Hello Advent Family,

 

I have always loved the story of the Magi. Here are people who are not Jewish but are familiar with Jewish scripture and travel an incredible distance to come and worship the child, Jesus. According to legend it was a 12 day journey but many scholars estimate that it could have been much longer perhaps even a month or so. Let’s look at the story from Matthew 2 together today.

 

After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem 2 and asked, “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.”3 When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him. 4 When he had called together all the people’s chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Messiah was to be born. 5 “In Bethlehem in Judea,” they replied, “for this is what the prophet has written: ‘But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for out of you will come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel.’ Then Herod called the Magi secretly and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared. 8 He sent them to Bethlehem and said, “Go and search carefully for the child. As soon as you find him, report to me, so that I too may go and worship him.”9 After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen when it rose went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. 10 When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. 11 On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. 12 And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route.

 

The lengths they went to to see and experience Jesus are incredible. It begs the question for us today. What lengths do we go to to experience Jesus? With the ease of information today you can access sermons, podcasts, worship music, Bible study resources, nearly endless information to build our faith. Perhaps this ease has hurt our faith in ways. The fact that Jesus is always at our fingertips makes us not really have to pursue Him. Pursuing Jesus is so important in our faith journey though. We are told to seek Him like a treasure. We are told to meditate on His word and pray without ceasing. We live in a culture that values comfort and convenience but the Bible reminds us that this is not our home. We are aliens and strangers, temporarily here to share God’s grace and love with the world. Perhaps like the Magi, we need to make ourselves uncomfortable and go out of our way to pursue Jesus. I know that the treasure we find when we do will be well worth it. 

 

In His Grip,

Pastor Dave