They Worshipped Him

PASTOR PHILLIPS' SERMON

Sunday, January 2, 2005

Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father and our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.

Please pray with me. Heavenly Father, we read in the gospel account of strange visitors that came to see the infant Christ. Lord, help us to understand what this means, what is behind all of this, and how we can learn from these experiences. Bless us, Lord, as we meditate on your Word. Help us to visit you daily, Jesus, spend time with you, and to be blessed by you. In your name we pray, Amen.

The basis for our meditation is the gospel reading from Matthew 2:1-12, which tells the story of the wise men coming to see the baby Jesus. The title of today's sermon is “They Worshiped Him,” and that really sums up the overall theme. The wise men came with one purpose, to worship the newborn king. But who were these wise men? Where did they come from? Well, our Christian tradition and our Christian legend comes with all kinds of interesting ideas, like we have names for them. We have a number for them, and they were kings and all those kinds of ideas. But most of those aren't in the bible. Most of those are just kind of a hallmark view of what they did and what they came to do.

Today we're going to discover a little bit more about them, starting with the name Magi. Magi was the tribal designation among the Medes of a group of people who were gifted in studying the stars and in interpreting dreams. We're not sure exactly how they became part of the Christmas story, but they may have become familiar with the Old Testament prophecies of Isaiah and Jeremiah and the minor prophets through someone like Daniel who was a cupbearer in the King's court in Babylon . Or maybe through some of the Israelites who were taken captive to Babylon . Undoubtedly, God had guided their thoughts and their study of the stars and He revealed Himself to them in a way that caused them to respond and search out this newborn king. Isn't it interesting that God spoke to them in their own language? He spoke to them in the stars. Here these men were scholars who studied the formations of the stars in the sky and the movement of them across the sky and God spoke to them through that study, through that field of interest they had.

And then let's consider their journey. These people came probably from an area you would associate with Baghdad and south, that area we're so familiar with in today's current events. And that was a long journey to come all the way to Jerusalem and Bethlehem . In fact, they didn't go straight across the desert. They went up and over what is known as the fertile crescent, a place that had water. They followed the course of the rivers, and the travel routes followed those courses because they needed the water to make the trip so they journeyed a long way, maybe even 1,000 miles, to come and see this child. Well, for us to make a 1,000 mile trip isn't such a big deal but for men walking or men on a camel, that's a long journey. It took a lot of provisions, a lot of planning, a lot of faith. These men, who had seen the star of Jesus rising, came in response. To them it meant a king had been born, a new king. And they connected it somehow with those Old Testament prophecies that had been shared with them. He must be the new king of the Jews that had been promised in the prophecies. They said they saw His star rising in the east. They understood what it meant, at least in a vague way, that a new king had come. And so they packed up. They prepared themselves. They purchased gifts. They brought everything they needed for the journey and, by faith, they followed that star. They headed to Jerusalem .

Humanly speaking, it didn't make any sense because Israel at this time was a miserable country. They had been dominated by all their neighbors. All their wealth had been carried off, and their people were slaves in foreign lands. It didn't make any sense to come and visit the king of such a miserable place, no matter if their star rose in the east or not. But, spiritually speaking, it is important. It is significant that the wise men came. You know the verse in the New Testament where it says, “Every knee will bow at the name of Jesus and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.” By the Holy Spirit speaking to these wise men through something as strange as the rising of a star, God told them the King of kings has been born, King of the Jews. Not a military king to free them from their oppression. Not a charismatic individual, a political leader. But God's Son, the Messiah, the Anointed One, promised of old.

Now let's take a look at someone else in this story, King Herod. Now this was a despicable king. He became a king as he, with wealth, purchased the right and he fought desperately to maintain his rule. He killed rivals. He tortured anyone who would lead a rebellion against him. He was filled with greed and consumed with holding onto power. When he heard what the Magi from the east said, he was deeply troubled. “We have come to worship the one who was born King of the Jews. We want to find Him so we can worship Him.” When Herod heard there was another potential king, it upset him. And it kind of reminds me of that old saying, “If Mamma's not happy, no one's happy.” Well, that's the case with Herod. Herod was a despicable king. And when he was upset about a potential new king, everyone suffered. If Herod ain't happy, ain't nobody happy. That's the saying.

And so, here they are, the people of Jerusalem all stirred up, Herod all stirred up because he's afraid that some rival has come along and now he's going to have to fight for his kingdom again. Herod is a shrewd character, though. He doesn't want to let this happen, so he develops a plan. First, he gathers together all the priests and the scribes, the religious leaders of the day. Not because he was religious but because he wanted information they could provide him, so he gathers them all together. And he asks them, “Where is the Christ to be born? Where is the Messiah to be born?” They gave him an answer. “ Bethlehem .” “Oh, Bethlehem , that's only five miles from here.” Then he calls the Magi secretly. He doesn't want this to be a public event. He calls in the Magi. He said, “Tell me, I'm very interested in this. How long ago did that star appear?” You see what he's doing? He's trying to find the location and when that child was born. You know what comes later, don't you? It's called the slaughter of the innocence where every child 2 years old and under was killed. You see, Herod has this plan to eliminate any rival to his throne. So he finds out where, Bethlehem , and he finds out when. And then he says to the Magi, “Hey, guys, I'm kind of interested in worshiping this new king, too. Why don't you guys go find him and then report back to me, and I'll come and worship him, too.” It was never his intent to worship. It was always the intent of the Magi to worship. That's what they came for. They weren't curiosity seekers or ambulance chasers or anything like that. These people came and made that huge journey for one purpose, to worship the new king.

Now let's take a look and see how they did that. As they leave Jerusalem , as they leave the presence of King Herod, they see that star again, the star they'd seen rise in the east. And now, strangely enough, it goes before them, a guiding light, and leads them right to where the baby is. In the Greek, it says, “It went before them, and they were filled with a great joy in their hearts.” They're connected again to the guide, to God. God's giving them special directions so they can find this wonderful Messiah. And then it says that the star stood over the place where the child was.

Then, as they come, they see Mary and the baby. They see both Mary and the baby. It doesn't talk about Joseph there. But then it says, “They fell down on their faces and worshiped Him.” Very specific. They worshiped Him, Jesus, the name above all names. The Messiah, King of the Jews, and King of Kings. They worshiped Him. And listen, this is the description of how they worshiped, “They fell on their faces before Him.” Flat on the ground. That's what the word in Greek and the word in Hebrew for ‘worship' means, to be flat on your face before God. It means that you've thrown away all pretense, all pride, all arrogance, that you have completely humbled yourself before God and you offer yourself to Him. That's what these non-Jewish wise men did, probably Persian or Medes, Pagans by our estimation but not spiritually. They're worshiping Jesus, the Messiah. They're our brothers. They're just like us. Then they open their treasure boxes. The Greek word for treasure box is ‘thesaurus.' You're familiar with that, and it refers to this treasury of words you can look up. You know a $5.00 word, but you can look up a million dollar word in that Thesaurus. But here they opened these boxes full of treasure, and they have the most precious things they can find. First, gold. Now gold is symbolic and often associated with royalty, so it's appropriate that they offer something that honors a king, gold, to the baby Jesus. And then they offer Frankincense. That's kind of a strange word, isn't it? Frankincense. It's a type of resin that is mixed with food offerings made to God. It's also used as incense. Now in the bible, incense is symbolic of prayer. So this incense being offered to the baby Jesus is an offering to someone who is God. So you have the king, and then you have a gift for God, and then the third gift, myrrh. The Greed word is ‘smurna.' You might have heard that. I've heard of several towns named ‘Smurna' and that means myrrh. And this is a perfume, a wonderful, beautiful perfume meant to make our lives more pleasant but also used to anoint bodies in burial. Now this gift focuses on the needs and the desires of man. So the three gifts symbolize Jesus as king, Jesus as God, and Jesus as man. It's very interesting, isn't it? They gave those gifts to Him.

Finally, God speaks to the Magi again. Remember the first time He spoke to them, He spoke their language in the stars. He does it again but, this time, it's another one of their preferred languages, in a dream. Remember, they had a gift for interpreting dreams. So God warns them in a dream, “Don't you go back to Herod. He doesn't want to worship the baby Jesus. He wants to kill Him.” So, being warned in a dream, they went back to their land by another route. This deception of Herod allowed time for the baby Jesus and for Joseph and Mary to escape to Egypt later on. It delayed the mission of Herod to seek and destroy.

So what is it that we can take away from this story that is useful for our own spiritual life? How can we apply this? First of all, these guys, these three wise men were somehow tuned in to searching for God, looking for his answer, looking for his message. And God spoke to them in the very language they understood best, in the stars and in those dreams. Second, look at their response. When they hear the Word of God, the message of God for them, they are filled with joy, filled with a joy that God, the God of the Universe, would guide them to something so wonderful. Third, what was the purpose of their visit? It says, “We have come to worship Him.” That was their whole purpose. Fourth, they gave the most precious things they had, the most precious things they could find, they gave to God. Boy, that's setting the standard pretty high for us, isn't it, to give the most precious things we have to Him.

And finally, Jesus isn't just the Messiah for the Jews. He's not just the Savior for the people of Israel or Jerusalem or Bethlehem . Jesus is the Savior for all, for anyone who trusts in Jesus. In His name and in what He has done for us, they have salvation. Amen? Amen.

Copyright 2005 Gloria Dei Lutheran Church