Acknowledgement – I found great value in a Christmas Sermon series by Darren Ethier – A fellow contributor to this site. His sermons are called “Christmas Perspectives Series.”
Dark Christmas
Matthew 2:1-20
Most of you will recall that in these last few weeks of the year we are looking at the event of our savior’s birth through the perspectives of the people that were there. We started with Joseph and Mary and how their perspective did not match the culture , probably because of the message from the angels.
Last Week, I continued the Christmas Perspectives series of messages by examining into how the Christmas Story would have appeared to the shepherds. This familiar story became more personal to us as we realize that all too often we feel that we have nothing to give. That concept is reinforced by our culture and all that it says we need to be and do to be “Really” happy. Through the Shepard’s eyes we learned that God’s message of Great joy the good news was given to those that would listen and respond. It was not given directly or automatically to the religious, or wealthy. It was given to the workers that most people looked down on because they were considered insignificant. The shepherd’s response was to give the message to all the folks in the town. Just share what they heard and saw with the people that were too busy and missed it.
As I pick up on the message for this week. I hope that you will discover, as I have and am still, that our perspective of the Christmas Story can at times be very shallow and distanced from the closeness that God would have us experience in this present day. Christmas is not merely about an event that took place a long – long time ago in a distant foreign place. It is about an event that can take place in our lives in the present as the Christ child is born or reborn in our hearts through our faith in Him.
Remember, our perspective on something will shape our actions, our reactions, and even our lack of action in circumstances, experiences and relationships with people.
When I think of perspective I am reminded of a conversation between a father and his young son. The boy was about 5-6 years old. One spring the boy had asked for a spot in the family garden to call his own. He turned the soil, broke the clumps, and planted his favorite vegetable—corn.
Toward the middle of July, The boy was concerned that his corn was not growing fast enough. The father tried to reassure him that the corn was doing just fine by quoting him the familiar benchmark used by farmers, “…knee high by the fourth of July.”
The boy thought for a moment and then ask: “My knees or yours?”
The only connection between this example and today’s message is that just as there were two differing perspectives. Today we are going to look at two differing perspectives in connection with our scripture:
Matthew 2:1-20 (NIV)
1 After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem 2 and asked, "Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star in the east and have come to worship him." 3 When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him. 4 When he had called together all the people’s chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Christ was to be born. 5 "In Bethlehem in Judea," they replied, "for this is what the prophet has written: 6 "’But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for out of you will come a ruler who will be the shepherd of my people Israel.’" 7 Then Herod called the Magi secretly and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared. 8 He sent them to Bethlehem and said, "Go and make a careful search for the child. As soon as you find him, report to me, so that I too may go and worship him." 9 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. 10 When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. 11 On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold and of incense and of myrrh. 12 And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route. 13 When they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. "Get up," he said, "take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him." 14 So he got up, took the child and his mother during the night and left for Egypt, 15 where he stayed until the death of Herod. And so was fulfilled what the Lord had said through the prophet: "Out of Egypt I called my son." 16 When Herod realized that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was furious, and he gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had learned from the Magi. 17 Then what was said through the prophet Jeremiah was fulfilled: 18 "A voice is heard in Ramah, weeping and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted, because they are no more." 19 After Herod died, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt 20 and said, "Get up, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who were trying to take the child’s life are dead."
The magi…Start this message about a Dark Christmas. Today we will also look thought the vision of another person - king called Herod.
We normally connect the number of gifts – three to the number magi. We don’t really know how many showed up. I guess we like to come up with a fairly firm number. Scripture does not record their names or even where they are really from. They are anonymous, except that they are men of position.
In this passage these men are referred to as Magi – which is generally understood as meaning "Wise Men". However the literal meaning of this word is Magician. There are some who say that these men were magicians in the good sense – the Magi among Persians were their philosophers and their priests; and nobody would become King unless they had first been to school with the Magi (or learned ones).
It seems to me that the men that came from a far were men searching for knowledge and truth. We really don’t know for sure.
There are some things here that we can be sure of because of the scriptures. These men were Gentiles – that is they were not Jews and were of a non-Israeli heritage. These men were scholars. They were men who sought to advance their learning. These men were men of the east, who were known for their soothsaying, and their superstitions. They were open to spiritual things and spiritual understanding.
These men were foreigners in every sense of the word and yet they were being drawn to the presence of the Messiah. Perhaps even invited.
For the magi the story begins with the appearance of a star, some say a comet. I will just say that I believe that is was a light provided by God. They see it in their country. Somewhere in the East these magi had seen a star that was obviously out of the ordinary. They took this to be a sign of an extraordinary person was born in the land of Judea, over which land this star was seen to hover.
The star seemingly popped out of no where and was not expected like Hailey’s Comet. There are a lot of opinions and guess as to how the magi made the connection between the star and it signifying the birth of the King of the Jews. because no one really knows.
All we really know is that the star must have been something special. These men decided to take an extreme action as a response to find this new important king.
Now let’s look at the similarities between the Magi and ourselves. Like the magi, we are Gentiles. We are people who are outside the normal connection to God that was reserved for the Jews. As Gentiles we are outside the promises of God.
Of Course we have the loop hole provided by God that allows all people to be brought into that relationship through Jesus Christ. Another thing we have in common. We live in a culture that appreciates learning and knowledge. Today information rules the world. The people that get ahead in the world today have an education. The majority of the real movers and shakers in business have advanced degrees and special education. Something else that is similar to the Magi is a connection to spiritual understanding. Over all our culture is seeking spiritual things, many find Christ and many more are searching not knowing exactly where their journey will end. So there are several similarities between us and the magi.
The Magi’s perspective has a supernatural twist, in their case it is that out of place or new star. It caught their attention and it was so special they packed up their stuff and headed in the direction it seemed to be leading.
Have ya’ll ever seen those big spotlight things that they have at car dealers or grand openings. They shine into the night sky and catch your attention. Have you ever gone to some place to see what was going on? Today it is normally only minutes out of the way to check it out. In their day it was a hassle to calculate and moved and set up camp. They were so curious and driven that they kept moving. The estimate is that it took a year for the Magi to arrive that night.
The star eventually led them to the Star of David – Jesus Christ Himself.
I believe that God still uses stars to lead people to Christ. They still appear in miraculous ways. For some the star is an answer to prayer, for some it is a miraculous healing or provision by God. But I don’t believe that those things are actually stars. I believe that the comfort and healing that is received are the results of stars, sort of like the light that shines allowing you to see at night. I believe that the stars we have today are people, normal people that God uses to direct the busy world to Jesus Christ.
With all that is going on today, the speed of the highway, the shopping the expectations of our world, how many people actually have time to watch the sky? God has miraculously places his stars on the ground. He uses people that live with Christ in their hearts and live for him are points of light in a dark world.
All who know Jesus, not just as a baby, but as the savior, give off a light that attracts and leads others.
The perspective of the Magi was not to worship this star itself. The magi saw the star as the sign of something greater than the star could ever be. They followed the star to find and worship the new king.
They went to the biggest town in Judea, Jeresulem. They probably started asking about the new king. No one seemed to know anything about the birth of a new king. That could be a real disappointment. To travel for a year and think that you got the invitation wrong.
They end up at the palace of King Herod and ask about the birth of a new king.
Being Magi – scholars/ important men someone suggest that speak to Herod. They pass the question on to the king’s advisors.
The perspective of the Magi is a perspective that does not constantly ask “are we there yet.” Their perspective is that in order to reach the king they have to stay on the path a long time. They have to keep the hope and confidence that their journey is well founded and will include the reward at the end of the road. The wise men are the absolute symbol of people on a spiritual journey who will persevere and stay on the path.
Folks we all are on a spiritual journey. Here in the church we are in sort of a caravan. Traveling in a similar direction toward the light provided through me and through each other. As a group we are to encourage each other and help each other on the path to the prize.
The prize is for us to join the king. We need to keep on the path and watch the signs closely. If we have a few misdirection’s or unclear roads, we must keep easing forward. Watching the signs and moving through the darkness of our world.
We know from scripture that the journey ends in success. They reach their goal and they avoid sharing the success with Herod. Then just an mysteriously as their introduction, the magi are gone. We don’t know if they reported what they did and saw back home. OR if they told the story along the way. The story changes to Herod and his actions.
Herod was known in this time period and according to historical accounts as Herod the Great. He, by no means, was a loved ruler. He is described by many historians as a man of stern and cruel disposition – "brutish and a stranger to all humanity". Herod the Great was a Jew and although he was the King reigning in Jerusalem – he was not of the line of David.
So King Herod was a harsh ruler, he lived for today using his earthly power to keep control. And then he has the foreigners at the gate asking about the new king of the Jews. HE was smart enough not to just have them killed for asking. He was crafty enough to let them do the dirty work. He traded information, When exactly was the child born, he will be round in Bethlehem. Let them search them do the searching and bring him the information. Then he could handle it.
Herod was a man who lived on personal power. He did not care about spiritual matters. He wanted facts and figures. He wanted inside information. He wanted to maintain his position no matter who he hurt or killed. If family is just in the way would a bunch of poor people be to him and his goals.
When prideful people get disturbed the can make everyone around him uncomfortable. The more powerful they are the more suffering they can inflict and Herod had proved that many times already.
This news threatened his security, if word got out that the messiah had come. The Jews would attempt to rise up and Rome would not be happy. And Rome must be happy to keep his Job. .
History tells us that Herod was a very proud man – and his pride was evident in the works he set his name to. This rumor would have been a blow to his pride as it meant that someone else was claiming to be the King of the Jews – a title he reserved for himself. Yet, at the moment, there was nothing he could do about it.
Herod’s perspective was that of a person who had no desire to know Jesus Christ. All he his is his earthly power and position. I believe that there are people that are still like this today. They seem to have money power and crave more and more. Their biggest problem is they constantly far loosing it all. They have no peace. They have no comfort that there is something more than what they hold in their hands today.
For Herod this was a very dark Christmas. With all his power and spies this news popped up from no place. No one gave him a clue. His network of spies had no news. He even had to ask the priest what was going on. For Herod this was a dark night. He really din not know how dark it would become.
I don’t think I personally know anyone with this same perspective. Maybe small shades of it if at all. Today the perspective of choice would be that of the magi.
The perspective that our journey may take us into darkness but there will always be a sign and light to direct us on our way.
Today, I really hope that the magi’s perspective will be yours. That you will search for the deeper meaning of Christmas. That we will pay less attention to the worldly lights and temporary tinsel.
This year I hope you will maybe even go a step or two farther than in years past. I hope and pray you will share the light that is within you to the people that seem to be stumbling along with no direction in the darkness of this world.
I want all of us to be the miraculous stars used by God to lead the way to a meeting with Jesus Christ. All we really need to do is allow our inner light to leak our and shine.
All Glory be to God!
