Family Ties-Magi

Our advent/Christmas series was called Family Ties. We looked at Jesus’ genealogy, some of the people in Jesus’ family, all who needed a saviour. Then we turned our attention to Joseph, Mary and Jesus. We continue today with the Magi. The Magi worshipped Christ the King of the Jews. But how did they know to come? That’s the question we’ll answer this morning,

To do that, we need to go way back, way back in history to when the law was given to the Israelites in the wilderness. God had rescued them out of bondage and slavery in Egypt and was in the process of bringing them into the Promised Land. Because of a bad report and a majority opinion, Israel wandered in the wilderness for 40 years. I wonder how well we’d endure if we knew the pandemic restrictions were going to last that long? I suspect we’d probably grumble and complain much as they did, but I also have great hope that because we are all filled with the Holy Spirit, we would be loving and considerate throughout!

When the law was given, the Israelites were commanded to obey it always. But, if they, as a nation, wandered from God, worshipped other gods, treated one another terribly, in other words, deliberately chose to hate God and neighbour, then God would punish them by exiling them, expelling them, for a time, from the Promised Land.

This is indeed what happened. The Israelites rebelled against God almost from the moment they entered the promised land! They were pretty good under Joshua, but after he died, they drifted from God. Then, God raised up judge after judge, to lead them. But they didn’t want judges, they didn’t want God as their King, they wanted a human king like all the other nations. So God gave them their desires. They got Saul, who was head and shoulders (literally) above the rest of the people, handsome and relevant.

But he failed as a king, and so God anointed David. David started out great, but then he failed. And yet, David remained as the standard of all kings. Everyone who came after David, also failed, and not one of them even measured up to David. David was Israel’s standard, but even he wasn’t the gold standard. Israel was longing for a king who would come, who would be even greater than David.

Eventually, the leadership in Israel and Judah became so corrupt, that the people of God couldn’t and wouldn’t turn their hearts back to him. So God intervened and caused them to be exiled to the pagan nation of Babylon.

Now, it might seem strange to send them far from their connections to God—the temple, the Promised Land, the things that one would expect was useful to keep their hearts connected to God—except none of those things was keeping their hearts connected to God! We might think that by sending them to a pagan land they would be enticed to follow the pagan gods there. And, yes, some were. But remember the whole nation was following pagan gods already.

What did happen was that some of the people turned back to God. They were shocked into reality. They understood that they had brought this punishment upon themselves. Psalm 137 speaks their lament:

By the waters of Babylon, there we sat down and wept, when we remembered Zion. On the willows there we hung up our lyres. For there our captors required of us songs, and our tormentors, mirth, saying, “Sing us one of the songs of Zion!”

There they were, suddenly aware of what had happened and there was nothing they could do to change their situation. They had to wait for God to act, and he would, in 70 years.

But here’s the amazing thing about God. God used the faithful people of God to impact people in Babylon. There were plenty of faithful followers of God who got caught up in the punishment—the exile. God used them, people like Daniel—during the exile, and Esther and Mordecai, after the exile, to tell others about the one True God of Israel.

There were many others beside, who from Babylon, were brought to the land of the Medes and the Persians. They shared their Messianic hopes and promise-fulfillment with them also!

Amongst the hopes and expectations was that there would be signs accompanying the coming of the messiah. The people who believed these promises, who believed that Israel’s messiah would come, who longed for that, kept watch for it.

The promises of the messiah were passed down, from generation to generation all the way to the wise men who came from the east to Jerusalem saying, “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.”

When we think, then of the exile, when we think of God’s actions in and through His people, we need to have our eyes opened to all the parts that are going on. It is what the message of God in Joseph’s life was all about: his brothers intended their actions to be for evil, but God intended them for good.

The four-hundred years in Egypt, had a lasting influence on the people of Egypt, such that Egypt was very receptive to the good news of Jesus Christ. There have been Christians living in Egypt ever since!

The people brought evil upon themselves by abandoning and rebelling against God. And God punished them with exile. But God used the exile, God intended the exile to bring the good news about the messiah to the Babylonians, the Medes and Persians.

In this, we see that God causes the events of the world for his own purposes—to tell the world about Him! God is letting us know, with this story of the wise men, that God’s plan includes all nations. God is the God of all the nations! Jesus is king of the Jews, but the fact that these wise, Gentile men came to worship him, proves that Jesus is also the king of the Gentiles. Jesus is indeed the king of kings and the Lord of Lords.

And Jesus is the Lord of our lives. There are a lot of opinions about many things going on in the world today. And I am no expert in science, or medicine, or politics or law. I am an expert in theology. So, I’ll do my best to apply theology to our lives today:

God is in control. Jesus is King. Whatever happens in our lives, we can trust that God will bring good out of it. This is what is meant in Romans 8:16-18 which says, “The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him. For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.” So, the experiences in this life, are nothing more than us sharing in the sufferings of Christ. And, jumping forward to verse 28, “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.”

So, for those who were called by God to suffer in Persia, good came—if not immediately for them, then certainly later for others, for those wise men, who, believing the truth about the Messiah, chose to go to Bethlehem to worship the new born king!

They went to Jerusalem first, as that was not only the capital city, it was also the religious centre. They inquired of the king’s birthplace and found the answer. Fascinating, isn’t it, that foreigners knew to ask about the king’s birth, but those who were born and raised there didn’t.

Or did they? Were the leaders suppressing, even then, the coming of the Messiah? Did they read the signs just as accurately as the wise men? Did they hope that the messiah wouldn’t come in their time because they enjoyed their lives so much?

Before we come down too hard on them, let us consider our own thoughts about Jesus second coming. A number of us have said, “I hope he comes soon—but maybe not too soon. There are some things I’d still like to do before he returns. Things like, getting married, having children or grandchildren, seeing the world.”

These are good things in of themselves and it is right to long for them. However, these good things pale in comparison with the amazingly incredible coming of Christ! If we really, truly knew what Jesus second coming will bring, not one of us would even entertain such a thought. But because we are so familiar with good things here and now, we have a hard time imagining something so much better! C.S. Lewis put it this way, “It would seem that Our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased” —The Weight of Glory, and Other Addresses.

Is it possible then, that what the wise men saw in Jesus, the pharisees, scribes and even King Herod couldn’t, wouldn’t see?

Is it possible, that we, having seen the actions of these wise men, who laboured to travel all the way from the east to Bethlehem, via Jerusalem and “going into the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother, and they fell down and worshipped him. Then, opening their treasures, they offered him gifts, gold and frankincense and myrrh.” Is it possible, that this can inspire, stir us to worship Jesus all the more?

Can their actions, can the same Holy Spirit who was at work in them, who is at work in us, inspire us to desire Jesus much, much more strongly? That He would show us how to stop focussing on the shadow lands, the good, but really ethereal things of this earth, and focus on the things of heaven: relationships, community, fellowship, togetherness?

Brothers and sisters, this Coronavirus is an opportunity. Let us not waste it! Let us continue rising up, like we’ve seen so much—neighbour to neighbour kits for our community. Online and livestream only worship! Folks stopping by and dropping off boterkoek and doukjes! Folks dropping off cards and gifts. Reaching out via phone, and Zoom, and Facebook and email!

When we stop and look around, don’t we see God at work everywhere? And rather than focussing on where we would rather be, let us embrace where we are and see how God is working in and through us! For he is! I have seen it in you! I have been blown away by the goodness you have shown to one another, to me and my family this season. Don’t give up! Keep up the good work! And God himself will provide you with the gifts and the abilities to do what He has called you to do, wherever circumstances find you! Amen.