“Come, Adore on Bended Knee” (Matthew 2:1-12)

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Come, Adore on Bended Knee Come, Adore on Bended Knee Brad Mills / General Advent: Now But Not Yet / Matthew 2:1–12 I have a friend who doesn’t celebrate Christmas or Easter or any other Christian holiday because their origins are tied to pagan holidays. Maybe you know people like that. They begin with a well-intentioned desire to remain faithful to the truth. Once they discover the link between Christmas and the Roman festival of Saturnalia, they decide that they cannot engage in a pagan practice. It is true that the Romans celebrated Saturnalia for a week beginning on December 17th. However, the Christian celebration of Christmas is not a form of engaging in a pagan holiday, but an antidote to the idolatry. There is good reason to recover the true meaning of Christmas in our generation as well. We must guard against the cultural and commercial corruptions that distract us from worshiping Christ. Refusing to celebrate Christmas and Easter does not make you more likely to meditate upon Christ’s birth and resurrection more frequently. In an attempt to remain faithful to Christ, refraining from participation in these Christian holidays may only hinder a proper humility and sacrificial love for him. I have no hesitation in commending a hearty celebration of Christ’s birth this month. Two weeks ago we considered how the hopes and fears of all the yearswere represented by Christ’s genealogy. His ancestors waited with eager expectations for the day of his arrival. But, even his miraculous conception began with the devastation of Joseph who feared that Mary had been unfaithful. The visiting angel restored Joseph’s hope and he confidently obeyed the command to take Mary as his wife and to name the child “Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins” (1:21). This morning we transition to the theme of worshiping Jesus. Matthew sets up a contrast between true and false worship, and between corrupt leadership and humble service. Read Matt. 2:1-12. › The passage opens with “wise men from the east”… Seeking to Worship Jesus (1-2) After the birth of Jesus, wise men from the east traveled to Jerusalem in order to worship the child (1). They asked people where Jesus was born mentioning the star they saw in the sky and their intention to worship him (2). We are not told how long they had been traveling, but contextual evidence points to this happening at least one year after Jesus was born. They did not find him until nearly two years later (16). This destroys the scene depicted in the typical Christmas nativity set. These “wise men” were not present on the night of Jesus’ birth. The wise men ultimately find Mary and Jesus in a house, not a stable (11). On the night Jesus was born these wise men saw a star. This may be an allusion to the messianic star referred to in Num 24:17, but it is unclear if the wise men understood this. Some have tried to explain the movement of the star as a natural phenomenon (i.e., Halley’s Comet, supernova), but it seems to have been supernatural (9). We know very little about these wise men (magoi). The magoi were religious scholars who adopted a variety of practices (e.g., dreams, magic, astrology). There is no indication that they were kings, but many have assumed this based upon Ps 72:10-11, 15 which speaks of the Messiah receiving gifts from Gentile kings. The gifts they offered Jesus were expensive gifts fit for a king. We might safely assume these men were wealthy. Since they brought three types of gifts, many have assumed that there were three magoi. But that is only speculation. We do not even know where they came from. They could have been from Asia or Persia, but it seems more likely that they were from the distant region of ancient Babylon (Mesopotamia). The Greek OT uses the term “magoi” in one book, Daniel. It is a reference to the religious practitioners of Babylonian magic. In Dan 2, Nebuchadnezzar sought the help of the magoi in interpreting his dream. Jewish influence in Babylon was stron

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