Advent Week 4 - The Power Struggle

Matthew 2:7-23

Matthew began his Gospel by inviting us to see the birth of Jesus through Joseph’s eyes. But then his camera angle moved to an undisclosed location in the ancient Near East, and he invited us to look through the eyes of some ancient scholars.

What did they see? “They saw the child with Mary his mother” (2:11).

If you see the scene properly, the child comes first in your vision. He is small and, humanly speaking, helpless; but he takes center stage.

Matthew provides his own commentary on these events by pointing us to Old Testament prophecies. He himself quotes from Isaiah, Jeremiah and Hosea, as well as recording the words that Herod’s counsellors quoted from Micah.  And here, I suspect, his repeated use of the phrase “the child” was meant to remind his first hearers (and us) of words found in the context of Isa. 9:1-7 (from which he later quotes in Matt. 4:15-16).

This is the child the magi saw.

Isaiah had written that this “child” would bring about a great deliverance “as on the day of Midian” (Isa. 9:4). He was referring to the “Battle of Midian,” when, guided by God, Gideon had reduced his army in stages from 32,000 down to 300 men carrying 300 trumpets and 300 jars with torches inside them. They surrounded the Midianite camp by night, and then, on the signal, they smashed the jars – letting the light shine out – blew the trumpets and shouted in triumph; the Midian army fled in disarray (Judges 7:1-25). Truly, as we read in the New Testament, “the weakness of God is stronger than men” (1 Cor. 1:25).

Isaiah saw that this child would be everything we lack. As Sinclair Ferguson notes: “for our confusion, he is the “Wonderful Counselor”; for our weakness, he is the “Mighty God”; for spiritual orphans and prodigal sons, he is the “Everlasting Father”; in our distress, he comes to us as the “Prince of Peace.””

The travelers from the east were seeing more than they could take in when “going into the house they saw the child with Mary his mother.” And Matthew, a Jew, is allowing us to see him through Gentile eyes. For Jesus is both the fulfilment of Jewish prophecy and the answer to Gentiles’ longing.

The wise men could not have understood all this. But even what they did understand about the child led them to worship (2:11). The message seems obvious, doesn’t it? When we see Christ, and when we recognize him as King, we too will bow down and worship him.

Have you ever done that? What would it look like to do that today? Join us this 4^th Sunday in Advent as we “Behold the King” from Matthew 2:7-23.

Blessed be the King,

Pastor Wayne