2026 Reading Plan Reflections - Day 3

I'm reminded again today how Matthew keeps us tethered to the Old Testament story. He doesn’t tell the story of Jesus in isolation. He tells it as fulfillment. Promise and purpose are woven into every scene, every journey, every dream.
From the opening verses of Jesus’ childhood, Matthew reminds us that God’s plan is not improvised or reactionary. It is unfolding—carefully, faithfully, and intentionally—just as it always has. The prophets spoke. God promised. And now, in the birth of a child in Bethlehem, those promises are taking flesh.
What stands out in this chapter isn’t spectacle; it’s obedience.

 Joseph never speaks a word in Matthew’s Gospel, but he listens. Again and again, God speaks to him in dreams, and again and again, Joseph responds without delay. He takes Mary as his wife. He names the child Jesus. He flees to Egypt in the night. He returns when it is safe. He settles where God directs.
This is not blind obedience; it is faithful attentiveness. Joseph does not have the whole picture. He doesn’t know how the story will end. But he trusts the God who is writing it.
From a Wesleyan perspective, this matters. Grace is always at work ahead of us—what we know as prevenient grace—preparing hearts, opening paths, nudging us toward God’s will. Joseph responds to that grace with obedience, not perfection, not heroics, just faithful action.

 Then there are the magi.
They are outsiders—foreigners, scholars, seekers—yet they are among the first to recognize that something new and holy is happening. They follow the light they are given, even when it leads them far from home and into uncertainty.
And when God warns them in a dream not to return to Herod, they obey. They choose God’s way over political convenience. They take a different road home.
This is obedience shaped by discernment. God meets them where they are, speaks in ways they can hear, and invites them into the story of salvation. Their gifts are acts of worship, but their obedience is an act of trust.

Matthew 2 reminds us that God works not only in grand proclamations but in quiet decisions: a journey taken, a warning heeded, a road avoided, a child protected. Nothing is wasted. Nothing is random.
God is in the details.
And more than that, God invites us into the details.
God does not redeem the world apart from us; God redeems the world with us. We are not spectators to grace—we are participants in it. Our obedience, empowered by grace, becomes a means through which God’s love reaches others.

We may not receive angelic dreams or follow a literal star, but the invitation remains the same: listen, trust, and obey. Pay attention to where God is already at work. Take the next faithful step, even when the whole road is unclear.
Matthew tells us that from the very beginning, God’s plan is moving forward—and ordinary people are invited to play a part in it.
That hasn’t changed.
God is still in the details.
God is still drawing people by grace.
And we are still invited to participate in the redeeming work of God—one faithful step at a time.