Chasing Stars
Written by Pastor Sean Brandow
There are two things I can never keep track of. First is my wallet and the second is a carpenter’s pencil. On one job, my coworker drilled a hole in a pencil and attached it with a long elastic to my tool belt. This worked great until it got caught on the way down the ladder and snapped me in the face, flew off the elastic, and was never found again.
Because of my constant of lost things, I was intrigued to read an article that popped up on Facebook providing 8 ways to find something that you’ve lost.
Double check the area it usually is.
Look in places where you have found it before.
Look in the messiest places in your house or vehicle.
Look under and around the largest objects in the room.
Check the Lost and Found
Think about the last place you remember having or using the object.
Try entering and looking at the room from a different angle.
Ask For help!
I think we could have just jumped to the last one. It’s really the only successful one in my experience. My wife can find anything.
There is a sense of panic when we have misplaced something and if it’s precious to us it drives us to pursue it relentlessly. I share this illustration to get us thinking on what it is to pursue something. Pursuing something is different than merely keeping an eye out. It is chasing after something or someone with the goal of laying holds on it.
In Matthew’s account of the birth of Jesus we’re told that after Jesus was born, “Wise men from the east came to Jerusalem and asked, ‘Where is he who is born the king of the Jews? We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him’.”
We’re not told a huge amount about these wise men. We don’t know how many there were, what they wore, what language they spoke, what color their skin was, whether they were kings, or even what country they were from. But this is not really important. If it were, the Bible would have told us. But what we do know?
That they were WISE MEN (Those were rare both then and in our present day, am I right?)
They had come to the conviction that a king had been born, that the king was Jewish, and that this king was to be worshiped.
These Wise Men were part of a group of individuals who studied the movement of stars, science, (the observable universe), mathematics, sociology, the common practices of powerful kings, religion, literature, and historical records from their own countries and others. With all of this gathered information, they made deductions and gave advice. They were not simply astrologers who had some hokey superstitions. These men informed kings and nations on what was the wisest thing to DO in a variety of circumstances with all the information presented.
These men were sincere individuals, genuinely trying to figure things out. We know their sincerity because they had made the decision to drop everything and journey likely close to 800 miles (Imagine explaining that to your wife. “Hey honey, me and the boys will be gone for a couple months! Just gotta go see what this star thing is about.”.) They simply needed to follow what all the evidence was pointing to. Whether cosmic phenomena, dreams, visions, historical records, oral traditions or Biblical writings — whatever it was — the knowledge they had compiled led them here.
A prophet from Centuries before spoke of a king who would come saying “A star shall come out of Jacob.” (Numbers 24:14-17) and Daniel - who himself was a Wise Man - spoke of a kingdom that would come and overshadow all other kingdoms, and this kingdom would be for all people.
That same passage in Numbers tells us that those who see clearly, those who listen, those who get knowledge from God, and who are humble, will see the star.
So, what did these Wise Men discover?
First, they were in the wrong place. Their own deductions were not enough. They needed specific, Biblical insight which they received from the religious leaders in Jerusalem, telling them exactly where the baby would be born. You see, whatever extraordinary uses God might employ to get your attention — dreams, visions, nature, or other things — He draws us to meet the Son through the Bible. There is no way to God except through Jesus and Jesus is revealed to us in the pages of Scripture. Pursue him there!
Second, they learned that the people who should have cared most about this coming King actually cared for entirely the wrong reason. The religious professionals were completely disinterested in worshipping this king — they wanted to kill him. I wonder if the Wise Men ever said to each other, “Boy, you’d think they would have wanted to come with us.”
Third, worship was the only appropriate response to finding Jesus. They were excited in the pursuit of Him and they were humbled when they found him as “They fell down and worshiped HIM” and having given all their treasures, they left being with Jesus far richer than when they came.
Jeremiah 29 tells us “You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with your whole heart.”
I pray that if you are pursuing Jesus that you will find Him and when you find him that you will worship Him, and that you will find in Jesus what you have actually been pursuing.
Have a Merry Christmas.