14 day plan

Prepare Him Room

Day 12 of 14

NIV

Matthew 2:1-6

The Magi Visit the Messiah

1After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem 2and asked, “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.”

3When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him. 4When he had called together all the people’s chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Messiah was to be born. 5“In Bethlehem in Judea,” they replied, “for this is what the prophet has written:

6“ ‘But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,

are by no means least among the rulers of Judah;

for out of you will come a ruler

who will shepherd my people Israel.’”

Reflection

The Magi read and interpreted the stars and saw the sign of Jesus’ arrival. Watchful as they were (not unlike the shepherds), they went to do what was required upon learning that a king has been born. They went to worship him. The Magi asked a straightforward question in Jerusalem: ‘Where is this King’? They were unafraid of political niceties, they were bold and direct and went straight to where they thought a king of the Jews should be Jerusalem, the home of the Temple.

Their search for Jesus in Jerusalem is logical; after all, where else would the King of the Jews be? But his absence reveals that Jerusalem is no longer the place where God meets his people. Instead, it is in the logos, the Word made flesh, where God meets us. No longer will a priest have to enter a room in order to absolve the sins of the people; in the coming death and resurrection of Jesus, God makes room for us in his family and eternal home.

Herod was right to be disturbed, for news of Jesus’ birth — so important that even a new star was born to herald it — signalled the smallness and insignificance of Herod’s own paltry reign. Herod realised what many of us do not — that the arrival of Jesus, coming as he did just as the Scriptures promised, changes everything. And, if Jesus reigns, then all other reigns are called into question. Even — especially — the paltry reign we each try to hold in the throne rooms of our own hearts.

Prayer: Dear Father, you are the Lord. Teach us to honour and obey you with our whole lives. Amen.