Bible Readings - Dec. 28, 2024

Reading 1

1 John 1:5—2:2

This is the message that we have heard from Jesus Christ

and proclaim to you:

God is light, and in him there is no darkness at all.

If we say, "We have fellowship with him,"

while we continue to walk in darkness,

we lie and do not act in truth.

But if we walk in the light as he is in the light,

then we have fellowship with one another,

and the Blood of his Son Jesus cleanses us from all sin.

If we say, "We are without sin,"

we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.

If we acknowledge our sins, he is faithful and just

and will forgive our sins and cleanse us from every wrongdoing.

If we say, "We have not sinned," we make him a liar,

and his word is not in us.

My children, I am writing this to you

so that you may not commit sin.

But if anyone does sin, we have an Advocate with the Father,

Jesus Christ the righteous one.

He is expiation for our sins,

and not for our sins only but for those of the whole world.

Psalm 124:2-5, 7cd-8

Had not the LORD been with us—

When men rose up against us,

then would they have swallowed us alive,

When their fury was inflamed against us.

Then would the waters have overwhelmed us;

The torrent would have swept over us;

over us then would have swept the raging waters.

Broken was the snare,

and we were freed.

Our help is in the name of the LORD,

who made heaven and earth.

Gospel

Matthew 2:13-23

When the magi had departed, behold,

the angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said,

"Rise, take the child and his mother, flee to Egypt,

and stay there until I tell you.

Herod is going to search for the child to destroy him."

Joseph rose and took the child and his mother by night

and departed for Egypt.

He stayed there until the death of Herod,

that what the Lord had said through the prophet might be fulfilled,

Out of Egypt I called my son.

When Herod realized that he had been deceived by the magi,

he became furious.

He ordered the massacre of all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity

two years old and under,

in accordance with the time he had ascertained from the magi.

Then was fulfilled what had been said through Jeremiah the prophet:

A voice was heard in Ramah,

sobbing and loud lamentation;

Rachel weeping for her children,

and she would not be consoled,

since they were no more.

When Herod had died, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared

in a dream to Joseph in Egypt and said, “Rise, take the child

and his mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who sought

the child’s life are dead.”

He rose, took the child and his mother, and went to the land of Israel.

But when he heard that Archelaus was ruling over Judea

in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go back there.

And because he had been warned in a dream, he departed

for the region of Galilee.

He went and dwelt in a town called Nazareth, so that

what had been spoken through the prophets might be fulfilled,

“He shall be called a Nazorean.”