A Tale of Two Kings
Matthew 2
Preacher: David Williams
Sermon Matt 2. Theme: A tale of two kings.
Sermon by Pastor David Williams. Strathalbyn Church of Christ. 25 Dec 2021
Lord Jesus Christ, open our ears and our hearts to your word this day. Amen.
We have just heard Matthew’s story about the birth of Jesus. His story is different to Luke’s. There are no shepherds, no three kings either – just some Magicians. It is about two kings though – two very different kings. It’s a story most of us know, but it raises some interesting questions. There are five questions all starting with Why?
The scene
The story begins with some Gentiles. To the Jews, a Gentile was a foreigner, and Jews tried to avoid them. These Gentiles are magicians. They find a star that will lead them to the King of the Jews. Of course, they go to Jerusalem, the Jewish capital and ask the King – where is the new King to be born. He should know.
But Herod and all Jerusalem are worried by this, v3. Why? Herod did not trust anyone who might take away his throne. He even killed his own sons and a wife because they might try to be king or queen instead. So, he was not happy with this news of a new king. Now when a brutal king gets worried, so does everyone else. Who knows what he may do next? Herod was so brutal that as he lay dying, he put thousands in prison. They were all to be killed the moment he died – just to make sure that some would weep, for no one would weep for King Herod! Happily, those orders were never carried out.
Herod asked a very simple question of the Jewish priests. Any Jewish boy could have told him the answer. His question: Where was the king of the Jews to be born? Eight kilometres away in Bethlehem.
Why no-one went?
What happened next is jaw dropping. Nothing happened. No-one from Jerusalem went to look. 700 years ago, Micah said the King would be born in Bethlehem (Micah 5:2). For 700 years they had been waiting for their King there. And now they were only eight kilometres away from their king. Eight kilometres from the most important birth in their nation’s history and no one could be bothered going to look. This is the first why. Why didn’t they go?
1. Some were proud.
After all, they were God’s chosen people, the Jews. As for these Gentile magicians, they were unclean. They practise magic – magic is forbidden in God’s law (Lev 19:31, Dt 18:10-12, Is 8:19). And they think they’ve found our Jewish king, do they? They are talking rubbish. Leave them to their star gazing.
2. Some feared Herod.
Some didn’t go because they feared Herod more than God. What about you, do you fear Herod – or some other power - more than God. Today, Christianity is the new enemy. Atheists say that teaching the Bible is child abuse.[i] Bible believers are often not allowed to speak on the ABC – oddly because they are branded as intolerant. With the Victorian conversion therapy law, parents may be convicted of family violence for praying with their children who are going through a time of sexual confusion. We will see Christians going to jail for their beliefs in coming years. When your time comes, will you fear Herod, or fear God?
3. And some were too busy studying the Bible to see the plain truth.
Studying God’s word is great. There is no better study. We are to treasure God’s word and ponder it day and night (Ps 1; 19:7-14). But be warned. It is too easy to be hearers and not doers; we must be doers of the word too (Jas 1:22-25). Learning without change is a terrible danger. Education is a good thing, but if you educate a devil all you get is a clever devil. How has reading God’s word changed you in this past week?
Why did Gentiles worship him?
The Jews did not go to seek their king. But the Gentiles did. Why did Gentiles go to seek the king of the Jews? Because it had been foretold that this king would rule over the whole earth. He would conquer all enemies and bring peace to all. The angel in Luke’s story brought good news of great joy to all people, a Saviour has been born (Lk 2:10-11). This baby was for all, not just for the Jews. It was right that the first people to worship the king of the Jews would be Gentiles.
Why worship this baby?
The Jews stoned people who claimed to be divine (Lev 24:16, Mt 26:63-66, Jn 5:17-18, 8:58-59, 10:30-33). God commanded that he alone was to be worshipped in the first two commandments (Ex 20:3-6). But three times Matthew talks about worshipping this baby. Surely that is blatant idolatry unless … unless this baby is God himself. There is no other way to explain this. This human baby, born of Mary, was none other than the creator of the universe. This is staggering. That God would humble himself so far - to come down and be born as a vulnerable, helpless baby. To love is to be vulnerable, for to love anyone opens the possibility that your heart will be broken (CS Lewis). So, God in his love chose to involve himself in our mess, and to be completely vulnerable. What could be more vulnerable than a baby?
Why Myrrh?
The first two gifts are clear enough – gold is a symbol of royalty, fit for a king. Frankincense – think of incense – this is offered in worship to God, fit for the son of God. But myrrh? It is a symbol of death. A strange gift for a baby. But Jesus was no ordinary baby. To make sense of his beginning we need to see his end. The myrrh pointed to his death. Myrrh was mixed with wine and offered to Jesus as he hung dying on the cross. It was used on the cloths used to wrap up his body for burial, (Mk 15:23, Jn 19:39). Jesus was born so that he could die. He was born Saviour – Jesus means, God saves. And he saved us by dying on the cross.
Why the slaughter?
The last question is the most difficult. When Herod found out that the magicians had tricked him, he ordered the slaughter of all boys in the region around Bethlehem. And taking no chances, this included every boy up to 2 years old, Mt 2:16-18.
Here we are on Christmas day – as Luke said, with news of great joy, with angels and presents, shepherds and carols. Yet here in the middle of the Christmas story is a brutal slaughter. Why? What is it doing there? How dare I even mention it today of all days?
After all, is there anything worse than losing a child? Some never recover. It remains an aching open wound. I know this is a reality for some of you. The recent loss of the little ones by that freak wind is an awful tragedy. How much worse is the loss of children caught up in a senseless war. But even worse is the intentional murder of innocent children. Sandy Hook and other school shootings in the States might give us some idea of the horror of Herod’s act.
This is not the first time this has happened in the Bible. Jesus is introduced by Matthew as the new Moses, come to set his people free. With the birth of the baby Moses there was a similar slaughter – as boys were drowned by the order of King Pharoah, Ex 1:15-22. Innocent children killed by kings – just so they can keep their power.
Where is God in this? What sort of God would allow this? Bishops pontificate around Easter and Christmas, and when tragedies happen. They say God is not to blame for tragedies. But surely that is too easy, too trite. If God is God, then surely he is in control. The buck stops with God. So where is God in all of this? Where is he in the midst of a massacre, a war, a shooting? This is a test for God. Unless God can deal with this evil act, he cannot help us with anything. How can this baby save us from such sins?
I don’t have all the answers. But the Bible is very clear on some points. First, God is not some divine autocrat watching from a distance, without feeling, without interest. God is fully involved. He is so involved in our mess, our brutality – God is so involved that he was born as a helpless baby right in the midst of this strife. This baby is Immanuel, meaning God with us, Mt 1:24. God fully identifies with us by being born as one of us into all our mess.
Second, as he came, so he left. He came in the midst of blood. He left in blood. As an innocent man, he died the most unbearable, painful death. He did not need to die but chose to die for our sake. He fully identified with us by suffering and dying for us. Jesus is no stranger to suffering and pain. He lived within and died for a violent world.
It is hardly possible to imagine a worse crime than Herod’s slaughter. Yet God sent his son into a world where such evil happens. He sent Jesus to overcome evil by himself dying at the hands of evil men. In his death, he defeated sin, evil and death. He offers the gift of eternal life to all who believe in him. That leaves us with one last question:
Will you worship the King?
Worship is an old word. It means worth-ship. What is worth most to you? Where do you spend your time, your money, your energy? What websites get the most clicks, what do you daydream about, what do you aspire to? What is most important in your life? If it is not God, it will be an idol that you have created. It may be security, it may be family, it may be career, it may be popularity. Whatever it is, idols never satisfy. Only God can do that. Leave your idols today and come and worship the king.
King Jesus, we worship you today. King Jesus, we give our lives to you today. King Jesus, we adore you. We hold nothing back from you – not our work, nor our children, not our health nor our wealth. Our time, our passions, and our energies, we give them to serve you from this day forward. Amen.
Sources
· Lewis, C. S. (1960). The four loves.
· Bailey, K. E. (2008). Jesus through Middle Eastern eyes: Cultural studies in the gospels. Downers Grove, Ill: IVP Academic.
· O’Donnell, D.S. (2013). Matthew - All Authority on Heaven and Earth (Preaching the Word Series). Crossway Books
· Human Rights Law Alliance, Not affirming transgender children is family violence in Victoria. March 26, 2021. https://hrla.org.au/not-affirming-transgender-children-is-family-violence-in-victoria/
[i] Christopher Hitchens. God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything, 2007.
Topics: #Christmas , #Matthew