Title Matthew 2:7-12
Following the text of last week's sermon, the wise men are still the main characters in today's text. From the appearance of the wise men we learn two facts about Jesus. First, it is the fact that Jesus is the one to be worshiped by all peoples. The fact that Jesus was worshiped by the despised shepherds of Israel and also by the wise men of the Gentile nations far east of Israel indicates that He is the one to be worshiped by all men.
When the wise men from the East came to visit the baby Jesus, their purpose was clear. It was worshiping Jesus. In verse 2, a few verses earlier in today's text, they said, "Where is the one who was born king of the Jews? We saw his star from the east and came to worship him." They did not come to see Jesus, not to report, not to study, and not to discuss Jesus. They had come to worship Jesus. Verse 11 says, “When he entered the house, he saw the child and his mother Mary together, and fell down and worshiped the child.
Second, Jesus is to be worshiped with all our devotion. Verse 11 says, “When they entered the house, they saw the child and Mary his mother with them, and they fell down and worshiped the child. At that time, gold, frankincense, and myrrh were all very precious gifts that were often presented to the king. This shows that the wise men of the East worshiped Jesus with the utmost respect and devotion. Because of these three gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh, the three wise men who came to the baby Jesus were hardened as if there were three wise men from the east. Anyway, a lot of people came. The fact that they did not hesitate to come to visit them already speaks of their utmost reverence and devotion.
When the wise men of the East worshiped, the original word translated to "worship" in Korean refers to the act of showing respect by bowing down completely. These actions were only for God. This was the kind of worship that Satan said when he tempted Jesus, who had fasted for 40 days in the wilderness, "All these things I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me." At that time, Jesus said, “Go away, Satan, for it is written, Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.” He resisted the temptation, so we can see that the act of worship can be directed only to God. . However, the one who deserves such worship is revealed through the worship of the wise men from the East.
Such worship can be seen even after that people did to Jesus. When Jesus got into the boat and stopped the wind, the people in the boat said to Him, “Truly, you are the Son of God,” and worshiped him like that (Matthew 14:33). . When the resurrected Jesus met the women who were running to share the news with his disciples and asked, “Are you in peace?” The women also worshiped Jesus in the same way (Matthew 28:9). Those who met the resurrected Jesus in Galilee also worshiped him in the same way. In this way, whenever people encounter a situation in which they have no choice but to regard Jesus as the Son of God, they see that they worshiped Jesus.
Here we will each have to ask ourselves once. “Am I really worshiping Jesus?”, “Is my life truly worshiping Jesus?”, “My religious life is about listening to Jesus, studying Jesus, arguing about Jesus, and having fun thanks to Jesus. Am I not really worshiping Jesus?”, “Am I really down flat before Jesus?”, “My self is still alive and wriggling in front of the Lord, and my greed, my insistence, and my stubbornness. , Aren't all of my qualities alive?", "Am I really worshiping the Lord with all that I have?", "Am I giving the Lord the gold, frankincense, and myrrh of my life, or am I giving in moderation to the Lord and really Aren't big and good things cherished and lived for me?", such a question should be seriously asked.