What Child Is This?

Christmas Is Over!

Happy New Year! How are you feeling? Christmas is over! How do we feel about that? I suspect we might feel one of two ways…or a little of both.

On one hand, we might have the post-Christmas blues. We dedicate a month of work and planning for various trips and festivities culminating in one very exciting and busy day of celebration and family…and now it’s over. The decorations go away. No more parties. No more eggnog. No more wassail. All that’s left is the bitter cold, short days, and the end of Christmas break so it’s back to school.

On the other hand, we might be glad it’s over. No more planning. No more weird family encounters. No more hearing complaints about presents. Send the kids back to school - get em outta the house! But that is all the secular stuff. Not all bad, but maybe we get a little caught up in the busy-ness of it all.

For most of last month we have been in a season of advent, reflecting on the coming of Christ and what that means for us. Then on Christmas morning we celebrated his arrival.

Joy to the world - the Lord is come! But now what?

Advent is over. Christmas is over. We are beginning a new year. What is our response to the conclusion of the season? What do we do with Jesus having already celebrated his birth?

In ancient Israel, the savior had come - angels and shepherds rejoiced and prophets proclaimed. Celebration had happened, if only on a small scale. But this is still very early in the story of the life of Jesus. Israel as a whole has yet to respond - it has much to learn about this child. What child is this, exactly?

This morning we are going to look at Matthew 2 for an answer to that question.

In Matthew’s gospel, Matthew teaches us about who, exactly, this child is and what our response should be.

As Matt said recently, Matthew loved his Old Testament. Matthew makes Old Testament connections left and right as he demonstrates that Jesus is the prophesied Messiah, the son of God, king of all nations.

The first chapter of Matthew’s gospel can be summarized like this. Jesus is a direct descendent of king David and he was born of a virgin just like Isaiah said (Is 7:14). Matthew has very little to say about the immediate events surrounding the birth - see Luke for those details. Matthew’s purpose is to show the person of Jesus through an Old Testament lens.

Let me read the first bit of Matthew 2. Watch and listen for the Old Testament references and allusions Matthew makes - we will display the citation up on the screen when I mention one.

Mt 2:1-12 “Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem (1 Sam 17:12) of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the east came to Jerusalem, saying, “Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we saw his star (Nu 24:17) when it rose and have come to worship him.” When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him; and assembling all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born. They told him, “In Bethlehem of Judea, for so it is written by the prophet: (Micah 5:2) “ ‘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.’ ” Then Herod summoned the wise men secretly and ascertained from them what time the star had appeared. 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.” 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. When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy. And going into the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother, and they fell down and worshiped him (Ps 22:27). Then, opening their treasures, they offered him gifts, (Is 60:6) gold and frankincense and myrrh. And being warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they departed to their own country by another way.”

Imagine the scene. A caravan of easterners - wealthy, highly educated, exotic, and most notably, Gentile - come into Jerusalem inquiring about the recently born king of the Jews. Herod the Great, the local ruler who was himself referred to as the king of the Jews, was troubled about this. The presence of these wise men made this much more than a simple rumor of a rival. Except, this might even be worse than a rival, because Herod responded by inquiring of the religious leaders where the Christ was to be born. Herod was a Jew in part, and here he seems to indicate that he understands that this king of the Jews wouldn’t be any mere usurper of the throne in Judea, but, if popular understanding was to be believed, a revolutionary that would win independence from Rome and reestablish the nation of Israel. Herod doesn’t like this news of the king of the Jews.

The rest of Jerusalem didn’t like this either. There is some debate about what “the rest of Jerusalem” is. Was it the religious leaders or the people in general? In any case we can say this much - Jerusalem doesn’t respond like we would expect. After the chief priests and the scribes told Herod where the Christ was to be born, we don’t see Jews tripping over themselves to get down to Bethlehem. Wouldn’t we expect Jews to be excited about the Messiah? Isn’t he the one they had been waiting for? They would likely agree in word if you asked them, but their absence in the rest of the story tells another tale.

So Herod sends the wise men off to Bethlehem and says, “Hey, when you find the Christ, let me know where he is exactly so I can come worship him, too.” The wise men may have been fooled, but the original readers of Matthew’s gospel would have said, “Yeah, right!” Herod the Great was an infamously tyrannical leader. Effective, but tyrannical. He had no intention of worshipping the Christ.

So the wise men go on to Bethlehem. This exotic, eastern caravan makes their way to a little podunk town about seven miles south of Jerusalem. During their entire trip they have been navigating under their own power. But now, they see His star again and it miraculously goes before them and rests above the house where Jesus was. These wise men go into the house and, upon seeing this young boy no older than two years old, begin to worship Jesus. Then they offer him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.

The scene looks ridiculous. These well-to-do foreigners come into a Jewish peasant home and begin worshipping a boy who is barely a toddler and likely has oatmeal dried on his chin. Not only is this scene ridiculous, it is completely backwards of what we would expect, especially by the original readers of Matthew’s gospel, generally considered to be primarily Jews. We would expect Jews to be the ones worshipping Jesus, not Gentiles. But the Jewish people aren’t here. In fact, Jerusalem is troubled by his presence. The current “king of the Jews” is out to kill him. Both are either ignorant or blasphemers. But these wise men are not ignorant at all - they understand very well who this child is. We can see it from their actions. These wise men leave their home where they are likely quite comfortable to travel a great distance for a great amount of time with a great amount of valuables to go to the land of the Jews to worship their king. These are actions of conviction. They know something about this child (how they know it is/was a part of our Bible class). You don’t offer gold, frankincense, and myrrh to anyone less than a king. So Jesus is at least that much. But why would someone travel to another land to worship someone else’s king? Unless they knew it was also their king. Unless the worship was less like homage to a monarch and more like adoration of God.

I think the original readers of Matthew’s gospel were amazed at this picture of Christ. But I think they were also a little ashamed. Up to two years go by and the only regard to Christ given by a Jew is a half-Jew who wants to kill him. Astronomers from a pagan land had to travel through field, fountain, moor, and mountain to give Jesus the regard he deserved - regard that his own people withheld, now and even throughout his adulthood.

What about us? What is our response? We celebrated the arrival of a savior at Christmas. Have we bowed to the king? Everyone loves forgiveness and salvation, but not everyone loves to bend the knee. How do you regard Jesus? Are you willing to give grand, over-the-top gifts? Are you willing to make great, perilous journeys? Are you willing to uproot your life for a season to honor him? That’s what a bunch of random guys from the east did because they were convicted about who he was. Are you convicted?

Many here are sons and daughters of God having already dedicated their lives to Jesus Christ. This picture that Matthew paints may have touched you. Let it move you. It’s a new year - let the Spirit move you to greatly honor Christ. Maybe you would like to pray about that this morning. I’ll gladly pray with you and so will our prayer team.

Some here are not yet in the family of God - but you can be! It’s simple to begin - though not easy to continue - and definitely worth it. Declare that Jesus is your God and King. Bow to him and let him make you his son or daughter in baptism. If you would like to do that, or if you have questions about what’s involved with that or why that is important, come see me while we sing. Let’s stand.

O Worship the King, Ab