Sunday 21st December
Read Matthew 2:7-8
“Then Herod called the Magi secretly and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared. 8 He sent them to Bethlehem and said, ‘Go and search carefully for the child. As soon as you find him, report to me, so that I too may go and worship him.’” (NIVUK)
The Magi have quite logically headed to Jerusalem, the capital, to honour the new king. Herod successfully deceived them as to his intentions, (so successfully he didn’t even send a guard with them), and convinced them he too wished to worship the new king. The picture is of a spider waiting to catch victims, calmly waiting for the signals to return. Or perhaps, as the parallels are intended, like Pharoah, a snake seeking to consume those who would honour God.
How easily deceived are you? How trusting? When Jesus sent out His disciples to tell others of the kingdom He warned them very specifically. “‘I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves.” (Matthew 10:16) (NIVUK). There is a risk that in the interest of ‘treating others as better than yourselves’ we are too gullible for our own good, or the good of the kingdom. Jesus calls us to be wise rather than stupid – to trust the Spirit within us to recognise and distinguish between good and evil. It requires time spent with Him in His word and prayer.
