Week 1 : Matt. 1:1 - 3:17 (Part 2)

In my previous post, I looked at the genealogy of Jesus Christ. However, I also wanted to touch upon chapter 2, the very familiar Christmas tale of the magi coming to find Jesus. My local shopping centre has had their Christmas decorations up for some weeks now, and there is a very large and prominent nativity scene portrayed. Unfortunately, Christian tradition sometimes uses a little too much creative license in its narrative, and glosses over the intrinsic significance.

The magi received a vision, a star, concerning the birth of the King of the Jews. However, instead of following the vision, they followed their natural thought and concepts, and went to Jerusalem, the capital of the Jewish nation - after all, where else would a reasonable person expect to find the King other than the capital city? When they got there, they consulted Herod the king, who asked the priests and scribes. The priests and scribes knew the scriptures, and were able to tell him that the place was Bethlehem (Micah 5:2). This pointed the magi back in the right direction, and they found the star again which led them to the place where Jesus was. I should point out here that the magi did not find Him in a manger in a stable because there was no room at the inn - although the shepherds in Luke found Him there, it would not do to find a King in those circumstances! Instead, Matthew records that they found Him in a house. After this, the magi returned by another route, Joseph fled with Jesus and Mary in fulfillment of the prophecy in Hosea 11:1, and Herod embarked on a campaign of infanticide, in fulfillment of the prophecy in Jer. 31:15.

So far, so familiar to most Christians and even to unbelievers in Western civilizations who get exposed to this on a yearly basis. But what of the intrinsic significance that I alluded to? We may have a vision or a revelation of Christ, but if we follow our natural thought, we will often go in the wrong direction. This wrong direction can have strong negative consequences. To correct ourselves, we need to come to God's Word - the Bible clearly shows us who Jesus is. Living vision always accompanies our reading of the scriptures, and it is the vision that leads us to the very Christ - remember that the prophecy in Micah only named Bethlehem as the place where He was born, but it was the star, the vision, that led the magi to the street and the house where He was. Once we have seen this Christ, our lives are different, and we can no longer travel on the same paths that we travelled before.

It's also interesting to note that although Herod and the priests and the scribes were all made aware by the magi that the King of the Jews had been born, none of them went with the magi to Bethlehem. They had had the scriptures in their possession, they probably knew them by heart, but it was pagans coming from another land who worshipped Him. The Jewish religionists had no heart nor interest for Christ.