Don't Stop Short of Christmas

Do you always use a GPS-enabled navigation system to find your way when you're headed somewhere new?  A few months ago, I relied completely on one while traveling in another country.  I ended up in the middle of a cow pasture.  Literally.  I was faithfully following the directions the system was giving me because I had no idea where I was going!  Now I'm convinced a map would have been a better idea.

Over two thousand years ago some wise men, or Magi, took off on a long trip not knowing exactly where they were headed.  They didn't have a map or a nav system, but they had something better.  They were, of course, being directed by the Star appointed by the Creator God to guide them to His Only-Begotten Son.  What was the star?  There's not really enough time to deal with that here, but there are certainly other lessons to be learned from the journey of these travelers from the East.  The story is only recorded in the gospel of Matthew:

Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, saying, “Where is He who has been born King of the Jews? For we have seen His star in the East and have come to worship Him.”…and behold, the star which they had seen 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 exceedingly great joy. And when they had come into the house, they saw the young Child with Mary His mother, and fell down and worshiped Him. And when they had opened their treasures, they presented gifts to Him: gold, frankincense, and myrrh.  (Matthew 2:1-2;9-11)

You know the story as you’ve seen it portrayed in countless Christmas pageants - three young guys dressed in bathrobes and paper crowns presenting gifts to the baby in the manger, surrounded by mini-shepherds, angels, and anthropomorphic animals.  Though the church pageant scene doesn’t exactly jive with the Biblical account, it all fuses into an amazing story of worship.

So were there three wise men?  The Scripture doesn’t say.  Three gifts mentioned gives rise to that idea.  Some middle-eastern church traditions say there were twelve.  Did they have names?  I’m sure they did, but we don’t know them.  Where were they from?  The word in the Bible literally says “from the rising of the sun” - somewhere in the east, most likely Persia or Babylon or even Yemen.  Their knowledge about the coming King was likely influenced by Jews, like Daniel, who were held captive in the region 500 years before.

But getting back to the stellar GPS they followed, I must ask, “Why does the story say the Magi stopped in Jerusalem?”  They had followed that amazing star for a 1,000 miles, yet they stopped in Jerusalem instead of following it all the way to Bethlehem where the Child was born.  After traveling that far, they stopped SIX MILES short of their destination!  Why did that happen?  Because they took their eyes off the star.  They had “seen His star” but there they were, asking directions from the wicked king, Herod, because they assumed the King of Glory would be living in a palace.  Once they looked for the Star again, it was right there to guide them to Jesus.

This Christmas, make sure YOUR spiritual GPS is fully functioning.  Don’t stop short like the Magi.  Instead, remember to look up instead of looking around.  After all, where else would you expect to find the Star of Christmas, the Bright and Morning Star? (Revelation 22:16)

Jacob