Matthew 2:7-12: a reflection

7Then Herod secretly called the wise men, and learned from them exactly what time the star appeared. 8He sent them to Bethlehem, and said, “Go and search diligently for the young child. When you have found him, bring me word, so that I also may come and worship him.” 9They, having heard the king, went their way; and behold, the star, which they saw in the east, went before them until it came and stood over where the young child was. 10When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceedingly great joy. 11They came into the house and saw the young child with Mary, his mother, and they fell down and worshiped him. Opening their treasures, they offered to him gifts: gold, frankincense, and myrrh. 12Being warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they went back to their own country another way.

The wise men from the east, having followed the star across great distances, at last come to the place where the child Jesus is. And their response is a model of what it means to seek and find Christ. When they saw the star stop over the place, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy. They went in, saw the child with Mary, and fell down and worshiped him. And they opened their treasures and offered him gifts: gold, frankincense, and myrrh. Seeking, joy, worship, and costly giving, all together.

Notice the fullness of their response. They had sought diligently, traveling far at real cost and effort to find him. When they found him, they were filled not with mild satisfaction but with exceeding great joy. And that joy overflowed into worship, falling down before the child, and into costly giving, opening their treasures and offering their finest. Their finding of Christ engaged everything: their effort, their joy, their worship, their treasure.

That is a picture of how we are meant to respond to Christ. To seek him diligently, at whatever cost; to rejoice with great joy in finding him; to fall down in worship before him; and to offer him our treasures, our best, not the leftovers. The wise men's example searches our own response to Christ. Is it that wholehearted, that joyful, that worshipful, that costly? Seek Christ diligently, rejoice greatly in him, worship him with your whole self, and give him your best, your treasures, as the wise men did. He is worthy of exactly such a response.

Lord, the wise men sought you diligently, rejoiced with exceeding great joy in finding you, fell down and worshiped, and offered you their treasures. Let my response to Christ be as full. Help me seek you diligently at whatever cost, rejoice greatly in you, worship you with my whole self, and give you my best, my treasures, not the leftovers. Search my heart, and make my response to Christ as wholehearted, joyful, worshipful, and costly as theirs. You are worthy of it all.