Wrap-Up

What took you by surprise in this lesson? Was it the Old Testament echoes of Israel and Egypt and the royal decree to kill the Hebrew babies? Was it the geopolitical background in Rome and Jerusalem? Was it the way divinity and royalty are starting to mix in the Roman Empire … and how that made Jesus a threat?

We’ll continue to look closely at the Text, searching for intertextual links, and making connections to the background context—and to our context here and now. The next stop will take us to the desert where some pretty big expectations for a Messiah are brewing.