THURSDAY
Yesterday, we saw the worship of the foreign magi, who sacrifice a great deal to come and worship Jesus. Today, we will see Matthew’s hints that Jesus will face indifference and outright rejection from his people, Israel, who should know better.
Matthew 2:3-6 3 When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him. 4 When he had called together all the people’s chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Messiah was to be born. 5 “In Bethlehem in Judea,” they replied, “for this is what the prophet has written: 6 “ ‘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 shepherd my people Israel.’”
First of all, the chief priests and the scribes of Israel had apparently missed the star. This implies that they weren’t all that actively looking for the Messiah. Even upon hearing about the star from the wise men, they express no interest in seeking out the Messiah for themselves. Bethlehem was only five miles from Jerusalem, yet they don’t even travel there to see for themselves!
Worse, however, the text says that along with Herod, all of Jerusalem was disturbed by this news. The term disturbed literally can be used of water that has been disturbed. Think of what the water looks like when you run your feet through the sand in shallow water on a calm day. Or when the wind picks up before a storm and the water, which was once clear is now murky and everything is unsettled. This is the image of the verb. This is what is happening in the inner lives of Herod and the people of Jerusalem.
Why they were disturbed isn’t told to us, but it could be because they were afraid of what Herod would do to secure his throne. (He was known to put even his own children to death for threatening to take his throne.) Or, more likely, it means that the leaders of Jerusalem (the Sanhedrin, scribes, Pharisees, teachers of the law) were disturbed by this because it meant that their authority and position of power and influence may be challenged. They were comfortable and didn’t want to be unsettled or unseated from the positions of power, even by the promised Messiah.
Finally, we know how the story goes. Herod deceitfully claims to want to worship the child while secretly hoping to discover the identity of the child so he could have him killed. When the wise men betray him, he proceeds to cover his bases and have all the male children in Bethlehem under two years old killed. Instead of worshipping the Messiah, Herod opposes him and commits terrible atrocities against his own people.
So, we see this theme that Matthew will continue to unpack throughout his gospel—indifference and outright rejection from the leaders of Israel. These are the very people who are supposed to know about the coming Messiah. They are supposed to long for the Messiah and his kingdom. Yet, when he arrives they cling to the status quo for fear of being unseated from their place of power and prominence. This drives them to not only miss the Messiah, but oppose him in their futile efforts to cling to their power and keep the Messiah from his throne. Ultimately, this theme comes to its climax in the religious leaders arresting Jesus and handing him over to be executed, later in the gospel. Little did they know that this opposition was the means by which God’s plan of redemption would be realized. No opposition can thwart the will of God.
To apply this to today, this is the great danger of cultural Christianity. Cultural Christianity looks nothing like the genuine worship of the magi. Instead, it looks like the indifference and opposition of Herod and the religious leaders.
In his article titled Religion as a Cultural and Political Identity political science professor Ryan Burge statistically documents the drift towards cultural Christianity in American and concludes:
“What American religion has become is primarily all the harmful aspects of religion and very little of the democracy building activities that we very desperately need. It’s been reduced to a weapon that is wielded in the culture war debates without any training in it’s proper use.”
“That’s why religion has become so polarized - because the type of religion that most Americans see now has been stripped bare of all the best parts. And all we are left with is the division, the hate, and the vitriol. The pews are emptying because they aren’t full.“ [emphasis his]
Burge, here, makes an important point regarding the epidemic of cultural Christianity in our churches. Cultural Christianity has an exponentially negative effect on the kingdom. It not only leaves the cultural Christian indifferent to the faith, deceived into thinking this is all there is, but it becomes the only expression of faith that others see and know as well. What people come to know as Christianity is not genuine Christianity at all.
The Christmas season reveals the sad state of cultural Christianity in our American culture. Folks who haven’t been in church since Easter will make an appearance on Christmas Eve. Gifts are given with lip service to the ultimate gift given. Lights are set up without any reference to the light of the world. It grieves my heart every year. But instead of ranting about it and participating in the culture war, the thing to do is simply be sure that I, myself, am genuinely worshipping through this Christmas season. My prayer is that you will do the same.