The seekers, the sovereign and the scribes.

Have you noticed how the Church’s liturgical year is very different from the secular society’s year- especially around Christmas time? Most people in Britain start preparing for Christmas by at least early November and switch off from Christmas by New Year’s Eve. By contrast in the Church we have the season of Advent running from the end of November until Christmas Eve, and then the season of Christmas starts on Christmas Day and lasts until tomorrow, which is the Feast of the Epiphany. If you watch the excellent comedy series on BBC2  ‘Rev’ you will be familiar with all this. And then after 4 weeks of Epiphany we start preparing for Lent.

So today is the last day of Christmas, which is why we are taking the decorations down in church after the service- and tomorrow is Epiphany when we particularly remember the coming of the wise men. Now some people tie up the Wise men with Christmas- because traditionally they have appeared in the nativity play with the shepherds, but in fact, as we shall see, they probably arrived not just 12 days later, but several weeks or even months later

Some of you may remember the excellent BBC1 production of  the Nativity  last year, which has now been released on dvd-It was certainly  the best  film about Jesus I have ever seen on mainstream tv. But again they had the wise men appearing at the same time as the shepherds.

Now why is that so unlikely?

1)   The star which they saw in the East seems to have appeared when the baby was born, not a few months beforehand.

2)   When the wise men arrive Mary, Joseph and Jesus are in a house, not a stable or a cave.

3)   Luke tells us that after Jesus was born he was circumcised and then after 40 days presented in the temple. So the wise men must have arrived after those 40 days, since soon after the wise men left Joseph was told to flee to Egypt to escape Herod.

So we must assume that when Jesus was born, the wise men saw the star and understood it to signify the birth of a new king, the king of the Jews, or the Messiah.

Matt 2:1  After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem

Matthew dates the birth of Jesus by the reign of Herod the Great who reigned as king over Judah 40 BC till 4 BC.

So who was this Herod?

He was not a Jew but an Idumaean, a  foreigner imposed upon the Jewish people by the power of Rome, and one of his first acts was to slaughter the Sanhedrin, the Jewish ruling body, as a warning against any future insubordination.

And he went on to slaughter many of his family members- including his wife and children, whom he felt threatened by. And  like many modern dictators he survived a long time  by getting rid of his enemies – he lasted 40 long years- but interestingly enough he died soon after Jesus was born.

So here we can date Jesus’ birth as sometime before Herod's death in 4BC- probably 6 BC.

But who were  these visitors-  Magi from the East. They were not kings and there were not necessarily 3 of them. The Gk word magos can mean a magician- like Simon Magus in Acts 8-  but here probably means an astrologer. And they may have come from Babylon (modern Iraq) or Persia (modern Iran) or Arabia (modern Saudi Arabia)- but certainly from some place of learning East of Judea. And note they came to Jerusalem. Why was that? Cos that is where they would expect the King of Judaea to be born.

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."

So what had happened? They had seen something in the sky while they were in the East which they had interpreted as being the star of  a new king. Now we don't know what exactly they saw- it may have been a comet or the conjunction of Saturn with Jupiter- but they believed it signified the birth of a new king.

And their scientific studies may have dovetailed with their cultural religious heritage. For there were many Jews in Babylon and Persia, and the stories of Daniel and other Hebrew prophets and the prophecies of a coming Messiah may well have been known to them.

So here were seekers after truth- today we might call them scientists- and they found something totally perplexing. It was part of their scientific study- and yet it seemed miraculous. It arrested them and made them so curious they seemed to have been willing to leave their studies, their homes and families for many months, even a couple of years, in order to find out what had caused this mysterious phenomenon. Babylon was 700 miles from Jerusalem while Persia was over 1000 miles away, and it could have taken many months to get ready and make that long journey. But they were determined to find answers to the questions that star had raised for them- whatever the cost.  Now these were not secular scientists in the sense we use today. These magi were possibly also Persian priests and part of the ruling council that appointed the new kings of Parthia. So they were probably powerful, wealthy men who may have brought a small army with them- but they were seeking the truth.

And its really important to seek the truth- isnt it?

A while ago I read 'There is a God' by Antony Flew, who was the leading atheistic philosopher in the UK for  many years until by the power of the evidence he moved from not believing in any God, to believing that there must be some kind of mind behind the universe. He was open to the evidence and allowed his views to change when fresh evidence presented itself. There are other leading atheists who seem to be totally closed to the possibility that there might after all be a God who might want them to believe certain things and behave in a certain way.

God reveals himself in all kinds of ways to those who are open. He reveals himself to scientists by the order and beauty of creation, he reveals himself to Muslims by dreams and visions of Jesus, he reveals himself to sad and lonely people through the love and warmth of a church family, he reveals himself to spiritual seekers through the words of the Bible.

So these wise men, these Magi, were on the road seeking Jesus so they might worship him.

Now notice that in their search they were first of all arrested by a miracle or by something strange that they couldnt explain. But then they set off in a common sense way. Looking in what to them was the obvious place to find a king of the Jews.

 

Now by contrast to these seekers after truth we find a sceptical sovereign, desperate to hold onto his  power at all costs, feeling threatened by any hint of a rival; consumed by jealousy and hatred of all possible rivals. The wise men and the mad man.  Which do we see more of today?

Many young people in Britain and in Barnsley today call themselves atheists. But what kind of  atheist are they? An atheist who is open to the truth- or one who is closed and angry and determined that god cannot exist, and must not exist, and that those who believe he exists are deluded and stupid. Do you know people like that? You might be married to someone like that.

Or are the unbelievers we know really open to the truth and seeking answers to their questions? In which case do invite them to our new Alpha course starting next Wednesday.

So lets again look at Herod’s reaction

3  When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him.

Herod was disturbed because there might be a new rival to his power, a new upstart king of Judaea, who might just be more popular than him and his family. And the people of Jerusalem were disturbed because when Herod got annoyed he took it out on anybody who got in his way- so everyone was in danger when the king got angry.

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.

Earlier on in his reign he had slaughtered the members of the Sanhedrin, but now he needed some biblical knowledge, so he called together a loose gathering of religious advisors, or it may have been the new Sanhedrin, and asked them where the Messiah, the promised king, was supposed to be born.

5  "In Bethlehem in Judea," they replied, "for this is what the prophet has written:

It was of course to be in David’s town, Bethlehem, where the first king of Judah was born and anointed king by Samuel. And they quote quite loosely from the prophet Micah- chapter 5

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.'"

So Herod discovers that the Bible really had predicted a coming king- and that he would be born in Bethlehem.

And no matter how much sceptics may squirm or ignore the facts, the evidence of prophecies about the Messiah fulfilled by Jesus is remarkable. And if people only looked at the evidence they would be amazed

So here we have a 3rd group of people- the scribes, the religious experts, the Bible scholars- and notice their reaction to talk of a new born king. They know the theory, they know what the Bible said, but they are in no hurry to go and find out the reality. They are not rushing off to worship the new king Jesus. They are content to know the theoretical answers, but they dont want to rock the boat. They are too aware of their precarious position, how dependent upon  king Herod they are for their job, their salary, their life. So how dare they show signs of enthusiasm for a new king Jesus?

And cant we all be like that- me included? We know the truth but we are unwilling to act upon the truth because of the cost. We know that if we were to act out of deep devotion or naked faith we might risk our reputation, our position, our pension, the approval of our friends. And so we hedge our bets. We speak the truth but we dont live the truth.We may point seekers to Bethelehem but we dont go  with them to adore the new born king. Is that you? Is that me?

7  Then Herod called the Magi secretly and found out from them the exact time the star

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."

So he is saying- go to Bethlehem- and search high and low, ask people where is this new born king- and as soon as you find out where he is, send a messenger to me so that I can worship him also. And if they had done what Herod told them, then Jesus would have died right there and then. But that was not Gods plan- and to their amazement they found that the star which they had last seen back in the East, now reappeared over Bethlehem and guided them supernaturally to the place where the child was.- so they didn't have to ask people.

They were now moving out of the realm of common sense, back into the miraculous. And many spiritual seekers who are awakened to seek after Jesus by a strange sign of some kind, later find that sign returns in a more powerful way and they realise they are on the right track.

That Jesus really is the way, the truth & the life.

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.

Whatever the star was, it appeared to be moving- and now for the first time since they came to Judaea they saw it again, guiding them on the final stage of their journey.

Sometimes we can get so far by reason or by asking help from others; sometimes we need God's direct guidance to get us on the final stage of our journey.

10  When they saw the star, they were overjoyed.

Overjoyed is a word which has probably lost some of its meaning in English. The  Greek here says they began to rejoice with a joy which was super big, especially great. They were so excited. Maybe they had been worried by what had happened in Jerusalem, maybe they wondered if they had been mistaken about the star and the king- but now it had reappeared and they were so excited. It was all true after all.

Sometimes circumstances can make us doubt can't they? Or the arguments of sceptics can make us wobble a bit. Is it really true after all? Did God really speak to me that time? Has my experience of God been real or have I just been imagining it? And then suddenly we get that spiritual reassurance- a sign from God or an experience of his presence- and we know – we really know that God is real- and we are so 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.

So finally what does this tell us about worship. 

1) Worship is about a journey- a pilgrimage- from our place to His place. From our territory to His territory. Jill & I  recently watched the new film The Way which is a great film with Martin Sheen about a pilgrimage across Europe to St James Compostello in Spain. Not so many Christians today go on pilgrimage as they did in Mediaeval times- but pilgrimage is an outward sign of the spiritual journey from our place to his place.

We don't worship on our territory- we need to move to his territory. It may not involve us moving physically, as it has this morning, but it will involve us moving spiritually- away from our agendas onto his agenda, or away from watching tv to waiting on God. It requires effort and an act of the will. So when we come to church on a Thursday- whether we walk or drive or take the bus- think of it as  a pilgrimage from our place to his. Worship has to start with a journey.

 

2) Worship is about adoration, humbling ourselves before the presence of the glory of God.

And we need to rediscover that, don't we? That sense of wonder, of adoration, of bowing down in his presence- because he is here. Worship is not to be casual- just singing a hymn or a song that we like. Its about invoking his presence - whether by praise or by study of the bible - and then acknowledging his presence and adoring him.

 

3)   Worship is supposed to be costly- they gave him their gifts and we are supposed to give him our gifts;  gifts of money maybe, gifts of time and of effort, and gifts of love.

What can I give him poor as I am?

  Worship is not primarily for us to receive something from God- but for us to give something to God. Sometimes we don't worship cos we cant be bothered. But when we worship we are giving a love gift to God. So what does worship cost you? What gift of worship will you give to Jesus at the beginning of this new year?