Journey to worship

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW

JOURNEY TO WORSHIP

Matt 2:9-12

9 After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen in the east went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. 10 When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. 11 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 and of incense and of myrrh. 12 And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route.

NIV

Here we have three men who came a great distance to worship the Christ child and yet after visiting the court of Herod there was not one Jew who accompanied them to Bethlehem. Surely upon their visit to the Herod’s court there were nobles present. What king sits upon his throne who is not surrounded by either his friends or wise counsel men, or even servants? In fact, Herod called all the people’s chief priests and teachers of the law to ask about the location of the birth of the Christ.  It would also be right to consider these Magi riding into Jerusalem looking quite strange from the normal appearance of the Jewish culture. They did not just slip in and out of Herod’s court unnoticed by many Jews in town. Surely there must have been a stir around town about these foreign looking kings visiting Herod. Gossip travels fast and we could imagine the purpose of their visit to inquire about the where the Christ would be born. Yet when they set out toward Bethlehem, not a single word is said about any Jew going with them. There wasn’t even a suggestion about showing them the way, being a guide for them. But not a word about any of the chief priests or teachers of the law saying anything about going too so they could worship the Christ, their long awaited Messiah. So we have a deceitful unbeliever in Herod, and non-believing or self-absorbed religious leaders, both not moving an inch to worship the Christ. But we have three men who traveled from countries far away, making a long journey to find Jesus. Isn’t that much like today? We must do our attendance to the Lord even if we are alone as the Magi were. We need to stay our course in worship of Christ, even if our culture ignores him, makes no move toward him at all. It may be that we will be in heaven alone, but surely we should not accompany them to hell. It might even be that we could be alone in our worship of Christ among or within the church, as it appears the church at Jerusalem had no intentions to strike out on such a short journey to Bethlehem to worship the Christ. The church in Jerusalem was stuck in its traditions or we might say its denominationalism. It was not ready or wanted the truth, the Messiah had come. This is not to say all churches, but some of our churches today may well be so routed in traditions or their denominationalism they are not willing to see the truth about the Christ and not willing to make the journey to truly worship him. Then too this could also show how it can be a long journey from the life we once lived to become one who worships the Christ. It is no small journey from a life of sin to become a believer, a worshipper of the Christ, in fact,  we could say it is a life-long journey. Sure it is actually done in a split second when we accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior, when we become born again. We make that transition from being condemned to being saved in that instant. But from that point on the journey of worshipping the Christ is life-long. Our pursuit of the Christ is never over. Although after presenting their gifts to the Christ child and bowing in worship of him, they traveled back to their own countries, it was by a different route. They had been warned in a dream by an angel of God. It might also be a point to consider that we too could travel back to our own countries after finding Jesus. That is not to say that we should return to our former life of sin, but rather we should return by a different route. We should return to our community changed by our experience with Christ, bringing him with us, being a witness of our having worshipped him. The Magi could have started their own church right there in Bethlehem, being missionaries to the Jews. But they returned to their own people and although we are not told, they had to have told many people about their experience with the Christ. So let us consider our worship, even if we are alone and also consider living out our faith out loud among the people we live with, our culture, our society, our community. Let us bow down and worship the Christ.