It's a curious story.

About a king who isn’t really a king, and another king, who really is.

And a star and some gold, frankincense and myrrh.

What is myrrh anyway?

Jesus has already been born, in Bethlehem, during the reign of King Herod, who was typically, not a very nice king.

Enter stage left, some strange visitors from the East. Not any of God’s chosen people. Not Jews.

Not people who worshipped YHWH or studied his scriptures.

Wise people … advisors to kings from the east. These people were more ‘spiritual than religious’.

Their specialty was reading the stars and interpreting dreams. And though we don’t know much about them, we can’t help but suspect that whatever they’re into is not all that kosher.

Following a star doesn’t sound very Jewish. Seems a bit dodgy. Why would Matthew even mention such things, to a Jewish audience?

Surely he could have left that bit out of the gospel … and for that matter, the weird visitors from the East.

One can only assume, that such details were included …. because they actually happened.

It is a curious story. These wise ones seem to know about the Messiah, the King of the Jews. They seem to acknowledge his greatness, with worship and expensive gifts.

And when Herod hears about their little trip to meet the King of the Jews he freaks out.

Not only him, but chapter 2 of Matthew’s gospel tells us, “he was frightened and all of Jerusalem with him…” (v3)

Frightened? Why weren’t they happy? Didn’t they want the Messiah to come? This was meant to be the person who would free Israel and establish her in the land.

So Herod does what all kings do when they’re freaking out: he seeks advice from the people he can blame later if things go wrong.

He calls together the chief priests and the scribes and asks them, ‘Where was the Messiah to be born? These guys from the East want to know and now it’s got my interest.’

Well, the scribes and chief priests … they know their bible pretty well. They don’t even need to look it up.

‘Oh’ they say, ‘It’s the prophet Micah who said it … apparently Bethlehem will be the birthplace of the Messiah … the one who comes to rule and to shepherd the people of Israel.’ (you see that prophecy in v6)

And at this point Herod is thinking, ‘Hello, that’s what I do. I rule over Judea. I’ll shepherd them. Who needs this other ruler? Better get rid of him.’

So he does the other thing that kings do … builds diplomatic relations with the visitors from the East.

He extends hospitality and in exchange, he wants them to tell him where this child is …

… and he pretends they have the same interests … to worship the King of the Jews.

But in this curious story the only worshipping that goes on, is by the wise ones from the east … and not any of the Jews.

It’s curious isn’t it? The Pharisees and scribes and chief priests get a lot of press in Matthew’s gospel.

Right from the outset we hear of these theologically trained, religious leaders … they quote the scripture accurately.

They know where the Messiah is said to be born and that the wise ones have reason to believe this blessed event has finally occurred.

And what do they do with this knowledge?

Nothing. They stay home. The wise ones seek him and not the very people whose job it is to proclaim God’s covenant faithfulness to Israel.

And we see this right throughout Matthew’s gospel.

The Pharisees and Scribes don’t seek Jesus

They are waiting for the Messiah to come to them … and yet when they hear news of his arrival, they won’t go and see.

And yet Jesus says, “seek and you will find … for everyone who asks receives, and everyone who searches finds, and for everyone who knocks, the door will be opened.” (Matthew 7:7-8)

The Pharisees and Scribes ignore the signs

They have no interest in following the curious star that moves ahead of the kings until it mysteriously stops over the place where Jesus is …

And later the Pharisees and Sadducees want to test Jesus and say, “show us a sign.” But Jesus says, “You know how to interpret the appearance of the sky but you cannot interpret the signs of the times” (Matthew 16:3)

… the signs of his birth in Bethlehem and the signs of the reign of God that can be seen wherever Jesus goes … these they ignore.

The Pharisees and Scribes won’t move

They are basically lazy. Not like the wise ones from the east, who travel at much expense to worship the king.

And in a series of woes in chapter 23 Jesus says:

“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you lock people out of the kingdom of heaven. For you do not go in yourselves, and when others are going in, you stop them.” (Matthew 23:13)

And Jesus warns the crowds: “don’t do what they do because they don’t practice what they teach. They tie heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on the shoulders of others; but they themselves are unwilling to lift a finger to move them.” (Matthew 23:3-4)

The religious leaders get a pretty bad wrap in Matthew’s gospel. Lazy hypocrates who know the scriptures but don’t know God … they study the prophets but they don’t seek the Lord with their hearts.

Perhaps we wonder … are we like that? Are we like the scribes and Pharisees?

It seems to me that there’s one simple way we can tell, if we are …

We ask ourselves: are we moving? Or do we stay the same?

When you think about it, people don’t like change. They don’t like it because it threatens what they have.

We like to build our little realm don’t we: where we have control, and where we can be the boss of our own life.

And it’s human nature to want to hold on to the stuff we have and the things we can control.

But if Jesus has come to be a ruler; a king … then we no longer have our little realm. Because everything belongs to him.

And Matthew tells us, that there will come a day when Jesus will take back what belongs to him. And on that day, “heaven and earth will pass away, but [his] words will not pass away.” (Matthew 24:35)

And that’s why Herod was freaking out … and the scribes and the Pharisees … because deep down they know their days are numbered.

But they will fight to maintain their power and authority. Which means they won’t change.

You know, as a church, we can be like that.

This is a new year for us at St Thomas, in which we hope to see foundations for a brand new building, finally get laid. But first, the old building will get knocked down.

It would be a shame to build a nice new building only to try to continue with our old empires … that’s pretty much exactly the kind of thing Herod did.

No, the old St Theo’s small family church around the corner has to change. And the old Cantonese speaking church that functions independently of English-speaking Australians has to change. And the old traditions of St Michael’s English congregation have to change too.

We all have to change. If we don’t think that’s true, then we’re not reading the signs of the times.

I have found in my life, that worshipping Jesus as the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, lands you in places you never expect you’ll wind up.

I can honestly tell you, that if you had told me ten years ago that I was going to be an evangelical, ordained in an evangelical church … I would have smirked and ignored you … just like the chief priests ignored the wise ones.

But here I am. I don’t think the wise ones expected to find themselves in Bethlehem, worshipping the King of the Jews. But there they were.

And maybe you never thought you’d end up in a church like St Thomas, but here you are.

It’s the perfect week, the first week of a new year, to think about whether we have become a bit like the chief priests?

Have we moved? Or have we stood still?

Have we noticed the signs in our lives, of where God is leading us? Or has our faith become bland?

What is God asking us to give up this year?

In order to take us to a new place …

Because if we don’t move, if we don’t seek him,

Then we won’t find him.

And our worship will become empty, like the chief priests.