavens.
(Note: Jesus is our Spiritual King reigning over a spiritual kingdom thus an eternal king and kingdom. It is fitting that the heavens declared with glory who He was.) His birth and location of birth were prophesied (Micah 5:2). Wise men from the east saw the events in the sky and recognized them as announcing the birth of a special King and traveled to honor this king. When Herod heard of this, he sought to have the king killed to remove the perceived threat to his rule. The wise men were warned in a vision to not return to Herod so they left using another way.
- Gold – Because of the value of gold, it was the property of kings. This gift recognized His position as a royal person.
- Frankincense – This incense was used for worship purposes as an offering to gods in religious services. It was given to recognize Him as a divine being.
- Myrrh – This material was used to prepare bodies for burial. It was given showing His anticipated death as an atonement for our sins.
The Hebrew people put great store in proving which tribe they belonged to. By showing the genealogy of Jesus, Matthew is showing that Jesus is the Messiah as long prophesied and is legitimate according to His genealogy from king David.
Herod tried to manipulate the wise men in order to find information so he could kill the Messiah. He obviously had knowledge of prophecy but not faith in God's will. In a similar fashion, many believe who Jesus is but refuse to accept Him as the Messiah believing instead that they can control God rather than submit to God.
We can have faith in who Jesus was based on all the events of His life, beginning with the events of His birth. These show that His humble birth fulfills the prophecies about the Messiah's birth.