This will be a short little post, but it is a cool little on-ramp for meditation:
When the magi appear in Jerusalem, the captial city of Israel (even though they were under Roman authority at the time), they search through the city asking a question:
"Where is He who has been born King of the Jews?"
The tense of their question is really interesting to me. They do not enter into the city asking the question, "Where is He who has been born to be the King of the Jews?" but rather their question certainly implies that Jesus has been borth as King of the Jews.
So, what does this say about the little Boy in Bethlehem? What does it say about this one who was, at this time, possibly learning to walk and talk, and who was growing both in body, in knowledge, and wisdom? It was clear to these Gentile wise men that there was to be no dispute in the matter, the one whose star had appeared in the east was the one who was born King.
No wonder Herod was deeply troubled, and the whole city with him. Imagine a caravan of thousands of Persians entering Jerusalem from the east, most likely adorned with vast amounts of food, clothing, camels, and abundant gifts to give to the newborn King whom they are inquiring of.
Herod, who was not truly a Jew, but had converted to Judaism, had been placed as 'king' over Judea. He hears of these wise men who have traveled possibly thousands of miles in order to visit the boy who had been born King! What disruption this would have caused!
Just a couple thoughts on that awesome phrase. From the moment of His birth, Jesus was and will always be King of the Jews!
Wednesday, February 14, 2007
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1 comments:
Good thought man. Never thought about it like that. I wonder if there was also more tension in the situation because of the fact they were probably coming from Babylon. That would mean the lording authority they carried from their homeland, and the influence it had in Israel, would have maybe made Herod more nervous because he knew these wealthy Babylonian aristocrats wouldn't have come to adorn someone that didn't have a large amount of influence.
You might have already had that thought but it came to me while I was reading yours. Good post. You should put me on your blog roll. You're on mine.
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