“After Jesus was born in Bethelehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem and asked, ‘Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star in the east and have come to worship him.” Matthew 2:1-2
So the wise men came from the east to worship Jesus…let’s just take a second to think about that. I’m guessing the wise men weren’t Jewish, and they knew a lot about stars, and something in the sky (star) got them motivated to travel all the way from the east to Jerusalem. I recently finished Beth Moore’s study on the Patriarchs, and she proposed that the “east” is where men go to get away from God. So let’s just think of these Magi as smart, rich guys (I don’t know that they’re rich…that’s just a guess) who travelled a good distance from a somewhat religiously compromised area so they could find this great king who had just been born. They knew (because they saw “his” star in the sky) he was important.
Isn’t that something? God is beyond religion and tradition and how we think things ought to be. He is King of Kings and Lord of Lords…even to people in far away lands who have no desire to follow our religion, but who are smart enough to see who he really is. Maybe the Magi didn’t understand exactly what was going on, but God included them and took care of them because his love extends far and wide.
Happy Epiphany!
