What lengths would you go?

Matthew 2:1-2, John 3:17

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To what lengths would you go to worship Jesus? Would you wake up early in the morning? Would you set aside a part of your day or your busy schedule to go and worship him? Would you travel a great distance if that was required? Well in Matthew Chapter 2, beginning at verse 1, we hear a story about some men that did exactly that.

After Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, when Herod was king, Wise Men from the east came to Jerusalem. They asked, “Where is he who has been born King of the Jews? We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.” (Matthew 2:1-2)

We aren’t told exactly what country the wiseman or Magi came from, but we would expect that it is a country that has a considerable distance from Jerusalem. They traveled a great distance, a great journey, to come there. In order to do that they would have had to take time out of their busy schedule, their busy life, time off of work, time away from their home to pack their things and to travel many, many miles to get their. Talk about dedication when it comes to worshipping Jesus. Think about all of those great lengths that they went to.

What about us? Sometimes we make excuses when it comes to much less things. When it comes to getting up early maybe on a Sunday morning. When it comes to taking time out of our day to study God’s Word. When maybe it even comes down to a matter of miles. It’s just too far to go, too inconvenient. Think of even in our world today when we have church online even that sometimes is something that we make excuses for. I just didn’t have the time to do it.

Maybe all of this really reveals that Jesus isn’t number one in our life as we often proclaim. In fact, maybe it’s something else. Maybe it’s work. Maybe it’s family. Maybe it’s our leisure. That those things become number one.

You know it’s quite incredible though, something we hear in God’s Word today is that when the wiseman came to Jerusalem they found the Jewish people were surprised. They didn’t even know where to expect the Messiah to be born. They weren’t really looking for him, it appears. But yet God sent Jesus anyway. God sent him to sinful people. God sent him because he didn’t send Jesus to condemn them for their sins, but to save them from them. That same Jesus who went on to say in John Chapter 3 Verse 17

For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. (John 3:17)

What an amazing God who sent his Son Jesus as our Savior even though we haven’t regarded him as number one. Even though we haven’t taken the time always to worship him the way we should. He sent him anyway for you and for me. That Savior deserves our worship and dedication and praise now and every day. Amen.