Fuga in Aegyptium et reditus

What a contrast between Matthew and Luke! Luke writes of the consolation of Israel and the ingathering of the nations. Matthew includes the death of a few children in an obscure village and the mother in Israel weeping. Consolation has arrived for Luke, but not for Matthew.

The brutality of Gaius’ father was redeemed by the tenderness of the son; his grasping by the slave-child’s inheritance. This is not retribution but redemption and that over four generations. The fear of the assembly today is a reaction to the libertine nature of New Corinth. They would be better to fear their own forgetfulness. Fear as covering is temporary. As far removed from spirit as the human can be, so also the anointing goes to extremes to bring the children home.