Stirring, Searching, Humbling

Wednesday, December 17, 2014

Christmas cards and nativity scenes depict the wise men visiting the Christ-child. But I think the story is bigger than the way it´s presented. The wise men´s journey is also a pattern for our spiritual journey.

"We saw his star," the astrologer-astronomers said (Matthew 2:2). That star, sent by God, initiated their quest to find Him. Like them, I believe our own spiritual journeys begin with such a stirring (John 6:44) - perhaps through a crisis or just a sense that there must be more to life than this.

"We saw his star," they say, "and we have come." After the stirring comes a searching. And what a search the wise men made! They may have travelled by foot for nearly a year to get to Jerusalem. What´s more, upon arrival, they had to go against the directives of a Roman-appointed king known for his brutality (Matthew 2:7-16). Few of us today pay such a price to search for God. But people still search, even if it´s just by buying a self-help book promising the secret to finding "something more".

We "have come to worship him". After the stirring and the searching comes a humbling. In a defiant act against the Herod (the self-proclaimed "King of the Jews"), their Persian kings (traditionally crowned "Kings of Kings") and their religion, the wise men bowed to Jesus (v. 11).

This final stage of the journey for us is a key, as it judges the results of our search. Does the spirituality we find call us to self-fulfillment alone, or to self-surrender? Does it lead us to ourselves or to Someone greater? Does it cause us to worship humanity or to bow before God?

I´m convinced that if our spirituality doesn´t cause us to bow to Jesus, who the wise men found, it´s not big enough to accept. - Sheridan Voysey

Read
Matthew 2:1-12
After Jesus was born in Bethlehem 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."
When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him. When he had called together all the people´s chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Christ was to be born. "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 rules of Judah;

for out of you will come a ruler

who will be the shepherd of my people Israel' "

Then Herod called the Magi secretly and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared. He sent them to Bethlehem and said, "Go and make a careful search for the child. As soon as you find him, report to me, so that I too may go and worship him."

After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen in the east went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshipped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold and of incense and of myrrh. And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route.

John 13:12-17

When he had finished washing their feet, he put on his clothes and returned to his place. "Do you understand what I have done for you?" he asked them. "You call me 'Teacher' and 'Lord' and rightly so, for that is what I am. Now that I, your Lord and Teacher have washed your feet, you also should wash one another´s feet. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. I tell you the truth, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them."

Question to Ponder

Can you see your spiritual journey in the wise men´s story?
How can their account help us better understand today´s spiritual seekers`

**Article taken from ODJ (Our Daily Journey with God) Dec 2014 - Feb 2015 issue