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.”
When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him.
Matthew 2.1-3
Jesus is troubling to people who do not want to worship him, and this creates opposition against those who do. This is probably not the main point in the mind of Matthew, but it is inescapable as the story goes on.
There are two kinds of people who do not want to worship Jesus the Messiah. The first kind is the people who simply ignore Jesus. He is a non-entity in their lives. This group is represented by the chief priests and scribes: "When he had called together all the people’s chief priests and teachers of the law, [Herod] asked them where the Messiah was to be born" (Matthew 2.4). Well, they told him, and that was that-back to business as usual. The sheer inactivity of the religious leaders is overwhelming given the magnitude os what was happening.
Compare that with the reaction of Herod and the rest of Jerusalem: "When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him" (Matthew 2.3). In other words, the rumor was going around that someone thought the Messiah was born, and everyone took note. But why did the chief priest and scribes not go with the Magi? They were simply uninterested. They had no intention to worship him.
The second kind of people who don't want to worship Jesus are those deeply threatened by him. Herod was disturbed-deeply afraid-and because of that Jerusalem was disturbed as well. Herod was so disturbed that he schemed and lied and then committed mass murder in an attempt to get rid of the threat of Jesus.
Still today, these two kinds of opposition will come against Christ and his worshippers: indifference and hostility. Are you n one of those two groups? Let this Christmas be the time you reconsider the Messiah and ponder what it is to worship him.
This is a excerpt from 'Joy to the World-Daily Readings for Advent' by John Piper.
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