Mathew chapter two

The chapter two of book Mathew is very interesting; sometimes we can also describe it as funny. Why? Let us peep into the facts of the chapter. In a cold midnight Jesus was born in Bethlehem. Where was this cold midnight, in natural environment or in social environment? It was in social environment. The people in Jerusalem didn’t know anything happened in their society, a situation like darkness prevailed among them. The wise men from east could know that a King was born there in Jerusalem, but not the Jerusalem people. Isn’t it funny? According to verse 4, there were more than enough experts and priests in Jerusalem but good for nothing.
When Herod knew about the birth of a new king he summoned all the experts and priests and inquired them where the Christ was to be born. They quoted from scriptures where Jesus was to be born. They couldn’t relate what was happening in their society with their scripture knowledge, which had no practical use or application in their social environment or in their social life. This was the cause of the darkness – the midnight effect – where the truth couldn’t be located or identified. So Jerusalem and Herod together fought against truth.
Herod himself knew that the scripture was true. That is why he relied on the scriptures quoted by priests. Not only Herod but also the priests and experts believed that the scripture was true. Here we can see that knowing, reading and by-heart scriptures are one thing and understand the truth is something else. One more thing other than reading, knowing and by-heart scripture is needed to understand truth. This one thing is quite opposite of the other; reading, knowing and by-heart. One is objective the other is subjective, the opposite poles of the same truth. Unity of these two makes the process of ‘understanding truth’ perfect. Objective means material and subjective means spiritual. Objective one exists outside us, the scripture or Bible, subjective one exists within us. It is related to our heart, or it is emotional part. A heart full of negative emotions or a hard-hearted cannot understand the truth in its full depth or its required extend. Verse 3 says like this “When King Herod heard this he was alarmed, and all Jerusalem with him”. What kind of heart these people possessed? What kind of attitude these people maintained? That was the problem not only for them but also for us the present generation.