Had the Magi not shown up, I'm not certain that the massacre of the holy innocents would have ever happened. I'm not convinced that the bodies would have piled up in that part of the world had it not been the Magi who showed up. Why are they so important? They're so important to this story because it shows that the word of God, the newborn king, the God of the Hebrew people is bigger than the Hebrew people. And when Herod heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him.
Why wouldn't he be troubled? Herod had lived his life content in his position as high ranking vassal of the Romans in Judea. He was content to believe that although he'd never be as powerful as Casear, he outranked all his fellow Hebrews, and was certainly bigger and more powerful than they would ever be. A big fish in a small pond, if you will. And as a big fish, he was comfy with his place as the best there was in his space.
But there was a problem. The problem was that there were wise men coming from the east, who had followed a star to bring gifts and to laud and honor a king in Israel. And it wasn't Herod. It had nothing to do with Herod at all. He was being passed by and passed over for a real king, the one who was bigger and grander than Herod himself. The newborn king was such a big deal that even people from outside the nation, people who weren't Jews were asking to worship the King of the Jews. And that's a problem for Herod.
If anyone is going to be in charge, to be getting the credit and gifts from surrounding kings, Herod believes it should be Herod. In the same way that we all want to be the big deal, want to be acknowledged, want to be well thought of, and so on. And this triggers our pride.
After all, what is pride? CS Lewis had a lot to say about pride, which he rightly identified as being the great problem in our time, and honestly, even since his time, it has gotten worse. Why is pride such a big deal? Well, if you take Lewis seriously, and why wouldn't you, pride is a big deal because of how it can never be satisfied. Pride is a hungry monster, a devouring fire, which seeks to consume and nothing else. It cannot be satiated, as it will always want more. You know that feeling that you get when you have Christmas dinner, and you can see that there are seconds still on the table, but you're not even hungry but you still want to eat? That's what pride is like - you don't want the food, you're not hungry for it, but because it tastes good, you'll eat more than you need. Pride is like that - Even if you don't want the things that are out there, you want to stop other people from having them. even if they don't want what they're taking. This is our pride at work, and it will stop at nothing but being the best. We don't just want to be good, that's okay, I suppose, but we want to be better than anyone else.You dont' want the house itself, but you want it because it's bigger than the house of your friends. You don't want the car for itself, you want it because it is bigger and better than the cars that belong to your relatives. This is how children think, you know. They will grasp and want and take just to stop someone else from having more than they do
Pride is the killer, it's the disease. So what's the cure? Well, the Magi found the cure way out in a backwater of the Roman province of Judea. They went to a nowhere place, they left their homes and nations, journeyed a long way from the East to Judea, and then, after meeting with Herod, chose to leave him in his opulent palace, and to voyage further to meet up with the Newborn King.
There's something about worship. The worship that the Magi wanted to do was to bow down before the Newborn King, and to worship him. In worship, you acknowledge something, which is that God is in every way superior to you. And you owe him everything. There's something about worship, in which you bow before the Lord your God, realize your sin, realize that you're not who you want to be, and that he is your redeemer.
Ask yourself about the people you know whom you like speaking to the best. Who is it in your life whom you like to talk, who is it that you like visiting with? Almost universally, we would say 'good listeners.' Nobody ever says 'you know who I like to talk to? Someone who constantly talks about how great they are. They're wonderful to visit with.' Nah, we don't like talking to pople who only ever talk about themselves. We find it tiresome and boring at the best of times, and at the worst, it makes us feel hopefully inadequate. This is part of the burden that comes with having social media open, which is that you look across the vast wealth of excellent progress everyone else is making, and your pride kicks violently against them. Honestly, it's hard to be genuinely happy for someone. It's happy to delight in someone else's achievements, and to be pleased for them.
Everyone except one.
The one person on earth that you want to sit there and listen to, the one person on earth that you'd love to is your child. You want to sit there and listen to them, to hear them talk about the day that was, to talk about how they're feeling, what they're doing, heck, if anything, you wish they'd share more! Why is that? Why is it that you can happily listen to your child, even your grown up child, talk about themselves for hours on end and it doesn't trigger your pride? For two reasons. First of all, because their acheivements are an extension of your own. What your children accomplish is at least partially due to you and your activity in their world. Secondly, because there is no competition with your children, and what they accomplish doesn't threaten what you do.
This is what happens with God. He is here to listen. Think about how he showed up in the world, how he was manifest in our universe. He didn't show up to hold court, he didn't arrive in the Temple, teaching and leading. He showed up as an infant, an infant who can't talk, who can't communicate. An infant who can only listen. When the Magi showed up, Jesus listened to what they had to say, listened to their worship, listened to their prayers. When the shepherds arrived on the night of his birth, Jesus listened to them arrive, listened to their prayers, their concerns, heard everything they had to say. Babies, honestly, are amongst the best listeners in the entire world, since when they're not crying, they aren't able to talk back. And they absorb everything that you say, listening to it with attention and precision that you don't get from anyone else. In fact, when it comes to how babies listen, they listen with more attentiveness than you want. They absorb what you say, remember it, repeat it, and internalize it. What you say will become what they say in the future, because they are so intent on your words that they will inform the babies about what normal speaking is.
Jesus is here to listen. He listens to every word we say, and is desperate for more and more. Sometimes we don't share enough. Sometimes we want to be the centre of everything, and be thought of as being the best. We want everyone to listen to us, and to pay attention to our words only. We want to be thought of as the best and brightest, king Herod style, to make sure that if someone is going to bring gold, frankincense and myrrh, that they'll bring it to us only. But that's not what this is all about. In worship something amazing happens. You get to speak to the one and only individual who will always listen, who will rejoice in your accomplishments, and who will work with you in your weaknesses. You have someone in worship who will be attentive to your words, who knows your needs, and who loves to hear from you. Someone who loves you like parent to child, and who wants to hear what troubles you, and help as much as you will let him.
Understanding that relationship for what it actually is is key to understanding worship, and your place in it. For in understanding your place in worship, in saying about Christ 'he must increase, and I must decrease,' in working through that we understand what place our pride has at the manger, or at the house that the Magi went to. It has no place. You have no place for your own sense of self when you journey to a child, and bow down and worship him. What can you possibly offer to him when he is the king of all creation? Can you speak of yourself highly when you meet the creator of your very atoms? Unlikely. So what we do in worship is to pray ardently to the creator of everything, the sustainer of life down to the very cells, and to realize with awe and wonder that the maker and redeemer of the universe wants you to talk to him. He grants and bestows life and strength, he is God in the flesh, he forgives sins and gives everlasting life, and yet he still wants to hear from you.
The Bible is quite clear on this topic. Humble yourself, and you will be exalted. When you go to a feast, don't take the place of honor, lest you be asked to move down when someone more important arrives. Empty yourself of any pretention, do not esteem yourself to be better than you are. Do nothing out of vain conceit, but think of others as better than yourselves. Have you ever thought what a wonderful world it would be if we were busily speaking well of each other, and then talking about ourselves to God, knowing our sins and thanking him for our blessings? It's when we dont' do that, when we want others to know how great we are, and only thinking of ourselves, that we turn into Herod, and turn into him quickly. But with thanksgiving, we render offerings to Christ, trusting in his promises that even though he is immesaurably superior to us, he still loves us, cares for us, and wants to give us all the time in the world. All the time in eternity.
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