Wise Man - The Dilemma of Obedience

Introduction

Video: The Dilemma of Obedience, The Wise Men

Tension

One of the most most recognizable dilemmas ever articulated is by a William Shakespeare character named Hamlet when he said the iconic phrase: “To be or not to be, that is the question.” And the Wise Men, or Kings or Magi of “The Christmas Story” faced a dilemma very similar…they would have to just add a letter “O” and the letter “Y” before and after the “be”. “To Obey or not to Obey, that was their question”. That was their Dilemma.

Obedience is defined as “Submitting to the authority of another” or “to comply with the command, direction, or request of a person or a law.” But the question of obedience is rarely just a black and white, yes or no question. To “obey or not obey” is never asked in a vacuum. There are always consequences in our choice to obey any of the many different authorities present in our lives.

This is where the dilemmas come in, when obedience to one authority means disobedience to another because they are requiring you to do two different things. That is the Dilemma that the Wise Men found themselves in shortly after they saw the Christ child with their own eyes.

For some time they had been obeying the directions of the Stars,

But then they were faced with the authority of an earthly King,

But after they laid their eyes on the Christ Child, they recieved those instructions “from a different order”.

They could not obey the instructions they received from all these authorities because to obey one was to disobey the other. That is the Christmas Dilemma that we are going to look at this morning. The Dilemma of Obedience.

Would you pray with me, and then we will dive into the “Dilemma of Obedience” that the Wise men faced and see what there is from their story to learn about our own.

Truth

So I could sit down for coffee with any of the characters of the Christmas Story I would probably choose to sit down with one of these Wise Men. It might seem like a strange choice against the significance of many of the other characters of the Christmas story, but I would choose a Wise man because there is so much mystery surrounding the details of their part of the story. Things like:

How many of you were there? Here in the West, we typically think three but the Bible never says that - it’s just mentions three gifts. Eastern tradition says that here was probably at least 7 and so go as far as 12.

What we can be certain of is that they didn’t ride alone on three lonely camels across the dessert like in all pictures. It would have been a dangerous journey in a barbaric time so they probably traveled with an armed escort in a large caravan because no one traveled alone (unless they were time-traveling ninja’s…I would definitely have to ask if they were time traveling ninja’s)

And then if they didn’t get up and leave...I would ask them “Where exactly did you come came from?”. All we really know is that they came from the “East”. Because of how the Bible refers to them, we typically think that they came from Persia, because there was a class of leaders in the Persian culture called “Magi”. This would have been probably somewhere around ancient Babylon but we don’t really know.

Then I would ask them “How did you know what the star meant” Many Scholars have postulated that if they were from Babylon then maybe these men studied the teachings of Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego who served the King of Babylon and then Persia. That could be how they knew about the star that “shall come out of Jacob, and a scepter” that “shall rise out of Isreal”. from Numbers 24.

I may even ask them, “Why did you choose the gifts you did?” A lot has been made of the symbolic nature of their gifts, but did they really think through all that or was that just the most expensive things on that Mary and Joseph registered for.

Finally I would ask them “What are your names anyway?” Around the Middle ages three names popped up that we often ascribe to the Wise men, but there is no evidence that they were actually called Gaspar Melchior, Balthazar even those those are pretty cool names.

There is just a lot mystery around these characters called the Wise Men that I would love to know more about their story...but Scripture does not tell us. But there is a lot that Scripture does tell us, and some of that might be just as surprising to us.

For example, Matthew makes it clear that this dilemma the wisemen were faced with happened, ...after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, Matthew 2:1 (ESV)

So even though we often see pictures of the Wise Men laying their gifts next to Jesus in the manger - He wasn’t still in the manger when the Wise Men arrived. He probably had a “big boy” bed by now because he was anywhere from several months to a couple of years old when the Wise Men finally arrived.

We know this because of what we read in verse 11 where it says: “And going into the house, (not the barn with the manger) they saw the child (not the baby) with Mary his mother,…(Matthew 2:11a) Careful reading of the text helps to clarify this part of the story.

Growing up my family had these huge 3 feet tall light up plastic figures of Mary and Joseph that we would put with baby Jesus on one of the two porches of our house. (I told you, my family and I love Christmas) But then on the other porch a good 25 feet over we would put the three wise men, facing them as if they were heading there but had not yet arrived.

It was a fun way to remember that the Christmas Story didn’t all happen in just one night…and so our celebration of Christmas doesn’t have to be limited to one day either…something to think about as you are preparing for your Christmas traditions.

The other thing that Matthew makes very clear is that these men recognized the presence of a new star and they have come in response to this event.

Obedience is to recognize and respond to authority (Matthew 2:1-2)

Matthew 2:1–2 (ESV)

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, 2 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.”

Again we don’t know exactly where these “Wise Men” were from, but much of the world and certainly the people of the Persian Empire believed that an understanding of the past, present and future events of the universe could be found in the stars.

So when something significant changed in the patterns of the stars in the heavens that meant that something significant has happened down in the world of men. In this case, it was so significant that these men invested great time and resources into finding this one who is “born King of the Jews”. The presence of this new star told them that they needed to find this King so that they could bow down to him.

Of course our hope is that Gaspar, Melchior, Balthazar and or Bob, Lenny and Rico were believers in the one true God Jehovah but there is little to point to that conclusion…at least not on the onset of their journey. The word used in this verse for “worship” is the word προσκυνέω (proskeneo) and literally means to bow down before.

So these men, being subject to the command of the stars and believing in a system of many different gods were compelled to seek out this King and humbly show honor and appreciation to the one born “King of the Jews”. Of course we hope that meeting the Christ Child changed all this but that is really just another mystery.

But even before they met Jesus in Bethlehem, they crossed paths with another “authority” the powerful and maniacal King Herod who was concerned about their quest for the one “Born King of the Jews” because he knew that this did not describe Him…the current King of the Jews.

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. Matthew 2:3–4 (ESV)

Long story short, when this King ain’t happen, ain’t nobody happy!

You see the right to be King was established by hereditary lineage. In other words, you had to be from the Line of King David to be King. That is what Matthew Chapter 1 is all about. It establishes Jesus’ lineage that goes all the way back and even through King David.

But the one currently occupying the throne in Jerusalem was not from the line of David. Herod was not even fully Jewish, as the ancient historian Josephus called Herod a “a half-Jew”. Instead Herod came to power by convinced the Roman Emperor, Caesar Augustus of his loyalty to Rome and then was appointed “King of the Jews” with the full backing of the Roman military.

And while Herod did build many impressive buildings to show Rome the breadth of his power, including the second Temple, History reports how he was a conniving, power-hungry and paranoid ruler. In several cases he elevated his family members to positions of great power to “keep it in the family” only to later have them all executed because he had a “gut-feeling” that they were about to betray him.

And speaking of “gut-feelings” History records that Herod suffered from some kind of internal illness that was eating him from the inside out so that the older he got the more angry, paranoid and explosive he was.

The big idea is that even though Herod thought of himself as the “King of the Jews”, he knew that most Jews silently rejected his authority. He knew that his claim to the thrown was based on brute force alone and so he was constantly looking for anything or anyone that even sniffed of a threat to his power…so you can image what a man like this would do to get his hands on a baby that “Wise Men” traveled a very long way to find.

Matthew 2:3–6 (ESV)

3 ... 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.’ ”

So now that he knew where this “ruler” was to come from, the little town of Bethehem, Herod figured he could put a stop to this. But since he did not want word to get out a new “King of the Jews” he secretly enlisted the help of the wisemen to pinpoint the place of this threat to his rule.

Matthew 2:7–8 (ESV)

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.”

Nothing good happens when it is veiled in this kind of “secret meeting” it just has an air of smoke-filled back room deals, doesn’t it? But neither Herod’s “secret meeting” nor his true intent for this child would be hidden for long.

It is comforting to me to know that this one “born King of the Jews” will later in Matthew say about evil men like Herod:

Matthew 10:26–28 (ESV)

26 “So have no fear of them, for nothing is covered that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known. 27 What I tell you in the dark, say in the light, and what you hear whispered, proclaim on the housetops. 28 And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.

Herod forever was working behind closed doors to position and posture himself to remain in power. He thought he could control his destiny. So once he got the information he needed from the wisemen, he sent them out with specific instructions to return to him and report the location of the child.

This leads us to our second theme:

The Dilemma of Obedience is in choosing which authority to obey and when (Matthew 2:9-12)

Matthew 2:9–10 (ESV)

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. 10 When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy.

What did that look like? For a star to come to rest over one place on earth? I have no idea - so I will add that to the questions I would like to ask a Wise Man some day.

Matthew 2:11 (ESV)

11 And 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.

It’s true that we don’t know exactly what the wisemen believed, but we can see how they were deeply moved when they finally found what they had been searching for all this time. They had their chance to recognize and respond to this authority and they bowed down before him.

And then verse 12 is where their Dilemma comes into play. They had found Jesus and knew where He now was located. The next thing to do was to return this information to Herod; but what would they do?

Matthew 2:12 (ESV)

12 And being warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they departed to their own country by another way.

And that is the last we hear of these “Wise Men” in Scripture.

GOSPEL APPLICATION

“To obey or not to obey” - that was their Christmas Dilemma. Should they obey Herod the man or the warning in the dream that came from God? Although there is no indication that the wisemen were followers of the God of the Bible, the dilemma remained: should they obey man or obey God?

We recognize this kind of dilemma don’t we? We have been in many conversation, discussions even debates over the past 18 months when it comes to reconciling our commitment to obey God as our ultimate authority and what that means when we are confronted with the demands of earthly authorities who do not recognize God.

Our Dilemma has led us to grapple with verses like Romans 13:1 which says

1 Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. Romans 13:1 (ESV)

But then we also have verses like Acts 5:29 where the Apostles were being ordered to stop teaching and preaching the Gospel and “Peter and the apostles answered, “We must obey God rather than men.” in Acts 5:29

What seems clear from these and other passages is that our default position is to obey the governing authorities (Romans 13) right up to the point when their demands violate God’s commands, like in Acts 5.

So the principle is that when a person is faced with the Dilemma of Obedience, we always obey our highest authority, and for a Christian the highest authority is always God.

John Stott was one of the most respected evangelical theologians of the twentieth century. In his commentary on Romans 13, he asks:

“Granted that the authority of the rulers is derived from God, what happens if they abuse it, if they reverse their God-given duty, commending those who do evil and punishing those who do good? Does the requirement to submit still stand in such a morally perverse situation?

No. The principle is clear. We are to submit right up to the point where obedience to the state would entail disobedience to God. But if the state commands what God forbids, or forbids what God commands, then our plain Christian duty is to resist, not to submit, to disobey the state in order to obey God.”

Our last theme for the week is:

The answer to the Dilemma of Obedience is to choose to obey our highest authority

This is what the wise men chose to do. They went home another way and did not obey Herod in order to obey God.

Gospel Application: Dual Citizenship

What this Dilemma highlights for the Christian is our active citizenship in two very different Kingdoms. We live in a secular world with secular leaders who we are to support and obey. But we also are citizens of a higher Kingdom, the Kingdom of God where the authority of our omnipotent King is supreme.

Psalm 2:10–11 (ESV)

10 Now therefore, O kings, be wise; be warned, O rulers of the earth. 11 Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice with trembling.

And we have had a lot of tough calls to make this past year when it comes to the governing rulers in our lives and I don’t know that we have turned a corner yet so that many of our holiday gatherings will probably be either dominated by these things or these things may be carefully or even fiercely avoided to keep the festivities civil.

But I wonder if we may be served well to consider also applying the “Obey or not to Obey” Dilemma to other areas of our life this season. While they may not hold official offices of authority, there could be earthly voices in our lives that we obey before we obey God.

Maybe you are struggling to meet the expectations of family members, friends or co-workers this season and still maintain the heart of the Christmas celebration.

Or maybe the demands of Christmas Shopping, Christmas baking and Christmas dinners are so overwhelming that you are really just wishing it was over even before it has started.

Or it could be that the voice that we are most often obeying over obeying God is our own. We want this holiday to be what we want them to be and we won’t let anything get in the way of having a “Perfect Christmas” this year.

That is our first “Take-Out Question” this week from the back of your notes page: What would make this Christmas “The Perfect Christmas” for you? I imagine our answers would be pretty telling when it comes to the voices we are obeying.

Jesus said “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. Luke 14:26 (ESV)

Not exactly a typical Christmas passage! And of course this is not a command to actually “hate” anyone, but simply a scale to say that sometimes our obedience to Jesus is so opposite of what others expect or even demand of us that it may look like hate in comparison.

For the Christ Child that the Wise Men bowed before grew up to become a “religious radical” who taught his disciples to do things that their families would have condemned them for. Crazy things like

“Obey God, even when no one is looking” and

“love your neighbor, even those who are not like you”

“Forgive your enemies and pray for those who persecute you” and

“Give unto Caesar what is Caesars, but give unto God what is God’s”

Not only did Jesus declare these radical things, he lived them out perfectly and then died to give us true life.

Landing

You know Hamlet’s “To be or not to be” soliloquy is essentially all about life and death. Because of the great pain in Hamlet’s story he is considering how death may be a better option than life but he has this Dilemma because he doesn’t know what, if anything, there is after death.

Because of Jesus we don’t have to live with that kind of Dilemma. While we are still here on earth we will have painful experiences and we may still struggle to obey God rather than men - but by the power of the Holy Spirit, Christians can say along with the Apostle Paul,

21 For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. Philippians 1:21 (ESV)

It is only because of what Christ did for us by humbling himself in coming to earth as a baby, living perfect life and then giving up his life in death for ours that we have gained something to celebrate this Christmas.

It has been said that “It is not the presents under the tree that should be our focus at Christmas but the Presence of God on the tree”. That he would humble himself to come to earth as baby is incredible - but that he humbled himself unto death, even death on the cross is something that we should celebrate every day.

Let’s pray, and then we will celebrate this together through the celebration of Communion.