Moment to Moment (Bible blog)
Father, when Herod heard your Son was born, he was hostile and wanted to kill him.
The priests and the scribes, on the other hand, were indifferent and simply went home.
But when the wise men learned your Son was born, their hearts’ desire was to seek and worship him.
Father, give me the heart of the wise men, a heart passionate to seek and worship your Son.
Today is the “Feast of Epiphany,” the day when many Christians remember the visit of the three wise men. (Though honestly, I have never been in a church that has celebrated this feast or thought about its significance).
But reading this story again, I think of the words of Simon who talked to Mary and Joseph on the day they brought Jesus to the temple to be circumcised.
Indeed, this child is destined to cause the fall and rise of many in Israel and to be a sign that will be opposed and a sword will pierce your own soul—that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed. (Luke 2:34-35)
“That the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed.”
The thoughts of the chief priests certainly were. You would think they had heard the rumors that the Messiah was born. (Matthew 2:3)
And yet it doesn’t seem to have occurred to them to seek him out. How that could be is beyond me.
King Herod, of course, wanted to kill this threat to the throne.
And the wise men came to worship him.
Even today, Jesus reveals the thoughts of people.
Most people feel unthreatened by thoughts of baby Jesus in a manger.
But when it comes to a Jesus who claims to be their king, that’s where their hearts are revealed.
Many dismiss the thought out of hand.
Others become hostile.
And others bow before him.
What response does Jesus spark in your heart?
In this passage, we see three reactions to the gospel.
One is persecution, like the Jews persecuted Paul.
The second is people thinking we’re crazy, as Festus thought of Paul.
The third is a patronizing attitude toward us and the gospel, as Herod had. An attitude that looks upon us as naive children for believing such a thing.
And yet, Paul continued to speak.
Why? I think we see the reason in 1 Corinthians chapter 5. Paul wrote,
If we are out of our mind (as Festus contended), it is for the sake of God; if we are in our right mind (as Paul asserted), it is for you.
For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. (1 Corinthians 5:13-14)
Why did Paul speak? Because he was convinced in his heart that Christ loved us so much that he died on the cross, taking the punishment for our sins.
And the love of Christ that had touched him now compelled him to share that news with others, no matter what they thought of him.
And that’s the attitude that we should have.
If we truly believe that Jesus died for us, if we have been truly touched by his love, that love should drive us to share the gospel with those around us that they too may receive the same gift of life that we have.
Some may persecute us. Some may think we’re crazy. Some may look on us patronizingly.
But does the love of Christ drive you to share the gospel with them anyway?
We now see in this passage Herod’s response to Jesus. Perhaps, though, it would be better to call it Jesus’ response to Herod.
This was the same Herod that had beheaded John the Baptist, and had wondered if Jesus was John raised from the dead. (Matthew 14:1-12; Luke 9:7-9)
When Herod had first heard of Jesus, he had tried to see him, and failed. If the Pharisees weren’t lying, it’s also possible that he had even tried to take Jesus by force, but failed. (Luke 13:31-33)
Now at long last, Herod had Jesus before him. But though he asked him many questions and tried to get him to perform some miracles, Jesus said nothing.
Why not? I think Jesus knew that no matter what he said or what he did, Herod would never believe.
Herod had had John before him many times after he had imprisoned him. But though he had been intrigued by John, and “liked to listen to him,” he refused to repent. (Mark 6:20)
He treated Jesus the same way. As a curiosity. As a person of perhaps some interest. As a person who could perhaps provide some entertainment.
But he certainly didn’t look at Jesus as someone to obey. And he most certainly didn’t see him as someone he should take seriously. And so Jesus said nothing.
The warning for us is this: If we harden our hearts to him, Jesus will have nothing to say to us.
Jesus is no genie to perform for us. Nor is he one to be treated as a curiosity that we can take lightly.
He is God himself. He is the King. He is the Lord.
How about you? How do you see Jesus?
As I look at this passage, Herod is a puzzle to me.
He apparently wasn’t happy with John the Baptist when John condemned him for taking his (that is, Herod’s) brother’s wife and marrying her.
It’s possible, though, that he would never have done anything, even arrest John, if Herodias, his wife, hadn’t prodded him too. She actually wanted Herod to kill John, but even Herod refused to go that far, although he had apparently wanted to at first.
Part of his refusal was his fear of the people. (Matthew 14:5). But perhaps as time went on, he gained a respect for this prophet who was anything but a “yes-man” to the king.
It says in Mark that Herod had come to recognize that John was different, that he was a righteous and holy man. And for some reason, he liked listening to John.
You have to wonder why though, because John probably drilled him for his sin time and again. Whatever John said, it “perplexed him.”
Whether it was John and his courage to condemn the king to his face that perplexed Herod, or whether it was something else that John said, I don’t know. But one thing that never happened was that Herod never repented.
And the day came when, on his birthday, his daughter danced in front of him, probably a very lewd one, and he was so pleased that he promised her up to half the kingdom if she asked. On consultation with her mother, she asked for John’s head.
Her request “distressed” Herod, but out of his pride and unwillingness to look bad in front of his guests, he gave in to her request and killed John.
I don’t know if it happened, at a guess not, but I can just imagine his final conversation with John.
“Sorry about this. Nothing personal, you understand. I really do respect you, and I don’t want to do this, but my daughter asked for your head, so…”
It’s easy to condemn Herod for his actions, but how often do we take that same attitude with Christ. We hear his words. Something in them stirs our hearts.
But instead of following his words, we ultimately turn our back on them and Him. Rather, we put priority on our pride, our family, or other things in our lives.
What about you? Do you go to church and listen to the message, or do you read the words of this blog, and say, “There’s something there. Something about it feels strangely good even though it stings to hear it. I really respect this messenger. He really is someone to be admired.
“But….”
And ultimately turn your backs on what God is telling you?
It’s not enough to respect the messengers God sends you.
It’s not enough to admit they are (hopefully) godly men.
But insofar as they proclaim the words of God, you need to take action. To let those words penetrate your heart and cause repentance and change. Because God will hold you accountable for what you have heard and know.
What do you do with what you hear?
Sometimes, as we go through the Christian life, we go through hard times as a result of our own bad decisions.
I once went through unemployment, because though all the warning signs were there that my company was about to go under, I nevertheless ignored them and eventually went down with the ship.
But other times, we’ve done nothing but follow the will of God in our lives, and yet we end up in trouble anyway. And we ask God, “Why? Wasn’t I doing your will?”
That’s what happened to John the Baptist. It says in verse 18 that he was exhorting the people and preaching the good news to them.
We’ve seen in the passages in John that he was also pointing out Jesus to his disciples and telling them, “He is the one you need to follow.”
Not only that, he fulfilled his role as prophet by pointing out the sins of the people, and this is what ultimately got him in trouble.
King Herod (Antipas) had taken his brother Phillip’s wife for his own, and John publicly rebuked him for it. Not only that, he publicly rebuked Herod for many of his other misdeeds as well.
As a result, Herod had him thrown in prison. And there, John was left to rot.
We’ll get more into what happened to John in prison later, but it does bring up the question, “Why did God let it happen?”
Did John deserve to be in prison? No.
Could God have rescued John? Yes.
So why didn’t he? I don’t know.
And ultimately, we just have to accept that (if not be satisfied with it).
God does not promise that our lives will always be nice and comfortable if we follow him. He doesn’t promise that things will always go well.
Jesus, though he was perfect, was himself beaten and crucified. Hardly a comfortable situation. And if he who was perfect suffered, can we expect anything different as his followers?
Peter wrote,
But if you suffer for doing good and you endure it, this is commendable before God.
To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps. (1 Peter 2:20-21)
What were we called to? Suffering for the sake of Christ.
What steps did Jesus take that we are called to follow in? The steps of suffering.
Am I saying that we should look to suffer? No. But don’t be surprised if it comes.
And if it does come, remember what the writer of Hebrews admonishes us,
Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. (Hebrews 12:3)
I think at Christmas time, the one image that people have of Jesus is of the baby in the manger.
Perhaps one reason why people like that scene is because Jesus is so non-threatening. He makes no demands on you. He’s just lying there sleeping.
But Jesus is no longer that baby in the manger. He is the King of kings and the Lord of lords. And sooner or later, people will have to acknowledge him as such whether they want to or not.
As I look at this passage, one thing jumps out to me. The reaction by King Herod and the Jews to the coming of Jesus as King.
Some Magi had come from the East. Who were these Magi? There is much speculation about them, but it’s very possible that they came from a priestly tribe of people called the Medes who lived in modern-day Iran.
They were people that studied astronomy and astrology, and were prominent in Babylon and Persia as advisors. In fact, in Persia, no one could become king without their approval.
In the book of Daniel, you see that Daniel himself was made to be the chief of the Magi because of his great wisdom.
Some people believe that it is because of his influence that these Magi knew of the Biblical prophesies of a King that would come. In fact, Daniel had actually narrowed down the dates as to when the Messiah would appear in Daniel 9.
And so these Magi were waiting for a sign of this new King’s appearing and found it in a star that appeared in the sky.
What this star was is not clear. There’s as much speculation about it as there is about the Magi. But when they saw it, they came sweeping into Jerusalem asking about who this new King was and where they could find him.
To their surprise, no one knew. Perhaps to their greater surprise was everyone’s reaction. It says in verse 3,
When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him. (Matthew 2:3)
Why was King Herod troubled? For one thing, he wasn’t a true Jewish king. He didn’t come from the royal line of David. In fact, he came from the line of Esau, not Jacob. So to the Jews, he was not a legitimate king.
For another thing, he was insanely jealous of his position, and had even killed members of his own family because of it.
Why were the Jews troubled? Probably because they knew what Herod’s reaction would be when he heard about a new king.
You probably know the rest of the story. Herod asked the Magi to find this king for him so that he could worship him.
But after the Magi found Jesus, God warned them about Herod’s intention to kill Jesus, so they went back another way.
When Herod found out the Magi had betrayed him, he had all the boys in Bethlehem two years old and younger killed. Why? Because according to the Magi, the king was born during that time frame.
(Contrary to popular belief, the Magi probably came about two years after Jesus’ birth).
But God warned Joseph to take his family to Egypt and so they escaped Herod’s wrath.
But getting back to the point of Herod’s reaction and the reaction of the people. They were troubled by the coming of this King.
And to this day, Jesus troubles people whenever they confront the fact that he’s no longer a baby, but that he is a King and that they owe him their allegiance.
For some, they, like Herod, react violently because they don’t want to give up the throne of their lives. They want to be in control.
For others, like the Jews, they’re more worried about how others will react if they start following Jesus 100%. They’re worried about persecution. They’re worried about being rejected.
But one day, every knee will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus is Lord.
Some will do so in joy and adoration. Others will do so with grinding teeth. Others will do so in shame. But all will acknowledge him as King.
Don’t you think it’s better to acknowledge him as your king now?
Who is king in your life?
Moment to Moment (Bible blog) 