star would be found near the centre
of power but He wasn’t. We can well
imagine what a disappointment it
may have been when they found a
cottage was His palace and His own
poor mother tending to Him, rather
than numerous courtiers! However,
these were wise men and saw
through this veil and were not
baffled by what awaited them in
Bethlehem. Having been
supernaturally guided to the place
where Jesus was the Magi
presented themselves first, and
then their gifts, to Him. The Magi
‘fell down and paid homage to Him’
despite the poverty of His
surroundings. Interestingly, we do
not read that they gave such
honour to Herod despite his royal
grandeur!
It is amazing that the Magi should
embark on this costly journey, led
by an extraordinary star such as
had not been seen before - the star
signified something extraordinary
and uncommon. They could have
thought: ‘If such a prince be born
we will hear of him shortly in our
own country, we’ll pay our homage
to him then.’ But no, they desired to
be acquainted with Him as soon as
possible and took a long journey to
enquire after Him. Those who truly
seek Christ will pay no regard to
pains and perils in seeking after
Him. Which is a very different
response than that of...
Men came from a far away country
to worship Christ, while the Jews,
His kinsmen, wouldn’t even go to
the next town to meet Him! Yet this
apathy did not deter the wise men.
Unlike the Magi Herod and his
council showed not devotion to
Jesus; instead they were hostile or
indifferent towards Him. We are
told that Herod was ‘greatly
troubled and all Jerusalem with
him’. Herod was now an old man,
he’d been on the throne for 35
years, while this new king was newly
born. Yet, Herod felt deeply
threatened and so feared the loss of
his own authority that he plotted to
eradicate the threat by an act of
genocide - by killing all the baby
boys of Bethlehem.
Herod was what we might describe
as ‘shaken but not stirred’ - shaken
stirred’
by news of the Messiah’s birth but
not stirred to seek Him, find Him
and worship Him.. We may dislike
Herod but we must be careful not to
be like him; for whenever we hold
Jesus at arms length, when we have
no real appreciation of who this
King really is - then we’re behaving
no differently to Herod.
The events recorded for us in
Matthew 2 reveal various responses
to Jesus which still prevail. There are
many today who are as unmoved by
Jesus as the people in Israel at the
time of His birth. There are still
those who are hostile towards Him
as King Herod was. However, there
HEROD AND THE HIERARCHY
are also millions of people who, like
The persistent seeking and
the Magi, continue to ‘give homage’
submissive worship of the Magi is in to Jesus today. But what about you
stark contrast to the antagonism of and me as we approach Christmas
Herod, and the apathy of the
2013 AD? Like the ‘persistent’ Magi,
hierarchy in Jerusalem. The Wise
wise people still seek Jesus.