THE VISIT AND THE ESCAPE

After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea

     during the time of King Herod

     Magi from the east came to Jerusalem

and asked, “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews?

     we saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.”

When King Herod heard this he was disturbed,

     and all Jerusalem with him.

When he had called together

     all the people’s chief priests and teachers of the law,

     he asked them where the Messiah was to be born.

“In Bethlehem in Judea,” they replied,

     “for this is what the prophet has written :

     “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 shepherd my people Israel.”

Then Herod called the Magi secretly

     and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared.

He sent them to Bethlehem and said,

     “Go and search carefully for the child.

      As soon as you find him, report to me,

     so that I may go and worship him.”

After they had heard the king, they went on their way,

     and the star they had seen when it rose went

     ahead of them until it stopped over the place

     where the child was.

When they saw the star, they were overjoyed.

On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary,

     and they bowed down and worshiped him.

     Then they opened their treasured and presented him with gifts of gold,

     frankincense and myrrh.

And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod,

     They returned to their country by another route

When they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream.

     “Get up,” he said, “take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt.

     Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him.”

So he got up, took the child and his mother during the night

     and left for Egypt,

where he stayed until the death of Herod.

     And so was fulfilled what the Lord had said through the prophet:

     “Out of Egypt I called my son.”

When Herod realized that he had been outwitted by the Magi,

     He was furious, and gave orders all the boys in Bethlehem

     and its vicinity who were two years old and under,

     in accordance with the time he had learned from the Magi.

Then what was said through the prophet Jeremiah was fulfilled:

     “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.

Mathew 2 : 1-18