After Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of King Herod, wise men from the east arrived in Jerusalem, saying, “Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we saw his star at its rising and have come to worship him.” When King Herod heard this, he was deeply disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him. So he assembled all the chief priests and scribes of the people and asked them where the Messiah would be born. “In Bethlehem of Judea,” they told him, “because this is what was written by the prophet: And you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah: Because out of you will come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel.”
Matthew 2:1-6
‘All I want for Christmas is Yoooooooou…’
‘I want a hippopotamus for Christmaaaaaas’
So much of our thinking at Christmas is about what we want, isn’t it?
We all have deep ideals of what we want at Christmas. As kids it was more straightforward. We probably knew what presents we wanted, so we stuck them on a Christmas list, or a letter to Santa.
As time passes, our wants, our desires change. Perhaps like Mariah, we want to be with a loved one. Maybe we want the kids to be happy, or we want some peace and quiet, or we want to get together with old friends and family, or we want to party.
We all want something at Christmas, and we do what we can to make it happen. But how do we react when we don’t get what we want?
In today’s verses we read about a king who knew what he wanted.
King Herod wanted power, he wanted to rule his kingdom. So, when some wise men came looking for a new baby king, Herod felt threatened and was disturbed.
He asked his advisors what this kid was all about. They told him of a prophecy, that a ruler would be born in a wee town called Bethlehem, who would shepherd his people.
Herod tried to be sneaky and trick the wise men into doing the hard work for him. He wanted them to find the baby so that he could kill it and eradicate the threat to his kingdom.
He was a brutal king who would do what he could to get what he wanted.
As king, that meant he could have people killed at the drop of a hat.
Jesus was born to be the true king. Not a king who would oppress his people to have his own way though.
The thing is, we’re more like Herod than Jesus. We know what WE want, and if we don’t get it, we react in any number of ways. We might not order people killed, but we can still act like we’re little kings of our little kingdoms.
‘All I want is…’
We can become consumed with what we want, even if that’s for other people to be happy.
But what we need is to trust the true king, and trust His rule over us.
Jesus was and is the king who would shepherd His people. He would care for his sheep. He would give them what they needed to flourish and live full lives. He would even lay down his own life for His sheep. He’s the king that his people needed. He’s the true king, the good king that we need.
O Come Let Us Adore Him!
A thought to remember: Jesus is the true king who came to shepherd His people.
A question to ask: How is Jesus the true, good king you need this Christmas?
A bit more to read: Matthew 2:1-12
A song to sing: The Lord’s My Shepherd (Psalm 23)