Daily Catholic Bible Reading - 3 January 2016

United States Conference of Catholic Bishops

January 3 2016

Lectionary: 20

http://usccb.org/bible/readings/010316.cfm

Isaiah 60:1-6

Pretty dull stuff about how wonderful Israel will be. It's a pity the extract stops short of verse 11 which explains how the gentiles' armies will be dealt with. And verse 12 which explains that the nations which do not serve Israel will perish.

Psalm 72:1-2, 7-8. 10-11, 12-13

God is great x8. Zzzzzzzzzzzzz

Ephesians 3:2-3, 5-6
Paul claims to be representing Jesus. (He never met Jesus).

Matthew 2:1-12
A few problems here. The verses state that Jesus was born in Bethlehem in the days of Herod the king. The problem is Herod died in 4BC and Luke 2:2 says that Cyrenius was governor of Syria when Mary was pregnant with Jesus. But Cyrenius was appointed governor in 6 AD which means Jesus was born  before 4 BC and after 6AD. Doh!

The Gospel of Matthew also claims that Jesus's birth in Bethlehem fulfils a prophecy (Micah 5:2) but there's a few issues with that idea. First of all, the author of Matthew assumes the prophecy requires the Messiah to be born in Bethlehem but that's not necessarily what the prophecy says. Also, the Messiah in the prophecy is depicted as a military leader who defeats the Assyrians (not something Jesus is credited with doing).

Anyway, in order to fit the birth in Bethlehem idea, the author of Matthew makes up a story about Joseph and Mary living in a house in Bethlehem when Mary becomes pregnant (the author of Luke has them living in Nazareth and traveling Bethlehem for a census for which there is no historical record).  Mark and John don't mention anything about a birth in Bethlehem.