Why the Wise Men? 12/24/23

Friends. Let me greet many people here. If you’re online joining us at home, we’re glad you’re with us. I also want to do a special welcome to all of the kids that are in here with us today. We’ve got kids with us. We’re so glad that you are here with us. Yeah, I have a special word for moms and dads of kids that are in here. If they make noise, it is not a big deal. We have had kids in church services for a couple thousand years as the church. We’ll all be fine, right? Right. We’ll all be good. So if they make noise, we’re all fine. We’re just glad that they’re here.

Now, kids, I want to tell you something. I’m going to work really hard to try to help you and all of these adults in here with us understand what God’s trying to tell us in the book of Matthew. So you try to hang in with me, and I’m going to try to make it make as much sense as possible. And the way we’re going to start is we’re going to hear what Matthew tells us about this moment after Jesus was born. We find this in Matthew 2:1-12, and I’m going to read it for us. Here we go.

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, 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 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: ‘And you, 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 and till 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. Then, opening their treasures, they offered him gifts, gold and frankincense and myrrh. And being warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they departed to their own country another way.

That is quite a story. Why is that story in the Bible? An interesting thing happens to us around the holidays. We’re tempted to romanticize reality. We’re tempted to make things way more special than maybe they are. For some, going shopping feels like they’re in a Hallmark movie. For others, a simple cup of coffee fortified with cream and sugar or other additions just tastes better on Christmas Eve. Little white lights glow with a warm invitation to sit in the living room and look at a tree standing there in the middle of our living room.

Now that romance, that feeling is real, but it’s not always reality. Sometimes shopping is like going to war. Sometimes our cup of coffee is interrupted with a puking kid because they got flu at Christmas. And sometimes the entire center section of our fake tree, the lights just go out. Romance and reality.

As readers of the Bible, we can be tempted to romanticize stories like I just read, like the Christmas stories in the Scripture. We could believe that the manger scene with Jesus is pastoral and certainly doesn’t smell. That Mary looks stunning after giving birth. That Joseph is this calm, mature man instead of a guy freaking out after what his wife just went through. That the star in the East is symmetrical and silver. That the nativity is balanced just like the nativity on our mantel. And that oddly in our culture, the wise men, except for one, are white and dressed in finely posing costumes. Romance and reality.

Now with the Scriptures, we also have another challenge at the same time. We can romanticize it, and we can over normalize it. And kids, what I mean by over normalize is that things that are wild and crazy, we try to make normal. We try to make them seem regular. Stuff like this. We gloss over supernatural facts in this story, like foreign astronomers who figure out who Jesus is because they study the stars in the sky. We assume that Old Testament prophecies that are 700 years old come true. We’ll give a nod to God because he gave people the dream to save their lives from evil King Herod. We romanticize, and we over normalize.

Today’s story, we have to embrace it all. We have to take the romance of the story, the reality of the story and the supernatural part of the story, and give all of it a great big hug. And for us to understand that, I want to go through the cast of characters and this story once again in different words, to make sure that we see it all.

So here’s the cast of characters who’s in this story. We’re going to make the star a character. It’s this heavenly sign serving as a signal and a compass to the wise men. We have these wise men who are more than likely academic, Persian astronomers. They’re probably from Persia, and they recognize through the study of the stars that a King of kings has been born, not a regular king, a super King.

Then there’s Herod the king. Herod is not a Jew. Herod was made king by Rome in 40 BC. He was a tyrant. He was an evil king who did good things like construction projects and kept the peace, but he did it through his tyranny.

Then there’s all Jerusalem. Did you see that in the text? The citizens of Jerusalem learn to adapt their behavior to their tyrant ruler. When Herod the king is angry, all of Jerusalem is troubled; they’re scared.

Then there’s the chief priest and scribes. These are the Jewish experts in the Old Testament scriptures.

Then simply, Matthew says, there’s “the child,” who because we’ve read up to this point in the book of Matthew, we know is Jesus, the adopted son of Joseph, the virgin-miraculous-born son of Mary, and ultimately the rescuer of all humanity and creation.

And then Mary, the child’s mom.

What happens in this story? Well, the academic Persian astronomers follow a mobile star to Jerusalem. They ask Herod, the king of Israel, “Where has the forever king of the Jews been born? We want to worship him.” King Herod, not a fan of kingly competition, is troubled. All Jerusalem’s now walking on eggshells. King Herod uses Jewish experts to find the prophesied location of the Forever King’s birthplace, Bethlehem. Now, King Herod, when he was young, must have done some acting, because he pretends in front of the wise men that he wants to come and worship Jesus, too. The wise men once again see this heavenly sign in the sky, and it makes them violently happy. I mean really, really happy. They rejoiced exceedingly with great joy! They were stoked! If you’ve never seen an academic Persian astronomer crazy-happy, you’re missing something. They are wild! They follow the star. They find the toddler with his mommy. The wise men prostrate themselves in front of a 2 to 3-year-old, and they worship him. They also give the toddler king priceless gifts.

Now, parents at Christmas, we know this. What do most kids do with gifts between that young age? They play with the box, or they chew it. And these guys hand over priceless gifts to a 2 to 3-year-old. God gives the wise men a dream. “Don’t go back to evil King Herod.” So, they use different navigation and head home.

This story’s very real. It’s travel and kings and locations and times. It’s very romantic — these Eastern kings coming to worship in front of a toddler. It’s very supernatural — heavenly bodies, dreams, and prophecies. So, at other points in the Bible, there are four guys who write stories about Jesus — Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Matthew is the only one who includes this story to tell us something about Jesus. So, it makes sense that Matthew is using this story because of the way he looks at Jesus. He wants us to know something. If you were here a couple of weeks ago, I taught through the genealogy, where Jesus came from, and I said that Matthew is making a bold claim from the very first words of his book that Jesus is the Christ, Jesus is the Messiah, Jesus is the Son of David and the Son of Abraham. Jesus is the one who will crush the serpent, crush the devil. Jesus is the blessing to every nation on earth, and Jesus is the forever King. Matthew tells us this story to reinforce that bold claim.

I think Matthew is saying this. “Jesus is a supernatural, worship-worthy, king of all peoples.” That’s why this story’s in here. Jesus is a supernatural, worship-worthy, king of all peoples. Jesus is supernatural. Matthew highlights supernatural things that we can’t normalize, stuff like star signs, the star that’s in the sky that tells these guys where Jesus is, this supernatural star that advertises a supernatural king’s birth. The wise men see this star.

Many have tried to explain what the star is — a new star, a comet, or meteor. We don’t really know, but we do know a heavenly body convinced smart, educated, wise astronomers that the King of the Jews was born. Now, if you feel a little weird about star signs, then I want you to remember why God created stars. This is in Genesis 1:14, the very beginning of God’s story. God says this. He’s creating the world, and God says,

“Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night.”

So, there’s one job for a star. It tells us when night is and one day is.

“And let them be for signs and for seasons and for days and years.”

It seems God designed lights in the sky as advertisements. There’re signs. The star advertises the birth of Jesus and the birthplace.

And stars will once again advertise the return of Jesus. We see it in Luke 21 and all through both testaments. The stars will point to his coming. We have prophecies that we can’t normalize. The chief priest and scribes quote from the book of Micah to answer evil king Herod’s question. Micah predicted the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem 700 years earlier. God created these prophecies, these foretellings, for his people to provide hope and to energize endurance, and the Old Testament is filled with them. There’s the dream that God gives. God protects the wise men from harm by sending them a dream so they don’t go back to evil king Herod.

Last summer, we studied the book of Joel and in the book of Joel, chapter 2, and then quoted in Acts 2, we discover that God will give his people dreams. So, friends, for us to believe Matthew’s account, Matthew’s description of Jesus, we must believe in the supernatural. To believe in Jesus, we must believe in the supernatural. Jesus is a supernatural, worship-worthy king of all peoples. Jesus is worship-worthy.

Worship for us is a very wide word. We have worship services. I think most people associate the word worship with singing. But in Matthew, almost every time it’s used, worship is the physical and spiritual posture in response to the divine. It’s a response to something that’s way beyond us, the divine. You humble yourself inside and outside and bow to the divine.

So, did you notice that the wise men request directions from King Herod to find another king they can worship? The implication is, “Yeah, Herod, we know you’re a king, but you’re not a king that’s worthy of worship; you’re not a supernatural king; you’re not the King of kings; you’re not the forever King.” The wise men are on a worship-worthy King hunt. King Herod recognizes that connection.

In the text, I find it fascinating that Herod hears that the King of the Jews has been born, and then he asks the chief priests and scribes, “Tell me where Messiah’s coming from.” King of the Jews, Messiah. For Herod, it’s the same person. In response to the chief priests and scribes, they know where he’s going to be born. I think that’s one of the saddest parts of the text. They know! They know where he’s supposed to be, but these guys make no movement to investigate. If the King of the Jews that these guys are talking about in Bethlehem is their Messiah, they don’t even move. See, wise men know who Jesus is and worship. They bow down. They humble themselves. They recognize Jesus as divine, something way bigger than them. King Herod and the Jewish experts, they know a forever-King Messiah has been promised, but they don’t recognize Jesus as the fulfillment, nor do they try to find him. They don’t recognize Jesus as divine.

So, friends, you can know about Christ like Herod did. You can know about the Scriptures like the Jewish experts did, and not worship Jesus as King. You can know and not worship. Worship of Jesus for Matthew is recognizing Jesus as the supernatural, worship-worthy King of all peoples. Jesus is the King of all peoples.

A couple of weeks ago, we learned in Matthew’s genealogy that Jesus’s great, great, great, great grandmothers, revealed this invitation for all peoples to follow Jesus as their King. Matthew contrasts these Persian astronomers and the Jewish experts to once again highlight Jesus’s worldwide kingship. Jewish experts don’t respond to their own Messiah, while foreign astronomers drop to their faces and worship. Jesus is King of all peoples. Jesus is a supernatural, worship-worthy King of all peoples.

So, on this Christmas Eve, North Hills Church, I want us to do a couple of things together. I want us to embrace some things. One, I want us to embrace the supernatural. Christian faith is a supernatural faith in a virgin-born, 100% God, 100% man who dies on a cross, is put into a tomb, rises from the dead after three days, later ascends to heaven in bodily form, and is waiting there until he comes back to reunite heaven and earth and create this space where God and man are once again completely together. That is a supernatural faith. We must embrace the supernatural.

Two, I’d like us to embrace radical worship of Jesus. Here’s what I mean by that. Will you do me a favor with your imagination? This includes you adults. Kids are great with imagination. Often, adults, we’re terrible.

Who would you bow to? And I mean that literally. In Western culture, bowing is not part of what we do at all. So, I want you to imagine, who would you bow to? I think in our culture, our particular Western culture of America, not only is that odd, it might even be a little offensive. How dare you tell me to bow? And not just a little head nod. I mean, the word here is on their face, prostrate, pay homage.

So, when I say embrace radical worship of Jesus, this is why I’m saying that. This part of the story convicted me deeply in my view of Jesus. See, I normalize this section. I’ve heard this story a hundred times. I normalize wise men bowing to a toddler. I read that like it makes sense. Then, you actually think about what that text is telling you where you see these foreign dignitaries, probably with money, coming together. We’re not exactly sure how many of them there are. There are three gifts. We don’t know if there are three wise men or not. But no matter what it is, they come to this person’s house in the middle of this little town, open up a door, Mommy and kid are right there, expensive chests of gifts, put them down. And then they’re all the way down on their faces like this. Who would you do that to?

Here’s what’s even harder. What did they know about Jesus? They knew something of the Jewish story of the King of the Jews, because they came to find what the star told them, King of the Jews. So they knew some history of the King of the Jews, the promised forever King. And they knew there was a star. Outside of the text, that’s all we know that they know. What do we know about Jesus? I’ve got all four gospels. I’ve got the entire New Testament. I’ve got a couple thousand years of church history, of watching Jesus change the lives of people. And I’m not sure that Jesus has ever driven me prostrate.

I’m going to push this a little further. If Bryan Gilbert comes up here to lead our next section of singing and in the middle of it goes right down to his face and his microphone is shoved up against his cheek so he can still be heard. What would you think about him? Would you think he’s a spectacle? Trying to draw attention to himself? Would you think this is so uncomfortable? I don’t like it. And that may be true. And that’s okay. Or would you think, that guy knows Jesus like the wise men. He’s got it. Yeah, that’s it. If you know who Jesus is, if you have this faith in who he actually is, it is overwhelming, and you are on your face. When he’s a baby, let alone a risen Savior.

And I’m loud because I’m talking to myself. My heart was so broken. My view of Jesus is so low. They got it with so much less information than me. So, friends, this story is challenging me to reconsider my literal view of “What do I think about Jesus?” And maybe if God’s doing that in me, he might do it in some of you, too.

Final thing. Let’s continue to embrace sharing Jesus as the King of all peoples. North Hills, I believe we can celebrate our commitment to do this to all peoples around the world – Ethiopia, India, Georgia, Albania, Morocco – other places I could mention. Jesus is the King of all peoples. And if there’s ever a season of our annual calendar, and if there’s ever a moment in time with all of the conflict going on, it is a great time to remember. Jesus is the king of all peoples. Every one of them around the world. So let us allow the story of the wise men to propel us toward Jesus, the supernatural worship-worthy King of all peoples. Amen? Amen.