The Passion of the Magi
Matthew 2:1-12
Jeff Vanderhoof writes, Earlier this month I was privileged to fly to England with the incoming class of ordinands, the Bishop, and others from our Conference. It was an outstanding experience, one that I will treasure for years to come. Part of me expected to experience the presence of God in a special way as I entered the ancient cathedrals where saints and sinners throughout the centuries have bowed before God and worshipped Him. Or maybe I would share in Wesley’s "Aldersgate" experience as I stood on that same street. It didn’t happen. Not on Aldersgate Street, not in York Minster, not even in Westminster Abbey. I’m not saying God wasn’t present there, but I didn’t have a special experience like I had hoped for. Ironically, I found that the spacious cathedrals captivated me and drew me to focus more on the architecture of the building, rather than on the God the building was supposed to represent. He writes, One thing I learned on this trip to England is that God isn’t limited to spacious cathedrals, or ancient places. God can reach out and touch us anywhere, at anytime. That’s part of the beauty of serving a God without borders, and I find great comfort in knowing that God cares enough to reach out to us wherever we are.
Throughout this Advent season, we have seen how God encounters people in different ways and different places. A God encounter is not you going to look for God. It’s when God comes looking for you and supernaturally makes an appearance in your life and calls you to him. Thus far, we have looked at Mary, the shepherds and Joseph and their encounters with God. Today, we look at the wise men. There is one thing which sets this God encounter apart from the others in the Nativity story. Mary, the shepherds and Joseph weren’t expecting or looking for anything special to happen in their lives. The Magi weren’t either but they were looking for God to do something miraculous in the world. And because of that, they saw that God was about to do something new and decided to go and see this new thing. Their experience affirms what Henry Blackaby discovered in his study, Experiencing God. Discovering God’s will for your life is not so much about receiving God’s vision for you as it is you going and joining in what God is already doing in the world. Two weeks ago, I asked how many of you had received a God encounter and not many of you raised your hands. Today, this is something all of us can do: join in on what God is already doing. It is in the Magi that we see what it takes to join God in mission and to pursue a passionate relationship with Jesus.
First, we need to look for the signs of what God is doing. How did the wisemen know what to look for and that the time was near for God to do something new? The magi or wisemen were professionals, trained to study the stars and read the signs. What we know is they were pagans or heathens who did not know the One true God. But they paid close attention to the prophecy of Daniel 9 which speaks of 70 7’s or 490 years between the time when King Cyrus of Babylon released Ezra & Nehemiah and other Jews who were in captivity to return to Israel and restore the walls of Jerusalem and the time when the savior came. So for 483 years, the wise men kept track from generation to generation and looked for the sign of the coming of the Messiah.
Evelyn Benson has written about her 50th birthday. She says, Don’t you hate those with a zero on them? Those are the toughest ones. “ My friend Betty had invited me to a dinner party the night of my birthday and that made me feel a little better. As Evelyn started out the house, there were some young girls jumping rope and they were singing rhymes, the very same rhymes I sang 40 years ago! I wanted to be 8 again. I didn’t want to be 50. When I shared this with my dinner companion that I didn’t want to be 50 and wanted to be 8 again, everyone around the table shared how old they were. They were all older than me. My friend Betty said she was 85. I didn’t know that. And then she said, You know people called me a tomboy when I was growing up because I loved to climb trees and I loved to climb hills because I wanted to see a little farther than before. I just knew if I could see a little farther, there was always something better on the horizon And at 85 in my heart, I still climb trees and climb hills so I can see a little farther and see something more beautiful. That’s what the magi did and what we called to do as well.
Second, we need to refuse to be distracted. Whenever you are pursuing a radical relationship with Christ and seeking to do His will, there will always be distractions. On their journey, Herod called the Magi to come visit with him. “Herod called to the Magi secretly and found out the exact time the star had appeared. He sent them to Bethlehem and told them, ‘Go and make search for the child. As soon as you find him, report back to me so that I too may come and worship Him.” Matthew 2:7. Even though they had been called to King Herod’s palace, they were not going to worship him but instead sought to worship only the Christ child, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, who would rule the whole world.
Whenever you make your mind up to worship the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, whenever you decide to join God in mission, there will always be someone or something which will seek to distract you from that. There will always be something which gets in your way and seeks to distract you when you make the decision to pursue a radical relationship with the Lord. Herod is that distraction for the magi. Herod will always steal, kill and destroy the purpose and plans that God has in store for you. So who is your Herod today? What is stopping you from being all that God has called you to be? Is it your failures, your self-centeredness, your financial debt? Herod will use any distraction to stop you from pursuing Christ, having have a radical relationship with Christ and joining him in his mission of salvation for the world. What is holding you back from that relationship and life for which you were created?
Distractions are not necessarily bad things coming to us. Herod was just asking the magi to do what they were already doing, pursuing the Christ child and then just report back to him. And Jerusalem is only 6 miles away from Bethlehem, so they were not asked to go too far out of their way. That’s the way it is with distractions many times. It’s a slight change, a small variance or a minor thing, which just causes you to take your eye off the goal for just a moment, but it’s just enough. It’s things like a little extra time at work to finish that special project, extracurricular activities with the kids, hobbies and even accumulating wealth. All of these hinder us from having a real relationship with Jesus and joining him in His new work in the world. Some of these things are good. But too often we default to doing good things instead doing God things.
Jim Collins in his book “From Good to Great” says, “Strategic leaders accomplish great things by saying no to good ideas.” Radical followers of God achieve great things by saying no to good ideas. Not everything that looks good to you is always good for you. Sometimes we have to say no to good ideas to accomplish the God things set before us. Once you see the sign of God’s work and decide that you are going to pursue Jesus and join him with everything you have, you have to refuse to be distracted and passionately pursue a radical relationship with Christ. What’s your Herod this morning? What is stopping you from going to your next level with God?
Third, the magi remained focused on the star. “After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen in the east went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was.” Even though they had many distractions on the way, they were able to remain focused on the star. The star represented a place where hope was. It led them to a place where unconditional love was. It represented a place where salvation had entered the world. All of that laid right in the manger in Bethlehem. So they remained focused on the North Star to passionately pursue a relationship with the Christ child and join him in mission. To become distracted could have cost them their lives but they remained focused on the star. It gave them peace, it gave them purpose, but more than anything else it gave them power. As long as they stayed focused on the star, they didn’t have time to complain about the long, hot, difficult journey. As long as they stayed focused on the star, they didn’t have time to be distracted by Herod. As long as they stayed focused on the star, they stayed in God’s will for their life.
The moment you are committed and connected to God, Herod will always try to distract on your spiritual journey and God’s purpose for your life. But the star represented that place of ultimate purpose and destiny. The wisemen knew once they had gotten to the place of the star, God was going to fulfill prophecy from the days of old. In other words, the magi used the star as a spiritual compass and a strategic point of focus which ultimately fueled their passionate pursuit. Too often many of us don’t become all that God has called us to be because we don’t stay focused on the star.
Paul Conn writes, “When I lived in Atlanta several years ago, I noticed in the Yellow Pages, in the listing of restaurants, a place called the The Church of God Grill. The peculiar name aroused my curiosity and I dialed the number. A man answered with a cheery, ‘Hello! Church of God Grill!’ I asked how his restaurant had been given such an unusual name, and he told me: ‘Well, we had a little mission down here, and we started selling chicken dinners after church on Sunday to help pay the bills. Well, people liked the chicken, and we did such a good business, that eventually we cut back on the church service. After awhile we just closed down the church altogether and kept on serving chicken dinners. We kept the name we started with, and that’s Church of God Grill.’” Whatever we focus on, we begin to prioritize. Maybe, if we’re not careful, like the Church of God Grill, our focus could lead us to cut back on our pursuit of and service to God.
Mark Brunner writes, Keeping a clear mind and not getting distracted is critical not only to our daily welfare but also to our spiritual well-being….Jesus had laid out a path for Peter, one that he was to focus on and maintain, so we too need to accept the path that He has offered to each of us. There may be many turns, but it isn’t the turns that get us lost. Staying on the path is all that matters.” Sue Nilson Kibbey puts it this way, “Every follower of Jesus needs a north star strategy. It is impossible to fully know the heart and purpose of God without possessing a north star strategy.” What’s your North Star strategy? What keeps you on target? What keeps your focus on Jesus and the purpose and plans of God for your life? God wants to do great things in your life but first for God to be able to do that and that starts with remaining focused on the star, regardless of what takes place.
Fourth, the magi gave of themselves and gave their best. Whenever you are on a passionate pursuit to be all that God has called you to be, you have to rearrange your personal agenda and make serving Jesus your main priority. As soon as the Magi saw the star, they took a couple of months off, loaded up their SUV camels and set out to find the Christ. They knew that joining God in his new work was far more important than anything they would ever do at work. They rearranged their priorities. When they finally arrived at that place, they stopped everything and gave their full attention. Video clip of wisemen “Hope of the Wisemen http://www.outreach.com/print/articlef.asp?article_name=p-nativitysermons
When was the last time you gave God your complete focus? When was the last time you left all of your distractions at the door of the sanctuary and gave God your undivided attention? When was the last time you were fully present to God’s presence? The magi knew the one thing they had to give Jesus after they were exhausted and that was their fixed-focus faith. They set aside their own personal agenda and instead focused on Christ.
Even after the long, difficult, diversion filled journey, the magi weren’t tired but overjoyed. When they got to the place that God had promised them, they were excited and overwhelmed. The magi gave Jesus their: gold, frankincense and myrhh, symbols of giving the very best they had and giving themselves to God.
Karen Barber tells the story of her son Chris who had decided to go to school in California. He had promised he would be home for Christmas. He finished his finals, concluded his work at his part-time job which he used to pay for dating and other entertainment expenses. By the time he got on the plane and had a layover in Denver, there was a huge snowstorm. He sat and sat and waited and waited. And when they finally opened the airport back up it was al most 7:30 at night when he finally got to his parents home on Christmas. He said, Mom, I need your car, I have gifts to buy.” Karen said, Gift’s to buy! The malls have been opened late for weeks but not tonight, I saw in the paper, they were all closed at 6 PM. Chris said, Mom, I’ve been sitting on the gorund in Denverfor hours, I have a plan, I need your keys.” He rushed out of the house and returned an hour later. He was beside himself as he ran into his room, large sacks in hand to go and wrap his presents. The next morning we unwrapped those presents. For his brother, who loved movies, a gift card to the local theater which was still open on Christmas Eve night. For his father who loved Chinese food even though Karen did not, he got a gift card so his dad could enjoy the food he loved so much. And Karen said, Now he turned to me. The box was long and thin. He said as he handed it to me, Oh, mom, I knew what you needed. I opened the box and inside were new blades for my windshield wipers. He said, When I drove your car at Thanksgiving, I saw they weren’t cleaning your windshield and now it’s snowing and sleeting and raining. You needed new blades. And she said, we were all thrilled but the thing which thrilled me the most was his eyes. He was so excited that he had something to give to the people he loved and the people who loved him. When was the last time you were excited about what you had to give God? When was the last time you gave your best to the One who loved you so much that he gave his only Son to save you?
Lastly, he set them on a new path of living. “And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route.” God spoke to the magi and re-routed them to live a new path. Once they had honored God by giving God their very best, God honored them by giving them a new life. That’s what happens when you passionate pursue a relationship with Jesus, encounter the Holy One and join Him on mission, you leave a different person. When they gave their very best, then God realized they could be entrusted to have a greater influence and impact with more responsibility. Because of their commitment to God’s child, God gave them new directions to go back to their home with more passion and to have a greater impact in the world. Because they had connected to Christ, they had more passion and a stronger relationship with those who did more. Even though they went back to the same jobs, the same family and the same community, they went back with a greater excitement and passion because of what they had witnessed in Bethlehem.
Rex Knowles tells of babysitting for the four older children the week before Christmas while his wife took the baby to the doctor for a checkup. He sat reading the paper while the kids played . But as he did, he just started to fume at all the images on every page of glittering gifts he couldn’t afford to buy and messages saying there were only 6 days left until Christmas. What, he asked himself ingignantly, did all the glitter and the rush have to do with the birth of Christ? There was a knock on the door of the study and his daughter announced they had a play they wanted to put on. Did he want to see it? He didn’t but he followed his daughter into the living room just the same. Right away he knew it was a Christmas play for at the foot of the piano was a shootbox with a flashlight wrapped in swaddling clothes. Rex, his son, came in wearing a bathrobe and carrying a mop handle. He sat on a stool and looked at the flashlight. Nancy, his 10 year olod, had a sheet on her head and stood over the baby. They were Mary and Joseph. Then the four year old came running in with pillow cases on heer arms proclaiming, “I’m an angel!” Then Anne, age 8 came in as a Wiseman. She moved like she was riding a camel and was decked out in her mother’s jewelry. On a pillow, she carried three items, obviously gold, frankincense and myrrh. She bowed to the manger and offered the gifts to the Christ child announcing, “I am all three wisemen. I bring precious gifts: gold, circumstance and dirt.
And then he writes, “How near the truth Anne was! We come at Christmas burdened with gold with the showy gift and tinselly tree. Under the circumstances of our time and place and custom, we can do not other. And it seems a bit like mud when we think of it. But I looked at the shining faces of my children and applauded, remembering how a child showed us these things can be transformed
