Matthew 2:1-12 Sermon. January 3, 2021. Grace-Vail and Grace-Benson. You do something amazing, who do you tell and how? You tell your family and friends. You do it in person if possible, or with an online message or video. You describe as detailed as possible because you’re hoping for a response of joy and amazement from them. God did an amazing thing when Jesus was born into this world. Who would he tell, and how? He didn’t tell all his loved ones, that would have been everyone on the planet; instead he showed a few. He used some strange ways to communicate what had happened. A star, lots of travel, questions and research, and mystery. He only got a response of joy from a few; while he got alarm and disturbance from many. We can learn from the story of the wise men getting to baby Jesus; because God has done and continues to do amazing things for us. How does he show us, how do we respond? The story involves wise men and a star. Who are the wise men? They’re called magi. In the Bible, that’s usually not a complement. Wise men very often were pagan. They were wise in things like reading the stars to find knowledge, very superstitious people, they had wisdom and knowledge about all kinds of science and often were considered magicians because they could do things no one could explain. They were intellectual elites, today comparable to the ivy league college professors, the top of the class graduates, the successful entrepreneurs of business, seekers of wisdom who were among the most humanly wise people in the world. They were respected and wealthy. All these reasons for them to put their trust in things other than God. Yet here they showed up saying, “we want to worship this king who’s been born.” No one in Jerusalem sent for them. It seems the Jerusalem scholars and wise people hadn’t noticed the star they were talking about. They came seemingly all on their own. The star had led them. The star itself is strange and mysterious. Imagine you studied the stars and knew the constellations. Suddenly you noticed a brand new star. It behaves in ways that stars don’t usually behave. So you study it and look at it night after night trying to figure out where it came from. You travel in a direction the star seems to be leading you. Then it disappears for a while. And you wonder, where did it go, will it come back? Then one night, there it is again. The star starts moving, and it leads you to a place where the star stops and rests over a place for you to go. Wouldn’t that be incredible? Wouldn’t it be unexpected? Wouldn’t it be mysterious? That’s what happened with the wise men. It’s one of those bible stories that never happens again. The only example of stars leading people places in the Bible. None of us would expect that God would use stars to reveal information to us, but that’s exactly what he did with the wise men. How did they know about the star? Perhaps from Numbers 24:17, “I see him, but not now; I behold him, but not near. A star will come out of Jacob; a scepter will rise out of Israel.” Words that Balaam spoke while looking at Israel from a distance. Somehow the wise men might have known that obscure Scripture and put the pieces together. We don’t really know. Just like we don’t know exactly where in the east they came from; some say Mesopotamia, India, even China, we just don’t know.
So many unanswered questions. But we can recognize, this is more than a star thing, this is God reigning and leading the wise men to where he wanted them to go. It’s such an unlikely unexpected event. But none of it happened by chance. Every detail of the wise mens’ journey happened because God was in control. He was leading them to their final destination. Apply that to your life as well. None of the unique details of your life happen simply by chance. God knows your cultural background. He knows the education you’ve received, even how some of the things you’ve learned would be considered strange and pagan to Christians from other time periods. He knows all the reasons you have to trust in your resources, your knowledge, your wealth rather than him. Yet he still does remarkable and mysterious things in your life to get you moving in his direction. The big and the small of your life, God is ultimately in control of all of it and he wants to lead you to the same place as the magi, to worship in the presence of Jesus. He has the ability to use even stars if he choses, and anything else in his creation to get the job done. Instead of a star in the sky he may use ups and downs in life. Relational connections and emotional breakdowns; both can get you looking for answers. Marriage or breakup; birth or death, buying a house or losing a job, health issues, even just a movie or a story you hear; God can use them all to set you on a path like the wise men. None of them come into your experience by accident. Now the star only led the wise men to Jerusalem at first. Then they had to stop and ask for directions. Their wisdom had led them this far on the journey, but then they needed to ask for help. And where did they find their direction and help? From the Scriptures. The prophet Micah. After Herod summoned the religious experts, they pointed to Bethlehem because of what Micah had said so many years earlier. God was arranging the details of their journey, down to the behavior of this star, leading them so far but not all the way, so that they’d be forced to search the Scripture with the scholars of Jerusalem. God arranged the details of their journey so that they’d be driven to Scripture where they met Jesus first in those words before they met him personally. Their human wisdom had limits. Their desire to see the king brought them so far, but it couldn’t get them all the way. God in Scripture had to fill in what was missing. Even the wisest of our day will come to the place where their wisdom reaches its limitations. And unless we all are driven to Scripture to find the wisdom that comes from God; our wisdom will fail. No matter how wise any of us are, we need God to reveal what we could not know on our own. When they came to Jerusalem, they didn’t only encounter Scripture, they interacted with King Herod. This shows us another kind of reaction to God revealing mysteries. Herod and all Jerusalem responded with alarm. Why alarm? A new king would mean a threat to the way of life they’d established. For Herod, it meant a threat to his dynasty. It meant possibly exciting the hopes of the people and attracting attention from Rome. A new king disturbed Herod’ version of peace, threatened his power, challenged his status quo.
So he schemed to eliminate the threat. He spoke secretly to the wise men. Though Herod knew he couldn’t fool the locals; he hoped he could hide his murderous intentions to these foreigners. And it seemed to work. “Tell me when you find him so that I can worship him too.” And they left. Herod wanted to know precisely where this new king was located so that he could control or kill him. Do we ever respond to the presence of a king like Jesus in a similar way? He’s a king who threatens our status quo, challenges our versions of peace, and who could draw unwanted attention. Do we scheme to put distance between ourselves and Jesus as King and Lord? Do we secretly conceal the motives of our hearts to others and try to manipulate others? Do we try to control or even eliminate the power of God’s Word in our lives? The answer, if we’re honest, is yes. We need God to point us in the direction of the wise men to escape the divine punishment that Herod later received. Which direction did they go? To Bethlehem. Why Bethlehem? Bethlehem was the birthplace of David; the greatest king Israel ever had. Micah had said, “out of Bethlehem, the same birthplace of our greatest king, David, a leader will come to shepherd God’s people.” David was a shepherd, he was a great king. But even he made mistakes. Great mistakes. He was constantly fighting off enemies, he was tempted into sexual misconduct and murder, and it cost not only him but his nation as well. He was not the perfect shepherd. Jesus was born to be the real David. Everything that David was meant to be had arrived. Everything we desire a great king and leader to be, Jesus came to be. A king who always looked out for his people’s interest above his own. A king who was never led into sexual misconduct, never lied or used people. Instead he’s the only king who allowed himself to be lied about, mistreated, and killed so that we could live. He’s the shepherd who laid down his life for his sheep, only to take his life back up again so that the threatening wolf of death could be defeated forever. So that people like Herod who killed infants would not be able to kill anymore. So people like you and I who act like mini-Herods could be forgiven and changed and welcomed. The star led them to Jesus, the shepherd for his people. He is a shepherd you can trust and turn to and turn your life over to. God will use the stars aligning in your life to lead you to the very same place. Let’s learn from their response. They respond with joy, worship, and gifts. The star appeared again and led them to Bethlehem, and they rejoiced with an exceedingly great joy. Then they went in and what did they see? A humble mother with a young child. Such a humble scene considering the build up. Yet at that humble scene the highly respected, accomplished, wise, revered, lifelong seekers of knowledge bowed down and worshipped him. They humbled themselves in the presence of a baby. They put their faces to the ground in his presence. They worshipped him, ascribed worth and value to him. They were able to see that this boy was God. You don’t worship an ordinary king. They knew he was more than a king, God himself. Though so many others later worshipped Jesus because they saw miracles or heard him speak, the wise men didn’t see anything but a small boy. Yet they recognize, this boy is God.
They gave him their treasures. Gold, incense, and myrrh. Treasures intended to show honor and gratitude to Jesus. Whatever they knew about Messiah, all the extraordinary claims the Old Testament made about him, they were setting their hopes on this humble child. The wise men went on their way, Herod’s plans failed. Herod had everything going for him to ensure that this Messiah baby would be eliminated. He played his hands perfectly. But God held the trump card. It only took a dream visit of his angel, and Herod’s plan failed. Have you ever considered just how fragile God’s plan of salvation actually is? Especially as the Messiah on whom the salvation of the entire human race depends lived as a tiny baby. More than 8 days, less that 2 years old. How many things can go wrong for an infant like that? Yet God made sure that it would not happen so that the Messiah’s mission would be successful. Messiah’s mission has been successful. We still live in such a world where even God’s rescue plan and people’s desire to enjoy it finds resistance from powers that be, including human hearts of stubbornness and rebellion. God still sends the real David into such a world as this. He sends him humbly, and reveals mysteries to people. So, seek him, worship him, give gifts to him, follow his promptings. How can you have the same reaction to Jesus? Consider one other place where wise men are mentioned in the Bible is 1 Cor 1. “Where is the wise man? Where is the scholar? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? 21 For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe. 22 Jews demand signs and Greeks look for wisdom, 23 but we preach Christ crucified.” When you see Christ as your Savior, come to be crucified for you, when you see him as the one who has died but lives to tell about it, then you will be filled with joy. Then you’ll humbly worship and ascribe great value to him. Then you’ll desire to give your best to him. What leads you to see God doing things in the world, to see him birthing new and great things? What are your stars? When do you rejoice with exceeding joy over such things? How has God been at work arranging the details of your life to ensure that you with all your wisdom are driven to his Word, are shown that his Messiah has been successful, and he is now making sure you hear him and believe? In all kinds of ways unknown to you and I, God sends his angels to send you on your way and cause all the plans of the evil one to fail to harm you. Like the details of these wise men, the details of your life are all a result of God reigning in order to show you this Savior, rejected by most, believed by some from every nation tribe people and language, and God desires that you would be one who sees Jesus and goes to him, no matter what the distance how long the journey, that you would go and see him and find exceedingly great joy, that you would bow down and worship him and lay your treasures at his feet. All to his glory and your salvation. Amen.