The Humility of Christmas: A world of pride is a nasty place. But a humble life is a blessing and a joy. Humility is one of the key themes of the Christmas story and is especially seen in the strange story of the visit of the Magi. In God's kingdom, the way down is up. Recorded on Dec 18, 2022, on Matthew 2;1-12, by Pastor David Parks.

Sermon Transcript

All year, in our preaching ministry, we’re focusing on Learning the way of Jesus. And today, we’re doing a standalone sermon for this Christmas season on the visit of the Magi (wise men) after the birth of Jesus. And this story relates to Learning the Way of Jesus in that in this story, we see several examples of the humility of Christmas. This is such a good reminder that the way up in the kingdom of God is actually down. Because humility is one of the key aspects of the incarnation of Jesus, and, in turn, humility becomes a key character trait for us as we learn to follow his way. If you have a Bible/app, please open to Matthew 2:1, and we’ll read through this story and then unpack it together.

Matthew 2:1-12 (NIV), “After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem 2 and asked, “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.” 3 When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him. 4 When he had called together all the people’s chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Messiah was to be born. 5 “In Bethlehem in Judea,” they replied, “for this is what the prophet has written: 6 “ ‘But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for out of you will come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel.’” 7 Then Herod called the Magi secretly and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared. 8 He sent them to Bethlehem and said, “Go and search carefully for the child. As soon as you find him, report to me, so that I too may go and worship him.” 9 After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen when it rose went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. 10 When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. 11 On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. 12 And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route.”

Just a little context for you, first, the gospel of Matthew was written by Matthew, also known as Levi, who was a tax collector before he became a Christian. This means that he would’ve been wealthy but not well-liked. But Matthew met Jesus, and Jesus called Matthew to follow him, and he did. He left his lucrative career behind and became an Apostle or eye-witness to the life and ministry, and ultimately to the death and resurrection of Jesus. As we often say around here, Jesus changes everything. So with that, let’s jump back into this story and make sure we understand what Matthew is saying here. Look back at v.1.

Matthew 2:1-2 (NIV), “After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem and asked, “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.”” Let’s pause here. Ok! There’s a lot going on here. So we’re a little backward in that it isn’t yet Christmas for us today, but this story takes place sometime after the birth of Jesus. Now, it doesn’t say exactly how long after his birth this took place, but I would guess it wasn’t too long as they were all still in Bethlehem in...