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When he had called together all the people\u2019s chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Messiah was to be born. \u201cIn Bethlehem in Judea,\u201d they replied\u2026 Then Herod called the Magi secretly and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared. He sent them to Bethlehem and said, \u201cGo and search carefully for the child. As soon as you find him, report to me, so that I too may go and worship him.\u201d\xa0 \u2026On 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. And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route. (Matthew 2:4-5a, 7-8, 11-12).

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We sentimentalise the Magi, nestling them up by the shepherds and donkeys in our nativity scenes, but ancient Israel would\u2019ve been horrified to find these pagan, foreign Magi, which is really just short for Magician in the same frame as their Messiah.\xa0

In the book of Acts, being associated with Magi or Magicians (same word in the original Greek) is a uniformly bad thing\u2014requiring repentance. But here, it is just these practitioners of horoscopes and sorcery that lean into the frame of the Christian Gospel\u2019s opening scene.\xa0

And if God invited them\u2026 well, who are we to deny anyone a chance to hear the Good News and worship the King?\xa0 In Matthew 2, insiders and outsiders alike heard this good news: \u201cThe King has been born!\xa0 Where?\xa0 In Bethlehem, say the scriptures!\u201d\xa0

But Herod did not come to Bethlehem when he heard this news.\xa0 Nor did the religious leaders who gave this news.\xa0 Only the Magi\u2014these seekers, worshipers, and generous gift-givers.\xa0 The last were becoming first, and the first, last as the Kingdom of this world and the Kingdom of our Lord began to clash and so reveal the secret allegiances and priorities of humans hearts. \xa0\xa0

The coming of Christ the King is Good News for all the world, but He is King, and so His coming is also a summons to all the world to come and bend the knee before him, submitting to him.\xa0 A decision is demanded\u2014will you bow before the King?\xa0 Herod took that summons seriously and prepared for war (we\u2019ll hear more about that tomorrow).\xa0 The Magi took Christ\u2019s summons seriously too\u2014but these sorcerer-seekers, they bent the knee.

Today and every day, you and I are invited too.\xa0 Invited to come and believe today that Jesus came for you: to save and transform you into His Kingdom people who find their truest freedom, identity, and purpose in submission to Him.\xa0

No one leaves Jesus the same way that they came.\xa0 The Magi didn\u2019t, and we don\u2019t either.\xa0 When we submit to him, we are transformed to be salt and light: followers of the great commission who go and tell and live and work out this good news in the name and presence of the King. \xa0\xa0

Even in lockdown, there are still ways to respond.\xa0 Submission to Jesus in the space of prayer is certainly one.\xa0 Submission of your life, livelihood, and living to him is another.\xa0 Here are some ideas:

Seeking the justice and peace the Spirit is working out in and through us for the sake of the world\u2014when was the last time your MP or MPP got a letter from you advocating for refugees, housing for those now homeless, or some other Kingdom purpose God has laid on your heart?\xa0 Those letters are free to send, they\u2019re lockdown-proof, and they are a tangible way the Kingdom comes through God\u2019s Kingdom people living in democracies.\xa0

Offering back what you\u2019ve received is another way: just while writing this devotion, two people have stopped by to drop off food donations for Neighbour 2 Neighbour.\xa0 Neither were from our church.\xa0 Do the Magi still come to surrender their gifts before the King?\xa0 Perhaps they do.

The King has come, what\u2019s your response to this good news today? \xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0

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