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Matthew 2
The Magi Visit the Messiah
1After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magifrom the east came to Jerusalem 2 and asked, "Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him."
3When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him. 4 When he had called together all the people's chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Messiah was to be born. 5 "In Bethlehem in Judea,"they replied, "for this is what the prophet has written...
7Then Herod called the Magi secretly and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared. 8 He sent them to Bethlehem and said, "Go and search carefully for the child. As soon as you find him, report to me, so that I too may go and worship him."
9After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen when it rose went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. 10 When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. 11On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. 12 And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route.
While technically we're still in Advent and the birth of Christ has not yet arrived, I want to go ahead and look at key Christmas texts as we continue to sincerely and prayerfully contemplate the place of the Christ in our lives. So for these days leading up to this Sunday and for the days of the week following we will look at particular scenes and characters. Today we look at the Wise Men, the Magi.
According to biblical historians, the Wise Men made a significant commitment to find the Christ child and to worship him. That commitment wasn't primarily in the expensive gifts they brought him. No, the real commitment they made was the journey itself.
Do you realize how far they traveled and how long it took? Most scholars believe that they traveled somewhere between 1000 and 1500 miles to reach the Christ child. Traveling by camel over tough and treacherous terrain, it may have taken them as long as two years to make that journey following that star from Persia to Bethlehem. Their true gift to the Christ child was not the expensive gifts but the journey itself.
How about you? How about me? What about our level of commitment to Christ?
I've shared before the thoughtful perspective of Danish theologian Soren Kierkegaard on what it means to follow Christ; where he talks about the difference between admirers and followers.
What then is the difference between an admirer and a follower? A follower strives to be what he admires. An admirer, however, keeps himself personally detached. He fails to see that what is admired involves a claim upon him, and thus he fails to be or strive to be what he admires.
Admirers appreciate Jesus, may even worship him in word and song, but aren't necessarily willing to work at following him; that is, taking his life and teachings seriously. How about you? How about me?
In these days toward Christmas day may we each do sincere spiritual inventory of our level of commitment to the one who awaits not just our praise and adoration but our hearts and our lives!
A Special Opportunity - The Advent Prayer Stations, December 18-25 - Fellowship Hall
There are seven stations that move through the Christmas story from the angel visiting Mary through the wise men visiting the Christ child. Each station is designed to cause us to think of the story in a new way. The stations are also designed to be fairly interactive, and families are encouraged to experience them together.
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