Back in January, I was preaching about the Visit of the Magi and their worship of Baby Jesus. In the message, it was the first time I’d ever deeply connected Herod’s response to hearing about Jesus being born as the “king of the Jews” in Matthew 2 with the response of the chief priests and Pharisees in John 19 when Pilate says Jesus is the king of the Jews and they say, “we have no king but Caesar.” The Messiah/Christ was the hope of Israel, but when he came, Herod (the political leader who rebuilt the Temple) wanted to kill him as a baby. And then, the religious leaders wanted to kill him as an adult. The false combination of state-religion always wants to kill Jesus, put him away, or distort him because he is a threat to them protecting/promoting their “way of life,” or to their grasping for provision and their pursuit of power and prominence (see the cosmic and eschatological implications of this in Revelation 12). The Better Way of Jesus is the humble way of sacrificial love and laying power and prominence down in exchange for participation in the kingdom of God. The state-religion kingdoms of this world see this threat and always try to neutralize it, either through coercion or manipulation.
For those who say Jesus isn’t political, he’s not - not in the way we are. He doesn’t directly confront the worldly powers with an army or an overthrow or an election. But, his presence and ethics sure do make the political and earthly and religious leaders (whose focus is on their own kingdoms) tremble in denial and rage. And thus, he dramatically affects the political, religious, and cultural spheres, not by grabbing power through worldly means of violence or force, but by bringing a whole different kingdom of his own through the sacrificial love, peace, and reconciliation that flows from the Cross.
When the Magi bowed to worship Jesus, they represented the kings and philosophers of nations of the earth that will one day all bow before the King of Kings (Isaiah 60:1-6). We shouldn't fear what we see happening around us in culture and in the news. Rather, we should know that Jesus is breaking in and making all things new - and there will be a reaction that.
