Reflection on Matthew 2:1-12

Matthew 2:1-12

1 In the time of King Herod, after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, magi from the east came to Jerusalem, 2 asking, “Where is the child who has been born king of the Jews? For we observed his star in the east and have come to pay him homage.” 3 When King Herod heard this, he was frightened, and all Jerusalem with him, 4 and calling together all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Messiah was to be born. 5 They told him, “In Bethlehem of Judea, for so it has been written by the prophet:

 6 ‘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 is to shepherd my people Israel.’ ”

  7 Then Herod secretly called for the magi and learned from them the exact time when the star had appeared. 8 Then he sent them to Bethlehem, saying, “Go and search diligently for the child, and when you have found him, bring me word so that I may also go and pay him homage.” 9 When they had heard the king, they set out, and there, ahead of them, went the star that they had seen in the east, until it stopped over the place where the child was. 10 When they saw that the star had stopped, they were overwhelmed with joy. 11 On entering the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother, and they knelt down and paid him homage. Then, opening their treasure chests, they offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. 12 And having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they left for their own country by another road.

Reflection

God sent a star. 

The “magi from the east came to Jerusalem, asking, ‘Where is the child who has been born a king of the Jew?  For we observed his star…’” (Matthew 2:2).

Into a dark world where a ruler like King Herod would take such good news from the magi and then conspire to find and murder a baby, God sent light.  God sent a star. 

Into a world where children are forced to leave their homes, take dangerous journeys with their parents, and find refuge in foreign lands the same way that Jesus was forced to flee with his family to Egypt, God sent light.  God sent a star. 

Into a dark world where children two years and younger are killed because of the insecurities of adults, God sent light.  God sent a star. 

Into a dark world that hoped beyond hope that God would finally step in and make things right; where God would finally send a savior, a Messiah, a new, heavenly king to deliver them from the darkness, God sent light.  God sent a start. 

God’s star shined down on those magi from the east, and it encouraged and moved them so much that they took a long, long journey to find the little, holy toddler.  God shined a star on magi.  Have you ever stopped to think about that fact?  God intentionally reached out to some foreign astrologers to shine some light on their lives.  They were astrologers.  These guys were not scientists who studied space.  Rather, they were like your Aunt Florence who wears crystals around her neck and goes to the local fortune teller, who searches the alignment of the moon and stars to find out which cheese your aunt should buy.  The Bible clearly rejects that sort of activity.  The Bible rejects seeking clarity by divining the stars, or tea leaves, or any other such activity. 

^“No one shall be found among you who makes a son or daughter pass through fire, or who practices divination, or is a soothsayer, or an augur, or a sorcerer, or one who casts spells, or who consults ghosts or spirits, or who seeks oracles from the dead. For whoever does these things is abhorrent to the Lord;” (Deuteronomy 18:10-12).

This is what the prophet Isaiah says about such astrologers from the east, “who gaze at the stars and at each new moon [to] predict what shall befall you.  See, they are like stubble; the fire consumes them;” (Isaiah 47:13-14).

Yet, God chooses to send these strange foreigners of a different race and different religion a light and a star.  God deliberately chose to send a light, a star of hope, to these magi who were not Israelites and who did not follow the God of Israel.  These magi were “those people.” 

You know, “those people.”  “Those people” are different from us.  “Those people” are not faithful like us.  “Those people” just might come and corrupt us.  “Those people” should be held at arm’s length, away from “us” good, normal people.

But God chose “those people” to receive a light; to receive a star.  It is almost as if God will go to any length to reach “those people” with a word of good news.

It is so different from what we are used to.  We are used to hearing about religious people who are more than happy to condemn “those people.”  So often, otherwise good and faithful people get fixated on how terrible “those people” are.  And, these otherwise good and faithful people, who will normally give the shirt off their backs, will go out of their way to make certain that “those people,” the ungodly, the heathen, the sinner, are robbed of love and grace. 

“No one wants ‘those people.’” 

Well, no one, except God.  The good news that the Bible preaches to us in Matthew is that, for Jesus Christ, “those people” do not exist.  If you have ever read that long and boring genealogy at the beginning of Matthew carefully, you likely saw that Jesus’ ancestors, Jesus’ own family, includes a lot of ungodly heathens and sinners.  Jesus’ family is full of “those people.” 

Jesus’ family includes Tamar, who is forced into prostitution, found in Genesis 38.  Jesus’ family includes Rahab who is a prostitute by trade, found in Joshua 2.  Jesus’ family includes Ruth, an outsider who is not an Israelite, found in the book of Ruth.  Jesus’ family includes David who murders a good man to get a wife, in 2 Samuel 11.  Jesus’ family includes Jechoniah, a failed king, a cursed man, whose downfall leads to the destruction of Judah and all the people he was sworn to protect, found in 2 Kings 24-25. 

What I am trying to point out is that the Bible wants us to know that Jesus’ own family includes all of these faulty and failed people.  But somehow God uses each of these people to eventually bring us to Jesus, the savior of this dark world.  Even through the murkiest of characters, God sends light.  For Jesus Christ, “those people” do not exist.

So, it should be no surprise that the Bible teaches us that some of the first people to give Jesus honor and praise and their own gifts are these unlikely outsiders.  To them, (the magi) God gives light.  To them, God gives a star.  And, if God shines a light on all of them and uses each and every one of these unlikely people in the Bible, then it seems that I can have a little hope.  After-all I am not anywhere close to the glowing model of holiness either.  But if God shines a light on those guys, God will shine a light on me and you as well, as faulty, failed, faithless, and dark as we are. 

“The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it” John 1:5 declares.  God sends a light.  God sends a star.

I do not know if you have ever seen this, but often one of the three magi is depicted in art as having dark skin.  Of course, the Bible does not specify the magi’s race, nor does it specify that the magi were even men.  It does not say that there were three.  But artists in the past have wanted to make it abundantly clear that God sends light to people of all nations.  There truly are no people who can be considered “those people.”

I suppose none of this really matters, but to the kid whose skin matched the dark complexion of the Magi in the picture that he held in front of his eyes, it mattered.  You see, when he looked down at his skin, all he saw was what everyone else told him he should see: someone who is dark, someone who is to be feared and not trusted.  In his light skinned world, he was a member of “those people.”  And, anytime he slipped up in life, he seemed to prove the point for all the world to see.  The biggest problem was not that everyone else saw him as darkness to be avoided; the biggest problem was that he saw himself that way as well.

But when he stared at that picture, he saw that God had given that dark man a star.  God had given that dark man a holy task.  God had set that foreign man apart for a special and holy task.  And, the boy thought, “If God can send that man a star and give him a holy task, maybe God can send me a star too.  Maybe, God has a holy task for me also.”

The picture of that dark skinned magus following the star to Jesus, did the very thing that for that boy that it portrayed.  The boy saw the star in the picture, and it led him to Jesus.  It led him to the one who came into the world to save and love him.

You see, Jesus did not come into this world in order “to condemn the world, but to save the world through him” (John 3:17).  Jesus came into this world so that “those people” might be welcomed as a part of “us.”  “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit” Jesus teaches (Matthew 28:19). 

Jesus came into this world so that “those people” might see the God’s light.  Jesus came into this world so that “those people” might be wrapped in the love of his undying light.  A light that cannot even be snuffed out by a cross and grave.  Jesus came into this world so that “those people” might find hope, and life, and purpose in Jesus Christ.  Jesus came into this world to shine a light on “those people” and also on “you.” 

God has shined a light of grace on you.  God has sent you a star, to give you hope, and life, and purpose, and clarity, especially when your world is dark, and hopeless, and manipulated by others, and just utterly confusing. 

“They [the magi] set out; and there, ahead of them, went the star that they had seen at its rising, until it stopped over the place where the child was.  When they saw that the star had stopped, they were overwhelmed with joy.  On entering the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother, and they knelt down and paid him homage. Then, opening their treasure chests, they offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.” (Matthew 2:9-11).

The Lord shine his light on you and shine his light on your dark places.  The Lord lead you to Jesus by the guiding of a star.  The Lord overwhelm you with joy.