AMERICAN JESUS

 Jesus did not come to earth to bless America. No matter how many times someone pronounces, “God bless America,” it doesn’t mean other countries take a backseat in God’s eyes. Now most Americans may not have the chutzpah to say we are God’s favorites, but far too often many imply it with their words and actions. And even within the borders of these fifty states, it appears that God loves certain groups like Republicans, but others, like Democrats, are suspect at best. Yet any time someone puts a wall around their group or tribe in an effort to make Jesus solely ‘theirs,’ they have failed to understand God’s will and his ways that are described throughout the Bible from Genesis to Revelation.

When God appeared to Abraham and chose to bless his descendants, the Jewish nation, it was so that “through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed.”[i] Jesus’ final commands to his disciples affirmed this reality: “Go and make disciples of all nations”[ii] because “you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”[iii]

Jesus came to seek and to save the lost – which encompasses everyone who walks upon this planet. The lead apostle, Peter, personalized this message when he reminded Christians that God “is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.”[iv] And the book of Revelation puts an exclamation mark on God’s heart for all humanity when it gives us a glimpse of who will be rejoicing in heaven: “After this I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb.”[v]

Video: Every Tribe and Every Nation 

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[i] Genesis 22:18, italics added

[ii] Matthew 28:18, italics added

[iii] Acts 1:8, italics added

[iv] 2 Peter 3:9, italics added

[v] Revelation 7:9, italics added

Now if you’ve been following along on this journey, this shouldn’t surprise you. Who but this all-humanity loving God would choose an unwed teenage girl from the tiny village of Nazareth to be the mother of the Messiah, the Son of God? And who would choose a blue-collar worker to be Jesus’ adoptive dad? When it came time for the birth, who was chosen to be the first ones to hear the “good news of great joy that will be for all the people?”[i] Shepherds – more people outside the inner circle, according to the world’s standards. This theme continues at the circumcision of Jesus when we are introduced to the elderly Anna. She was 84 years old and “never left the temple but worshiped night and day, fasting and praying. Coming up to them [Mary and Joseph] at that very moment, she gave thanks to God and spoke about the child to all who were looking forward to the redemption of Jerusalem.”[ii] Young and old women, a carpenter and shepherds - demographics relegated to the outskirts of society. Yet, as far as we know, all these people were Jewish, all God’s chosen people. Then, in this moment, we see God open his arms even wider:

“After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem and asked, ‘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.’”[iii]

Did you catch that? These are foreigners traveling to find the king of the Jews! Ever chasing the sun, they headed west, days blending together like raindrops from a cloudburst – one indistinguishable from the rest. Forging ahead. Never knowing how much longer they had to keep plodding on. But this day seemed different. 

Dusk began pulling down the shades on the landscape. Trees morphed into silhouettes on the horizon. Their necks craned towards the heavenlies, eyes squinting, looking for the sign that would lead them. Silence enshrouded them in the moonlit night. “There it is!” one of them shouted. A blinding light burst forth, calling the weary travelers to follow. Fists punched the air in jubilation. Heads bowed in adoration. Raised eyebrows and glee-filled faces mingled with the new lilt in their voices and in their steps. The men pushed on, following a star like no other they’d ever seen.

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[i] Luke 2:10, italics added

[ii] Luke 2:37-38, italics added

[iii] Matthew 2:1-2, italics added

(Image by Dann Schrader)

Months had passed during their arduous journey to Jerusalem. They were probably over 900 miles from their homeland. They yearned for their families, their friends, and the familiar. Yet they pushed on. What drove them to such extremes? Why did these Gentiles, these ‘foreigners,’ risk such a journey to seek out the King of the Jews? Magi generally believed in only one God, and that it was their duty to practice good and flee from evil. They even believed that prayer was necessary and that manual labor was healthy for a man. Into this fertile soil God planted Jewish descendants from those dispersed during the Exile, which occurred when the nation of Babylon took the Jews captive in 586 B.C. Jews had been deported to the towns of the Medes, Persians, and Babylonians, where they intermingled freely with men like the Magi. These star searchers had probably been taught from the ancient Jewish manuscripts about a Messiah, a King of the Jews, who would deliver a nation.

[The Magis’ religion] had much in common with the religion of the Jews. Each had its monotheistic concept of one beneficent [benevolent] creator, author of all good, who in turn was opposed by a malevolent evil spirit. Each had its hereditary priesthood, which became the essential mediator between God and man by virtue of a blood sacrifice. Each depended on the wisdom of the priesthood…and to each was attributed considerable prophetic insight and authority.[i]

These were the men God chose to reveal the birthplace of his Son! Searching the skies, the Magi diligently sought a sign that would lead them to this King. When the never-before-seen star crested the horizon, the Magi meticulously planned their journey to Judea. There prevailed throughout the entire East at this time an intense conviction, based upon ancient prophecies, that a powerful monarch would soon arise in Judea and rule the entire world. Could this Jewish King be the One?

Why didn’t anyone else give this star a second thought? Perhaps the diligent searching of the Magi helped them to see what others could not. Perhaps one more beacon in the heavenlies wasn’t noticeable to the average eye. Somehow God used the star to announce the location of the Christ-child. The message about which direction to travel was as clear to the Magi as when the angel earlier pointed the way for the shepherds to find the baby in the manger. The Magi held firmly to the omen and were on the move to give homage to the newborn King of the Jews. 

Their passionate pursuit led them to Jerusalem, the city of David, the natural place to assume they would find the King. The large caravan caused some to look up for an instant from the myriad of booths in the marketplace. An oddity, yes, but nothing to cause a prolonged second glance. Potential customers – but nothing more. But then their question stirred up a hornet’s nest of activity throughout the royal city: “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews?”

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[i] Silva, M., & Tenney, M. C. (2009). In The Zondervan Encyclopedia of the Bible, M-P (Revised, Full-Color Edition, Vol. 4, p. 39). Grand Rapids, MI: The Zondervan Corporation.

(Image by Dann Schrader)

“When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him.”[i] Herod winced at the Magis’ question. For if the stars were signaling the birth of another “King of the Jews,” that led Herod to only one conclusion. The same star signaled his demise! Fear spread through the city like a wildfire cutting a raging swath through the forest. The hushed whispers combined and grew to a roaring flame. Ashen faces recalled Herod’s past reactions to anyone challenging his authority. Hotspots still remained. His ascent to the palace was along a bloodstained path. Herod executed anyone who resisted his rule – his own wife, her uncle, his own sons, members of the Sanhedrin (the Jewish ruling council), and ‘nameless’ Jews by the hundreds. No one was safe.

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[i] Matthew 2:3

When he [Herod] had called together all the people’s chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Christ was to be born. “In Bethlehem in Judea,” they replied, “for this is what the prophet has written: “‘But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for out of you will come a ruler who will be the shepherd of my people Israel.’”[i]

Herod called together the religious leaders and teachers to find out where to unload his rage and fear. With that inquiry complete, Herod summarily dismissed the religious cadre with a wave of his hand. And did the ‘religious leaders’ rejoice at the news that the prophesied King of the Jews had been born? No! The ‘pagan’ Magi traveled hundreds of miles and pressed on in a joyous procession to worship the King of the Jews when they found out his location. Meanwhile, the chief priests and teachers of the law, who had always had the location at their fingertips, didn’t make the five-mile journey when they heard of the King’s birth! Neither they, nor Herod, appeared to doubt the Scriptural reference.[ii] Yet they made no movement towards the Messiah. The prophet Isaiah must have envisioned these priests and teachers of the law when he prophesied, “These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship of me is made up only of rules taught by men.”[iii]

“Then Herod called the Magi secretly and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared. He sent them to Bethlehem and said, ‘Go and make a careful search for the child. As soon as you find him, report to me, so that I too may go and worship him.’”[iv] Naively the Magi provided the Herod with his first chance to strike. “So the child is less than two years old,” Herod surmised. Not content with this knowledge, however, Herod desired to know the exact identity of the child. Destroying this little one would save his throne – at the cost of his soul.  Herod didn’t realize that by failing to worship the Christ-child, he was waging war against God Himself. The Magi, however, were on a different path.

After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen in the east went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. On coming to the house they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshipped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold and of incense and of myrrh. [v]

What questions must have flowed through their minds as they approached the house!  “Why is Herod in the capital city, dressed in fine clothing, and surrounded by excessive wealth – and the King of the Jews is living in this hovel? And why isn’t anyone else here? If the chief priests and teachers of the law and Herod really cared, why didn’t they come with us?” Yet their lack of answers did not keep them from their long-sought destination. They proceeded into the house, fell upon their faces, and worshipped the King, presenting Him with the finest gifts from their homeland.

The choice remains the same for each of us today. Jesus’ arms are open for all who desire to know him. As the Apostle Paul said in Galatians 3:28, “There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” God did not come for just us - he came for all.

Music: No Outsiders 

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[i] Matthew 2:4-6

[ii] cf. Micah 5:2

[iii] Isaiah 29:13

[iv] Matthew 2:7-8

[v] Matthew 2:9-11

(Image by Dann Schrader)