The Four Wise Men                            Matthew 2:1-2, 8-12

I have done extensive research and found old texts on the three wise men, and it turns out we may not know the whole story so I want to show you a short 5 min video I found based on these texts.

(You Tube; Skit Guys – Fourth Wise Man)

I watched this the first time and thought it was funny, but as I watched it several more times I started to see different things buried in it. Right from the beginning we see the three “righteous“men going to see Jesus trying to lose the one they think is beneath them and full of mistakes.

In ancient Israel the Pharisees and scribes acted this way. They felt they were above the common sinners. They held themselves higher and looked down their noses at everyone else. The three in the video try to keep the one away from the manger, the Pharisees through their teaching kept many away from God. Matthew 23:13 says, “Wow to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you Hypocrites! You shut the door of the Kingdom of heaven in people’s faces.”

Christmas, we celebrate the moment God stepped into his creation, the fulfillment of God’s promise to deal with us. Jesus came to a dusty manger because he comes for all men. Too many times Christians try to limit who God came for, they say you can’t go to heaven because of what you did or how you live. I’m not saying we as Christians should accept anything and everything as ok; we do need to follow the teachings of Christ. But we should never take it upon ourselves to limit who God calls to himself. In the video the star led the fourth man despite the other three; the Holy Spirit will lead anyone who is willing to Christ.

In the video the fourth man asks for directions and is told they don’t have time because they were going to see the Messiah. Jesus was in heaven with God, but he took the time to come to earth for us. He came to that dusty manger because he made time, and his lesson to us is to make time for others.

I knew a woman, she was nice enough; but she rarely reached out or made time for others yet she was in church seven days a week. What shows God our faith and love more, seven days a week in church or making time and helping others?

I noticed in the video that one of the men complained that his feet hurt from walking so far, and he blamed the fourth man for it. He’s going to see the savior of the world and he’s complaining. Do we start to do work for God and then get bored, or maybe we get uncomfortable?

Years ago I helped serve meals to the homeless, I did it because of my faith and it was rewarding but by the end of the night, after washing a mountain of dirty dishes I started to complain; I’m done,                    I just want to go home.

Jesus came to that dusty manger; Jesus went to the cross because he is totally committed to us. Our faith is not supposed to be just when it’s comfortable or convenient. Our faith is supposed to be a total commitment to Christ.

We know the Magi brought Jesus gifts; this is why we give each other gifts at Christmas. Our readings verse 11 says, “Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh.” Gold to show Jesus though born in a manger was the king of men. Frankincense, it was burned by the High Priest in the Temple’s Holy of Holies and it represents Jesus as our High Priest before God. Myrrh, this is embalming oil, and it foretells and recognizes Jesus ultimate death for mankind. These gifts were expensive and they represented the best the Magi had to offer.

We are here because we want to come closer to God. I know I do, and I want to bring him my very best. I want to bring him “gold”, I want to show him he is king of my life, that I put no other above him. The truth is I don’t always do that. There are times I push him to the side, times I don’t want to have to think about whether my actions are a demonstration of my faith. I want “time off.”

When I approach Jesus I should bring my “frankincense.” I should demonstrate to the world Jesus is my High Priest; my Lord and Savior. Again, sadly there are times I don’t do this. Jesus is my Lord, everything I do should be for his glory and yet I do things to make myself feel good, times I do things so I get the praise. There have been times when I helped someone I took the thanks instead of telling them, “It is you who bless me by allowing me to do God’s work in helping you. I thank you and glory to God.”

Jesus is my savior, he took my sin, my inequities, my diseases and my shame all to the cross and there are still times I want to rely on my own talents. Recently when all I wanted to do was yell at someone over the phone because I felt roadblock after roadblock was being put in front of me a dear friend from church prayed for me and reminded me to let go and to trust God.

When I come before Christ I want to bring “myrrh.” I want to acknowledge him at the cross, thank him, praise him, pray to him because he took my punishment and freed me. But there are times when instead of venerating Jesus for what he did I can think of him not as the one who died for me but more like a “good buddy.”

The truth for all of us is that no matter how hard we try, we can all be that fourth wise man at times. In the rush to buy presents, prepare dinners, and travel to family; in the fun of watching old holiday movies or the excitement of the lights and trees, we all can forget the real reason for Christmas, the real reason for that dusty manger.

When I seek Jesus out like the three wise men I should present him with gold, frankincense and myrrh; I should present him with my best and my finest. Too often I present him with hummus. I give him my forgetfulness, my pride, my desire to trust in myself, my lack of desire to always put others first, my lack of deep faith, deep love and total commitment to him.

This is Christmas, and like the fourth wise man said it doesn’t matter what we bring to this little king because the truth of it is, the miracle of God is this baby’s birth we celebrate tonight is a Holy gift to each one of us. He is our savior. And he is bigger than all of our mistakes

Matthew 1:22-23 “All of this took place to fulfill what the Lord said through the prophet. The virgin will give birth to a son and they will call him Immanuel which means ‘God with us.’”

Luke 2:14, “Glory to God in the highest heaven, on earth peace to men.”

God bless you

And Merry Christmas.