Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the east came to Jerusalem, 2 saying, “Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.” 3 When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him; 4 and assembling all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born. 5 They told him, “In Bethlehem of Judea, for so it is written by the prophet:
6 “‘And you, O Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,
are by no means least among the rulers of Judah;
for from you shall come a ruler
who will shepherd my people Israel.’”
7 Then Herod summoned the wise men secretly and ascertained from them what time the star had appeared. 8 And he sent them to Bethlehem, saying, “Go and search diligently for the child, and when you have found him, bring me word, that I too may come and worship him.” 9 After listening to the king, they went on their way. And behold, the star that they had seen when it rose went before them until it came to rest over the place where the child was. 10 When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy. 11 And going into the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother, and they fell down and worshiped him. Then, opening their treasures, they offered him gifts, gold and frankincense and myrrh. 12 And being warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they departed to their own country by another way.
In the early 17th century, the Anglican Bishop Lancelot Andrews, who was one of the translators of the King James Bible, preached Christmas sermons to the royal court for 19 years in a row. This would have meant that he preached to James the I, the King, who commissioned what we call the King James Bible.
The sermons that Andrews preached would not interest modern readers, they are, by our standards, a bit dry and full of lengthy arguments and a lot of Latin and Greek words and phrases. But there is an excerpt from one of these sermons that is quite interesting. In this one sermon Andrews brings up the Magi and commends them and their quick, unquestioned allegiance to the Word the Lord sent them, calling his listeners to the same full and quick obedience, said this:
“And what would we have done? For certainly these wise men from the east will rise up in judgment of us, that is, in judgment against us and their faith against our so-called faith. With them it was, “we saw and we came”. With us…our fashion is to see and see and then question and see again before we stir a foot, especially if it be only to the word of Christ.
Take a journey at such a time of year as this? No. We would have put it off to the spring of year when the days are longer and the ways more fair, and the weather warmer…Our Christmas would surely have fallen in Easter week at the soonest.”
I cannot help but wonder what King James thought of being called out by this, this, preacher! But Andrews brings up a good point, does he not? Are we, are you and I willing…no not just willing, do we desire, do we want, are we prepared to drop everything at the first sign of the presence of Jesus and go to Him…worship Him…obey Him?
Are you one who can hardly wait to lay down the gift of your own life, your desires, your wants, your dreams…to lay them all down at His feet, only that you might worship your King? Will we, like those wise men, make our worship and adoration, our homage and devotion to Christ Jesus THE principle business of our lives regardless of what it might cost us in the eyes of men?
There is but one true and right response to the incarnation, to the historical fact of God becoming man and it is the response of these Magi. Immediate obedience, prepared readiness to follow God’s directions regardless of what they are and what others might think of you for doing so…and what did they get for all their trouble? What will you get for all of yours?
They got to worship the King…they got to bow before the Lord of glory and give him gifts and praise…You say, that’s it, that is all they got? Brother, sister, that is all they wanted. God is said to seek those who worship in spirit and truth, it is the only thing in all of the Bible that tells us what God might seek! God has taken sinners and made of us, worshipers. The incarnation, the birth of Christ, if we understand it at all, works in us a driving, unrelenting must…to worship our God.
Compare that to what we see all around us in our day. For the wise men, it was all about Jesus, today, it is all about me…even when it comes to worship. The wise men of our day might not have gone to find Jesus at all…might have expected that He and his mother and Joseph would come to them!
As you know there is a tremendous amount of pressure today to, quote: make the Gospel relevant. I saw it on a church advertisement: come to our church; we are relevant. Typically what is meant is that the church must do all that it can to address the felt needs that those outside the church say they have so that they will want to come inside the church.
So, everything is constructed in such a way as to touch upon whatever folks think needs to be touched upon. Programs are developed in the church to provide responses to these felt needs and are marketed in such a way as to make them desirable and better than what the non-Christians might be doing. We have everything that ‘they’ have, every program you find out there, we will match and put a Jesus fish on the brochure or the door, or our tee-shirt.
The church is busy listening to what people want and never stirring the pot…but then complaining about having to go to worship…not wanting to go to worship…skipping worship when something better comes along and something better comes along quite often.
I think the wise men help us to fix this confusion. Don’t you think that the celebrations of Christmas would take on a different look, if Christians in the CHURCH made it first and foremost, a celebration of worship?
You see, the difference is not that some people make a show of piety and some do not, for the theologians in the birth narrative made a great show of piety. It is not that some do great works for the house of God for Herod had done that, magnificently remodeling and enlarging the temple during his reign. The difference is certainly not that some families have deep roots in the history of the church, for the theologians had that.
The Gentile Magi did not have any of those things. They were strangers, people the Jews would have looked down upon both for being Gentiles and for their silly and profane occupation. Nor is the difference that some seem well disposed to God and others hateful toward him.
What distinguishes these people is that when the Word of God came to the Magi, came to these non-Jews, they believed it and believing it, they acted upon it even though the actions required were difficult, demanding and may have brought ridicule upon them, they were going to worship the Christ regardless of the cost.
And THAT is still the difference today. It is not a difference of IQ or personality or of personal background, it is not a cultural difference or one of economic class. It is a matter of faith and of what faith produces, a life that acts upon the Word of God with joy and gladness and that bows before Jesus in a life of worship to Him.
All over the world, all over the entire world, humble men and women, humble fathers and mothers with their children, bow in overwhelming joy and adoration to worship God who became man…God who was rich but for our sakes became poor.
All over the world there is worship, worship of the king of Kings, and for many it comes at great expense, great cost, saying no to much that is held out to them by the world, and yes, we have brothers and sisters who just for the act of gathering to worship put their lives in jeopardy.
But brothers and sisters, the cost for a true following of Jesus, a true, uncompromised worshipping of the King, is mounting for us as well…the wind is blowing. And what do we get for it all, what do we get for the ridicule, the name-calling, the cultural rejections as well as the mocking from other professing Christians that come with a true love for Jesus? We get to give ourselves to the King…we get to worship Him.
And when others say, that’s it, that’s all you get? Then you can answer as the wise men would have: Oh, my friend…to love and bow before Jesus? That is all I want.
Prayer: Father, I know that the path to joy, peace and true happiness is only found in a full and uncompromised commitment to You and Your Son. And yet, I find within myself a pull toward the things of this world and the false peace they offer. Help me to have my wits, so I may see clearly, choose clearly and therefore love you in my actions as well as my mind, through Jesus Christ my Lord, Amen.
Hymn: I Saw Three Ships on Christmas Day