When Jesus Comes

Introduction

Have you ever been so preoccupied with something in your life that you have missed an amazing event right in front of you.

This isn’t an amazing even, in fact it is kind of mundane but one of my students had an “I missed it” moment at school recently. We had been studying the thirteen English Colonies including filling out a map of the thirteen colonies. We spent a good portion of one class period meticulously filling out these maps. We made sure everyone had each of the colonies written down in the correct place. We made sure everyone had each of the states spelled correctly on their maps. And then we colored each of the regions. Then if that wasn’t enough I told the students to make sure they payed attention as we did it because this would appear on a quiz. I then collected the maps for a grade and to make sure all of the information on them was accurate.

As our thirteen colonies quiz approached I handed out a study guide and the first bullet point said “know your Thirteen Colonies Map and the spelling of each colony.” I’m not sure I could have been any more clear.

The day of the quiz arrived. As the students sat down I asked them to put everything away but a pen and began to hand out the quiz. I gave them to the first person in each row and had them pass the quiz back. As I was completing handing the quizzes out I heard a girl in the front row give a loud sound of derision. I asked her what was wrong and she exclaimed loudly “I didn’t know we had to study the map!” She had sat in the front row of the class all year but had neglected to pay attention to this simple instruction. I don’t know what she was focusing on while I was explaining that they needed to study their map over and over. But she clearly missed what was right in front of her.

We do this all of the time. We are so focused on our own lives, or our small situation that we miss God’s grand work right in front of our faces. This happened to an entire nation two thousand years. The Messiah was born right in their midst and they missed it.

Government Didn’t Recognize the Messiah

Herod sat on the throne in Jerusalem

Though he was not a Jew himself he saw himself as king of the Jews

He was a client king to the Romans

But he wanted power

Herod was blinded by his desire for power

Herod did not worship God

The temple was only one of his building projects

It was more about taxes and control of the masses then it was about worship of God

Herod was a client king but he wanted complete control

Herod was so blinded by himself that he could not see the truth of the Messiah

“He could not see past his own nose”

He only cared for himself.

This self love is what kept him from seeing the truth about the messiah.

The People Didn’t Recognize the Messiah

The people were waiting on a messiah

They had been waiting for over 400 years for the messiah to appear

They read the scriptures searching for the messiah

They were too focused on their leadership

They were focused on Herod

They were focused on Rome

When the Messiah actually came they were worried with Herod (2.3b)

We read that the people were worried with Herod

They were worried because their focus was not on God and what he was doing for them.

Only The Obedient Recognized the Messiah

The ones who recognized the messiah weren’t even Hebrews

They came from the east of Isreal, possibly Persia, Arabia, or even India

They were probably gentiles, not Hebrews

They were magicians or astrologers not God Fearers

The magi were obedient to the signs

They read the prophecies so they would know the sign of the coming messiah

They obeyed the sign of the star, the same star the shepherds witnessed

The magi were obedient to come worship

The journey from the east to Jersualem is hard

There are harsh conditions

The road is dangerous

The trip is long

They made the trip to worship Jesus

If we want to truly see the Messiah we must be obedient

We must keep our focus on Jesus alone

We must place our trust in the power of the Holy Spirit

We must be obedient to God

Only then will we see the working of the Holy Spirit

Conclusion

It was only through their obedience that the magi knew the messiah had come. Those closest to him did not know who he was and feared what they heard. They did were too focused on themselves, their own power, their own situations to see the answer to all of their problem had come in the form of a baby.

How often do we focus on the wrong things? God longs to show His grace, his mercy, and his power to all people. He is present in many different ways to all people. In fact he shows himself to us daily. But we must keep our focus on Him. When we stay focused on God he will reveal himself to us in amazing ways. Let us pray.