Some Came to Worship Him -- Some Were Troubled

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;  Matt 2:1-2 ESV

In a recent post on this blog I wrote about the shepherds who were told by an angel about the birth of Jesus. Those shepherds then went into Bethlehem and found the baby in a manger, just as the angel had said.

The shepherds weren't the only ones who came to know that Jesus had been born and was no ordinary baby. There were men from the east who had seen a certain star rise in the sky and somehow knew that it was related to the birth of the king of the Jews. They came a great distance to worship him. But when they arrived in Jerusalem, where it would be reasonable for them to expect a new born king of the Jews would be, nobody there had news of such a royal birth.

We don't know a lot about those men from the east, but they did come with the right attitude. They came to worship, to honor this new king. When they couldn't find him on their own they asked the people in Jerusalem, "Where is he who has been born king of the Jews?" But no one in the city had even heard that such a king had just recently been born.

When King Herod heard that men from the east were looking for a newly born king, he was troubled. He knew he was not of the line of David, and had no real right to be on the throne. If there was a true royal descendant of David, the people might rise up and accept him their new king.

King Herod was not the only one who was troubled by this report by the men from the east. All Jerusalem was troubled with him. A newly born king might complicate their lives more than they already were. If even a young child was proclaimed to be the rightful heir to the throne, no telling what difficulties would arise within the political and social systems that were currently in place. Would it mean more trouble with the Romans?

The wise men were right to be looking for the new king so they could worship him, even if they didn't have a clear understanding of how much of a King He truly was. Jesus was worthy of their worship, and worthy of the gifts they brought. It would also be good for us to realize how worthy Jesus is of our worship and whatever gifts we can give Him.

King Herod and the people of Jerusalem were also right to be troubled. If they were not going to seek Jesus to honor Him, then they had good reason to be troubled. Jesus had been born humbly. He would live and then die on a cross with great humility. We needed Him to be the sacrificial lamb to die in our place for our sins. But Jesus was then and is now still God of all. And He shall return. And there will be judgement. And then there will be a great many who will be troubled. Greatly troubled.

Let's follow the example of those wise men. Let us worship Jesus as our Savior and Lord. If we do, then we won't have to be troubled when we come before Him.