Wednesday, January 3, 2024 – Epiphany (January 6)

Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the reign of King Herod. About that time some wise men from eastern lands arrived in Jerusalem, asking, “Where is the newborn king of the Jews? We saw his star as it rose, and we have come to worship him.” (Matthew 2: 1 – 2, New Living Translation)

                Christmas isn’t over ‘til the Magi show up in Bethlehem. And, by gum, our Christmas tree stays up and lit until then (or, at least until on of our adult kids come and help us take it down.)

                Mind you, in today’s troubled Middle East, I doubt the Magi would even get across the border into Israel. Bethlehem is a city inside the Palestinian borders. This is dangerous territory.   Most Christmas services were cancelled in Bethlehem this past year because of the war. If the Wise Men showed up seeking to gain entrance to go as far as Jerusalem, I expect they would be denied.  Being likely from Arab states today like Iran or Iraq or Syria, they would-be highly suspect. They might even be arrested or worse, shot at. But today, they would be very unwelcome diplomats.

                Especially so, since the message they brought to Jerusalem and King Herod was the “Good News” of a regime change. “Where is the newborn king of the Jews? We saw his star as it rose, and we have come to worship him.” No political ruler, especially a despot like Herod, either past, present or future, wants to hear that their replacement is at hand, that they are about to be deposed or ousted from their position of power. Herod was cagey, at first, pretending to be interested but all along he was planning to violently eliminate any threat to his power. Not much different between then and now, is there? “The kings of the earth prepare for battle; the rulers plot together against the Lord and against his anointed one.” (Psalm 2:2, NLT)

                There is a recurring theme in the Christmas story from beginning to end that the coming of the Messiah is indeed a peril to world powers. In Mary’s Magnificat, she exclaims, “His mighty arm has done tremendous things! He has scattered the proud and haughty ones. He has brought down princes from their thrones and exalted the humble.” (Luke 1: 51 -52, NLT) The old man, Simeon, upon seeing the baby Jesus at the temple in Jerusalem, was provoked to prophesy: “This child is destined to cause many in Israel to fall, and many others to rise. He has been sent as a sign from God, but many will oppose him.” (Luke 2: 34, NLT) The reality of Jesus Christ is a major obstacle to the powers and principalities, a force to be reckoned with “against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places.” (Ephesians 6:12, NLT)

                The Magi invite us to circumvent the Herods of this world, and go find the Messiah, even if it is in Bethlehem. “But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, are only a small village among all the people of Judah. Yet a ruler of Israel, whose origins are in the distant past, will come from you on my behalf.” (Micah 5:2, NLT) The world is at stake.

                But let me bring this into our own personal realties, too. Let me dare ask you and me where our loyalties lie? Do we need a regime change in our own hearts and souls? Are we clinging to the power of sin and immorality like they were the divine rights of kings and queens? Have we crowned ourselves on the thrones of our own egos, self-importance, pride, arrogance and conceit? Do we pretend to want to also worship the New King but really have no honest or sincere intention of actually doing so? The faster we get Christmas over, the better.

                Regime changes are tough. They are costly. They turn the world upside down and inside out. The birth of the Messiah is especially noteworthy. The arrival of the Word made flesh is God’s intervention in a world that is wrong side up, both on the world’s political stage and also on a personal level. This particular Regime Change replaces old definitions of power with fresh demonstrations of justice, peace, compassion, hope and, of course, love.

                We have choices to make. Do we seek what’s in Jerusalem or who is in Bethlehem?

    We saw his star as it rose, and we have come to worship him.

                “Therefore, God elevated him to the place of highest honor and gave him the name above all other names, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue declare that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” (Philippians 2: 9 -11, NLT)

Dale