Come See The Servant King

Why would these characters want to search for another king, a foreign king?

Another person to rule over them

to push them around

to tax them

to harass them

to want to control them

use them for their own gain

or force them to perform.

Are they nuts,

what fool in their right mind goes searching for someone to rule over them.

Well anyone who leaves on a journey only guided only by a star, must be a bit crazy?

On the other hand they might know something.

They might have heard something.

They may have a hunch, that this king, this ruler

is going to be different.

Maybe they heard he’s not going to be like those other kings.

The kings who are ruthless.

Look at Herod, he was so ruthless he’d even kill his own son to maintain his power.

Maybe they had heard he wasnt like those other kings who grasped every dollar they could from their people to fund their self indulgent lifestyles.

Maybe he’s not going to build empires to glorify himself, to show how good he is.

Maybe he won’t attack or belittle anyone who he thought was potentially better than him.

So was this king different, did this leader of the Jews offer anything more than any of the other kings, queens and other misfits who pushed their way into power?

Or were this guys known as the Magi,

possibly kings themselves,

the so called wise men,

disillusioned,

full of wishful thinking?

Well today’s text doesn’t tell us.

From the Bible we don’t know a lot about these characters, other than they followed a star from the East searching for the “king of the Jews”.

They were searching for him so that they could worship him.

And when they found him they were over the moon.

The term Magi implies that they knew a bit about the stars.

And so they probably realised that the particular star they followed was special.

It announced the arrival of a king.

But it still doesn’t answer the question why come searching for this king?

And a foreign king?

Surely as foreigners they didn’t expect to be accepted by his entourage.

Let alone himself.

Unless of course they expected that this king, this person, the person that others called the Messiah, the Anointed One

was different,

was a different kind of ruler,

a special sort of leader.

Well how do you see Jesus….see God???

Think about it for a moment.

Do you see Jesus as just another super power.

Another leader who has come to earth to boss you around

to stop you from having fun,

to take your money,

take full control of your life.

A leader who doesn’t really care about you or your situation,

who is ruthless,

who makes promises that he can’t or doesn’t deliver.

Do you see Jesus as a big brother who is looking at your every move, waiting for you to slip up, so He can punish you.

Do you see Jesus as being only concerned about himself, his power, his life?

Maybe you see him as someone to be avoided.

Someone not to be trusted, someone we should hide from

someone who is going to make us feel useless, not worthy.

There must be times when you,

when I,

see Jesus like this.

When we see Jesus as the unfair dictator, someone who has come to dominate our lives.

Someone who makes our lives miserable and takes away any happiness we might have.

Otherwise why then would we avoid him.

Why would we at times go off doing our own thing.

Ignoring what God says,

ignoring what God commands.

Why would we only do things on the condition that they benefited us?

Why are we reluctant to show love to God, show love to others, our neighbours.

At least some of the times,

we must see Jesus, see God,

as some distant, uncaring, selfish, partypooper ruler.

But is this the true picture, the true image of God?

Is this the God that we worship on this day,

the Epiphany of our Lord.

Epiphany is when we celebrate that the Lord revealed himself to us, to everyone.

It is the day where we celebrate God revealling himself as human, as Jesus.

And it is a day we also remember that God continues to reveal himself as the God for everyone.

But is God simply a ruler like all other rulers?

Is He a god like the other gods who burden us, suck us dry of all life?

Is that the real Jesus, the true picture of God

or is he some other kind of leader?

Is there something different about him?

The Magi must have thought there was something different about him.

They must have known something.

Because when they found him they didn’t just casually walk into his house.