We started by remembering the birth of Jesus, and also remembered the shepherds were the first people that were called by the angels to worship Jesus.
Now we read another Christmas story of the Magi.
We had a lot of fun learning about this passage during children’s worship. We looked at a typical nativity picture and compared to the real story of the Magi. We learned that the wise men did not come to Jesus when he was a baby, but when he was older – probably around 1 or 2 years old. That means they didn’t go to the manger, they went to a house. We also talked about how there isn’t any mention of 3 wise men (only 3 gifts), and most likely there was a larger number in their company. It is fun to relearn Bible stories, as it is sometimes quite different from what we thought it was.
We also compared the Magi who were from the east to King Herod who lived in Jerusalem. We learned that even though it should have been King Herod to learn of Jesus’s birth first since he had many priests and Bible teachers by him, it was the foreigners from a different land that knew about it first. The Magi came to worship Jesus, but the King wanted to kill Jesus.
After we talk about the differences, Evan asks why we are reading this passage, when it doesn’t really talk about Jesus. Jesus is just a child that doesn’t do anything. The main characters are the Magi and King Herod. Kind of like yesterday’s passage, where Jesus is just a baby, and the main characters seem to be the shepherds and angels.
Just like yesterday’s story where the shepherds were the first group of people to meet the Messiah, the Magi are the second group of people to meet him and worship him. Who does the Magi represent? They represent the gentiles – people who are not Jews. Us! Americans, Koreans, Korean-Americans, Germans, Indian, etc. Jesus came not only for the Jews, but for the his whole world. All of us are God’s precious children that Jesus came to redeem. And just like how God used the Magi, he uses all of us to glorify Jesus.
It is important to know that the Messiah that has been promised for so long is the Messiah for all!
(Just like yesterday, it is a short and easier passage to read, so please read through the whole section!)
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