When I meditate on the truth that Jesus came as a ruling, shepherding, Savior King, my heart is awakened and I am moved to respond in worship that is filled with joy and surrender and generosity.
Matthew 2:1 – 12…
1 Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the east came to Jerusalem, 2saying, “Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.” 3 When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him; 4 and assembling all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born. 5 They told him, “In Bethlehem of Judea, for so it is written by the prophet: 6 ‘And you, O Bethlehem,in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for from you shall come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel.’” 7 Then Herod summoned the wise men secretly and ascertained from them what time the star had appeared. 8 And he sent them to Bethlehem, saying, “Go and search diligently for the child, and when you have found him, bring me word,that I too may come and worship him.” 9 After listening to the king,they went on their way. And behold, the star that they had seen when it rose went before them until it came to rest over the place where the child was. 10When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy. 11And going into the house they saw the child with Mary his mother, and they fell down and worshiped him. Then, opening their treasures, they offered him gifts,gold and frankincense and myrrh. 12 And being warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they departed to their own country by another way. –
We are continuing our study through the story of Jesus’ birth in Matthew this morning. You might recall that over the last two weeks we studied the first chapter of Matthew. And in that first chapter we learned that when humanity meets divinity, miraculous, superhuman things happen and the God who has a perfect plan for our redemption reorients our plans. And then last week we learned that Jesus is the fulfillment of the generations who fulfills us for all of eternity through his life, death and resurrection.
Now this part of the story of Jesus’ birth that we are looking at this week is a story of responses. And the big question I want to propose to you is “How do you respond to the birth of Jesus?” We all have a tendency to respond differently when something happens. For example, when you are watching the Super Bowl and your team is winning you might respond with joy and anticipation and excitement. But inevitably someone else in the room will respond to the very same game with anxiety and fear and even anger because their team is losing when your team is winning. We all respond differently when something happens.
It’s the same with Christmas. Christmas has a tendency to evoke a different response from different people. Some people get excited, some people get sad, some people get indifferent and some people even get angry at Christmas time. And there are at least three different responses in our passage today. We have the response of Herod and the people of Jerusalem. We have the response of the religious leaders. And we have the response of the wise men.
#1: Think About the Response of King Herod and the People of Jerusalem…(1 – 3)
Matthew tells us that Jesus was born in Bethlehem in the days of Herod the king. This might seem like a descriptive comment that merely gives us a date stamp for Jesus’ birth but it’s really more than that. This little tid-bit of information tells us about the social climate of the nation of Israel at the time of Jesus’ birth. Jesus didn’t decide to arrive at a time when the nation was at its best.
You could argue that Jesus chose to come during one of the most tumultuous times in the nation of Israel because King Herod was the leader of the nation. We know that leaders are responsible for influencing the culture of the groups of people they lead. And over the course of history this principle rings true over and over and over again. A brief review of the last ten to fifteen years in our country will prove this for us.
And it was true with Israel under the leadership of King Herod too. King Herod was a brutal man who didn’t fear God at all. He had built an empire of wealth and power for himself and he actually murdered many of his own children just so that they couldn’t succeed him to the throne. So when King Herod heard that the wise men were coming through town asking about this baby king of the Jews, his insecurity and his fear began to tip the scales.
Matthew tells us that King Herod along with all of Jerusalem were troubled when they heard the news.They were troubled when they heard that a new king was in town. When you know that your leader is a ruthless man who does ruthless things because of his fear then the natural result of being in that culture is to live in fear too when anything happens that could push your leader over the edge.
Think about this in terms of your family or your work environment or your gospel community or your church. What do you think happens in the heart of someone that is ruled by fear when that person hears that Jesus has come to be his or her king? King Herod’s response was to call the religious leaders together and find out who the heck this new king of the Jews was suppose to be.
#2: Think About the Response of the Religious Leaders… (4 – 6)
Matthew tells us that King Herod gathered all the chief priests and the scribes together so that he can find out where this new baby king was to be born. Now it’s important for us to note that the chief priests and the scribes were social and religious leaders. The chief priests were conservative leaders and the scribes were liberal leaders.If these two groups who were usually at each other’s throats could agree on where the baby king was born then our ruthless king Herod could hunt him down and have him murdered before he became a real threat.
But think about how exciting it must have been to be a religious person (a religious leader at that) and have the king call for you to come and give him counsel. You are literally being called in to give spiritual counsel to the president of the nation. The emotional toll that you would experience with this would far surpass what you would feel when giving spiritual counsel to a friend or a family member or a coworker.
Oftentimes when we are called upon for spiritual counsel we might be tempted to feel afraid or feel inadequate or feel like we are in a good position because we have all the answers someone is looking for because of our Sunday school attendance. The religious leaders in our text appear to get somethings right. They actually point back to the prophets in their Bible and they explain that baby king Jesus was predicted to be born in Bethlehem of Judea.
These guys get a gold star on their Sunday School charts. They passed the Bible quiz! These leaders from two widely different social and religious backgrounds seem to have the same answer as to who Jesus will be and where he was born and they even seem to agree on the same biblical passage that supports their information. But their response to the news of Jesus’ birth is mere head knowledge for their own advancement and self-promotion.
We don’t see these guys again until after Jesus grows up and begins his public ministry. And when we do see them again they’re completely indifferent to Jesus if not outright antagonistic since they were responsible for Jesus’ death. Can you see how dangerous head knowledge without heart transformation can be? How destructive is it to pass along mere head knowledge without heart transformation to our friends, our family members, our coworkers and our neighbors? How destructive could this be for an entire nation?
#3: Let’s Revisit the Response of King Herod… (7 – 8)
After hearing from the religious leaders king Herod (who only has head knowledge divorced from heart transformation) along with everyone else involved should have responded in joy-filled exaltation and worship of the baby king who had come to be the ruling shepherd Savior of the nation. But instead,the religious leaders disappear from the story for a while, the people of Jerusalem are hiding out in their houses and King Herod becomes Jesus’ greatest enemy for the moment.
King Herod becomes an instrument of Satan, a son of the devil and an enemy of the throne of God. He calls the wise men to come meet with him secretly so that he can get some more information and deceptively manipulate them into becoming his spies. But regardless of how secret king Herod’s hatred for Jesus appeared to be and regardless of how secret king Herod’s love for his own self-promotion seemed to be, the truth is that this king was an enemy of righteousness. No amount of meetings with religious people and no amount false concern for the things of God could hide the fact that king Herod was an enemy of God at heart. King Herod wasn’t interested in the worship of God he was only interested in the worship of self.
Think about how easy it is to manipulate your circumstances because you don’t want to bow your knee to a new king. Think about how easy it is to use your power and your influence for your own self-promotion and your own self-preservation rather than the promotion and preservation of the worship of God. This is where the response of the wise men stands in stark contrast to everyone else in this passage.
#4: Think About the Response of the Wise Men… (9 – 12)
The wise men listened to king Herod and then went on their way. This is an important thing to think about. The wise men actually listened to the ruler of the nation and they saw right through his deception. His reputation as a ruthless, fear-filled leader preceded him and their hearts and their eyes and their ears were open to the revelation from God that he wasn’t to be trusted.
There is a principle of revelation here that is really important for us to remember. When we are faithful with the small things that God reveals tous, He reveals more of himself to us. King Herod had the same revelation that the wise men had. The people of Jerusalem virtually had the same revelation. The religious leaders had the same revelation too and in fact you could argue that they had more because there’s no evidence that the wise men were necessarily religious men like the religious leaders were.
The wise men were most likely pagan astrologists from the East who were infatuated with the stars and had heard the prophecies regarding the coming of the shepherd king Savior. In short, these men were pagans in search of king Jesus and as they proved faithful with the revelation of God through the star, He continued to reveal the true nature and intent of king Herod’s heart to them. In Herod’s case, God turned him over to the desires of his heart and he became an even more evil enemy of God.
But in the case of the wise men, God continued to reveal him self to them and the outcome was joy-filled worship. Matthew tells us that they continued their journey under the guidance of the star and when they found baby Jesus they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy and they fell down and worshiped him and they gave him gifts of gold and frankincense and myrrh. A heart that is moved to worship Jesus is filled with joy and surrender and generosity. That’s the response of the wise men.
Why does all of this matter?
This story matters because our response to the birth of Jesus matters and our response to the birth of Jesus is often driven by the emotions and the desires of our hearts. When you are like king Herod and the people of Jerusalem you respond to King Jesus with fear, anxiety and antagonism. When you are like the religious leaders you respond to King Jesus with indifference that later becomes deadly. But when you are like the wise men you respond with worship that is full of joy, full of surrender and full of generosity.
Why would you or I respond like the wise men? What would move our hearts to respond with joy, surrender and generosity? I have to admit that this question has haunted me for the last few weeks. I struggle with a deep root of fear and anxiety that is rooted in a deep desire for self-preservation.
I am a fighter. I don’t give up easily. I love to win. I love head knowledge. And more than that, I grew up in a home that was emotionally, physically, relationally and spiritually volatile. I learned that he who controls the temperature controls the atmosphere. So in the midst of all these loves, I ask again, what would make my heart turn away from fear and control and anxiety and self-preservation and winning?
The answer that I found in this text is in verse 6 where the religious leaders tell Herod about the prophecy that pointed to Jesus’ birth. Quoting the prophet Micah (5:2) they say And you, O Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for from you shall come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel.Bethlehem was a small rural community. Very insignificant in terms of thenation’s economy. And out of this insignificant community a baby would be born of a virgin who would become the ruling king that would shepherd the people by dying in their place. God takes small and insignificant things and he does massive eternal things with them.
And when I meditate on the truth that Jesus came as a ruling,shepherding, Savior King not a fear-filled ruthless king like Herod, my heart is awakened and I am moved to respond in worship that is filled with joy and surrender and generosity.
Conclusion…
The truth is, I find it much easier to be full of fear like king Herod. I find it much easier to hide out in my anxiety like the people of Israel. I find it much easier to be the guy with all the answers like the religious leaders. For a long time I lived like an outright antagonistic enemy of God like king Herod. I find it easier and much more natural to live in these spaces of sinfulness.
But God in his grace came and rescued me through the message of the gospel and he is training my heart to rejoice at the good news that though I have lived as his enemy, Jesus came at a time when things didn’t look so good. He didn’t wait for me to get my crap together before arriving on the scene. He came to me when I was at my worst and he revealed his loving kindness to me in the midst of my rebellion as he went to the cross for me.
He showed me that he is the ruling, shepherding, Savior King that my heart was in dire need of and he enabled me to worship him in spirit and in truth. In short he enabled me to respond to him in joy-filled, surrendered,generous worship through the message of the cross and the empty tomb.
And the question I have for you is what is your response to Jesus today? What is your response to this truth that the ruling, shepherding King of the world has come in the flesh to save you from your sin? Will you live in fear? Will you live in indifference? Will you live in dependence on what you can know in your mind and what you can do with your hands? Will you live in open rebellion? Or will you live in joy-filled, surrendered, generous, worship of Jesus who is the ruling,shepherding King who saves you? How will you respond to Jesus?