As I read the story of the birth of Jesus Christ, one thing I
find interesting is the responses to the
news about the birth of the King of the Jews, the long-awaited Messiah.
The shepherds received the news from the angel and went with
“haste” to find the Messiah. (Luke 2:15-16) My guess is that it wasn’t exactly
an easy task with all the people in Bethlehem because of the taxation. As we know the only place for Joseph and Mary
to stay was in a stable. All other
accommodations were full. But the
shepherds searched until they found the baby that the angel told them about. They
were told they would find the baby in a manger, but I would guess there were
more than a few mangers in stables in Bethlehem. After they found the baby they shared the
good news. The lowly shepherds were the
first to be informed and the first to spread the good news concerning the
Messiah being born. They returned to
their sheep “glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard
and seen.” (Luke 2:20)
Then there is the Magi that evidently traveled a long
distance because they saw the star that indicated to them that this King of the
Jews had been born. (By the way, there
were not just three kings/Magi. We don’t
really know how many there were. And
they probably had a large entourage with them. Something about their entrance
in to Jerusalem was noticeable enough to get the attention of King Herod and
the people of Jerusalem.) These men had
persisted in their search for the King and came bearing precious gifts fit for
a King. Once they found the baby King
Jesus, they gave Him gifts and worshiped Him.
King Herod was troubled by the news of a king of the Jews
being born. It was seen by him as a
threat to his political position. He
chose to let the Magi do the work of finding for him so he could kill the new
born king. Herod pretended to want to go
worship the new born king. The Magi
heeded the warning of the angel of the Lord and did not return to Herod to tell him exactly where the baby was. But Herod still sought to kill the child that
he thought may be a threat to his political position.
King Herod had contacted the religious leaders of the Jews
to find out what they knew about where their King was to be born. They told him what the Scriptures said, but
there is no indication that they even had any interest in going to find this
King, their long-awaited Messiah.
I would hope that my response to the news of the birth of King Jesus would be one of immediately going to search Him out and
worship Him, as the shepherds did. Or that my response to the indication of the
birth of this great King would be one of persistence, traveling whatever
distance I needed to in order to find and worship this great King with
gifts.
I would hope my response would not be one of seeking to
destroy the King to protect my position or of lack of interest
as seems to be the case with the political and religious leaders of the
day.
(Luke 2:8-20; Matthew 2:1-18)
