Where is he who has been born King of the Jews?

Where is he who has been born King of the Jews?

Last week Todd Simonis began a new series with y’all on Big Questions in the Bible. He began last week with a question from Genesis that is first addressed to Adam and Eve right after they sinned, but it’s also a question God addresses to every one of us in our sin. It’s the question “Where are you?” Now, God asks this not because he’s lost Adam and Eve or because he doesn’t know the answer to this question. In fact, whenever God asks questions in Scripture, it isn’t because HE needs to know the answer. He asks these questions because WE need to know the answer.

When Adam and Eve are confronted with this question, “Where are you”, they can begin to realize, “We’re lost. That’s where we are! We’ve separated ourselves from God in our sin. Now we’re in need of a Savior!” This question, “Where are you?” convicts and confronts them in their sin so that, once they recognize their sin, they can begin to call out to God for Him to save them.

And so, for that reason, our question for today is one that I think naturally arises from that first question. Once we realize our need for a Savior, then, the natural next question is for us to ask HIM, “Where are YOU God? Though I’ve fallen in my sin, how can I be with you again? Where are you?”

That’s the question we’re going to look at today. We’re going to look at a particular instance where this question’s asked in our gospel passage when a group of wise men, after seeing a bright star in the heavens which they interpret as a sign that the King of the Jews has been born, ask “Where is he who has been born King of the Jews? Where is this long awaited Messiah, the Savior of Israel? Where are you God?”

That’s the question we’re looking at today. And, as we look at this question, I want to focus primarily on three things: first I want to look at how this question that the wise men ask is really a question deep within each of our hearts. Whether we realize it or not, burning within is us is also a desire to know where our God is. Secondly, I want to look at what we can learn from the way the magi seek an answer to this question and, more importantly, how God responds to their seeking. And, finally, I want to look at the answer that the magi get to their question, and what that answer means for us. So, we’re looking at the question, the seeking, and the answer.

The Question - Where is God?

The author C. S. Lewis, who is most famous as the author of The Chronicles of Narnia, also wrote an important book called Mere Christianity which goes through some of the basics of the Christian faith. And in this book there’s a point where he discusses why we have certain desires that never seem to be satisfied. He writes,

Creatures are not born with desires, unless satisfaction for those desires exists. A baby feels hunger: well, there is such a thing as food. A duckling wants to swim: well, there is such a thing as water. Men [and women] feel sexual desire: well, there is such a thing as sex. If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world. If none of my earthly pleasures satisfy, it doesn’t prove that the universe is a fraud. Probably, earthly pleasures were never meant to satisfy it, but only to [awaken] it, to suggest the real thing.

I wonder if you’ve ever had that experience where you had a desire for something and nothing seemed to scratch that itch for you. Maybe you desired close, deep friendships, but when you finally got the close friendships that seemed to be the very thing you wanted, you still found yourself wanting something more. The friendships you had didn’t quite satisfy. Maybe you’ve had a deep desire for success, and so you’ve climbed the corporate ladder in your career, but no matter how close you get to the top, you find that your desire hasn’t changed. You’re still not satisfied. You’re still wanting something more. There’s still something missing.

C. S. Lewis says the reason we have desires like this that seemingly can’t be satisfied is because we were never meant to be satisfied by the things of this world. The deepest desires we have are satisfied by God alone.

St. Augustine understood this same thing and he said that our hearts are restless until they find their rest in God.

You see, all of us have a certain restlessness in our hearts until we turn to God. This is because we were not just created BY God, but we were also created FOR God. We were made to be in a relationship with him, and so when God created us He placed deep within each of our hearts a longing that can only be satisfied by Him. It’s really a gift he’s given us that draws us continually towards him.

It’s why if you look throughout the world’s history, in every culture and civilization, there’s always some form of religion – there’s some way that people have tried to respond to this deep, restless longing in their hearts. Even in cases where people claim there’s no God, there’s still something that they’re putting their trust in, something that they keep turning to for help, something that they’re seeking to satisfy their deepest desires. In some way, everyone is responding to the deep longing placed in their hearts by God.

And so, for this reason, it’s not just the wise men in our passage that are restless and seeking to find God. Every one of us who responds to this longing in our hearts is on a similar journey to find the God we were created for. Each of us in some way is seeking an answer to the question, “Where are you, God?”

In our story, we get to see the journey of these wise men as they search for an answer to this question. And although they don’t really know exactly what they’re looking for, or even what they should be doing, they still begin searching and, in his grace, God meets them through their efforts.

So, how do they begin searching for God, and what can we learn from this?

The Seeking

Well, the wise men in our passage are astrologers and diviners. They’re people given to stargazing, who would look to the heavens for signs of the divine that they could discern in the movements of planets and stars. In other words, they’re not Jewish people. They seem to have some knowledge of the Jewish Scriptures, but their knowledge is limited. They clearly don’t know the proper way to seek after God – so they simply looked for him in the only way they knew how. They looked to interpret the stars.

Now, what I think is fascinating about this is that these practices that they turn to are explicitly condemned throughout the Old Testament. They’re doing things that we’re forbidden to do. And yet, shockingly, in God’s kindness and mercy, God still meets them through these practices. God wants these wise men to know him so much that he even uses their unBiblical ways of looking for Him to begin guiding them to himself. Since they’re already looking to the sky for a sign, he goes where they’re looking. He goes where he can’t be missed and gives them a bright star to begin guiding them to himself.

Now, he doesn’t intend for them to stay with the star as their guide forever. He isn’t approving their practices. In fact, the star only leads them so far, until they have to turn from it to consult people familiar with the Jewish Scriptures who can guide them the rest of the way. They eventually move from astrology to the Scriptures for guidance. But my point is that God doesn’t wait for them to figure out holier methods of finding him. He goes ahead and is willing to meet them where they are so they can begin to know him even now.

Now, I don’t know about you, but I find this to be very comforting news because, what it means to me is that my ability to know God isn’t based on how good I am at looking for Him, but on how good he is at revealing himself to me. Our God isn’t playing hide and seek with us. He isn’t trying to make it difficult for us to find him. If our hearts ever turn towards him at all, he is ready and willing to meet us where we are. Our God wants us to know Him.

Now, just like with the wise men, when God does meet us where we are, we should expect that he’s not going to leave us where we are. The wise men had to travel a great distance from their homeland and from everything they’re familiar with in order to find the King they’re searching for.

And the same could be true for us. God may call you away from certain things in your life when you set out on this journey to find him. He may call you to leave what you are comfortable and familiar with on your way to a deeper life with him. It can be tempting for us to want God on our terms – to just fit him into the life we’ve already created for ourselves. But that wasn’t an option for the wise men, and it’s not an option he gives us either. He will meet us where we are, but he then calls us to leave all behind as we follow him.

So, these wise men even leave their homeland as they set out on their journey to find the one who has been born King of the Jews. They begin their seeking. And, now, what is it that they find through their seeking?

The Answer

Well, that brings us to the answer of the question we started with. “Where is he who has been born King of the Jews?”

The wise men finally find the answer to this question in the fairly insignificant town of Bethlehem. The longing that led them to look to the stars and led them to travel thousands of miles from Persia all the way to this small town finally finds its satisfaction when they are face to face with the unassuming child, Jesus Christ.

It’s remarkable that the end of this journey doesn’t end with an astonishing display of power or royalty. Can you imagine traveling for so long and so far in search of the King of Kings, only to find at the end of the journey that you are face to face with a child? It’s remarkable. And yet, this is where God has made Himself to be found – He is found only in the person of Jesus Christ, in all of the weakness and frailty of our humanity.

In Jesus we see that our God is not a God who flaunts his power or glory or who takes joy in remaining separated from us even when we are the ones who turned from him in our sin. Instead, Jesus shows us that our God is a God who is even willing to take on our flesh, our frailty, and all of our weaknesses so that he can be close to us once again. This is the God that our hearts restlessly long for.

You see, the wise men could have chosen to hold on to their comforts and stayed where they were. They could have easily turned around at any point acknowledging how ridiculous it is to travel to such a great length just to see a child. They could have remained with their possessions and comforts, and not wasted so much time and energy, but they would have done all of this at the cost of never finding the one who can satisfy the restless longings of their hearts.

We were made for God, and our hearts are restless until they find their rest in him.

We can also be tempted to try to satisfy the desires of our hearts without leaving anything behind. We can try to satisfy our desires in our own ways either by turning to things other than God, or by making God into who we want him to be. But if you really want to know God and to find the satisfaction you were created for, you have to know Him as He really is in Himself. And the only way to do this is to know Him in and through Jesus Christ.

So, ultimately the answer the wise men find to their question, and the satisfaction they find for their restless hearts is the same answer and satisfaction offered to each of us. Just like with them, we are also invited to turn to Jesus, to cling to him through faith, and to grow in an ever deepening relationship with him. And, when we do this, we will find that our hearts are finally at rest.