IN THE WORDS OF JESUS–Part 182

YES, HE is Talking to YOU! (continued)

Love is the Fulfilling of the Law

We looked yesterday at  some ideas regarding the way that the birth of the Master, the way that He is born and the family and place that He is born in, should give us reference to His overall teachings. We specifically looked at the some of the Master’s words on attaining His Kingdom as they relate to His birth in form on Earth. We should know that He could have come to us in any way through the Power and the Will of God but He chose to be born as an infant as we all are. In His birth and His Life as a man we should see the power of His sayings. He tells us in one of His many parables, speaking of the word of God, that: “And the cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts of other things entering in, choke the word, and it becometh unfruitful” (Mark 4:19).He did not succumb to these things and we know by His example that we do not need to succumb to these things either. The Apostle Peter tells us as well of the example set for us by Jesus saying: “For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps” (1 Peter 2:21). And the Master tells us in many ways that we should follow Him as this, His comments about the washing of the disciple’s feet: “For I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done to you” (John 13:15); we should not assume here that only the washing of feet is meant but more so that we should serve.

The Master tells us several times that we should follow Him and in this we should see the idea above of doing as He does, of using Him for our example:

• To the first disciples and by extension to us all He says: “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men” (Matthew 4:19).
• For Matthew (Levi according to Luke and Mark) the publican and ‘sinner’ the Master “saw a man, named Matthew, sitting at the receipt of custom: and he saith unto him, Follow me. And he arose , and followed him” (Matthew 9:9)
• Speaking to His disciples and the multitudes Jesus says: “Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel’s, the same shall save it” (Mark 8:34-35).
• Speaking the the rich man that comes to Him for salvation, the Master says: “If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come and follow me” (Matthew 19:21).
• Speaking to us all who hear His voice and know it is the voice of the Master, He says:  “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me” (John 10:27).
• Telling us all who wish to be His disciple that: “If any man serve me, let him follow me; and where I am , there shall also my servant be : if any man serve me, him will my Father honour” (John 12:26).

In this all we should have the idea that by His birth and His teachings and His Life, He has set for us an example that we should follow and in this following we can find His Presence and His Kingdom. His humble beginning in His worldly Life are also an example, as we discussed in previous days, and this together with all of His sayings about the things of this world are reconciled in His saying that: “I am not of this world” (John 8:23) and His reminder to us saying that: “My kingdom is not of this world” (John 18:36) so that we can be sure not to look to the things of this world expecting to find it.

We left off in the last post with the Presentation of the Lord at Jerusalem and the purification of His mother. From here there is no certainty as to what happens. In the Gospel of Luke, from where we had been discussing the events of the Master’s birth, we find this: “And when they had performed all things according to the law of the Lord, they returned into Galilee, to their own city Nazareth” (Luke 2:39) immediately following upon the presentation and purification. This is a saying that is disputed by many because it is difficult to reconcile with the sayings in the Gospel of Matthew regarding the wise men. Many feel that this returning to Nazareth happened much later, after the wise men and after the family’s sojourn in Egypt. Some even posit that the Holy Family returned to Nazareth and then went again back to Bethlehem. All this is based upon the theory that the wise men went to Bethlehem to see the Christ Child. Although there is much doubt as to who these men are, where they come from, when they arrived to see the Child and how many of them there are, the traditions formulated by Christian denominations and cultures have resulted in stories that are believed by millions; some go even so far as to give them names. Let us look at the text”

“Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem, Saying, Where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him. When Herod the king had heard these things, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him. And when he had gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people together, he demanded of them where Christ should be born. And they said unto him, In Bethlehem of Judaea: for thus it is written by the prophet, And thou Bethlehem, in the land of Juda, art not the least among the princes of Juda: for out of thee shall come a Governor, that shall rule my people Israel. Then Herod, when he had privily called the wise men, enquired of them diligently what time the star appeared.  And he sent them to Bethlehem, and said, Go and search diligently for the young child; and when ye have found him, bring me word again, that I may come and worship him also. When they had heard the king, they departed; and, lo, the star, which they saw in the east, went before them, till it came and stood over where the young child was. When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy. And when they were come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary his mother, and fell down, and worshipped him: and when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto him gifts; gold, and frankincense, and myrrh. And being warned of God in a dream that they should not return to Herod, they departed into their own country another way. And when they were departed , behold , the angel of the Lord appeareth to Joseph in a dream, saying , Arise, and take the young child and his mother, and flee into Egypt, and be thou there until I bring thee word: for Herod will seek the young child to destroy him. When he arose , he took the young child and his mother by night, and departed into Egypt: And was there until the death of Herod: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, Out of Egypt have I called my son” (Matthew 2:1-15).

Now we do not want to get into the minutia of the stories and the theories regarding this but we will say what it is that we see here. First, there is no number of men just a number of gifts; second, there is no saying here that these men went to Bethlehem, we just know that Herod sent them to Bethlehem because this is where his own people said that the Master would be born. Third, we do not know who or what these men are; they are called in Greek magos which is properly translated, in a rather sinister way, as  wise men, teachers, priests, physicians, astrologers, seers, interpreters of dreams, augers, soothsayers, sorcerers etc.²; we should find no fault with these terms as the church likely does because there are good and evil in all walks. We know only that they do find the Child and, if Luke’s version of the family’s return to Nazareth is to be seen in the context that it is presented, we can say that they found Him in the house in Nazareth and not in Bethlehem. We know that the Magi are drawn to the Child by the ‘star’ which, in their custom, told them of His birth and we know that they brought gifts. This is all we know except that these men are ‘warned’ in a dream not to return to Herod and we can but assume that this is because of the potential for Herod to find out where the Child Jesus is. We know also that Joseph too is warned of danger by the angel and that he takes Jesus and His Mother to Egypt for a time, until the death of Herod. As we discussed yesterday there is no accurate time line for any of this including the birth which is generally put between  7 and 2 BC while the death of Herod is fixed at 4 BC. This allows us to deduce that the Master is born somewhere between 6 and 4 BC. and the timing of the wise men would be somewhere in this range as well.

Many of  the bible commentators and much of the churches play into the traditions and stories that have unfolded regarding these Magi or wise men and hence the public’s knowledge is skewed by their sayings. There are two however that come to our aid: Alexander Maclaren in his exposition of this chapter says that: There is something extremely striking and stimulating to the imagination in the vagueness of the description of these Eastern pilgrims. Where they came from, how long they had been travelling, how many they were, what was their rank, whither they went,–all these questions are left unsolved. They glide into the story, present their silent adoration, ‘and as silently steal away.’ The tasteless  mediaeval tradition knows all about them: they were three; they were kings, It knows their names; and if we choose to pay a fee, we can see their bones to-day in the shrine behind the high alter in Cologne Cathedral. How much more impressive is the indefiniteness of our narrative! How much more the half sometimes is than the whole! ¹².

John Darby, in his Synopsis of the New Testament⁸ tells us that: Thus born, thus characterised by the angel and fulfilling the prophecies that announced the presence of Emmanuel, He is formally acknowledged King of the Jews by the Gentiles, who are guided by the will of God acting on the hearts of their wise men.  That is to say, we find the Lord, Emmanuel, the Son of David, Jehovah the Saviour, the Son of God, born King of the Jews, recognised by the heads of the Gentiles. This is the testimony of God in Matthew’s Gospel, and the character in which Jesus is there presented ⁸.

Looking at what Maclaren and Darby say we find some comfort in our view that none of this really matters except that unstated message found in the Master’s nativity story in Luke and in Matthew. The view of the Great Plan of God that brought to this Earth the True Son of God in a body of flesh as we all have. We see the working out of many things that ensure that the Plan is accomplished and we see the encouragement given to Zacarias and Elisabeth, and to Mary and Joseph as they are called upon to bring this Plan to fruition. And we see the continuation of this encouragement with the arrival of the Magi bringing praise and gifts from afar and knowing that this is the Christ Child and, none of this is unlike the encouragement given by the Master himself to the Baptist in his final days so that he would not lose faith and find doubt (In the Words of Jesus parts 172-173). And, it is not unlike the encouragement that the Master’s words give to those of us who take the time to listen with an open heart and mind. The story ends with the ‘killing of the innocents’ and the death of Herod which should show us that even within the Great Plan of God there is not the wherewithal to impede the freewill of man in his personality consciousness whether he is pointed to good or to evil. Many things may have risen up in attempt to stop Herod’s plan as counsel against it or the attempted intervention of others but his plot is worked out and the children do die. Herod dies as well and the Holy Family returns again to Nazareth as we see in this final bit of text on the beginnings of the Earthly Life of Jesus.

“Then Herod, when he saw that he was mocked of the wise men, was exceeding wroth, and sent forth, and slew all the children that were in Bethlehem, and in all the coasts thereof, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had diligently enquired of the wise men. Then was fulfilled that which was spoken by Jeremy the prophet, saying, In Rama was there a voice heard, lamentation, and weeping, and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children, and would not be comforted, because they are not. But when Herod was dead, behold , an angel of the Lord appeareth in a dream to Joseph in Egypt,  Saying, Arise, and take the young child and his mother, and go into the land of Israel: for they are dead which sought the young child’s life. And he arose, and took the young child and his mother, and came into the land of Israel. But when he heard that Archelaus did reign in Judaea in the room of his father Herod, he was afraid to go thither: notwithstanding, being warned of God in a dream, he turned aside into the parts of Galilee: And he came and dwelt in a city called Nazareth: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophets, He shall be called a Nazarene” (Matthew 2:16-23).

This brings us to the end of the Christmas Story; tomorrow we will begin a new topic.

Note on the Quote of the Day