Wednesday - Change It - The Night That Changed the Wise
Happy New Year!
We’ve been looking at the story of the Magi or wise men visiting Jesus, now we’ll contast them with the priests and scribes who were present at their meeting with Herod (see yesterday’s Bible reading).
The scribes and priests are also knowledgeable, learned like the Magi. They are called to advise Herod on this apparent threat to his rule – is a new king of the Jews, or the Messiah, really going to be born?
These experts on the scriptures end up helping him with his plan to have the wise men quietly scout things out for Herod, so he can swoop in and violently remove the threat.
But first, Herod needed to know where in Judea this “king” would be born. This was a question the priests/scribes could answer immediately – they knew the scriptures, the history and answer that it’s Bethlehem, the city of David.
The priests and scribes had all the information to know the messiah was coming, and coming imminently. But they did nothing but advise his enemy.
Perhaps in their view, the arrival of the Messiah represents a threat to their power and authority in their culture, and to peace with the Romans. So they go home…Herod will neutralize threat. They advise and move on.
Question: What intellectual risks are involved in following Jesus? How do you calculate those?
Reminder: We are reading the Bible in sync as one community – so check out today’s reading here.
Reminder: The best way to grow spiritually this year is to join our Christianity 101 in the Cafe Course in Pickering starting January 22nd. Register for you and a friend today!
Read the Bible in Sync Today
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My wife and I sometimes reminisce about our university days, a time in our life we both had closeknit groups of friends, all living close to one another, all dedicated to some common academic pursuits.
With so much more going on in our lives now, and living in so many places, we’ve maintained those friendships but not with the intensity of those early years.
Those are some of the same characteristics of the early Christians we’ve been studying this week, who spent time living in close proximity, united, but for a very different purpose: praying to begin their work of expanding the kingdom of God.
These were the early days, with the intensity and fervour that people are still talking about, and trying to replicate today.
Every church community today is meant to be patterned after this one, and that’s why we’ll explore this in detail over the next few months.
Not to say every aspect is to be copied…some things were simply cultural, or circumstantial. We have to differentiate those from the eternal aspects.
I think the first thing for us to consider is their dedication to prayer.
I know this is always a challenge for me – to be dedicated, and fervent in prayer like these first Christians were.
Yet I know that prayer always precedes any great move of God.
As we prepare for our community to take some big steps this fall, and start to meet together as this biblical community did, our small groups and individuals need to pay attention to prayer.
Challenge: Pray with your group for this upcoming series. Pray that God will unite you through common experiences, and send you out in mission to include others and help them follow Jesus too.
See you tomorrow, when we’ll spend some more time in prayer. See you then.
