Matthew 2:1-11

Listen to the Message:

Not the Least #greatest #least #staus #importance #worship #religiousknowledge #Herod #Magi #Jesus
Matthew 2:1-11open.substack.com

A New Day

There is a new day that has come. There is a new King. There is new hope. The least has become the greatest and thrones are toppling over.

The drama takes place with unlikely characters on unlikely stages of human experience in unlikely places.

Magi was the term for priests in Zoroastrianism. They were practitioners of magic, astronomy, astrology, alchemy, and other forms of esoteric knowledge.

Their hereditary line still exists in modern Zoroastrianism in India and they date back as early as Darius in ancient Persia over 500 years before the birth of Jesus.

And yet, they are among the good guys in a story that fids its context in Judaism. Judaism and Zoroastrianism crossed paths beginning in the time of the Babylonian exile hundreds of years before..

Zoroaster’s name, or rather, what the Greeks made of it. His name was identified as “the living star.”

Then, there was Herod, an Edomite, son of a friend of Julius Caesar, raised a Jew. He was the great builder, a man hungry for power and jealous of the power he had.

He was Roman Jewish client king of the Herodian kingdom of Judea.Among his works are the rebuilding of the Second Temple in Jerusalem.

Then there were the scribes, the scholars of the law.

Finally, there was Mary, Joseph, and Jesus. They were common folks from Nazareth who travelled to a town often thought of as among the least of the cities.

Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem, Saying, Where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him. — Matthew 2:1–2

When Jesus was born …

How common the words, how incidental they sound. Yet, they introduce an event of such significance that all of time is measured as before and after the coming of this one child into the world and the drama of His life, death, and resurrection.

When Jesus comes, it is a new day. Governments are in place imagining themselves all powerful and enduring and suddenly they sense that they are temporal and vulnerable. The truly wise recognize the waves of change in the cosmos and once again become seekers moving in the direction of the source of that change. They that move with the currents of change come to worship. New days and new years are best observed by recognizing God and worshiping Him.

We measure small blocks of time in seconds and move up the continuum, pausing to recognize the passing of years. In a year we circle the sun and pass through all of the seasons. We count them off and, as they pass, we find ourselves counting faster and faster.

We mark off the old and look with anticipation upon the new.

And while all of that is going on, something is being born, a new life, a novel opportunity, a fresh idea, a renewed hope, and occasionally, a burst of light. We follow that light and it leads us to a manger where, in unassuming splendor and simple elegance, we encounter the Son of God.

There we worship.

Because of that ever-present possibility of meeting God in the passages of time, we peek around the corner of every new day and every new year with anticipatory wonder.

We know, as did the wise men, why we have come to this time. We have come to worship Him.

The Threat

When Herod heard these things, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with Him. — Matthew 2:3

Herod was troubled. We might say he was scared to death. You know that sinking feeling when the free ride is about to come to a screeching halt, when your charade is about to be revealed, and your scam is about to be uncovered.

Herod was a pretender. He knew he was a pretender. The notion that the authentic king might have been born was more of a threat than he could bear.

We are most threatened when we are least honest with God, with ourselves, and with others. We are terrified when we try to maintain our deception against all odds. We flail about, plot, and scheme when our straw houses begin to crumble around us — and we trouble all of those around us who have bought into our lies.

Are you like Herod, thoroughly invested in a false sense of who you are without which you would not know your own identity? Are you like those in Jerusalem who rode his coattails, riding the wave of someone else’s “power grab”? Or are you like the Magi, with no vested interest in protecting their positions or status, merely eager to embrace the reality of God’s presence in the world, anxious to find the King that they might worship Him?

Jesus invades our spheres of influence and our little kingdoms to establish His own rightful rule. There is no need to be troubled. The greatest honor and freedom in life is found when we step down from our thrones and let Him take His place of Lordship.

We are threatened when we compulsively protect what is not really ours. We are troubled when we see Him coming and convince ourselves that He is coming to rob us of our lives. We are terrified at the prospect of having to forge a new identity from the self we have deluded ourselves into believing was real.

In fact, He comes to reclaim what is His — the throne, our lives, and even our identities. We have been living in a delusion and only realizing the tiniest fraction of our potential. It is only through surrender that we gain victory. It is only by relinquishing the throne do we become truly great. It is only in denying ourselves do we find our true selves and begin to live.

What Herod rejected out of fear, we must embrace by faith.

Why Religious Knowledge Is Not Enough

And when he had gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people together, he demanded of them where Christ should be born. — Matthew 2:4

You can’t accuse Herod of not being religiously curious and hungry for religious knowledge. He was desperate for information, but he had no intention of using that information for good. He had every intention of misappropriating it for his own evil ends.

Some of us, at times in our lives, are curious for information about God — for no particular reason other than to satisfy our curiosity. Such knowledge is benign. It does us no harm. It does us no good. You can go to Sunday School all of your life and come out no better or worse for it if what you learn never goes from your head to your heart.

Herod may not have attended Synagogue, but he was surrounded by scholars who did. When he needed factual knowledge, he drew upon their education, but Herod was not seeking out the scholars in a game of religious trivial pursuit. He had a sinister purpose for what he wanted to know.

Some of us, at least at points in our lives, gather religious information for malicious ends. We have no intention of being transformed by that knowledge. In fact, we collect it to use as a weapon against other people — friends, enemies, spouses, children, parents, and entire groups of people with whom we disagree and with whom we spar for power.

We want to learn enough to give us an edge. We are filling our arsenals with biblical darts so that we might pierce the armored resistance of our opponents. There is no holiness in such pursuits. There is no honor. There is no edification.

God provides us with truth that it might change us from within. He is fashioning us according to His image and forming us for time and for eternity. Don’t be like Herod in your pursuit of spiritual truth. Come to the Word of God prayerfully and openly.

Lord, speak to me and transform me as I receive what You wish to say to me. Amen.

Not the Least

And they said unto him, In Bethlehem of Judaea: for thus it is written by the prophet, And thou Bethlehem, in the land of Juda, art not the least among the princes of Juda: for out of thee shall come a Governor, that shall rule my people Israel. — Matthew 2:5–6

Like young David, tending the fields of his father, Jesse, the City of David was often thought of as the least among the princes of Judah.

Greatness often takes us by surprise.

It took David by surprise. It certainly so took Jesse and his brothers.

Who me? We surmise by our surprise that our eyes have been playing games with our minds and our ears have distorted the garbled sound of, “Yes, you.”

It took a miracle of the manipulation of history for a Nazarene couple to fulfill prophecy and experience the birth of this son in Bethlehem. It took the hand of God guiding events that would seem much larger and more significant than this to bring it all to pass.

The Son of David would be born in David’s city. The unlikely King would provide a line of succession for an unlikely Savior born in an unlikely place.

Never underestimate the greatness of God’s plan for your life, your place, and your time. He is still guiding the course of events to His own ends.

Bethlehem, the House of Bread, figured into the redemption story in a way that might have seen disproportionate to its civic significance. God, on the other hand, measures importance by what He brings forth from our lives, places, times, and events.

Who me? Yes, you.

The Launch and the Landing

Then Herod, when he had privily called the wise men, enquired of them diligently what time the star appeared. And he sent them to Bethlehem, and said, Go and search diligently for the young child; and when ye have found him, bring me word again, that I may come and worship him also. When they had heard the king, they departed; and, lo, the star, which they saw in the east, went before them, till it came and stood over where the young child was. When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy. And when they were come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary his mother, and fell down, and worshipped him: and when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto him gifts; gold, and frankincense and myrrh. — Matthew 2:7–11

Isn’t it wonderful that the Magi observed Herod’s words and not his intentions?

Once launched in the direction of Bethlehem by the deceptive words and commands of an evil king, they were again at the mercy and beckon call of the King of Kings. They followed His star to the destination where they would meet Him. When they found Him, they worshipped.

In the middle of their diligent search for truth, they were sidetracked by a liar, but not for long. God will not allow those whose hearts are intent upon finding Him to be lost in the search without hope. He will again intervene and guide them to Himself.

“Seek and ye shall find,” the Master promised.

From Jerusalem, there was a false launch, but God intervened and provided a sure landing in Bethlehem.

There will be circumstances in your life that are not of God. There will be people of malicious intent who will try and launch you in directions that approximate truth, but miss the mark entirely. Be cautious, but not fearful. God is greater than our circumstances and the schemes of evil entities. His light is more powerful than darkness. Follow the star and bring what is in your hands to Jesus, worshipping Him with all of your heart and soul.

You may have any number of dubious launches in this life, but if you seek Him with all your heart, you will always land surely.

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And When They Were Come

“And when they were come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary his mother, and fell down, and worshipped him: and when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto him gifts; gold, and frankincense and myrrh.” — Matthew 2:11

The Magi seem to have come much later to Bethlehem, but they came joyfully and prepared to worship the Lord. The afterglow of Christmas had not worn off for them because they were seeing Jesus for the very first time. Every time we see Jesus is like the first time, so sweet is His countenance, so enveloping His presence.

As we prepare to put away the decorations and presents, finish off the leftovers, and throw out the tree, many of us experience a letdown. The celebration of the New Year seems anti-climactic. Friends we have not acknowledged during the preceding year will recede into the background of our lives for yet another year. There is no one to wish merry Christmas and no one to wish us happy holidays. The greenery and colors are gone and we recess into the bleak midwinter of January.

It was not so for the Magi. Their joy was not with a season or a holiday. No such attachments and traditions existed for them. Theirs was the joy of the discovery of a Savior-King. Take a page from their notebooks. Our joy is in Jesus! He is our cause for celebration every day. He is our hope for every New Year and every new day. He is reason for singing and our cause for living. For Him we would traverse the farthest desert or face the most difficult circumstances.

Post-Christmas blahs are a normal emotion phenomenon, but Christmas joy is for every day of the year. After Christmas can be as special as Christmas itself!

Good Christian men, rejoice

With heart and soul and voice.

Now ye hear of endless bliss:

Jesus Christ was born for this.

He hath opened heaven’s door,

And man is blest forevermore.

Christ was born for this, Christ was born for this.

(Medieval Latin Carol, Translated by John Mason Neale, 1853)

— — — — — — — — — — — — — –

“In the bleak midwinter, frosty wind made moan,
 Earth stood hard as iron, water like a stone;
 Snow had fallen, snow on snow, snow on snow,
 In the bleak midwinter, long ago.”

Christina Rossetti’s words are ever familiar whether spoken, read, or sung. The first verse is as lovely and descriptive of winter as it is predictive of the truth of Epiphany and the coming of the Magi.

“Our God, Heaven cannot hold Him, nor earth sustain;
 Heaven and earth shall flee away

When He comes to reign.
 In the bleak midwinter a stable place sufficed
 The Lord God Almighty, Jesus Christ.”

Heaven could not hold Him, nor can the cold of winter freeze out the warmth of His love.

Almost all of the Christmas decorations have now come down, even though it is still officially the season of Christmastide. In some places, it is apt to remember the words of C.S. Lewis commenting on the place where it was always winter and never Christmas. Depending on your perspective, it is either bleak or whimsical.

What it is not, and never is, is forsaken. Though all the colors fade and the warmth of the earth is sucked up by the winds of bitter weather, God brings His own unique beauty to creation

Tom Sims
The Procession of the Magi The Magi Chapel is the chapel in the Palazzo Medici Riccardi of Florence, Italy. Its walls…www.facebook.com

Tom Sims
https://pastortom.blog/2025/12/14/offended/www.facebook.com

Tom Sims
Are You the One or Do We Keep Looking?www.facebook.com/media/81b5c3142dfeac59d2f192c65c2f50f2