St. Matthew moves from the telling of the return of Joseph, Mary and young Jesus from Egypt right into the baptizing of Jesus by John the Baptist. No mention of the trip to Jerusalem when Jesus stayed behind to debate with the temple leaders and his parents thought He was lost. Jesus’s childhood is lost to legend and speculation, much to my unsatisfied imagination.

Several norms of Jewish society are disregarded in St. Matthew’s telling. It is significant that the Angel sends Mary Magdalene and “the other Mary” to tell the disciples that Jesus is alive and will meet them in Galilee. .  These 2 women were entrusted with this bombshell, this radical news that Jesus was no longer dead but was ALIVE!  God through the Angel trusted WOMEN with this startling news even as the Jewish legal system did not allow any woman to be a witness for anything.