WISE MEN STILL SEEK HIM, PART 1
GOLD FOR A KING
MATTHEW 2:1-12
NOVEMBER 27, 2016
FIRST SUNDAY OF ADVENT, YEAR C
FARM HILL UNITED METHODIST CHURCH, HARRISBURG, AR
INTRO. There is so much I love about Christmas. I guess it would be easier to talk about what I don’t like about Christmas. Uhhh, I really can’t think of too much at the moment! “Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer” is sort of dumb, and I can’t stand fruitcake. That's really about it. So this is a great time of year for me. We got all our decorations up at the house on Friday and Saturday, and several Christmas get-togethers are on the horizon. All we need now is about a foot of snow!
One Christmas thing that has intrigued for a long time are the wise men. Now, there isn’t very much that we know about them from the Bible. There is some more from church tradition, which may or may not be accurate. But just the whole idea of this group of three or more men, wise intellectuals, wealthy, perhaps even royalty, with all their servants and so on, making this journey to a cow town in some lowly Third World country to worship the one who would be the King of all kings.
And so we start with Melchior from Persia and his gift of gold. Gold, of course, is a precious metal and no doubt came in handy for the family of Jesus as they would soon be traveling to Egypt for an extended stay far away from home. Gold is a universal currency and you can spend it pretty much anywhere for anything, even today. But there is more to gold than there appears. Gold is a symbol of divinity throughout the Bible. Pagan religions often made their idols out of gold. When God gave the instructions for the building of the Ark of the Covenant, which would hold the tablets of stone that the Ten Commandments were written on, and the rod of Aaron that miraculously budded, God said that the Ark was to be overlaid with gold inside and out. He also said there was to be molding of gold all around it, with four rings of gold, one at each corner. Then, the mercy seat that was to stand over the Ark of the covenant, which was about 45 inches long and 27 inches wide, was to made of pure gold (Exodus 20:10-17). You might say that God has a history with gold! So as Melchior placed the gold at the foot of the manger, he was making a statement about who this baby was. And who was he?
I. JESUS WAS THE KING FOR THAT TIME. Once the wise men made their way to Jerusalem, the capital of Israel, they start to turn the town upside down, looking for the new King. When King Herod hears about this search for a King, he is scared out of his wits. He consults with the religious experts and they tell him where the King is to be born. Herod sends the wise men on their way, but his plan is to follow behind them and permanently remove this threat to his throne. But let me ask a question. How many people pray to Herod these days? How many churches are named after him? How many people are willing to die for Herod? The point is, the reign of King Herod died with him. But the reign of King Jesus has never ended! And it began in that time. We see that in a couple of ways.
A. Jesus was a king in how he taught. Many times in the Gospels, crowds are amazed at the teaching of Jesus. Once in the Gospel of John, the chief priests and the Pharisees are very concerned about Jesus. The temple guards are sent to arrest Jesus, but report back to the Jewish leaders empty-handed. When asked why, they answered, “Never has anyone spoken like this!” (John 7:46), and it was like that all throughout his ministry. People were shocked, they were challenged, they were infuriated, they were comforted by what he had to say. But one could never be indifferent to Jesus. The wise men were not, and King Herod was not indifferent either.
B. Jesus was a king in how he lived. While Jesus lived on this earth, he never had the trappings of royalty. He never wore the kingly robes, he never had a court of servants to attend to his every want, and the only crown he wore was a crown of thorns. But he lived and died as a King! He moved through his human life with the attitude and standing of a king. Mark Driscoll, formerly the pastor of Mars Hill Church in Seattle, stated: “The only thing that gets me out of bed on Monday morning is the picture in the Book of Revelation of King Jesus on His throne ruling over all of creation” (Robert Leroe on sermoncentral.com). As his followers got to know Jesus more and more, they realized what kind of person they were following. The King of the Universe was the King for that time.
II. JESUS IS THE KING FOR OUR DAY. Jesus was not just the king for the time of his birth and the people of his land. He is the king for all people everywhere today! I can’t speak for you, but I think our world could use a king like Jesus today. Remember what it said in the Old Testament, “In those days there was no king in Israel; all the people did what was right in their own eyes (Judges 17:6). It seems to me that we have so much of that going on, both here in America and around the world. So many people do not realize it, but what they are crying out for is Jesus!
In 1994, two Christian missionaries answered an invitation from the Russian Department of Education to teach morals and ethics in a large orphanage. About 100 boys and girls who had been abandoned, abused, and left in the care of a government-run program were in the orphanage. It was (in December)... and they decided to tell them the story of Christmas. It would be the first time these children had heard the story of the birth of Christ. They told them about Mary and Joseph arriving in Bethlehem. Finding no room in the inn, the couple went to a stable, where the baby Jesus was born and placed in a manger. Throughout the story, the children and orphanage staff sat in amazement as they listened. Some sat on the edges of their stools, trying to grasp every word.
When the story was finished, they gave the children three small pieces of cardboard to make a crude manger. Each child was given a small paper square, cut from yellow napkins that they had brought with them since no colored paper was available in the city. Following instructions, the children tore the paper and carefully laid strips in the manger for straw. Small squares of flannel, cut from a worn-out nightgown an American lady was throwing away as she left Russia, were used for the baby’s blanket. A doll-like baby was cut from tan felt which the missionaries had also brought with them.
It was all going smoothly until one of the missionaries sat down at a table to help a six year old boy named Misha. He had finished his manger. When the missionary looked at the little boy’s manger, she was startled to see not one, but two babies in the manger. Quickly, she called for the translator to ask Misha why there were two babies in the manger. Crossing his arms in front of him and looking at this completed manger scene, Misha began to repeat the story very seriously. For such a young boy, who had only heard the Christmas story once, he related the happenings accurately until he came to the part where Mary put the baby Jesus in the manger.
Then Misha started to ad-lib. He made up his own ending. He said, “And when Mary laid the baby in the manger, Jesus looked at me and asked me if I had a place to stay. I told him I have no mama and I have no papa, so I don’t have any place to stay. Then Jesus told me I could stay with him. But I told him I couldn’t, because I didn’t have a gift to give him like everybody else did.
“But I wanted to stay with Jesus so much, so I thought about what I had that maybe I could use for a gift. I thought maybe if I kept him warm, that would be a good gift. So I asked Jesus, ‘If I keep you warm, will that be a good enough gift?’ And Jesus told me, ‘If you keep me warm, that will be the best gift anybody ever gave me.’ “So I got into the manger, and then Jesus looked at me and he told me I could stay with him - for always.”
“As little Misha finished his story, his eyes brimmed full of tears that splashed down his little cheeks. Putting his hand over his face, his head dropped to the table and his shoulders shook as he sobbed and sobbed. The little orphan had found someone who would never abandon nor abuse him, someone who would stay with him - FOR ALWAYS” (Rob Short on sermoncentral.com).
For all the broken people that you know and I know, they need to hear the truth of the message of Christmas, about this baby in the manger who is the King of the Universe, who will love us and stay with us every day of our lives.
III. JESUS IS THE KING FOR EVER. One of the musical works that I most enjoy listening to is The Messiah, by George Frideric Handel. After not going to a Messiah concert for several years, we got to enjoy one last year about this time. One of my favorite parts of The Messiah is “The Hallelujah Chorus”, where it is proclaimed over and over that Jesus is King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Nothing will ever change that fact. Someday you and I will no longer walk this earth. Someday this earth will no longer exist. Everything that we know, that we depend on and count as permanent, will be no more. But Jesus shall reign forever and ever! Jesus had a beginning on earth, there in the manger, he had an end on earth, with the Crucifixion, the Resurrection, and the Ascension back to the Father, but he was King of Kings long before the events of Christmas and Easter took place, and he will never cease to be King of Kings!
And this King of Kings, Creator of all there is, wants to be Lord over your life and my life, to be the one in charge of all there is about who I am. He is King of Kings forever, and he loves you and me and everyone that he has brought into this world.
CON. And so Melchior gave the baby Jesus gold. Gold for a God who was King, who would be King, and is still King today.
The 18th century German sculptor Johann Heinrich von Dannecker had very impressive skills. He could bring stone to life with his tools. At the height of his powers, he wanted to do something special with his gifts - he wanted to shape a statue of Christ that would stand out as a witness to his world. For two years he chiseled and scraped and polished the marble, till he was certain that it carried the likeness of his Lord. But he wanted to test his work on eyes that wouldn’t lie. So he went out to the street, and brought in a young girl. He took her into his studio, and he set her down in front of the... stone (that had a blanket over it). Uncovering it, he asked her, “Do you know who this is?” “No, sir!” she replied. “But he must be a very great man.” And Dannecker knew that he’d failed. The statue was good enough for kings and nobles, but it wasn’t good enough to speak the word about Christ.
He was discouraged. He was disheartened. He was depressed. But he knew that he had to try again. So he set his hand to the task. Six years it took him this time! Every day, painstakingly, shaping and carving. Finally it was done. And again, he brought in a child as his first critic. He took off the (cover), and asked her gently, “Who is that?” Legend has it that tears came to her eyes as she recognized Jesus. It was enough. Dannecker had finished his task. He had created his masterpiece. He had given visible shape to his faith. And later, to a friend, he told the secret of those last six years. It was as if, he said, Christ had joined him daily in his little room. He felt the nearness of his Lord. He sensed the glory of his Presence. All Dannecker had to do, really, was to transfer the vision of Christ that he received to the block of marble.
(Several years after the statue was finished), the French emperor Napoleon Bonaparte saw Dannecker’s work. He was very impressed. He sent for the sculptor, and he had a commission for him - “Make me a statue of the goddess Venus for the Louvre! (luv)” he said. Quite an honor! To be chosen as the creator of a work of art like that! Who could refuse? But you know what?! Dannecker did! He refused the commission. He gave up that honor. And you know why? This is what he told Napoleon: “A man who has seen Christ can never employ his gifts in carving out a pagan goddess!” (Tim Gibson on sermoncentral.com).
As we look toward Christmas and realize that we have seen Jesus, we must ask ourselves, what will we do? Like the wise man with his gold, will we bring what we have and will we give it to the one who deserves it all? Will you kneel before the manger and give to Jesus the gold of your heart, your life, your all?
