December 30, 2023
I love Christmas: it’s the beautiful story of how Jesus came to be born on earth. When you think of Christmas, maybe you think of generosity, joy, love, or peace. But in the Christmas story there is a lot of fear people experience. When an angel shows up, Zechariah is afraid. When an angel tells Mary she will give birth to Jesus, she is troubled. The shepherds are terrified when the angel appears to them. Joseph is afraid, so God tells him in a dream not to be afraid to marry Mary. Today we are looking at the story of the magi coming to see Jesus. What happens when the magi stop in Jerusalem and ask about the new baby born king of the Jews? Herod and all of Jerusalem are disturbed and frightened.
Why are so many people in the Christmas story afraid? Halloween is scary, but fear is not what Christmas is known for! Maybe there’s so much fear because Christmas is something new! God shows up in our lives in a baby. Christmas doesn’t feature monsters or zombies. But Christmas is something new, when God makes something happen that hasn’t happened before, it can be scary. Yet, Christmas turned out to be the best good news in history!
We can be afraid of something new. Like the first day of school. I was scared. The first day on a job, even first few months: you can feel like you’ll never get the hang of it. It can be scary. Or bringing home a new baby is intimidating.
All those things are good things. What if we just never went to school because we were scared? Or we never got a job because it’s frightening? What if we didn’t have babies because we weren’t sure we could handle a baby? I’m glad we push through the fear and follow our dreams to do new things that can be scary.
Fear is actually a version of faith. Not a great version. In Mark 4:38 there is a story where the grown Jesus is sleeping in a boat during a storm. The disciples are afraid! They wake Jesus up and ask: “Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?” They are afraid. They have more faith in their fear of the storm, than they do in Jesus! Jesus stops the storm and asks them, why are you afraid? They are in a boat, with a big storm, but they are also with Jesus. They have more faith in the storm, than in Jesus!
In the Christmas story, the magi come from the east. They represent us and all the nations that will come to worship and believe in Jesus. The magi are astrologers. They see the star of Bethlehem and believe a once in a lifetime event has happened! It was common to believe that the birth or death of a great person was accompanied by signs in the heavens. There is a verse in Scripture, Numbers 24:17 that says, “A star will come forth from Jacob, and a scepter will arise from Israel.” Maybe that was the their clue.
The Magi are very different than King Herod. The magi, without being certain that there is a baby born king of the Jews, go on a journey to Jerusalem, to the palace, to find this newborn king!
The Magi have a dream of finding and worshipping this king! They have a vision that is not selfish. They seek to find the baby, worship, give their gifts, and then go home. They are willing to spend time and money on their dream.
The Magi arrive in Jerusalem and inquire, (Matthew 2:2) “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.” They see the birth as a wonderful thing. Herod sees it as a threat! Because somewhere there might be a baby who will challenge him as king!
Here we see that fear is a version of faith. Herod sees conspiracy everywhere. He’s even afraid of his family! He kills two wives, three sons and his mother-in-law while he is king: so great was his fear that someone would take his throne!
Herod asks the chief priests and teachers of the Law, where is the Messiah to be born? They quote to him Micah 5:2 and 4: God says, out of Bethlehem a ruler will come who will shepherd my people, Israel.
Now what’s interesting is, Herod has learned from the religious teachers what he tells the magi: that this newborn king of the Jews is supposed to be in Bethlehem. The magi go to Bethlehem and find Jesus, guided by what Herod told them and the help of a star. But with the same information, Herod does not go. The Magi are excited to follow the vision before them. For Herod, his faith is in fear. He fears a baby king. He has no dream or vision to follow.
The Magi are motivated by their dream. Herod isn’t motivated to go find what he thinks is his worst nightmare. So who finds Jesus? The Magi! The guys who are following their dream! God has not given us a spirit of fear, but a spirit of following dreams!
It’s tempting to put our faith in fear. During the storm the disciples asked, “Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?” We might ask, God, don’t you care if I can’t pay my bills? God, don’t you care if I’m sick? And Jesus says, why are you so afraid? You placed your faith in the storm. But after Jesus stilled the storm, the disciples were even more afraid: who is this man who has such power?
You can choose fear, or you can choose faith. Where is your confidence? Why trust in the storm?
God isn’t always going to save us from trouble. But he will always be with us. He will never leave us or forsake us. We can trust him. We can trust in the dreams he puts before us. We can put our faith, not in our fear, but in our good God who loves us and offers us the best life.
My challenge for you this week is to read 2 Timothy 1:7, “God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, love and a sound mind.”
We can be grateful for Christmas! Grateful for the salvation, grace and peace that Jesus gives to us. Everyone in the Christmas story who was afraid, followed God’s dream anyway, and was blessed beyond belief! They saw Jesus! Everyone in the Christmas story, that is, except one guy: King Herod. Herod’s faith was only in fear, rather than in God and the good he provides. God has not given us a spirit of fear, but a spirit of faith to follow our dreams. So, I invite you to be like the magi, dream God’s dreams, and choose faith! Amen.
Maureen Duffy-Guy's blog 