Hello everyone, it’s Mick – and I’m back to complete our podcasts on this week before Christmas! I hope you have enjoyed this week’s reflections from Nikky, Malc and Rich from the Christmas story in Luke and Matthew. No Podcast next week but we are back and ready to go again on Monday 1st January. Today, we finish the week with the continuing story of the wise men found in Matthew 2:7-12. Again, you can hear the full reading at the end of the podcast after the worship song and you can read the full text on the Podcast section on our website.

REFLECTION

Over the past two weeks we have looked again at the Christmas story with reflections from Luke’s gospel. The traditional end to the Christmas story happens when the ‘wise men’ appear – this begins the post Christmas season of Epiphany. This term means ‘manifestation’ or ‘appearance’ and signifies the revelation of Jesus to these, now famous ‘wise men from the East’.

Rich spoke about these travellers from the east yesterday – they are indeed very mysterious; often called ‘the wise men’, sometimes Mägi and more traditionally the ‘three kings’ although there is no evidence that these travellers were kings. However, when it comes to dressing up in the church nativity, give me a king’s costume over a wise man costume any time – much more style! In fact, I have just met the ‘wise men’ in our church lobby as our church nursery lined up for their nativity – apologies for thinking the camel was a donkey!

Verse 11 struck me afresh as I read these familiar Bible verses As these travellers came before Jesus we read this in the NIV Bible.

they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures …

The Message Bible goes further and says they were ‘overcome’.

That really picks up what was happening here as the original words read like this:

They fell to the ground and worshipped him. Then opening their treasures …

If you were overcome you would fall to the ground wouldn’t you? The word ‘worship’ here means to ‘fall down or lay down and kiss the ground in reverence’. There’s something pretty powerful and significant happening here. These travellers, these seekers after the truth completely humble themselves in the presence of Jesus – they know they are in the presence of someone so special. It’s a far cry from how we perhaps approach Jesus in worship? – a little indifferent sometimes? same old same old? I love the picture here of these three individuals really humbling themselves before Jesus. Perhaps an invitation to us all as we worship Jesus this Christmas weekend.

They go further; the reading says they opened their treasures. We get the English word Thesaurus from the Greek word ‘treasure’ used in this verse. A thesaurus is a “storehouse (treasure) of synonyms”. It brings richness and depth to our vocabulary. These travellers were opening up their very lives to Jesus – not just the physical gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh but their ‘treasured’ thoughts and hopes and dreams stored away in their hearts and minds. The depth of their very being is offered to Jesus. This is powerful stuff for us to reflect on – love them as we do, this is a long way on from a tea towel nativity! I wonder, what are your treasured hopes and dreams? Maybe take some time today to free them afresh to Jesus.

These wise men sensed the significance of Jesus’ birth. They recognised that Jesus was the fulfilment of the hopes and dreams of ALL people – Jesus is the one who fulfils ALL of God’s promises for ALL time. Perhaps a challenge to us all as we worship Jesus this Christmas weekend.

As we come to the end of this year of podcasts let me say a big thank you to our STC team and guests who, week by week, have offered their reflections each day on what the Bible is saying to us – it is a big co...