Reb Rev's Blog

“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.’ When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him.  And when he had gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people together, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born.” – Matthew 2:1-4

One of the amazing things, to me, in the record of the birth of Christ is the different reactions to those who were involved.

Herod hated Him. Although he had never met Jesus, didn’t know a thing about Him, Herod wanted the Christ-child dead.

Some ignored Him completely. The priests and religious leaders of the day knew He was to be born in Bethlehem (they were the ones who told the Wise Men where to find Him). Yet, they apparently weren’t even interested in going along with the Wise Men to see the significance of the star.

Others regarded Him, but didn’t have time to do much more than pay decent respect. The inn-keeper didn’t have time to be bothered with the Child, so he put them in the stable – out of sight, out of mind.

Then there were the Wise Men. Although strangers to Israel, we are told they came to Christ with the intent of worship and acknowledge Him as King.

You know, this time of year, it is easy to see these same reactions in folks today. There are those who despise Christ today and want to see any reference to Him wiped out.

Others find it easier to ignore Him. Surrounded by evidence of Him and His truth, they just go about their business and pretend not to notice.

Others, especially at Christmas, will acknowledge His existence, a few carols here and there and then they’re done.

Then there are those who truly seek to worship Him. A popular saying is “Wise Men still seek Him.” I think that might be better stated, “Wise Men still worship Him.” My prayer for you is that is where you find yourself in the Christmas story.

I hope you have the very Merriest of Christmases!

This entry was posted on December 23, 2009 at 10:35 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can subscribe via RSS 2.0 feed to this post's comments. You can comment below, or link to this permanent URL from your own site.