Matthew 2:1-12
Everybody’s God
Today we conclude the “twelve days of Christmas,” that period of time between Christmas day and Epiphany, celebrated just yesterday. In church history, Epiphany marks the arrival of the wise men, the magi from afar bringing gifts to celebrate the newborn king.
While the span on the church calendar is but 12 days, in reality the wise men came sometime well after Jesus’ birth. We know this for three reasons: the scripture refers to Jesus as a child, not an infant; the wise men visited a house, not a manger; and Herod chose to kill all Bethlehem children two years and under. So it is a stretch to put the wise men in our manger scenes, but I don’t mind if you do; they are still a special part of Christmas!
(JOKE) I read that if the wise men were women, they would have asked directions, arrived on time, helped deliver the baby, cleaned the stable, made a casserole, and brought practical gifts! But in their defense, they did stop and ask for directions, which—by the way—is the only recorded time in history when men have done such a thing!
But seriously, the story of the wise men turns our world upside down! It reminds us how different God is from our expectations. As the wise men worshiped God in the flesh, the King of kings, let us worship this God who is “everybody’s God.” By that, I mean a God who destroys our preconceived notions, who throws in our face all of our prejudices, and who calls us to share him with anyone and everyone. Consider who we worship today. The wise men remind us, first, that ...
1. We worship a God over political might.
Herod was a strong political leader, the first in a long line of Herods, nicknamed “Herod the Great.” But how great was he? We know him from history as both a consummate builder and a paranoid murderer. He built amphitheaters, monuments, and buildings, including his greatest work of all, the Jewish Temple. Yet, Herod was also a ruthless ruler. He murdered his wife, three of his sons, his mother-in-law, his brother-in-law, his uncle and many others, including all the male infants and toddlers in Bethlehem (Matthew 2:16). The Roman Emperor Augustus once remarked it was safer to be Herod's pig than his son!
So when verse 3 says, “When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him” (Matthew 2:3), we can understand why all of Jerusalem would be disturbed also. “When Herod ain’t happy, ain’t nobody happy!” In verse 8, he cunningly said, “Go and search carefully for the child. As soon as you find him, report to me, so that I too may go and worship him.” His real intent was to kill the child, not to worship him.
Think about the irony here: Herod was around 70 years old by this time. Yet, he was so drunk on his need for power and control that he was willing to commit genocide because of one baby based on an obscure prophecy from a religion that he himself didn’t even believe!
Everybody feared Herod, but he was no match for God. God simply rerouted the wise men home a different way. And the newborn king was safe.
There is no political might greater than God. Kings come and kings go; the Lord God Almighty reigns forever. The truth is, every human leader other than Jesus is a sinner. Every president will let you down in some way. And every president also will get something right every now and then. Scripture commands us to pray for our leaders and obey their laws as long as they do not contradict God’s laws.
Yet, we need not despair when politics don’t go our way. There is a greater force at work. God’s plans will prevail. God’s purposes will go forward. We worship a God over political might. And secondly, the wise men remind us...
2. We worship a God over religious complacency.
The Jewish leaders of Herod’s time were pathetic. They talked the talk but they didn’t walk the walk. When Herod asked where the king of the Jews was to be born, they immediately quoted Micah 5:2 which predicted Bethlehem. They knew the ancient prophecy. They knew all about God....But they didn’t know God. Do you know how far Bethlehem is from Jerusalem? Five miles! These guys couldn’t be bothered to go five...stinking...miles to see who might be under the wise men’s star. Their apathy is appalling. Yet, God is bigger than religious complacency.
When Hurricane Harvey hit Houston, a certain televangelist was criticized for not opening up his church building to those displaced from their homes. He had an excuse; only God knows his heart. I have great respect for the man, so I don’t mean to bash him. His story actually reminds me of my own, when we had a week-long power outage in the city where I pastored. I lived in this tension of just hunkering down with my family or trying to use our church building to serve the community in some way. My point is, religious leaders are not perfect!
And neither are religious people in general. Have you ever found yourself in those periods when your faith feels weak? When you’re just going through the motions? We all have. I was talking with a Veteran just this week who was voicing doubts about her Christian faith. What if she belonged the wrong way, and found out too late when she died? I reassured her that God is bigger than her doubts, that the God who wooed her to himself is also able to keep her, even through the low points of her faith. The religious professionals of Jesus’ day provoke us to make a new commitment to not just be about the talk but also the walk.
I’ve been enjoying Netflix’s popular show, “The Crown,” documenting a young Queen of England. I loved the episode when Queen Elizabeth requested a meeting with the young evangelist Billy Graham. Her quiet faith was soon put to the test when she found herself unsure how to forgive her uncle, the former king who leaked secrets to the Nazis. I like the film director’s attempt to capture an authentic faith that sometimes struggles to get it right. And as a Yank, I can safely proclaim that not even the head of the Church of England gets it right all the time!
No matter how much you respect a political or religious leader or anyone else, never confuse him or her with God. They are not God’s sole mouthpiece on earth. The wise men remind us that we worship a God who is above political whims or religious complacency.
Lastly, the wise men remind us...
3. We worship a God over cultural prejudice.
These fellows came from a distant land to the east. They likely shared a common heritage with the Persian magi of Daniel’s time. The young Jewish man Daniel differed some with the wise men of his court. After all, they were astrologers and the Bible forbids divination, including astrology. Yet, God chose this pagan act to reveal his great work at Christmas!
God seems to enjoy using the unthinkable to further his plans. King Saul in the Old Testament consulted the Witch of Endor for a séance, even though he had correctly forbidden witchcraft. God chose to use the incident to reveal Saul’s pending fall (1 Samuel 28, 1 Chronicles 10:13). Tamar disguised as a prostitute to have sex with her father-in-law Judah, because her husband was not allowing her to conceive (Genesis 38). And God chose to put the resulting child in the birth line of Jesus! All these stories are in the Bible! And in today’s story, God used the pagan practice of astrology to honor his son.
I can only imagine the shock on Mary’s and Joseph’s faces when foreign magi showed up on their doorstep. You never know who will respond to God’s call. Sometimes the most unexpected people get saved. I think of the Apostle Paul, a persecutor of Christians, until Jesus knocked him off his horse and brought him into the family of faith. It took a while for the church to really trust he was saved.
And then there are other people that you would think would become a Christian in a heartbeat, but they do not. They are good people; they just don’t trust their lives to the One who is alone good. The religious leaders in Herod’s court come to mind. They studied and memorized the word, but they missed the Living Word just five miles away.
The lesson for me is: never try to predict who will respond to Jesus. Just share him with everyone in every possible way God leads. Let your light shine! Who knows? You may even attract a wise man from afar.
Christmas reminds me you can’t put God in a box. He constantly challenges our assumptions. He colors outside the lines. The Christmas story brings together kings and paupers, wise men and shepherds. And God moves in unexpected ways. This God is above politics. This God is above religion. This God is above prejudice. This God is everybody’s God! Let us pray:
Thank you, God, for the amazing story of Christmas. Thank you for these strange visitors from afar. Help us to grasp how big a God you are. Shatter our assumptions. Bring down our idolatrous preconceived notions. Flatten the boxes we seek to put you in. Help us to appreciate how much greater you are, how much bigger your plans are. Help us to put our faith in you, larger than our politicians, larger than our religious leaders, larger than our prejudices. We pray this in the name of the Christ child, amen.
