Matthew 2: 1-23
Theme: Christmas
WHO ARE YOU SEARCHING FOR?
There is a TV show that is in reruns called the Pretender. It is about a man who was stolen from his parents as a child. He was determined to be a genius and he was used as a research subject. He was kept by a shadowy private organization call by the ominous title, The Centre. As an adult, he escaped and went on a search for his parents and his own identity. All He knew is that his name is Jarod. The show centers around his ability to pretend to be anything he wants, a doctor, a lawyer, a pilot, etc., while he runs from the center and searches for his past. He is constantly being pursued by a group of mysterious, sinister, evil men. He is perpetually trying to escape his pursuers while he searches for his identity.
This idea of searching for a lost past while fleeing from some dark enemy is a constant theme in literature and movies. It seems to be something we all resonate with, something that we all understand. Are we all not searching for something? How many middle age men search for the things of their childhood, a happier day when life was less complicated? What about you women, do you search for those lost dreams and ideals every time you see your potbellied husband belching and sleeping on the couch? Senior adults, do you cling to the past and it ways because the past seemed more secure than today’s fast changing world? Each year, doesn’t Christmas offer the opportunity to find our ideal place, that place where our heart tells us we belong?
What are we searching for? It is a sense of well being long ago lost, a kind of soulish innocence that we know should be ours but we just don’t have. It is a feeling that we are not really at home, not quite. I think our misdirected souls are trying to tell us something if we would just listen. There is something much greater than ourselves that we need.
What do you suppose that the Magi were looking for? We don't know much about the Magi. There may have been three because of the number of gifts but Matthew does not tell us that there were three. The word "magi" referred to men in the middle east who were experts at reading the stars and who were often of a priestly class and thus were considered wise. In the book of Daniel, it was probably Magi who were summoned to interpret dreams. In fact Daniel was probably considered to be a Magi. Matthew said that they came from the east. They may have come from the area of Iran or Persia.
The Magi rode into Jerusalem and began to inquire, "Where is He who is born king of the Jews? For we have seen his star in the east and have come to worship him." They came to Herod and Herod was troubled and so was all of Jerusalem. Herod the Great was a skilled politician. He had survived several power shifts in Judea. He was connected to the Hasmonean family who had ruled Israel independently of Rome. He later became aligned with Rome and got himself declared king of Palestine. He survived several changes of Caesar. But Herod was also an evil man. He had his brother-in-law killed because his sister did not like him. He became paranoid that his favorite wife was plotting against him, so he killed her. It is said that he drowned two of his sons in his private pool at Masada because he feared that they might try to take the throne from him. He rewarded any who opposed him with death and would reward his supporters with riches.
He was hated by the Jews for he had slaughtered many of them. Ironically, he wanted to be thought of as a good Jew. In 20 B.C., he began to rebuild the Temple. Yet, most Jews did not want to accept him. We can see why all of Jerusalem was troubled when the Magi inquired, where is he who is born king of the Jews. Unlike the wise men, he feared this Child and instead of worship, he sought to kill the baby. He instructed the Magi to return to him when they found the baby so that he too might worship the child. But we know that he sought to kill him.
The Magi came over a long distance through barren and hostile territory. Having seen the star, they determined that they would go and find this one who was born king of the Jews and worship him. They came looking for God made flesh!
What is it that we are in search of? I think it is a relationship with God. We were made in the image of God. We were made to live in relationship to Him. We see it in the garden and we see mankind cast out of the garden when we fell. Nevertheless, we are who we are, creatures made to walk with God and we cannot do it. That explains a lot of the ills of our society. We do extreme things trying to fill the void of life and nothing fills that void. It is God whom we seek and a restored relationship to Him
We often make the mistake of believing that we have found everything when we become Christians and we feel let down after a while. We are not as "on fire" as we once were. Do you think that the Magi found everything they wanted when they found the Babe in the manger? They had no idea that one day he would be Risen from the dead. In the same way, we need to understand that we have not found all that we are searching for. Rather, we have found the road that finally takes us home. Our longing now is not just to be cleansed from our sin and enter into a relationship with God, but to be with Him face to face! What Jesus has done so far is but a down payment of what He promises in the future. Our journey will be over when God calls an end to history and when we are with Him in heaven forever.
For now, we have eternal life flowing in our veins and we feel the tug of heaven. How can we be satisfied? How can we know that we are on the right track to receive what we seek? By coming together to worship God. It is when we gather to worship as the family of God that we are the closest to heaven. The Magi found a baby and parents in humble surrounds, yet they were moved to fall before the Child and worship. When we come to Christ, our reaction should be to worship. We forget that it is in worship that we get our fix on the future and on the promises made and promises claimed. Did you come today searching for God? When we come to worship, do you come expecting anything? Do you come expecting to see God's Messiah or just people in humble surroundings? If we come to church expecting nothing, we will see nothing. We will not see Christ in our brothers and sisters. We will not see Him in the songs we sing and in the prayers we pray and in the sermons we preach. Like the searching Magi, we must come to worship our God with expectations and we must come seeing with eyes of faith.
The Magi gave gifts. They brought expensive gifts worthy of a king. Gold, frankincense, and Myrrh. Worship includes the act giving. In a Dennis the Menace comic strip, there is a scene where Dennis, his mother and father are standing at the door of the church speaking to the pastor. The lines on the father's face indicate embarrassment. Dennis said, "pretty good show for a quarter."
Pretty good show for a quarter is a pretty sure sign that we don’t come searching for God. If we truly worship our Savior, we cannot be satisfied with just a tip to God. We learn that our search for something is also a need to give something. True worship compels us to lift our hearts to God and say, "Here, it is all yours, do with me as you want." And we give not just of our money, but of ourselves.
Shortly after the civil war, Robert E. Lee was offered the presidency of a little college called Washington College in Lexington, Virginia. The school was bankrupt and had only 40 students. But Lee regarded the invitation as an act of Providence and accepted the challenge. Soon important people came to visit the college. When they left, they would leave him gifts of money and property for the school. They couldn't help themselves. In the presence of his greatness, they felt a need to give something. And because of their giving the school flourished (Killinger, 140).
We come searching for God and we find Him. And because of His greatness, we can’t help but give of ourselves. True Christianity flourishes when believers stop searching for ways to receive and start searching for ways to give themselves to God. When that happens, you know you are well on your journey home.
What are you searching for? Is it not He who said "Come unto Me and I will give you rest?"