Issue link: http://denverseminary.uberflip.com/i/909943
DECEMBER 27 22 A s one trained in journalism, I'm as fascinated by questions as I am by the answers they elicit. When God asked Adam and Eve, "Where are you?" I don't think He didn't know; He wanted Adam and Eve to "fess up." When Jesus asked, "Who do you say that I am?" He wasn't seeking information but providing a transformational moment for His disciples. When the Magi arrived in Jerusalem and started asking, "Where is he who has been born king of the Jews?" people knew they weren't asking about Herod, the current king. Apparently word reached Herod about what they were asking, and even Herod knew they weren't asking about him or his son, the presumed heir to the throne. No, Herod immediately asked religious scholars where the Messiah, the long awaited Anointed One, was to be born. He somehow knew the question wasn't about him but about another, and that, of course, was an inflammatory question for a king as volatile and erratic as Herod. Did the Magi not know Herod would be more than a bit threatened by inquiries about a sovereign more legitimate than he? After all, he'd already killed would-be rivals to his throne, even one of his own sons. If the Magi were "wise men," advisers to the rulers in the Parthian Empire east of Jerusalem, surely they knew how kings react when someone shows an interest in a soon-to-be king in their realm. Perhaps the Magi had heard of this Anointed One from the prophet Daniel, himself a Magi centuries earlier (Dan. 2:48) and assumed the Messiah was still as longingly anticipated in Jerusalem as He had been long ago in Babylon. While their question did get them pointed in the right direction, to Bethlehem, it also unleashed Herod's deadly paranoia. Whether the Magi could, or should, have seen that coming is a question we can't answer. What this episode clearly shows, however, is that word of the coming Messiah was known beyond Israel, even beyond the Roman Empire. These Magi from the east are evidence that Jesus' arrival is an event with worldwide import. And despite Herod's violent efforts, God's Savior and the gospel He embodies, cannot be thwarted. Marshall Shelley, DD Director of Doctor of Ministry Program and Associate Professor of Pastoral Leadership and Ministry "Where is he who has been born king of the Jews?" —Matthew 2:2 The Power of a Question