The King in the Shadows

Matthew's gospel again, and we're gonna read from chapter two all the way through to the end of the chapter. So starting from verse one. The visit of the wise men. Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem saying, where is He who has been born king of the Jews? For we saw His star when it rose and have come to worship Him.

When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled and all Jerusalem with him. And assembling all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where this Christ was to be born. They told him in Bethlehem of Judea, for so it was written by the prophet. And you, oh, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah. For from you shall come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel.

Then Herod summoned the wise men secretly and ascertained from them what time the star had appeared. And he sent them to Bethlehem saying, go and search diligently for the child. And when you have found Him, bring me word that I too may come and worship Him. After listening to the king, they went on their way. And behold, the star they had seen when it rose went before them until it came to rest over the place where the child was.

When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy. And going into the house, they saw the child with Mary His mother, and they fell down and worshipped Him. Then opening their treasures, they offered Him gifts, gold and frankincense and myrrh. And being warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they departed to their own country by another way. Now when they had departed, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, rise, take the child and His mother and flee to Egypt and remain there until I tell you, for Herod is about to search for the child to destroy Him.

And he rose and took the child and His mother by night and departed to Egypt and remained there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet, out of Egypt I called my son. Then Herod, when he saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, became furious and he sent and killed all the male children in Bethlehem and in all that region who were two years old or under, according to the time that he had ascertained from the wise men. Then was fulfilled what was spoken by the prophet Jeremiah. A voice was heard in Ramah, weeping and loud lamentation.

Rachel weeping for her children. She refused to be comforted because they are no more. But when Herod died, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt saying, rise, take the child and His mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who sought the child's life are dead. And he rose and took the child and His mother, and they went to the land of Israel. But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning over Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there.

And being warned in a dream, he withdrew to the district of Galilee. And he went and lived in a city called Nazareth so that what was spoken by the prophets might be fulfilled, that He would be called a Nazarene. So far, our reading. I wanna tell you a little story, which I hope will serve to illustrate a point, obviously, about a particular Santa who wanted to remain anonymous. That is to say, he didn't want anyone to know who he really was.

So he put on the red suit, put on the beard, even had a pair of sunglasses, and then went to a particular Christmas party wearing his disguise. It worked great, at least for a time, until his niece and nephew started to get a little suspicious, and they began to recognise him. One of them tugged at the beard, the other took off the glasses. The party got a bit rough. He lost his beard, and all of a sudden, Uncle Matt was there, right in the middle of all the visitors, at this particular party.

He was one of them. He belonged to the family of the people that were there at the party. He wasn't Santa at all. And of course, he thought he was being quite clever wearing his disguise. Now in the same way, Jesus was in disguise.

Not many people recognised Him, some did. Jesus came as king, but He came as a baby. And then He didn't come to a palace and have a nursery and people attending to Him day in and day out. Rather, He came to the back of a local hotel where there was a stable, an inconvenient place for Him to be born. The world just didn't recognise Him.

The disguise was too good. Some did seek Him, however. Others opposed Him, and many missed Him altogether. Through the story in Matthew chapter two this morning, we're going to look at what the Magi, Herod, and then Joseph saw. The disciple Matthew shows us three responses to the true king and three aspects of what it really means to honour and serve King Jesus.

We're gonna look at the people seeking the king first of all, the Magi and the joy they had in finding Him. And then the opposition to the king, Herod, and the illusion of control, and finally, preservation of the king, God's providence, and the gospel in exile. The underlying theme of it all, the King of heaven came not to crush His enemies, but to be crushed for them. Let's have a look at the seeking of the king. Chapter two, verse one.

After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea during the time of King Herod, Magi from the East came to Jerusalem and asked, where is the one who's been born king of the Jews? Now who were these mysterious visitors who had come from the East? The Magi. We often romanticise them, don't we? In Christmas plays, they're dressed in velvet robes with cardboard crowns.

One kid always drops the frankincense and calls them frankfurts. Another waves incense too close to the curtain, and where there's smoke, there's fire. And somehow Joseph always has a straight face. But who were these Magi? And were there just three, really?

They weren't kings. They were more like philosopher priests or astrologers having come from Persia or Babylon, countries in the East of Israel, people who studied stars and ancient writings. They were spiritual seekers for sure, but they'd come from a pagan background. And yet somehow, through that bright shiny star, God used that to draw them into the Christmas story. The Greek word for magi carries an interesting tension here.

In the Old Testament, magicians were often seen as those practising false religions, and yet here in Matthew's gospel, he seems to redeem the word because these are the very kind of people who were once far from God, whom now God chooses to draw in. They are, in fact, the first Gentiles to bow before the newborn King. Verse 11, they fell down and worshipped Him. The Greek word here literally means to fall down and kiss His feet. It's the physical posture of surrender, reverence, and awe.

These learned men, these wealthy foreigners are the first to do what Israel's own leaders will not. They fall to the ground and worship Him who is born King of the Jews. It is the great irony of Christmas, is it not? The people who had the scriptures, the chief priests and the scribes, didn't seek Him, but only those who had a star. They did.

And this star was foretold by the ancient prophets of Israel according to prophecy announced by Balaam in Numbers, a star shall come out of Jacob and a sceptre shall rise out of Israel. The Magi, you see, would likely have been familiar with this because hundreds of years before this, Jews lived in exile, in captivity in Babylon, and they had their scriptures with them, and it's probable that these wise men of Babylon had heard about this prophecy. The Magi are the outsiders, the seekers, the people who may not know all the right doctrines, but whose hearts are hungry for the truth. And isn't that still true today? Where will people go to learn the truth?

What truths lie behind science and economics and philosophies or any other modern day academic discipline? A more important question, to what institution on the earth has God committed giving the truth? Truth that is infallible. Truth that defies even the best science surrounding our own mortality and our own death. There are people who've grown up around the church who can quote verses, the carols at Christmas time, but who've lost the wonder, the desire to worship.

And there are others, and maybe you here today, who aren't sure what you really believe about the truth. But maybe you're here today because you're following a kind of a star, a longing for meaning, a longing for truth, for the spiritual, for that which is divine. And I wanna suggest that this morning you've come closer than you ever dared think. Though you might be a relative newcomer, you are here seeking, searching, being drawn in. Though none of us came to church here this morning following a star, we've all come to worship.

And we're here because we know it was Jesus, our Saviour, who declared, I am the way, the truth, and the life. And no one comes to the Father except through Me. We have the light of the glory of Jesus shining bright in our hearts. About this searching and this wondering, the great scholar from the last century and writer, C. S.

Lewis said, I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy. The most probable explanation is that I was made for another world. That longing, that aching within a person's soul, something that goes beyond our own comfort or success or something we might idolise, even our partners or our families or our work. There's something more to life than all those things. There's a greater truth that prevails, and it's what led the Magi to Bethlehem to worship, and it's what leads us this morning to the very feet of Jesus. Notice what happens when they finally find Him.

They rejoice exceedingly with great joy. Matthew piles on the superlatives in Greek. They rejoiced with a mega joy exceedingly. It's like he's run out of adjectives to describe their sheer joy. You see, they just didn't find information.

They found joy. They didn't just find another doctrine or some truths about theology, but they found a person. They found a baby, and more than likely a toddler at this stage, for this happened some years after Jesus was born. But the story goes on in chapter two, and we meet the other king, King Herod. Herod was brilliant, ruthless, deeply insecure.

He was known as Herod the Great, but history could just as easily have called him Herod the Terrified. He built cities, aqueducts, and even rebuilt the temple in Jerusalem. But he was paranoid to the point of insanity. He killed three of his own sons and one of his wives because he suspected them of disloyalty. So when Matthew says, when Herod heard this, he was troubled and all of Jerusalem with him, that's no exaggeration.

If Herod was troubled, everyone was in danger. This was not going to end well. Herod tells us something about ourselves at this point because he's a sad example of how the human heart's deepest delusion, that we can be our own kings. You see, every human being wants a saviour, but not everyone necessarily wants a king. A saviour forgives your sins, but a king takes control of your life.

And when Herod hears that there's a rival, king of the Jews, no less, he's terrified. Not because he thinks it's true, but simply because it, well, it might be true. The late Tim Keller, famous Presbyterian preacher from America, said, if Jesus is really who He says He is, you can't just like Him. Either you crown Him or you crucify Him. And that's what Herod shows us.

When the true King comes near, we either bow down to worship or we push Him away. The text says Herod was troubled. In the NIV, disturbed. The Greek word translated means to stir up, shaken to the core. It's the same word used of the disciples when they saw Jesus walking on the water, when reality as they knew it was distorted and they're troubled, they're disturbed.

And that's exactly what Jesus continues to do today in the minds and hearts of all those who will hear from Him. He begins to overturn little thrones. He overrules your own desires, your own priorities, and He wants to be King, to have control. Maybe I can illustrate. Imagine your own heart as a throne room, and on the throne sits your king.

That king is whoever or whatever you serve, whatever captures your desires and your motives. For some, the king is called success. For others, it's about reputation, comfort, or control. Now imagine Jesus walking into that throne room and saying, excuse me, that's actually My seat. I need to be seated there.

What happens in your heart in that moment? There's resistance, there's bargaining. Sure. Can't we share the throne? Well, that's a little bit like Herod in all of us.

And yet here's the gospel paradox. The one who deserves all thrones didn't come to take power by force, but to lay it down, to lay His life down. Herod clung to his throne and destroyed others. Jesus left His throne and gave Himself to be destroyed for others. And that's the difference between the kingdom of this world and the kingdom of our Lord Jesus.

Notice how the tone shifts in the passage. The Magi have left. Herod rages. An angel comes again to Joseph. Get up, take the child and His mother and flee to Egypt.

And so the story moves from worship to weeping, from a silent holy night to a black night, a time for this young family to be uprooted and relocated. Let's just say the Christmas story doesn't stay sentimental for very long. The shadow of the cross begins to fall even over Bethlehem's manger. It's striking, for the first time the Son of God enters the stage of history, He's actually a refugee, having to flee with His parents from the persecution in Jerusalem.

He identifies Himself from birth with the displaced, the powerless, and the suffering. And in so doing, He fulfills the prophecy. Matthew quotes Hosea 11, out of Egypt I called my son. At first glance, it's a reference to Israel's exodus when they were liberated, when Moses led them through the wilderness. But Matthew, under the Spirit's guidance, sees it fulfilled again in Jesus.

Jesus who is the true and a better Israel. Out of Egypt, I called my son. Matthew often does this. He quotes Old Testament scriptures and finds fulfillment in them in Jesus. The word fulfilled means to fill to the brim.

It's not just that Jesus ticks off a list of prophecies, but He fills them with deeper meaning. He's saying everything that Israel went through, slavery, wilderness, deliverance, I will go through, but I will do it perfectly. Israel failed in the desert. Jesus will overcome. Israel grumbled.

Jesus obeyed. Israel was unfaithful. Jesus will be faithful. This is why Matthew writes the story the way he does, to show Jesus is not only the King of the Jews, but the true Israel, the faithful Son who succeeds where we fail. Then comes one of the most heart wrenching moments in the entire scriptures.

Herod gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem, two years old and under. And again, Matthew quotes from the prophecy of Jeremiah, a voice was heard in Ramah, weeping and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children. Why include that in the Christmas story? Simply because Matthew wants you and I to know that this world Jesus came into is a world of violence, a world of tears, a world of injustice, a world that still weeps even today. Christmas is not some sort of sentimental escapism.

Christmas is hope. Christmas is true joy. Christmas is the truth about the reality that you and I have to negotiate in the world every day. Jesus was born into a history of horror, and from there He began His great work of redemption. If you step back from the chapter for a moment, you can see the whole gospel in miniature.

The Magi show us that no one is too far from God's grace to be drawn in. And Herod shows us that no enemies can destroy Him. And Egypt shows us that no place is too dark for God's providence to reach us. Think about the Magi for a moment. What we have here is God's grace at work in the lives of these seekers, these strangers.

God draws the nations not by force, but by wonder, and note how gentle His approach is. God doesn't send an army to Babylon, but He sends a star. He doesn't demand obedience before love, but He awakens awe and surrender. This is His grace, that God would come looking for those who weren't even looking for Him. And maybe that's some of us this morning in this room.

Didn't come to church today or throughout Christmas because you knew you had it all figured out. You came because of something or someone who was drawing you, and that is God's grace at work. When Joseph flees, it looks like absolute chaos. He has to go and protect his little family. But behind his exit, Matthew was there whispering.

This is to fulfill what the prophets have spoken of long ago. That phrase, to fulfill what the Lord had said, appears three times in this chapter. Even Herod's rage cannot derail God's plan. It only serves it. And that's true for all of us as well.

There are lots of detours in our lives, paths that we never planned to visit, maybe places like Egypt where God's promises can be fulfilled in you and me. One writer has said, sometimes God hides His most profound purposes in what feels like plan B. Certainly not our first choice. And here's the heart of the gospel, the child worshipped by the Magi, hunted by a tyrant, carried to Egypt, He would grow up to be the same King who would enter Jerusalem on a donkey, wear a crown of thorns, and then die for His enemies. At the cross, the Herods of the world did their worst and lost.

At the resurrection, there was victory, and the kingdoms of this world were crushed. Christmas means that the throne of the universe is occupied by the one who knows what it is to weep, to flee, to be misunderstood, because He descended to our weakness. We can be lifted to His glory. So let's seek Him like the Magi, to come on us, to bring questions. Use your intellect, your wonder, but don't stop at curiosity.

Let it lead you to worship. The mystery of godliness is great. Don't just study about Jesus, but adore Him. Don't just admire Him. Surrender to Him.

And then you can have all the theology of the scribes and the Pharisees and still miss the joy of following the star. Like Joseph, we can surrender. Joseph doesn't say a word in this whole chapter, not one recorded line from him. He just obeys. And when God says go, he goes.

And when God says stay, he stays. That's the life of faith, quiet, costly obedience, that God is working even when you don't understand. Maybe this Christmas, you'll find yourself in an Egypt kind of season in your life. Take heart because the same God who protected His newborn Son watches over you and me. He's the God who turns exiles into exodus stories.

I want us to reflect by just looking at a painting by Rembrandt. It's called The Adoration of the Magi. It's almost entirely dark. You can barely make out the shapes of the Magi, the animals, the walls, but in the centre, there's a faint light falling on the face of a baby Jesus. Rembrandt, at least, was inspired to see the world as a dark place, as Herod raging, people weeping, and yet at the very centre, the light has come.

This is the King who came in weakness so He could be near the weak, the King who fled as a refugee so He could be our refuge, the King who entered death so He could bring us life. That's what Christmas means. The King in the shadows has come to bring light. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank You for Jesus, our true King, who came not to be served, but to serve, not to take power, but to give His life.

Lord, we confess that like Herod, we've often wanted to keep You at arm's length. We build our little kingdoms and resist Your rule. Forgive us, we pray. Rather, Lord, draw us like the Magi to worship You with joy, to lead us like Joseph, to trust You even in the dark. But when we're asked to walk through our own Egypt seasons of fear or just waiting, remind us that You are still fulfilling Your promises.

May this Christmas not be just the celebration of a birth long ago, but the renewal of our hearts in the presence of the living Lord Jesus, our King who reigns over all now and forevermore. We thank You that even while we live in a world of shadows, Your light still shines and the darkness has no power to overcome it. We pray this together in the strong name of Jesus when we say, amen.