Note: You can watch this teaching on CrossWalk’s YouTube channel.

Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the reign of King Herod. About that time some wise men from eastern lands arrived in Jerusalem, asking, “Where is the newborn king of the Jews? We saw his star as it rose, and we have come to worship him.”

King Herod was deeply disturbed when he heard this, as was everyone in Jerusalem. He called a meeting of the leading priests and teachers of religious law and asked, “Where is the Messiah supposed to be born?”

“In Bethlehem in Judea,” they said, “for this is what the prophet wrote:

‘And you, O Bethlehem in the land of Judah,

are not least among the ruling cities of Judah,

for a ruler will come from you

who will be the shepherd for my people Israel.’”

Then Herod called for a private meeting with the wise men, and he learned from them the time when the star first appeared. Then he told them, “Go to Bethlehem and search carefully for the child. And when you find him, come back and tell me so that I can go and worship him, too!”

After this interview the wise men went their way. And the star they had seen in the east guided them to Bethlehem. It went ahead of them and stopped over the place where the child was. When they saw the star, they were filled with joy! They entered the house and saw the child with his mother, Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasure chests and gave him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.

When it was time to leave, they returned to their own country by another route, for God had warned them in a dream not to return to Herod. - Matthew 2 (NLT)

This story is shocking. God was communicating through a star - this is not orthodox Jewish stuff. The Wise Men were probably not Jewish - which means God was inclusive to other peoples from the very beginning of Jesus’ life.

The story is also shocking because the Wise Men discovered that the measure of worth as the world sees it was completely irrelevant to what God was doing in the life of Jesus. This Prince of Peace was not born in a palace, not laid in a gilded cradle, but rather a damp, stinky cave where animals were kept, and placed in a manger, where animals put their filthy mouths. In order to even see the baby, the Wise Men wold have to get down from their Italian camels, take of their fancy hats, and nearly crawl into the cave. In other words, if they wanted to see Jesus, to experience “God with us”, they had to humble themselves. If we want to experience God, humility is required.

Apparently they stayed humble, because they were able to sense God directing them to not report back to Herod. They had no idea what saying yes to that nudge would mean - they just did it. Because they did, Jesus went on living instead of getting killed the next day by Herod. Stay humble if you want to keep experiencing God and be part of something that is bigger than you can imagine!