Another Odd Set of Seekers

Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, magi from the east arrived in Jerusalem, saying, "Where is He who has been born King of the Jews? For we saw His star in the east and have come to worship Him."  When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him. (Matthew 2:1-3 NASB)

This is one of those ironies in the Bible that I find so troubling.   The Apostle John simply summarizes the whole event by saying, "He came unto His own, but His own did not receive Him."  Why shepherds?  Why "magicians" from another, Gentile country?  Why, when they hear of the arrival of the "Messiah," are they "troubled"?  Why do the "wise men" of Jerusalem stay in-town rather than seek the announced Child?  They know where He is, but don't go.  The people wait in hope, but are troubled when He arrives.

On the website, www.BethlehemStar.net there is a great explanation of what the Magi saw that compelled them to go to Jerusalem.  Another option is Astronomy Notes but I personally like the first one.  It's written by a committed Christian, and it has a good explanation for deviating from the more common dating.  His approach is from the assumption that the Bible is a reliable historical record, and I appreciate that too.

Regardless of which explanation you prefer, neither one really gets at the inability of the people of Israel to respond to the arrival of their Messiah.  If such signs were in the sky at the time, how did no one but these foreigners spot it?  Why, when told of it, did no one else from there go to see Him?  All of Jerusalem was troubled at the announcement of the Magi, but not enough to go see what it was about?

This troubles me because I fear I could be one of those, caught missing the signs, caught hearing of them but remaining warm in my cozy home, caught missing the wonder of my Master and His visitation.  That would be a crime of astronomical proportions.  The only one to seek Jesus after the Magi was Herod in an attempt to kill Him.  I don't want to be one of the comfortable scribes who stays home. 

So, what do I do to avoid such a pitfall?  I keep on watch, like Jesus said repeatedly.  The problem is that "guard duty" is boring, and I get tired doing that.  My mind wanders and I stop looking for what started out seeking.  Instead I am consumed by distractions.  But guards have a trick for this.  What I did when I had such duty in the Army was to do something that wasn't quite so distracting, and kept my attention in the right direction.  The key is make sure that whatever you do to stay awake, also makes it likely you will not miss something coming into your area.  So how do I do that?

Probably a vital key is the study of Scripture, but that's what the "scribes" did for a living.  Another vital part is prayer, which those asked by Herod for the location were apt to do frequently.  Worship is another thing which cannot be neglected, but these were the "high priests" which meant that worship was a professional duty as well as a religio-cultural obligation.  I must have or do something more.

Submission.  The error into which these fell was their subordination of what they did to themselves rather than to their Master.  They didn't mean to, it was never their intent.  They were probably not aware they had done it.  But when the message they sought came from outside their "paradigm" they were not able to make the shift to accept and act on it.  I need the paradigm in which I subordinate my study, prayer, and worship to the methods of my Master rather than require Him to use my "preferred" methods.  Messy.  Well, here we go into this day.  What will my Master show me, and through whom?