Matthew 2:1-12
Matthew 2:1-12 “When the Strangers Came”
(January Theme: Renewing Your Spirit.)
Wise men and all the characters of the Manger scene before us - - - so very familiar. Wise men study stars and come to bow before Jesus. Familiar scene – we’ve looked at it a thousand times! But we usually haven’t asked “What does it mean?”
A grand and powerful parable, also! And God inspired Matthew to put it in the Gospel for a purpose.
Wise men who study stars were, and are, called astrologers. Astrology is a very ancient religion, teaching that all our human experience is guided by the stars and planets. As the moon causes the tides in the oceans, making the high tide flow in and the low tide flow out, in the same way the moon and stars generate a magnetic field that influences us. It shapes our moods, our abilities, our good fortunes or bad. It is the biggest causative agent in all the world.
Astrology teaches that the moving cause of all human behavior is in the stars, sweeping us along. The priests of that religion were the wise men of Matthew’s story. And they come to bow and give gifts to the baby Jesus.
The parable says: Astrology bows before Jesus. Astrology has been done in, trumped, overcome, and surpassed by faith in Jesus who is the Christ. The star led them to Jesus. But, the Spirit sets the path for the journey home. No longer the star; it disappears. This is nothing less than a parable of conversion, across the barrier of a great competition and conflict between two religions.
Do we see the competition and conflict? Not unless we look very closely. It’s old, and mostly settled. Astrology has shrunk to a little novelty in the newspaper. A few take it seriously, but very few, and for those few, it does not have the power the religion had in the ancient world.
But, for Matthew’s first readers, the picture was vivid. Here are two ways; choose Jesus.
The grand debate is not just yesterday. It is TODAY as well.
But there are new “players” in the grand debate. There are always struggles, battles for the hearts and minds of people. God’s calling is NEVER the only voice out there wanting to organize our lives! And the alternatives are not only Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, or others we might think of.
These are there, too!
1. A NEW RELIGION Mormons have good and admirable ethics, but strange teachings. They teach about Jesus, it’s true. But what they say about Jesus is mostly based on a “new revelation” in which the angel Moroni gave Joseph Smith some golden plates with the Book of Mormon engraved on them. The plates, of course, have been lost, and the reports of visits of Jesus to this continent never say WHEN that happened. There Indian societies that we don’t recognize, and a kind of Golden Age picture that is hard to verify. Written like a long 19th century novel, the imaginary Jesus seems to be a bit different from the New Testament.
It’s a different religion, in fact, from the New Testament, Gospel picture of Jesus.
2. A NON-RELIGION Christian Science is still around, not strong, but still offering a very different religion/philosophy that isn’t Christian and isn’t Science - - - - even though it uses the words.
Christian Scientists don’t believe in medicine. I remember learning that when my friend fell out of a tree, we were about 10. He landed on a picket fence. I helped him to his house, and asked if my mom could drive him to the doctor. His mother refused…….. she cleaned his wounds and bandaged them.
Underneath the avoidance of doctors and medicine is a firm belief in Christian Science that the physical world is not REAL. There is no physical world, at all. It is just a projection of our minds, and if our attitudes change, we can conquer diseases and control our destiny. Conquest of disease is just a matter of will!
And when a devout Christian Scientist is severely ill, it is a monumental struggle within that person.
It’s a different religion, actually much more of a philosophy than a religion. It is not so much the God of the Bible who intervenes, but the attitudinal power of the individual to shape the (only apparent) outside world.
3. THE BIG ONE SECULAR MATERIALISM This modern religion is actually that, a religion that defines life and purpose and success in terms of accumulation of material things. The most familiar version does leave a little room for Jesus, but a very little room. Jesus is in charge of taking away anxiety over death and disease, but not in charge of anything else. Life goals, measurements, ethics, rewards, satisfactions are all measured in terms of ownership of things. Security is most often pictured in terms of weapons (big military just out of sight but protecting us) and money (safety for our needs in old age).
My favorite store demonstrates this with its slogan: “Save Money – Live Better”. I do shop there, because I’m in favor of saving money! But I do not expect to live better - - - the abundant life is the province of Jesus. And saving money will never get me there.
At its worst, this kind of materialism treats people as things. The most blatant example (among thousands of possible ones) is the man who succeeds greatly in some profession that pays well, then discards the wife who worked with him to get that success, and marries what is properly called A TROPHY WIFE. She is a possession. She (or sometimes it reverses and it is the man who is owned) is “Eye candy” or “Arm candy”. The most brutal examples are in abusive relationships in which a man really believes he OWNS a woman and totally controls her life.
We know all about this religion, but rarely identify it as a RELIGION.
BUT, it does directly compete with Christianity!!! It offers a totally different definition of life.
In the ancient world, religions competed for the loyalty of followers. Many with long-forgotten names still function under other names in our own time.
Why bring all this up? Because MATTHEW brings all this up in reporting the visit of the wise men! That’s what it was about! That’s what it IS about!
Today?
Today, there is an open competition for people’s hearts, for their loyalties, for their understanding of life’s basic truths.
And it looks like? There are promises of great rewards, skillful propaganda stirring up great fears, offerings of ways to find common ground with other people who can reinforce us.
The “antique” religions don’t offer much of a challenge to Christianity today. Islam and Judaism are actually closer to us than Secular Materialism, and there are really very few converts from one of the three major religions to another one, ever.
The greatest threat is from Secular Materialism. It says: don’t do what Jesus said to do! Take care of “number one” - - - live for yourself, protect yourself, make that your standard, and link up with others who believe the way you do. Measure your neighbor strategically, and love has nothing to do with it.
You know, says the competitive Secular Materialism, the church has no business dealing with anything but religious issues like praying for the sick, and holding weddings and funerals. Ethics, business, the way people fare in society are none of its business.
Try this: the next time someone is on a “money rant” about “protecting your own”, listen for a moment to get the picture they are painting, then go find a quiet spot, sit down, and read Matthew 5-7. Go from whoever you have been listening to, directly to the words of Jesus. Listen to the Beatitudes again, to the expressions of loyalty to God and love for neighbor. They DO sound different!!! Because they ARE different.
There is a competition TODAY for the hearts and minds of all of us, for all people. And the competition calls US INTO THE BATTLE. The battle is not FOR or AGAINST one set of ideas or another. The battle is for the hearts of people precious to Jesus!! It is our mission to reach hearts for Jesus!
How? Followers of the Lamb of God have never gone to battle wearing secular armor or using propaganda weapons! We see more than enough of that from Secular Materialism! No, we go out as Jesus went out……. Telling the truth that we see, and living lives that are credible! Doing what he told us to do: love your neighbor.
We don’t know who’s watching . . . . . . . . but someone IS.
We don’t know who’s listening . . . . . . . but someone IS.
We don’t know who’s barely hanging on . . . . . . . but someone IS.
We don’t know who REALLY needs someone to believe in . . . . but someone DOES.
Think about the Wise Men.
One day, they set out searching. They found Jesus. They knelt, left their treasures before him, and went home by a different way. Reading that old history/parable in the old style leads us to a strong conclusion.
They went home by a different way - - - - they went to their homes DIFFERENT, changed men. When they worshipped Jesus - - - all of life changed from that moment forward.
Today - - it’s not the STARS that love you, not Mohammed who loves you, not the Angel Moroni who loves you, not your personal financial manager who loves you, it’s Jesus. They may not like it when you follow Jesus, but then having them like you is not at all the point!
Jesus of Bethlehem, Jesus of Golgotha, Jesus of Easter morning, Jesus of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus who came to bring LIFE and bring it ABUNDANTLY.
That’s who LOVES you. That’s who asks you to love your neighbor.
NOW - - - - In THAT spirit--------- Happy New Year ------- and Happy New LIFE.
