The Three Kings + The Other King

Matthew 2

What was with these wise men? And king Herod?

"Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea" is all Matthew says about his birth. It's an incredibly condensed statement, like "Jesus was crucified." That's all it says though.

Quick, understated, simple and evident.

Then comes the drama of the kings: the Magi and Herod. The foreigners, wrought with gifts, come to worship; the local, incensed with insecurity, to kill. 

This baby, whose origin is described in seven words and seven pounds, is clearly more than a baby. Both sets of kings recognized this. So small and ordinary, yet a wonder of nations.

The magi came. The read about his birth in the stars. Perhaps the were learned in international messianic prophesies and knew something about the Jewish king to be born, perhaps some vestiges of the Jewish exile and the hope of a messiah then. The stars aligned to tell them that the time was near, and they came seeking a baby born.

Why they came, why they cared, why they knew, why they bothered is a mystery. They were foreigners, traveled a great distance bearing expensive gifts. Risk, danger, cost, time. For what? This wasn't even their religion, supposedly. Why did they care?

I'm not an astrologer, but I wonder how certain the stars can be. How did they know so certainly that this was happening, certain enough that they traveled for two years to find him?

And then there was Herod. I doubt any expected him to be looking forward to the birth of a messiah. He was half Jew in metaphor, Jewish enough to claim the throne, Roman enough to be appointed, whatever was needed to secure his own power and security. Not one to long for a Jewish hope, not one to long for anything that might threaten him.

Herod's response was anger, hostility, deceit and murder. Faith was no where in his mind. His concern was mere power and he had no reason to believe anything. He was the juxtaposition of faith. Not the lack of faith, but a person whose self made faith impractical, someone whose life focus made faith not impossible, not unnecessary, but an undesired shackle.

There it is: kings with no reason to believe who wandered for two years searching, and a king much closer who saw faith as an absurd obstacle.

Faith isn't possible/impossible. It's present, or incongruent with how you want to live.