There is something about the start of a new year that fills us with hope. The new year is a chance to start over; to put the failures and the disappointments of the last year behind you and start fresh. Which is why with the start of each new year people resolve to be better versions of themselves. In the start of a new year people say things like, “this year I resolve to get a handle on my finances.”, or “I resolve to focus on my mental health.”, or they speak the holy trinity of new year’s resolutions, “This year I resolve to… (you know it) eat healthy, exercise, and lose weight.”
I like the idea of new year resolutions. I think it is good for us to periodically take a long hard look at ourselves and identify what isn’t working, what behavior modification need to be made and lifestyle choices need to be improved. I am of the opinion it is better to face your failures, recognize your weaknesses, and be resolved to do something about them. As the philosopher Dean Wormer once said, “Fat, drunk, and stupid is no way to go through life.”
I admire people who have the humility to admit there are things about them that can be and should be improved; I admire their determination to be better versions of themselves. Unfortunately, it has been estimated approximately 50% of new year resolutions are broken in the first two weeks and, by the end of January, approximately 95% of new year resolutions are completely abandoned. Clearly, we are going to need more than our resolve to become better versions of ourselves. Thankfully we have something better. We have prayer. In James 5:16 God tells us “The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.” Thanks to Jesus, Who exchanged our filthy rags of sin for His robe of righteousness, you are righteous persons. Which means your prayers are powerful and effective. So, in this new year, instead of making a new year resolution to become better versions of ourselves, I suggest we say a new year prayer.
We could pray, “Dear Lord, help me get a better handle on my finances”, or “Dear Lord, help me focus on my mental health.”, or “Dear Lord, help me to eat healthy, exercise, and lose weight.” I am sure all of us would be better off if we started the new year with prayers such as these. However, instead of focusing on one or two areas of your life that can be improved, today I am going to suggest a new year prayer that seeks to improve your mind, body, and soul. I suggest we start the new year praying, “Dear Lord, make me a wiseman or wisewoman.”
Everything we know about the wisemen, biblically speaking, comes from Matthew 2:1-12. We know from historians like Herodotus that scholars called Magi or wisemen existed among the Medes, Persians and Babylonians, all places to the east of Jerusalem. The Babylonians specifically were renowned for their scholarly work in the field of astronomy, so it does not surprise us to hear they had been charting a star and had associated that star with the birth of a king. However, it is, at first, surprising to hear they followed this star from the east to “worship” “the one who had been born king of the Jews”. It becomes less surprising when we remind ourselves that 500 years earlier many of God’s people were carried off into Babylonian captivity. One of God’s people in exile was Daniel. Daniel was was once thrown into a lion’s den for worshiping the one true God, but, when he miraculously survived, the Babylonian king put Daniel in charge of… you guessed it, Babylon’s wisemen. (You never know how and where the seeds of faith that you plant today might bloom in the future.)
Though they did not claim Abraham as their father, though they were not from the house and line of David, though they were what they Jews would call גּוֹיִם or outsiders, non-the-less these wisemen were believers in the one true God. In that regard we are well on our way to being wisemen and wisewomen. We don’t claim Abrahamic ancestry or Davidic descendancy, we know we are גּוֹיִם yet by God’s providence prophets like Daniel have proclaimed the words of everlasting life to us and as a result we, by the grace of God, have also come to worship the one who has been born king of the Jews.
Like you, the wisemen in Matthew’s gospel were believers in the one true God. One of the things I admire about these particular wisemen and a reason I am suggesting we pray the Lord make us more like them is their religious curiosity. Upon arriving in Jerusalem, they asked, “2… Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star in the east and have come to worship him.” I always envisioned the star the wisemen followed to be a beacon of light that outshone all the other stars in the sky. But the inhabitants of Jerusalem (which is only about 6 miles from Bethlehem) seem oblivious to its existence. That makes me think the star the wisemen followed was more subtle than I once thought and required careful scrutiny of the night sky in order to see it. Still, it is somewhat striking that Herod, the acting king of the Jews, had no idea what the wisemen were talking about. It is downright disturbing that the chief priests and teachers of the law seemed caught off guard by the wisemen’s question and had to go searching for an answer. How the wisemen were able to connect the shining of a subtle star to the birth of Jesus we do not know. We can only assume the wisemen had something Herod and the religious leaders had lost and that something was religious curiosity. The wisemen must have searched the scripture for anything that might lead them to the place where the king of the Jews would be born.
A week or so before Christmas a friend asked if I still had my religious curiosity. I dismissed him at the time explaining that I am a simple preacher teaching simple truths to simple people. It sounded good at the time but having reread Matthew 2:1-12 I now can’t help but think that is something Herod and the religious leaders of Jerusalem would have said. Jesus loves me this I know, and this is all I want to know is no way to go through life. Better to be a wiseman or wisewoman who searches the scriptures for anything that might bring you closer to Jesus. Better to be a scholar of scripture who is able to connect the prophecies of the old with the promise in the new. Better to pray, “Dear Lord, give me the religious curiosity of a wiseman.”.
Religious curiosity is one reason I am suggesting we start the new year with a prayer to be wisemen and wisewomen. Another reason is their pious devotion. Matthew simply tells us the wisemen came “1… from the east to Jerusalem”. We cannot say from exactly where in the east the wisemen came, but if we assume they came from Babylon, and for reasons previously mentioned I think that is a pretty good guess, that would mean the wisemen traveled more than 900 miles to worship Jesus. On foot that journey would have taken them about a month and a half. Contrast the wisemen’s pious devotion with Herod who, having recently learned that the prophesied Messiah had been born just 6 miles from his palace, couldn’t be bothered to make the trip. Instead, Matthew tells us, “8 he (Herod) sent them (the wisemen) to Bethlehem and said, go and make a careful search for the child.” Herod had horses and chariots at his disposal. He could have been in Bethlehem worshiping his savior in less than 30 minutes. But Herod couldn’t be bothered.
It doesn’t take much mental effort to compile a list of people who can’t seem to be bothered to come worship their savior. All you have to do is walk past the church mailboxes and see which ones still have advent devotions in them, that is unless Dennis has mercifully cleaned their boxes out for them. Dennis never has to clean out my mailbox. I haven’t skipped church in a long time, even when I am not standing in a pulpit I go to church (most of the time). In general, I am not a church skipper and the fact that you are here suggest you aren’t either. However, that does not mean we are always eager to skip to church. I live two miles away. I am transported here by a chariot pulled by the power of 305 horses. I can easily get here in 7 minutes. Yet sometimes it is surprisingly difficult to get myself out the door. All too well I understand the temptation to hit snooze on an alarm clock or spend an extra 30 minutes in a hot shower or livestream a worship service from the comfort of a couch. I am not always in the mood to rejoice with those who say, “let us go to the house of the Lord!”. I am not a church skipper, but I don’t always skip to church. Do you? I would love to condemn Herod and all the other church skippers for their lack of devotion, but it is hard to see the speck of sawdust in their eyes when there is a plank in my own. You know what I mean? Instead of focusing on Herod and the other church skippers lets focus on the fact we don’t always skip to church and pray “Dear Lord, give me the pious devotion of a wiseman.”.
Religious curiosity and pious devotion are two reasons I am suggesting we start the new year with a prayer to be wisemen and wisewomen. The final reason is their spiritual joy. In verse 10 Matthew tells us, “When they saw the star, they were overjoyed.” To describe the wisemen as “overjoyed” doesn’t fully capture their mood. The Greek, clunky though it be, tells us the wisemen “rejoiced joy great exceeding”. The wisemen were overcome with joy, they could not contain their joy. Which is why they worshiped. Matthew tells us “11 On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him.” They bowed down. they put their faces in the dirt because they recognized sinners such as themselves were not worthy to be in the presence of the holy God and yet that is where they were. Then, Matthew tells us, “11… they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold and of incense and of myrrh.” They opened up their treasure, they gave generously because they valued what this child had given them; they presented Him with gifts not because they had to but because they “rejoiced joy great exceeding”.
There are a lot of things in this world that seek to diminish your joy. Pain, loss, betrayal, disappointment, depression, disease, death all seek to diminish your joy. Don’t let them. Jesus has promised you “wherever two or three come together in my name, there am I with them”[1] When you come to worship you stand in the presence of the holy God. Jesus promised you, “he who stands firm to the end will be saved.”[2] You know the value of the gift Jesus has given to you. You have as much reason as any wiseman or wisewoman to rejoice joy great exceeding. Which is why you bow your heads in worship and open your wallets in gratitude. There are a lot of things in this world that try to make you forget that so let’s pray, “Dear Lord, give me the spiritual joy of a wiseman.”.
In another week 50% of all new year resolutions will be broken. Two weeks after that 95% of new year resolutions will be completely abandoned. Turns out human resolve is not all that resolute. Which is why today we pray, “Dear Lord give me the religious curiosity, pious devotion, and spiritual joy of a wiseman.” May God grant it for us all. Amen.
[1] Matthew 18:20
[2] Matthew 24:13