Wise Men Are Looking For Jesus

Wasn’t it fascinating, knowing a bit more about the three women who went looking for the Body of Jesus? One of the known facts about them is that they were all personally touched by Jesus. They all knew Him as the Man from Galilee, who had completely changed their troubled lives and had given them new lives. They were each personally indebted and attached to Jesus.

Why are you following Jesus? Why am I following Jesus? Are you and I together, as a crowd of people, serving and following Jesus as Master and Lord because of personal reasons? Have we each known open, visible, miracle changes to our ‘dead’ lives because of Jesus? Then it behooves us to pause and present our very lives to Jesus in deepest, eternal gratitude.

Jesus, Name above all Names, I present myself to You, in this time and place, for who You are to me in this hour. Amen!

The question is this. To which Jesus are we offering the gifts of our lives? The three women were offering their spices and their lives in service to a dead Jesus. In direct opposite, our discourse today takes us to the three men who are offering their gifts and their lives in service to a living Jesus. We want to receive more about the three men who went looking for Jesus.

We go straight into these three, as they were known, when many of us were children at Sunday School. I know that even as girls, some of us were dressed as kings and we were very proud and excited to play either, Caspar, Melchior or Balthasar in the Christmas Pageant.

As children, we all knew their names and sang our individual parts, as either one of those kings, with joy and gusto. Not one of us ever questioned their names, where they came from, or whether or not those names were recorded in the Bible. You may also remember that each king was recognized by his gift. Gold was always the gift of Melchior, who was said to be the King of Persia. I can still see the nicely gold-wrapped boxes, year after year, which our teachers intricately wrapped for the king to present to Baby Jesus.The most colourful and elaborately dressed king was always Balthasar, the king from Arabia, whose gift was myrrh. His gift was never in a box, always distinctly different in some jar or bottle, never brightly coloured. The gift brought by Casper, the king from India, was discretely wrapped in a shape unlike that of a box or a bottle. Our teachers always seemed to find some special, curiously unique-looking urn. It was the gift of frankincense.

We know that the women had personal encounters and relationships with Jesus, God’s Son, but what do we know about these kings or wise men from the East? What we do know, from obvious sense, is that when these kings were born and were growing up, Jesus was yet not born of a woman. What we do know, however is that they were each personally touched by the sign of Father God, announcing the birth of His Son Jesus. We have already been given wisdom and foresight to admit the undeniable stretch and reach of God’s Almighty Power, to touch different people in different places at the same time.

These Magi, wise men, kings, however you refer to them, were not three friends, standing together one night, in one place to see God’s sign. Their testimony of God is that they each have seen for themselves, the star of the King of the Jews. Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star in the east and have come to worship him. Matthew 2:2b.  Each has had a personal encounter with the Son of God, in that they were each given the privilege of changed lives. The Good News of Jesus changes the lives of all who accept, believe and respond in deep humility and love. This crowd of three is no different. They are publicizing the fact that they each personally saw the Star of the King of the Jews. We saw his star. When Jesus was born, kings, rulers, not one of them being a Jewish king, refer to Jesus as King of the Jews. Does this not speak volumes to the submissive heart?

Does your mind not take you to a different time in Jesus’ life, an opposite time, if you like, when He was about to be crucified? Indeed! In this time of death, not birth, we listen as another leader speaks these words from his own lips. We remember Governor Pilate and his question to Jesus and Jesus’ reply. So Pilate asked Jesus, Are you the king of the Jews? Yes, it is as you say, Jesus replied. Luke 23: 3. Jesus is the King of the Jews and will always be. Hallelujah! Thanks and praise be to Almighty, Sovereign and Father God! Jesus, through His birth, death, resurrection, ascension and return in Spirit, has drawn all non-Jews unto Himself as His own. Every truly surrendered believer in the Son of the Father, will and must know Jesus as Supreme Ruler of their lives.

With whom are we identifying this day? Which crowd are we in? Are we with the three women, servants of Jesus, people who have personal testimonies of the goodness, grace and miraculous working power of Jesus in our lives? Are we looking for a Jesus, now buried and so we have come with the appropriate gifts, befitting the anointing of a Dead Jesus? Or, are we with the three men, servants of Jesus, people who have personal testimonies of the wonders of the working power of God in our experiences? Are we looking for a Jesus, now born, and so we have come with the appropriate gifts, befitting the adoring of a Living Jesus?

Three women are looking for Jesus to anoint Him. Three men are looking for Jesus to adore Him.