For some Christians, the story of the Wise Men following a star from either
Iran or Iraq to Bethlehem is a bit hard to swallow. Afterall, it seems hard to believe that a
star, millions of miles away, perhaps on the other side of our galaxy, could
actually move in such a way as to guide humans from the East all the way along
a curving human road to Bethlehem. How
would an actual star move in that way?
For other Christians, the story of the Wise Men following a star is not
difficult to affirm—so long as a person of faith accepts it as a miracle
performed by God to identify Jesus of Nazareth as the long awaited Messiah.
During my message on Sunday, I will suggest that we set aside such
questions, concerning the nuts-and-bolts of how the Wise Men literally followed
a moving star.
Instead, I will suggest that we take a different interpretive approach
to this story, focusing on what the story can teach us about our Christian
faith. In others words, what can we
learn from this story about how to live as someone who is interested in
following God and growing in their spirituality?
Viewed from this perspective, let us begin with a question concerning
who Matthew was referring to, when he uses the term, "Wise Men"? The Greek word that Matthew uses in his
Gospel may also be translated as “astrologers,” “magicians,” or
“sorcerers.” Biblical scholars believe
that the Wise Men were priests in the pagan religions of either Persia (present
day Iran) or Babylonia (present day Iraq).
They would have been experts in astrology and dream interpretation. The Wise Men arrived in Jerusalem, announcing
that they had seen a new star in their study of the night skies. They have interpreted this new star as the
herald of a new king of the Jews. They
have travelled from their homes in the East to simply worship and pay homage to
this new king.
In Jerusalem, the Wise Men seek out King Herod, who had been placed in
charge of governing Israel by the Roman Emperor. King Herod was religiously a Jew, but he had
gained his power through a military conquest of the Jewish people and he
had colluded with the Emperor in continuing the subjugation and occupation of Judea
by the Roman Empire. Clearly, King Herod
felt vulnerable and insecure in his position of power because the arrival of
astrologers from the East left him greatly “frightened,” along with all the
other official Jewish leaders of Jerusalem.
When the Wise Men inquired about the location of the newborn king, King
Herod seeks the expertise of the “chief priests and scribes of the people.” In other words, King Herod asks the Jewish
religious leaders, along with scholars and lawyers. Drawing from a prophecy in the Hebrew
scripture of Micah, these experts inform Herod the prophets had claimed that
the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem.
The Wise Men then traveled to Bethlehem, where they found the baby Jesus
and knelt down to “pay him homage.”
Then, they presented gifts to the baby Jesus: gold, along with frankincense and myrrh—two
very expensive aromatic resins—which are all gifts suitable for royalty. Then, being warned by God in a dream, they
returned to their home, using a different route, which allowed them to avoid King
Herod.
In Matthew’s account of the Wise Men, we have the clash of two different
worlds. First, there is the world of the
Wise Men. The Wise Men were the
scientists of their day. They studied
the stars and were very wealthy. The
Wise Men were also the priestly leaders in the pagan religions of their
culture. Yet, even though they were
pagans, the Wise Men still discerned the birth of God’s Son many miles away in
a distant country. Not only did the
Wise Men discern the birth of the Messiah, they responded immediately by
starting on a journey that would ultimately take them to Bethlehem, where they would
worship the baby Jesus and give him the best of what they owned. The pagan Wise Men were looking forward to
the ways that God would redeem the world through God’s Son, Jesus Christ.
By contrast, King Herod, along with the chief priests, “scribes of the
people,” and other Jewish leaders, inhabited a second world, which was
dramatically different from the world of the Wise Men. King Herod and the
other Jewish leaders were rich. And, they were powerful
leaders within the Jewish faith. Yet,
they were not looking expectedly forward to the time when God would redeem the
world through Jesus Christ. Instead,
King Herod and the other leaders were very comfortable with the status quo and
they were afraid of change. For Matthew,
the writer of this Gospel, King Herod and the others were religious hypocrites,
who proclaimed religious devotion but failed to live out their religious
commitments.
The Wise Men were “seekers” and “doers.” They were still seeking to learn more about
the Divine and to deepen their spirituality.
When they found Jesus in Bethlehem, they were “overwhelmed with
joy.” By contrast, King Herod and his
religious advisors were neither “seekers” nor “doers.” Even though they knew exactly where in their
sacred texts to find the prophesied location of the Messiah’s birth, they were
not interested in seeking out the promised Messiah. Note that they didn’t even bother to journey
with the Wise Men to find and worship the new Messiah. Rather than being “overwhelmed with joy” that
the Messiah had finally been born, they were frightened that the Messiah might
require changes in their lives.
In the proclamation this weekend, I
will suggest that Christians can learn a great deal from the Wise Men, as we
begin a New Year. Just like the Wise
Men, we must become “seekers,” continually striving to learn more about the
Divine and to deepen our spirituality.
That is, we must strive to grow deeper spiritually. Just as the Wise Men, we must also be
“doers,” ready to follow wherever God leads us—even if God leads us in
previously unimagined places. In my
message, I will give some examples of what I think it means for twenty-first
century Christians to be “seekers” and “doers” in 2016.
The New Year is a great time to get back into church. If you already have a church home, we urge you to attend and
support your church, regularly. However, if you don't already have a church
home, we invite you to check out our community of faith. Christ United Methodist Church is located at 4530 A Street in
Lincoln, Nebraska. Our classic worship
services are at 8:30 and 11:00 on Sunday mornings.
Everyone is welcome and accepted because God loves us all.
No comments:
Post a Comment