The Light Has Come: Witnesses to Peace: The Magi

Pastor Fletcher preaches from Matthew 2:1-12 about the wise men who came to visit baby Jesus. Discussion points: The Magi may have been similar in training to the wise men or astrologers from Daniel’s time, Jesus is a threat to our love of worldly things, the Magi were overjoyed to see and experience Jesus.

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  Scripture reader: [Matthew 2:1-12] 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, saying, Where is he who has been born the king of the Jews? For we saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him. When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled and all Jerusalem with him, and assembling all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born.

  They told him in Bethlehem of Judea, for so it is written by the prophet. And you, oh Bethlehem, in the land of Judah are by no means least of the rulers of Judah, for from you shall come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel. Then Herod summoned the wise men secretly and ascertained from them what time the star had appeared, 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.

  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. When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy, 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. And being warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they departed to their own country by another way.

  This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.

  Preacher: Good morning. my name is Fletcher. It's a joy to be with you this morning. I'm the lead pastor of the church, and, today is the 3rd Sunday of Advent as we've been. talking about all morning and celebrating, we're doing a short series right now called The Light Has Come Witnesses to the Birth of Christ. Last week we discussed the, shepherds and how they were witnesses to the birth of Christ and the angels came and declared to them the, that there was a child that was born. And so they went and met the new child, our our Lord Jesus, and today we get to look at another staple of nativity scenes all over the world, which is the wise men.

  I know when we think about the wise men, we think about these guys, they, they're usually wearing, fancy robes and they're bent down at the manger. Many of you probably had nativity scenes like this growing up. Some of you probably still have them. And as is tradition at City on a hill around the Christmas Advent season, I'm here to ruin all of your nativity scenes. Because that is not actually how the Bible describes the wise men whatsoever. In fact, as we read the wise men, as we'll see as we learn about them more, what we're going to find is that they probably did not see Jesus as an infant. It, it could have been up to 2 years later when the wise men finally found their way to Jesus. And so your nativity scenes are wrong. I'm sorry. They're still cute though, you can keep them. I mean, I'm not telling you to throw anything away, but they're, but they're wrong.

  So, you know, we called the series witnesses to the birth of Christ. That seems wrong also, you know, like if we're saying that they didn't get there until 2 years later, they weren't necessarily witnesses to the birth of Christ. It's like more witnesses to the childhood of Jesus or what I really wish we could just rename the whole series to like destroying the nativity scene. That would be a good, name for it.

  So who are these wise men and why does that matter to us today? That's, I just wanna walk through the passage and talk about the wise men and what They are, and what they're doing, what is their role here in this story? So let's look at verse one, would we? Verse one, now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, and the in the days of King Herod the King, behold, wise men from the east came to Jerusalem. Now we sing a song we sang it this morning. I requested that we sing it this morning, OK? Because we three kings of Orient are. We've heard this song before, no? this is a famous Christmas carol, and again, as we are destroying nativity scenes, there is no Christmas tradition left untouched.

  We will also destroy the song because almost every single word in that song is wrong. We three kings of Orient are there. We have no idea how many of them there were. They certainly were not kings, and what we think of Orient is not where they were coming from. So what are we left with? We are. That's it. So, 3, the reason why that we say that there are 3 oftentimes is because these wise men, they give their gifts to Jesus and how many gifts do they have but 3. And so the tradition goes that there's 3 of them. But nowhere does it say actually how many of them there are. There could have been dozens, there could have been 2. We have no idea how many of these wise men that there are. They are certainly not kings. The scripture does not describe them as kings. The word is not king that we come to in this passage.

  In fact, the word wise men probably isn't even the best word for them either, even though that's how the English standard version translates the word into wise men. I mean, what is a wise man? Have you ever considered this? Like you're explaining the nativity scene to a child and like, who are these guys? Those are the wise men, honey. OK. You're like, what's their job? What are they doing? What's a wise man? How do I apply? A wise man in the Greek, the original word was Magloi, which is, magi. We get the word magi from it. So it's more to be translated. I love the way that Eugene Peterson translates it. he says that it's a band of scholars, and we'll talk more about what that means in just a minute and where these guys came from, but I don't know where the idea of kings came from. It's in no Bible translation that I could find. but we'll get to it.

  Third, orient is misleading, OK? Orient is the word orient actually means east. So, They did come from the east, which is accurate, but in our modern sensibilities we see Orient as an outdated way of talking about an Asian person. And so how many children thought about we three kings of Orient are and just imagined three Asian kings coming to visit Jesus. Many, I'm sure, but it's misleading because it's not actually, they're not from Far East Asia. OK, these men are probably from much closer to Jerusalem than Eastern Asia.

  So who are the wise men? The word magi, it comes from Persia and it's used to refer to interpreters of astrological signs and dreams. Which you know, if we think about this for just a minute we've been going through a series and these guys should sound kind of familiar, right? Because before we started doing our Advent series we were going through a series on Daniel and and Daniel we have some astrologers and dream interpreters who keep on popping up, right? these guys that Nebuchadnezzar keeps on calling to translate to to interpret his dream. And they are described in the Greek version of Daniel as magi, so that is the only other place in the scripture that I know of where magi are described.

  And so I love the theory we don't really know where they come from, but I love the theory of these are the same. Not the exact same scholars, not the same people that saw Daniel, that was 500 years earlier, OK? But from the same line of school, same school. We have these magi coming from Babylon. And which would be also appropriate since Babylon is constantly described as to the east of Israel. So we don't really know exactly where they're from, but I love the idea of the same school of of learned scholars coming from Babylon over to visit baby Jesus to give God all of the glory there. Matthew also constantly alludes to Daniel, and so it would totally make sense for that to happen.

  But basically Magi are ancient scholars and dignitaries. We see other extra biblical accounts of Magi visiting other kings or emperors as they're being inaugurated. You see them visit King the Emperor Nero from, from, Rome. And so, what they saw. And they interpreted they saw this sign and they interpreted it as a they saw this star and they interpreted it as a sign that the new king of Israel was born so they made the trek.

  Now it's really interesting how they would have made that trek because most scholars agree that the trek to visit Jesus probably would have taken weeks if not months, and it probably would have taken them up to 2 years since Herod is saying, hey, kill all, later in the passage, Herod says kill all the children 2 years and under. And so it's possible that it could have taken up to 2 years for them to get there. They must have been quite. Convinced that this was the king of Israel that was being born.

  Let's look at verse 2. It says, so verse 1, 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. Verse 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. This star must have been quite convincing to the magi to make that trek all the way across the ancient Near East. To see a child that was just born. I mean, they loaded up their camels, great sacrifice. They loaded up their donkeys, made the trek weeks at a time, and they eventually ended up at Harrod's palace. You don't just do that. You don't just go to a foreign king and say, hey, where's the new king that's been born? Unless you're 100% convinced that what you saw was accurate.

  Now there's a few things here. First, the Magi must have been familiar with the Old Testament prophecies because they're interpreting these Old Testament prophecies and looking for signs in the stars, and they are people that study the stars, we know that, but we also know that they must be familiar.

  We also know that they have to be quite convinced that what they saw is accurate to the stars and to what they see described in the prophecies. I don't know about you, but I it I require 37 different reviews on Google. Before I'll even make the trek down the street to try new tacos, OK? I don't know what they saw in the, in the stars that night, but it must have been pretty convincing, more convincing than like a best of Yelp sticker that they might put in the window. These guys. Very convinced that Jesus was the king.

  Now, this star, I've never actually thought about this star. I'm not the type of guy who really like analyzes this type of thing very in depth unless I have to teach on it because then I know that some of you. Thinking about this, like, what's going on with the star, right? Did the new star just appear? Did God just create a temporary star and track it throughout the cosmos? Wouldn't that throw some things off? I'm not like an astrologist, but I. Think that that sounds a little crazy, that there would just be a new star to appear.

  So what is going on with the star? Some people think that it may have just been an angel. Some people think that God temporarily suspended the laws of physics to create a star to move around and hover over the home of Jesus. More recently, I saw a good theory. I won't spend too long on this. I just think it's an interesting point, but I saw a really good theory, put together in a book written by a Cambridge PhD, so it's not like some quack out there, OK, on the internet, but a book, that was published, it's like 500 pages long and it's called The Great Christ Comment revealing the True Star of Bethlehem.

  And this author puts together a great defense for the star of Bethlehem actually being a comet, which would make sense because it moves more like a comet might move throughout the sky and then it says that it can't comes to rest above the home of Jesus and that it's pointing to the home which the only way that you can think about a star pointing is if it has a tail. And so we think about a comet having a tail and so I don't know if that theory is true or not. I love the idea of that theory. I also love the idea of us putting the wrong thing on top of our Christmas trees because I'm here to destroy all of your Christmas traditions. We should be putting comets on top of these Christmas trees here.

  Whatever it was, whether it was supernatural, common or something else, the important thing is that God used it to convincingly fulfill the prophecies and to draw the magi to Jesus. Verse 3. When Herod, the king heard this, he was troubled in all Jerusalem with him. Now that's interesting, is it not? That when King Herod heard it, he was troubled. Why would he be troubled? Shouldn't he be glad? The Messiah has come, the one that they've been waiting upon for. Years and years and years he's come.

  Why is Herod troubled? That's what you would think, that he would be glad. But that's because we don't know Herod. Herod was king of the at the time in Israel, but he didn't have absolute authority. So Herod is what we call a client ruler. Of Rome, meaning that Rome was still in charge, but that he got to reign as king. And so at this point, Herod was near the end of his life, and we know from extra biblical writings that Herod had grown increasingly paranoid as he had gotten older. So Herod was known as someone who would put people to death if they posed a threat to him. So there's record of Herod putting putting to death his own sons, his own wives. He's putting to death many people around him, which is why Caesar Augustus famously quipped that he would rather be Herod's pig than be Herod's son, which in Greek those two words rhyme, so it's way punnier in Greek, but still funny.

  Herod sees the fulfillment of the prophecies, and he's troubled because he sees Jesus as a threat to his power and to his rule. If there is a Messiah, if the Messiah has come. And he has been born, then he is the true king of Israel and that means Herod's days are numbered so he allows his paranoia to drive him into a murderous rage where he just wants to kill a lot of children. Verse 7. Then Herod summoned the wise men secretly and ascertained from them what time the star had appeared. And he said, and he sent them to Bethlehem saying, go and search diligently for the child. And when you found him, bring me word that I may come and worship him. Then quick look to the executioner, wink, wink, "worship him".

  And that's what they did. The magi went and found Jesus, but before they could return, they were warned in a dream not to return to Herod, so they went home. And then verse 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. When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy.

  Herod sees Jesus as a threat To his rule, to his power. But how did the magi see Jesus? But they see Jesus as a source of exceeding joy. Which leads us to the big question for us today. How do you see Jesus? Do you see Jesus like Herod as a threat? To your life, or do you see Jesus like the magi? As a source of exceedingly abundant joy.

  Jesus is a threat for many people, and you might not think of him as a threat in the same way that the magi thought of Jesus, or as Herod thought of Jesus as a threat. But Jesus is a threat. If your worth is found in the things of this world. Because Jesus says that the things of this world will not last, but only the kingdom of heaven will last. Jesus is a threat. To the self-righteous, to those who feel like they have accomplished enough to prove themselves before God. Because Jesus says that only he can prove sinners right before God. Jesus is a threat to the accomplice, to those who have many accolades, because God calls us to find our worth and what Christ has done for us and not what we have done for ourselves.

  Jesus is a threat for those with material wealth. Because Jesus calls his followers to generously share with one another and with the poor. Jesus is a threat to those who are comfortable. Because he calls us to sacrifice. Jesus is a threat if you think you have life all figured out, if you don't need help, because he invites his followers to see the world from God's perspective and to see that we don't have it all figured out, but that God cares for us.

  But at the same time, if you are at the end of your wits. If you are burnt out and in need of rest. If you are lowly, grieving, and longing for comfort. If you are burdened by guilt and desperate for forgiveness. If you feel lost and searching for purpose, if you're lonely and in need of a friend. If you're tired of the hustle and ready to receive grace. If you're disillusioned by what this world has to offer and looking for hope. If you're spiritually hungry. And willing to be humbled, then Jesus is a joy.

  You see, church, we have a choice to see either Jesus as a threat to the kingdom and the world that we have built for ourselves, or to see Jesus as joy that he has built a kingdom for us and we get to be a part of it. Herod chose paranoid delusions of autonomy, apart from God. He sought the good life apart from anything that God can offer. This spun him into this murderous obsession, and this is like movie villain kind of stuff. In fact, I think they did make a, make him into a movie villain recently. I'm sure it didn't start with that. I'm sure he just got into the position of power and decided he wanted to keep it and started making small decisions to keep himself in the position of power and the small decisions spun out into the madness that we see described in Matthew chapter 2.

  The magi, on the other hand, chose to follow the star and to find true joy. Verse 10. When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy. This isn't a polite or casual excitement. It's not fake, they're filled. It says that they're filled with joy, they're overabundantly enjoying what they have found. A joy that grips the heart and refuses to let go. That's what they experienced.

  It reminds me of the parable of Jesus in Matthew, that we read in chapter 13. The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in a field. Have you heard this one? It's a one line parable. It's my favorite kind. the kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy, he goes and sells all that he has. And buys that field. Do you see what's happening here? A man stumbles upon something in a parcel that's for sale. And he doesn't have to count the cost. He knows what he's found. He goes instantly, he says, I need to sell whatever I can sell all that I have so that I can buy that parcel so that I can have that treasure because it is of infinite more worth than all the things that I have.

  This is the kingdom of God. When we find Jesus, we see it, we rejoice with a joy that is exceedingly abundant, and we're willing to give up all that we have so that we can experience more of that joy. For the magi, it was worth it to leave their homes, to cross the desert, to give up weeks if not months of their life, just to bow before this child to lay gifts at his feet of frankincense, gold, and myrrh. When you see Jesus as he truly is, as they did as the fulfillment to the prophecies, as the king of the universe as the Messiah who has come to rescue his people as one who loves sinners like you and I. You are willing to bow low and to receive the joy that he has to give. Recognizing that all you have will suddenly grow strangely dim. And all you have, all you need is Jesus.

  When was the last time you felt this kind of joy in meeting with Christ? If you're a Christian here today, when was the last time you felt this kind of joy in meeting with Christ? How do you get there again? I'm not talking about the satisfaction of checking a passage of a Bible reading plan. But I'm talking about the soul stirring joy of being loved by God Himself. Maybe it was in a moment of prayer when the weight of the world was lifted. Maybe it was in a kind or prophetic word. Maybe it was while you were reading your scripture one day.

  I'll tell you for me, one time recently, at the retreat just, you know, 6 weeks ago or so, a month and a half, we were at a church-wide retreat and, I was there and enjoying myself, but it was a busy time. I forced myself to go to the retreat. I really didn't. I wanted to go, but Megan and I were out of town leading up to that. We flew in the day before the retreat or the day of the retreat. I flew in with the kids by myself. I have an 11 year old, an eight year old, and a 4 year old flying. it's not the easiest thing on the planet with 3 children by yourself, OK? I'm usually very dependent upon my wife, when doing all of that.

  So I flew in by myself with the kids and then we loaded up the car the next day and drove up to the retreat in early in the morning. So I was like a little at my wits end and not only that, but I feel a lot of pressure in my life. I'm like the type of guy that is maybe a little bit too tightly wound at times. I, take on a lot of responsibility for myself first children, you know, let's let's unite here. I just feel more responsibility than what I should, uh, for things, and I just kind of bear the weight of it all, so. You know, obviously I should find myself in a position where I'm the pastor of a church that's growing and has a lot. I feel a lot of responsibility for everything that happens here and for my family. I've got a lot of, I want my kids to like really feel and know how much they are loved. And so I just feel pressure all the time. I just never feel like I have enough. I never feel like I have enough margin to give.

  I wish I could be there like a, like a family member, and I really feel the demand to be a spiritual father to so many people. And as someone like I'm in my late 30s, I'm like older than a lot of people here. I just feel the need to to be that spiritual father for like everyone, and I just feel so limited. Oh my gosh, cause I, it's just time, there's only so much, you know, and like I'm kinda introverted. Anyways, I'm not trying to go into everything about me.

  A friend, a member here actually, came up to me at the retreat and said, hey, I, I think I have a word for you, and if it's from the Lord, that'd be great. I'm, I'm not sure, but I was praying and, you know, I was praying, expressing a little disappointment to the Lord about your availability for me. I was like, oh. Like, like that's the worst thing ever. And, and I just heard the Lord say really clearly to me. Stop. The Lord confronted me in that moment. And said, Fletcher has Jesus. He has everything that he needs to do the work that I've given him. And it was like a warm hug from the Lord. It was it it I don't know if it was like directly from the the Lord there or not, but it felt like it was. Something I needed to hear.

  Just the joy of knowing that I'm loved despite my limitations, despite the fact that I'm not able to be everything for everyone, but I'm not Jesus, I'm not supposed to be, right? But I want to be, but that's my own issue, you know, and that's when, when Jesus is a threat to my life and to my role is when I want to be him. You see, like, if I want to be Jesus, then I'm saying Jesus, you take the back seat, let me take the front seat here. Let me drive the car for a little while. Let me be in charge. Let me get the glory of helping people with their lives. But that's not my job. You see, it's Jesus's job to to help you with your life. And I'm merely here to point you in that direction. Hence, I have everything I need, right?

  What might it look like for you to experience the joy of Jesus again? Well, I think it might take a little personal reflection. I think you might need to see. What you actually need from him at the moment. You might need to take a moment. And put down your phone and contemplate. What am I looking for? If Jesus were to show up in the sky, in my life, what would he even have to do to get my attention? Or have I just filled my life so much with noise that I can't hear from him anymore or ever.

  Maybe you should just go for a quiet walk or sit down with a cup of tea, pour out your heart to the Lord and speak with him. Open your Bible and listen for his voice, connect with a friend, and here's a really scary thought. Say, what do you think the Lord needs to say to me? Wow, that takes courage. That takes courage. If you were to say, really, I want to hear whatever you think the Lord needs to say to me, give it to me. You might want to pray about what friend did you go to before that happens.

  Maybe there's something that you have to surrender that's making Jesus more of a threat than a joy in your life. Whatever it is, seek the joy of Christ, like the first time. Let me, let me end with this. How did Jesus originally draw you? How did he draw you to himself? For me in high school it was through a weird set of circumstances. It wasn't like I was drawn to Jesus initially. I started going to church because there was a girl that I was interested in at church. I struck out with the girl, but you know, I ended up becoming Christian and learning about who Jesus is. And so it was definitely a better situation for me. I actually won in that.

  But for others, I don't know what brought you to Jesus for the first time. Or maybe you're here today and you're here for a reason. Maybe this is the first time that you're like, man, I'm listening to this stuff. It might make sense. And I just encourage you. To look for Christ. I have friends that have found Jesus in in many different ways. Maybe you grew up in a home with two parents that loved the Lord and loved you. Maybe I have a friend who became a Christian by listening to one of those terrible fundamentalist preachers on the radio. Seriously, I was like, what? Really? That works? Like uh. Yeah, became, trusted Christ, and he's now a pastor.

  I've heard stories of people in some nations where Christianity is, it's much more frowned upon having dreams about, hey, you need to go to this place at this time, and they did and they met a Christian at that moment. I don't know what it is that would bring you to Jesus as the star brought the magi to Jesus. But maybe look for a way for Jesus to draw you back to himself. How is he drawing you to himself today? And allow yourself to fall before him and to experience the joy of Christ.

  We'll give you a moment to contemplate that, and as we do that, we'll prepare our hearts for a sacred meal that we call communion that we Eucharist or the Lord's supper, whatever you wanna call it. Each week we celebrate this meal. If you are a believer here today, you are here because of what Christ has done, not because of what you've done, we encourage you to come and receive this. Why don't we stand as we prepare ourselves to receive this meal and we'll sing another song before the benediction.

  So God, as we are coming to you today, we ask that you would draw us back to yourself. That you would remind us of our first love and the joy that we have in Christ. Would you help us to find him again, to, to seek the Lord and while he may be found? God, I pray for all those who are here contemplating how you might be restoring joy to their life, bringing purpose and meaning. Would you, would you work on us today from the inside out, would you bring your gospel peace? And help us to have the joy that the magi had in finding Christ. We ask these things in Christ's name, Amen.