All I Want For Christmas Is Jesus Series

All I want for Christmas is Jesus

Matthew 2:1-12

Pastor Jefferson M. Williams

Chenoa Baptist Church

12-24-2025

Harry

It was the biggest night of the year in a little town called Cornwall. It was the night of the annual Christmas pageant. All the children get to try out for the roles in the Christmas story, and everybody wanted a part. 

Which leads us to the problem of Harry because he wanted to be in the play, too, but he was...well, he was awkward. The directors knew Harry would be crushed if he didn't have a part, but they were afraid he might mess up the town's magic moment if he did.

Finally, they decided to cast Harry as the innkeeper and gave him only one line: “I'm sorry, we have no room.”

The night of the pageant the church was packed, as usual. backstage, Harold was being personally coached by the nervous directors: “Now remember, Harry when Joseph says, ‘Do you have a room for the night?’ what are you supposed to say?  Hesitantly, Harry said, “I'm sorry. We...We have no room.” The directors looked at each other somewhat hopefully. They’d done all they could.

The Christmas pageant unfolded according to plan.  Finally, Joseph and Mary arrived, and Joseph knocked on the door of the inn. Backstage, the directors were just out of sight, coaching Harry to open the door.  However, the door was stuck! The whole set shook as Harold tried to get the door open. When he finally did, Joseph asked his question on cue: “Do you have a room for the night?”

Harry froze…you will have to wait until the end of the sermon for the rest of the story.

Wise Men Seek Him

“After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem 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.” (Matthew 2:1-2)

This is a very familiar scene for us at Christmas. In fact, we just sang the Christmas carol, “We Three Kings of Orient Are.”

Unfortunately most of what we know about these seeking worshipers, come from legend and Christmas songs.

We are told that this happened in the time of Herod so we know it was about 6 (7) BC.

Who were these men? Scripture calls them “Magi.” These were a spiritually elite group that surrounded the throne in Babylon, not in the Orient.

They are a very old sect, dating back to Abraham. When the Israelites were deported to Babylon, Daniel and his three friends were taken into the palace. Daniel is listed at the head of the Magi.

They studied the stars and they were highly influential.

They are not kings but king makers.

These men traveled between 800 and 1,000 miles and stopped in Jerusalem to ask for directions, another Christmas miracle.

How many were there? We have no idea.

They asked a startling question: “Where is the one who has been born King of the Jews?”

How did they know about this? The Jews had been in Babylon for at least 500 years (starting with Daniel) and you know they shared the prophecies of a Messiah King with these men.

What was the star? Many smart people have speculated on this phenomenon. Some say it was a comet or a supernova.

Or that it is the “Christmas star” [the conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn] that is visible in the night sky right now for the first time in 800 years.

But this “star” moved and led them to Bethlehem. How? Again, we don’t know.

We do know that they did not visit Jesus when He was a baby like many movies and nativity scenes depict.

Their journey took between one and two years so Jesus would have been a toddler when they finally arrived.

Why is there so much in this story that we don’t know? Why didn’t Matthew give us more details? Because he wants us to focus on what the wise men were focused on.

Why did these Gentle pagans make a 1,000 mile journey through deserts and mountains?

Remember that Matthew is writing to a Jewish audience and tells them that the first people to seek the Messiah were from another nation.

Look at verse two again. Read it with me:

“We saw His star when it rose and have come to worship Him.”

They studied the stars, they were the experts. And they knew the ancient prophecies like Numbers 24:17:

“A star will come out of Jacob, a scepter will rise out of Israel.”

The reason we are not given more information about this group in the Christmas story (Luke doesn’t even mention the wise men) is because it’s not about them. It’s about a God that was leading them straight to Jesus.