December 28, 2008

Matthew 2: 1-23

  Wise Men...and Women...Still Seek Him

 ***

Come they told them

Pa rum pum pum pum

A new born king to see

Pa rum pum pum pum

The finest gifts we bring

Pa rum pum pum pum

To lay before our king

Pa rum pum pum pum

Rum pum pum pum

Rum pum pum pum

So to honor him

Pa rum pum pum pum

When we come.

***

MATTHEW 

Jesus was born in the town of 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 have seen his star as it arose, and we have come to worship him."

Herod was deeply disturbed by their question, as was all of Jerusalem.  He called a meeting of the leading priests and teachers of religious law.  "Where did the prophets say the Messiah would be born?" he asked them.

"In Bethlehem," they said, "for this is what the prophet wrote:  'O Bethlehem of Judah, you are not just a lowly village in Judah, for a ruler will come from you who will be the shepherd for my people Israel.'"

Then Herod sent a private message to the wise men, asking them to come see him.  At this meeting he learned the exact time when they first saw the star.  Then he told them, "Go to Bethlehem and search carefully for the child.  And when you find him, come back and tell me so that I can go and worship him, too!"

After this interview the wise men went their way.  Once again the star appeared to them, guiding them to Bethlehem.  It went ahead of them and stopped over the place where the child was.  When they saw the star they were filled with joy!  They entered the house where the child and his mother, Mary, were, and they fell down before him and worshiped him.  Then they opened their treasure chests and gave him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.  But when it was time to leave, they went home another way, because God had warned them in a dream not to return to Herod.

After the wise men were gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream.  "Get up and flee to Egypt with the child and his mother," the angel said.  "Stay there until I tell you to return, because Herod is going to try to kill the child."  That night Joseph left for Egypt with the child and Mary, his mother, and they stayed there until Herod's death.  This fulfilled what the Lord had spoken through the prophet:  "I called my Son out of Egypt."

Herod was furious when he learned that the wise men had outwitted him.  He sent soldiers to kill all the boys in and around Bethlehem who were two years old and under, because the wise men had told him the star first appeared to them about two years earlier.  Herod's brutal action fulfilled the prophecy of Jeremiah:  "A cry of anguish is heard in Ramah--weeping and mourning unrestrained.  Rachel weeps for her children, refusing to be comforted--for they are dead."

When Herod died, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt and told him, "Get up and take the child and his mother back to the land of Israel, because those who were trying to kill the child are dead."  So Joseph returned immediately to Israel with Jesus and his mother.  But when he learned that the new ruler was Herod's son Archelaus, he was afraid.  Then, in another dream, he was warned to go to Galilee.  So they went and lived in a town called Nazareth.  This fulfilled what was spoken by the prophets concerning the Messiah:  "He will be called a Nazarene."   

*** 

Thoughts...

His name is Jesus.  Are you worshiping the New Born King?  The Messiah?  The Ruler?  The Shepherd?  The Child...the Son...the Man...the Savior...God.   He is not just for the Jews, they did not accept him as their Lord, Savior.  He was too lowly for them.  So God gave him to the Gentiles...the rest of the world...those who would see him as Lord and accept him as their Savior.  And why?   Because in doing so, Jesus will forgive us of our sins and give us eternal life.  He will wash us as clean as new fallen snow, if we just believe in him and receive him.  God still wants the Jewish people to accept his son and some have.  God wants the world to see and believe and accept all that he and his son have to offer...life...a new life.  Today is your opportunity to meet the Child, the New Born King, believe in him and receive him as your Lord and Savior.  Will you take this opportunity to be wise as the wise men were and go towards God.  Turn away from evil and people led by Satan, and things not of God.  Go towards Jesus and ask him to forgive you of your sins, to wash you anew, and give you eternal life.  'Today is the first day of the rest of your life.'  How will you choose to live it?  Wise men...and women...still seek him.                 

***

Let Us Pray

Wise men...and women...still seek him.  Jesus, I know you are no longer a baby, but a man...a Savior.  And you can be my Savior, if I let you.  I want to let you.  I want all the pain and the sorrow and the painful memories and the hurts by others and to others to be washed from me now.  I'm ready.  I'm scared, but I am ready.  It is time that I make better choices for my life and the first one I see I have to make is to be forgiven of my sins and forgive the sins of others against me.  Some days it feels like all the pain from those sins is all that holds me together, like the old oil in my car holds it together.  Like the dirt keeps the doors on.  Some days it seems as if all the sorrows and memories are all I have left of my life, there are so few joys.  And some days I only know I am alive because of the pain.  So how do I let it all go, not knowing what tomorrow will bring, or know if I will be alive, if I can't feel the pain?  I guess I just have to believe...that entails trusting....and that is hard for me, Lord, due to all the pain.  But I am told you are the New Born King.  The Shepherd, the Messiah, THE Savior of the world and can be mine as well.  I so need you, but I am so afraid of you...that I might hurt more...again...that over and over again feeling I've kept buried for years.  That rolling tide that seeks to burst through me.  But I will try.  Isn't that what is said to babies....when they learn to walk...even tho' they don't understand?  'Try...you can do it?'  I'm told you will catch me, if and when I fall.  I hope you will....I sincerely hope you will.   I have nothing left anymore of my self.  Please catch me, Lord.  Please be my Lord.  Please be my Savior.  Please love me.  The rest of the world has gone away.  I have no one else.  I need you.  Please.  Oh, please, come to me now.  Take my hand, my pain, my sorrows, my sins.  Cleanse me from those and the sins of others.  Give me a new life in and and with you.  Thank you, Lord.  Oh...thank you, Lord!  I can feel your presence.  I feel as if I am lighter somehow.  I don't understand it and I cannot explain it, but I feel as if I've just been washed anew like a a baby in a bathtub.  Oh, Lord, my Savior...I can say that now, right?  I can call you my Savior?  Oh, Lord Jesus Christ, my Lord, my Savior, I cannot thank you enough.  How do I thank you?  Help me to know how to walk this new walk.  Help me to know how to live right.  By your Bible...by reading?  Of course....I can read  the New Testament to learn more about you, Jesus.  And read the Old Testament to understand God more and learn of the prophecy of your entry...your future, tho' you were not even born.  I am excited Lord.  I am hopeful...expectant....joyous.  I pray, Lord, that I will not let you down.  I know that you will not walk away from me, if I am obedient.  My salvation is free, but my guarantee is not.  I cannot just say you are my Lord and not act like you are my Lord.  I have to live in you and allow you to live in me.  I cannot just go back to my old ways and expect others to find you or expect you to continue to guarantee my new life.  Will I fall, Lord?  I am only human.  I know you will forgive me, if I do, IF I AM TRYING, but if I am not trying, you will scoff at me and say you never new me.  That, I know, is scriptural.  So, help me A LOT, Lord.  I don't want to fall.  I don't ever want to lose you if what I am feeling now, this buoncy, is just a taste.  I feel as if I am floating on air, so light, so free.  But I must ground myself in your word and knowledge of you to carry on the best way I know how.  Send others to surround me that are of you, Lord.  Help them strengthen me by showing yourself through them.  And Lord, I hope you trust me enough some day to use me to help others and strengthen them.  That will let me know that I have grown in you and with you and that I am trustworthy enough to be called a child of God.  Oh, I know I am that now...a child of God...but I want to be worthy of the calling.  THAT's a LOT of work....I've been so wounded.  But I am healed now.  Thank you.  Love me in the ways that only you can.  Help me to love you more and fully.  And let me always be reminded to be wise.  It will be a wisdom born of pain AND of growing in and with you.  The best part will be your wisdom.   Thank you again, Lord.  Thank you, thank you, thank you, God, Jesus and Holy Spirit.  In Jesus name I pray, Amen.

Wise men...and women...still seek him.

  Give him your finest gift....your self.   

***

"What can I give him, poor as I am?

If I were a Shepherd, I'd give him a lamb.

If I were a Wise Man, I'd do my part.

But what I can, I give...my heart."

Christina Rosetti   

***

Give him your heart today.

***

"Do you hear what I hear?

Said the king to the people everywhere,

"Listen to what I say!

Pray for peace, people, everywhere,

Listen to what I say!

The Child, the Child sleeping in the night

He will bring us goodness and light,

He will bring us goodness and light." 

 

***

Definition of a Christian:  Anyone who believes in God, Jesus and Holy Spirit, and accepts Jesus as Lord and Savior.  Regardless of church name or religious affiliation.  

***

***