Matthew tells us the story of Jesus’ birth from
Joseph’s perspective. It happens during
the reign of King Herod, a Jewish king not from the line of David. Herod worked
hard at gaining legitimacy for his reign by rebuilding the temple, with some
even saying it was more spectacular than Solomon’s temple! Yet his cruelty and love
of power made the people distrust and fear him. Herod knew that many of the
Jews didn’t recognize him as legitimate, this helps explain his extreme
reaction to learning about the birth of a child called “king of the Jews” from these eastern Magi, astrologers in their own
country who have travelled for months to come see this child whose birth is
being proclaimed in the night sky. This king has to be really important because
the heavens themselves are celebrating his birth.
It's likely that the news of a promised Messiah for
Israel entered Eastern thought and legend in the time of
Daniel during the exile in Babylon. The Jews in exile kept their faith, their
hope, their rituals, and beliefs during this time, sharing them with their
children and grandchildren. When the Babylonians conquered Israel, they took
the nobles and scholars of Israel with them to serve in Babylon and they had
the ears of the eastern scholars who then recorded Israel’s stories and the
promises of Israel’s God to his people to send them a Messiah. Those like
Daniel who found themselves in positions of influence would have shared their
wisdom with the wisemen and leaders of Babylon. Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown
mention in their commentary that “the Roman historians, Suetonius and
Tacitus, bear witness to an expectation, prevalent in the East, that out of
Judah should arise a sovereign of the world.” It’s ironic that eastern
scholars and Roman historians were more in tune with Israel’s history than the
Jews themselves.
Imagine the surprise of the Magi when they arrive in
Jerusalem and nobody has a clue about what they’re talking
about. There’s no parades or
celebrations going on for this new king, there’s no buzz of excitement in the
air or people talking about the baby. Everybody’s just going about their
regular lives under the Roman occupation. Instead of excitement, the Magi
discover that they’re the ones letting Judah know that they have a new-born
king. It must have been awkward when the Magi to go to Herod asking about the
new-born king and finding out that Herod has no clue about what’s happening. Herod’s
deeply disturbed.
Herod’s wise enough to turn to his own wisemen, “When he had called together
all the people’s chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the
Messiah was to be born. “In Bethlehem in Judea,” they replied, “for this is
what the prophet has written: “‘But you, Bethlehem, in the land
of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for out of you will
come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel.’” These foreign
astrologers’ reading of the night skies agrees with Israel’s prophets’
predictions! God’s amazing; he blasts the announcement out so everyone can
share in the hope of the Messiah, the sovereign of the world. Today he might
have used Facebook or Instagram instead.
The Magi followed a star to Judah and Jerusalem and we hear echoes in the Old Testament to the coming
of a king and a star in the oracles of Balaam, who was hired by Balak, king of
Moab to curse Israel while they wandered through the wilderness. The oracle
found in Numbers 23 points to God being Israel’s king before they had kings, “No misfortune is seen in Jacob, no misery observed in Israel.
The Lord their God is with them; the shout of the King is among them,”
while in Numbers 24 we read of a star connected to this ruler who’s coming and
will destroy Israel’s enemies, “I see him, but not now;
I behold him, but not near. A star will come out of Jacob; a scepter will rise
out of Israel. He will crush the foreheads of Moab, the skulls of all the
people of Sheth.” This echoes back to Genesis 3 and the promise given by
God to Adam and Eve through the curse to the serpent, “And
I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and
hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.” This king
that the Magi are seeking is a king who will protect his people and crush his
people’s enemies, a king sent from God; a king for all peoples!
Herod summons the Magi to come to him secretly and sends them to Bethlehem with orders to report
back to him with directions to this new-born king so he can worship him too.
What a liar! What the Magi probably didn’t know was Herod’s reputation for
cruelty, even murdering his own sons when they became a threat to his power. The
Magi couldn’t know that Herod’s plan was to eliminate this threat to his
throne. The Magi head off, following the star and it leads them right to the
house Joseph and Mary have moved into and are raising Jesus. Matthew describes
the scene, “After they had heard the king, they went on
their way, and the star they had seen when it rose went ahead of them until it
stopped over the place where the child was. When they saw the star, they were
overjoyed. On coming to the house, they saw the child with his
mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their
treasures and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh.”
These wisemen, nobles in their own right, bow down and worship Jesus, offer him
tribute, pointing to how highly they regard Jesus as a king, a king whose birth
even the heavens announce! I love how this story of the Magi shows how Jesus comes
for the poor like the shepherds and for the rich like Magi and kings; Jesus
comes as king for everyone. The Magi are warned in a dream to not go back to
Herod so they leave by a different route, giving Joseph and Mary the time to
raise Jesus to have the qualities needed to be king.
What kind of king is Jesus? Paul’s letter to the Colossians gives us a good starting
place to understand who King Jesus is and how his kingship impacts the world
and his church. “The Son is the image of the invisible
God, the firstborn over all creation. For in him all things
were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether
thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created
through him and for him. He is before all things, and in him
all things hold together.” We hear an echo here to John 1 and the
creation of the world through and by Jesus, taking us all the way back to
Genesis 1 where we see how in the beginning of time, there was chaos and out of
chaos Jesus brings order, beauty, and unity to creation, culminating with
humanity who is created in the very image of God! As the creator and originator
of all things, this right away puts Jesus in the category of being over and way
beyond who we are and what we can understand about who he is and what he’s able
to do. This is king work, king identity language that Paul uses here in his
letter to the church. The city of Colossae was a city where people came
together from many nations and cultures and many became followers of Jesus, so
they recognized Paul’s claims of Jesus’ kingship, even though Paul doesn’t
specifically use the term king.
As king over all creation, Jesus sustains and keeps everything going in creation through the
work of the Holy Spirit; providing for creation, protecting his people from his
enemies. Jesus reconciles us to God through his sacrifice on the cross. On the
cross, Pilate calls Jesus, “This is Jesus, the King of
the Jews.” The Heidelberg Catechism confesses Jesus is “our eternal
king who governs us by his Word and Spirit, and who guards us and keeps us in
the freedom he has won for us.” Isaiah also points us to Jesus as the child
king, “For to us a child is born, to us a son is
given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the
greatness of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on
David’s throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice
and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of the Lord Almighty
will accomplish this.” Isaiah is pointing past the
throne of Judah to the throne at the right hand of God, the throne over all
peoples, nations, and even creation itself.
Jesus is also head of the church, his body. Paul uses the Greek word kephale, which is a military term of authority. Jesus
is not just part of the body, he’s the head, the authority over, the controller
of the body, determining its focus, values, morals, and reason for being. There’s
a beautiful call here to unity, the same unity that Jesus prays for in the
Garden of Gethsemane, a unity that seems impossible today, and yet in Jesus,
all things are going to come together, all things will be reconciled to
himself. Peace and unity come through his blood, an amazing image of commitment
to his creation, to his body!
Jesus, as our head, has commanded us to carry on the
work he has begun, telling us that we’ll do even more than
he’s done, taking his work to the next level. This is why we’re given the Holy
Spirit, reminding us of Jesus’ last words, “All
authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make
disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the
Son and of the Holy Spirit and teaching them to obey everything
I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the
age.” This Christmas, I invite you to invite others to come this evening
and tomorrow to meet Jesus: king of everyone and head of the church.
No comments:
Post a Comment