Today’s Reading is Matthew 2:7-12 7 Then Herod called the Magi secretly and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared. 8 He sent them to Bethlehem and said, “Go and search carefully for the child. As soon as you find him, report to me, so that I too may go and worship him.”
9 After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen when it rose went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. 10 When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. 11 On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. 12 And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route.
As I sat listening to the message yesterday, it hit me that darkness has no source and is just the absence of light. So darkness is the starting point, just like in Genesis 1:2-4.
2 Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. 3 And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. 4 God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness.
Light, on the other hand, requires a source to provide it and will guide you where you need to go. We get daylight from the sun so we can see where we’re going physically and the light of Jesus to see where we need to go spiritually. In fact, I’ve often wondered if the star or light that was above the manger was shining down on Christ or was His light shining up to the Father and for everyone to find their way to Him. As you can see in the first couple of verses, Herod is the darkness and is looking for Christ so he can destroy Him. Herod even tried to get the Magi to move to darkness by inviting them to help him find Christ. Luckily, they were following God’s will and didn’t report to Herod where they found Christ. If we will act as the Magi and follow God’s will in our lives He will reveal where we need to go. We too will get to celebrate finding the child that will lead us out of darkness.
Think about the fact that these 3 wise men had traveled from the far east, probably 100’s or even 1000’s of miles, on the back of camels or maybe horses and traveled for months because of the draw of a star. Can you imagine the anticipation the Magi must have felt when they walked up to the door of the house that the star had directed them to? The joy they must have felt when they found out a child actually lived at this house. They acted on complete faith that a king existed and were rewarded for it. What would you have done in this situation?
Dave