Jesus Is Closer Than He Appears to You

But today, we're reading from the gospel of Matthew. And for the rest of this church year, we will travel through the gospel of Matthew. But Luke tells us of the census that sends them out to go and find a place to stay where there's no room at the inn. And so they find themselves in a manger having a baby with a bunch of animals. And then the angels go out in Luke, and they tell the shepherds, come. Come worship this newborn king. The angels tell anyone they can find. Matthew doesn't have any of that. None of it. [00:01:03] (31 seconds)  #MatthewFulfillsProphecy

And then Matthew adds in the drama because Matthew's gospel is all about Jesus being the messiah that we have been waiting for, longing for, all the prophecies foretold. It's why we get all these little mini prophecies throughout Matthew sprinkled in. Today is from Micah, the prophet Micah. And so Matthew wants to up the ante. This isn't just a baby born in a barn. This is a baby that deserves gifts and noticing a star that follows him and leads people from the faraway East. So now we have these magi from the gospel of Matthew. [00:02:07] (42 seconds)  #MagiRiskedToWorship

Magi were believed to be Persian astrologers, people that looked to the stars to tell what the heavens were telling them. They interpreted dreams and visions. Kind of imagine Daniel in the Babylonian court. This is who these magi were. And so they travel from the East. We don't know how far, but we know it's a long enough time that Jesus could be anywhere from zero to two years old. [00:02:48] (23 seconds)  #MilesForMessiah

The Magi had no interest in Jerusalem politics, in kings. They came to worship the new king of the Jews, and they didn't really care for king Herod, but they knew that they were taking some risks. They knew that this was likely going to get them in trouble, and it's why our story ends with after a dream, they took another route home. [00:04:37] (24 seconds)  #MagiWereAstrologers

Now myrrh, like I said, had a different purpose. Myrrh was actually an ancient medicinal. It was an antiseptic of sorts, and so it had healing properties. It's also mentioned two other times in our gospels. In the gospel of Mark, it's mentioned as what is mixed with the wine when it is given to Jesus on the cross. And then it is also mentioned in the gospel of John as one of the embalming oils that is used on Jesus before his burial. Myrrh hints at what Jesus will come to do. He will come to die. [00:06:11] (38 seconds)  #MagiKnewHisPurpose

If these magi, if these wise men know their scriptures, know the Jewish scriptures, they know that the Messiah will come to die for his people. Not in any way that we imagined, but these wise men are wise far beyond their neighbors and their years. And so they bring myrrh. I'm sure a little toddler thought it was great. [00:06:49] (25 seconds)  #JosephsDream

And yet we look to the magi, and it tells us that we need to we need to move long distances, that Jesus is far away from us, and then we have to go through those journeys to get to him. Or that we have to risk take or suffer or go through hardships just to be near to our Jesus. And God forbid this tells you that you have to bring your perfect selves to Jesus, the perfect presence, the perfect prayers, the perfect self. Jesus didn't want any of this. [00:08:50] (35 seconds)  #MyrrhMeansSacrifice

``We think we have to travel miles, that we have to journey to church or we have to journey to holy places to witness Jesus, and we don't. We think that we have to go through suffering or face hardship or risk our lives just to feel Jesus closest to us. We feel like we have to bring our best selves, our best thoughts, our best prayers, our best everything to Jesus, just for Jesus to see us. But that's not the Jesus that we know in his ministry. So why do we expect that that's the Jesus that wanted that in his infancy? [00:12:51] (44 seconds)  #ComeAsYouAreJesus