Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

¹⁰ Everything was made for God and by God. It seemed good to him that Jesus' life should be made complete, by going through the hard things that happened to him. This was because Jesus leads many people to heaven as God's children. And he is the one who saves them.

¹¹ Jesus, who makes people holy, and those who are made holy, all have one Father in heaven. That is why Jesus is not ashamed to call them his brothers.

¹² He said, `I will tell my brothers about you. I will sing praise about you among those who gather together for worship.'

¹³ He also said, `I will trust God.' And again, `Here am I and the children God has given to me.'

¹⁴ God's children all have a body. That is why Jesus himself had the same. But because Jesus also had a body, he was able to die and stop the devil. The devil has power to make people die. But Jesus, by his own death, was able to stop the power of death.

¹⁵ People were afraid to die. All their lives they were like slaves. When Jesus died, he was able to set them free from their fear.

¹⁶ Jesus did not come to help angels. He came to help people who were born in Abraham's family.

¹⁷ So he had to be made like his brothers in every way. Then he could be a high priest to make a way to God for them, a priest who was kind and true. He could make it possible for God to forgive people for the wrong things they had done.

¹⁸ He had a very hard time when he was tested. But because he was tested, he is able to help people who are tested.

¹³ After the wise men had gone, Joseph had a dream. An angel of the Lord came to him and said, `Get up. Take the child and his mother, and go quickly to the country of Egypt. Stay there till I tell you, because Herod will try to find the child and kill him.'

¹⁴ Joseph woke up. He took the child and his mother in the night and went to Egypt.

¹⁵ He stayed there until Herod died. What the Lord told through his prophet long ago, came true. He said `I called my son out of Egypt.'

¹⁶ Herod saw that the wise men had fooled him. He was very angry. He sent men to kill all the baby boys in the town of Bethlehem and around it. They killed all the boys who were two years old or less. Herod remembered what the wise men had told him about the time they first saw the star.

¹⁷ So what the prophet Jeremiah said, came true.

¹⁸ He said, `A voice could be heard in the town of Ramah. Rachel was crying for her children. She would not let anyone comfort her because her children were dead.'

¹⁹ Herod died. Then Joseph had a dream. An angel of the Lord came to him in Egypt.

²⁰ The angel said, `Get up. Take the child and his mother and go to the country of Israel. The men who wanted to kill the child are dead.'

²¹ Joseph woke up. He took the child and his mother and went to the country of Israel.

²² But he heard that Archelaus was king of Judea in his father Herod's place. So he was afraid to go there. In a dream he was told what to do. He went to the country of Galilee.

²³ He went and made his home in the town of Nazareth. The prophets of God long ago had said, `He shall be called a man from Nazareth.' What they said came true.