{"id":3788,"date":"2018-12-26T18:21:06","date_gmt":"2018-12-26T23:21:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/anglicanconnection.com\/?p=3788"},"modified":"2019-01-18T10:58:45","modified_gmt":"2019-01-18T15:58:45","slug":"surprise","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/anglicanconnection.com\/surprise\/","title":{"rendered":"Surprise…!"},"content":{"rendered":"

An op-ed in\u00a0The Australian<\/em>\u00a0on Christmas Eve (12\/24\/18) referenced a recent lecture by the American scholar George Weigel who \u2018argues that Christianity, including the values highlighted at Christmas, has an important role to play in revitalizing democratic, market-oriented societies\u2019. The article continued, \u2018These are struggling on both sides of the Atlantic and elsewhere, including Australia, producing unrest, instability and disillusionment.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u2018If free politics and free economics are to produce a genuine human flourishing, Weigel says, the strength of the public moral culture, flourishing institutions that earn public confidence and a concern for the common good are vital. Christmas offers a chance to reflect on such issues and to take stock of the bigger picture\u2026\u2019<\/p>\n

While it is not my purpose here to explore the relationship between Christianity and politics and a free-market economy, it is worth noting that the article is similar to a number of articles this year that call for a reawakening of the meaning and application of the Christmas story. Articles like this invite us to focus on the themes of the poverty and weakness, the love and compassion embedded in the birth of Jesus \u2013 all of which are true. But they are not nearly the full story of God coming in person to rescue us.<\/p>\n

Indeed, as we reflect on the Gospel accounts of Jesus for our own benefit, it is also worth thinking through unexpected ways we can weave the larger story of Jesus\u2019 birth into our conversation. It\u2019s worth keeping in mind the surprising way God works and the diversity of people his plan includes \u2013 non-Jewish peoples as well as Jewish.<\/p>\n

Consider, for example, Matthew\u2019s account of the\u00a0Magi\u00a0<\/em>who visited the baby Jesus from afar to bring him gifts and worship him. In Matthew 1 we learn that Jesus was born in Bethlehem, the town where Jacob had buried Rachel and where King David was born. Known from that time as the City of David, the prophet Micah spoke of Bethlehem as the place where God\u2019s Messiah would be born (Micah 5:2).<\/p>\n

The legends that have developed around the\u00a0magi<\/em>\u00a0from the East following a star and visiting the baby Jesus in Bethlehem shroud the veracity and the surprise of Matthew\u2019s account. There is no mention in Matthew of the number of the wise men who visited Jesus, and we are not told whether they were kings. Furthermore, we are not told their names. Who then were these people who travelled so far?<\/p>\n

The\u00a0Magi<\/em>\u00a0were\u00a0<\/em>a tribe of priests in ancient Persia and were known for their study in astrology \u2013 making predictions from the stars. In the ancient world the movement of the stars and the planets was understood to frame the orderly pattern of the universe. Any interruption to this was seen to mark some new significant event that would impact the human story.<\/p>\n

Piecing together astronomical studies of the past, it seems that the\u00a0Magi<\/em>\u00a0observed a conjunction of Saturn and Jupiter that occurred in 7BC around the time Jesus was born. In an age before telescopes, the conjunction would have given the appearance of a very bright star which some of them followed. Coming from Persia where the Jewish people had been in exile in the 6th<\/sup>\u00a0century BC they would have known the Jewish Scriptures which include the prophecy of Balaam in Numbers 24:17:\u00a0I see him, but not now; I behold him, but not near: a star shall come out of Jacob, and a scepter shall rise out of Israel;\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n

The conjunction of Saturn and Jupiter occurred three times in in 7BC, suggesting that when it had first appeared the\u00a0Magi<\/em>\u00a0travelled westward to Jerusalem, Israel\u2019s capital. Given the distance they would have arrived there about the time of the third planetary conjunction. It was when they were in Jerusalem that they learned of the baby\u2019s birth in Bethlehem \u2013 as Micah had foretold.<\/p>\n

Matthew tells us,\u00a0Going into the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother, and they fell down and worshiped him. Then, opening their treasures, they offered him gifts, gold and frankincense and myrrh<\/em>\u00a0(Matthew 2:11).\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Their gifts were prophetic: gold, a gift for a king \u2013 the greatest king lay before them; frankincense, used by the priests \u2013 the greatest priest was the one they saw; myrrh, for the burial of the dead \u2013 this baby, born to be king would be crowned through his suffering on a cross. Significantly, and to us surprisingly these highly respected, wise, non-Jewish men fell on their knees and worshipped this baby.<\/p>\n

At the time when Matthew wrote this Gospel account, non-Jewish peoples from across the known world were coming to the crucified and risen Jesus as their king and savior. Matthew here is highlighting yet another facet of the fulfillment of the prophetic promise concerning God\u2019s King:\u00a0Nations will come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your dawn\u2026\u00a0<\/em>(Isaiah 60:3).<\/p>\n

Articles that call for our world to revisit the Christmas story are a fresh illustration of the way Jesus Christ fulfills Isaiah\u2019s words. They give us the opportunity to take people back to the true story revealed in the Gospels. Are you praying for such opportunities and working at ways to use them?<\/p>\n

You may want to check out\u00a03 Modules re \u2018Outreach\u2019 on the Anglican Connection website<\/strong>. The Modules have been drawn from seminars I have been giving in various cities this year. Here is the link:\u00a0https:\/\/anglicanconnection.com\/outreach-christmas-beyond\/<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a9 John G. Mason, Anglican Connection<\/p>\n

Note 1:\u00a0Please let me know if you wish to add others to this list.<\/p>\n

Note 2: If you wish to be removed from this list, reply with \u2018Please remove\u2019 in the subject line.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

An op-ed in\u00a0The Australian\u00a0on Christmas Eve (12\/24\/18) referenced a recent lecture by the American scholar George Weigel who \u2018argues that Christianity, including the values highlighted at Christmas, has an important role to play in revitalizing democratic, market-oriented societies\u2019. The article continued, \u2018These are struggling on both sides of the Atlantic and elsewhere, including Australia, producing […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3789,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nSurprise...! - The Anglican Connection<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/anglicanconnection.com\/surprise\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Surprise...! - The Anglican Connection\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"An op-ed in\u00a0The Australian\u00a0on Christmas Eve (12\/24\/18) referenced a recent lecture by the American scholar George Weigel who \u2018argues that Christianity, including the values highlighted at Christmas, has an important role to play in revitalizing democratic, market-oriented societies\u2019. 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