Hiding in Plain Sight

After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem and asked, "Where is the one who is born the king of the Jews?" We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him. When King Herod heard, he was disturbed and all Jerusalem with him. When he called together all the people's chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them, "Where is the Messiah to be born?" "In Bethlehem and in Judea," they replied, "For this is what the prophet has written." "But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judea, are by no means least among the rulers of Judea, for out of you will come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel." Then Herod called to Magi secretly and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared. He sent them to Bethlehem and said, "Go and search carefully for the child. As soon as you find him, report to me so that I too may go and worship him." After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen when it rose went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother, Mary, and they bowed down and worshipped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route.

Thank you, Andrew, Garrett, and Mikey, for lighting our Advent candle and reading us this morning's scripture. Let's thank Elizabeth and the worship team for leading us also in this. We are blessed with so much beauty here at Twin Lakes Church. And we're going to get into a message on the verses that you just heard, but before we do that, I just want to, first of all, say good morning. Thank you. My name is Mark, and I want to welcome you. I want to welcome all of you that are not only in this room but next door in our venue service or joining us on Facebook Live. We're so glad that you're with us, and I just hope that you're blessed today. That's my simple prayer.

And also, René mentioned the concert, but I just want to express my personal thanks for everyone who made that possible, the 200 or so that were part of the cast and people helping me, parking and everything in between. It was amazing. I found myself just because of how beautiful it was and the message, the music. I just teared up at a number of points throughout the performance, and I know that I was not alone because I was looking around at some of you as well. It was just incredible. So, well, we are blessed.

Well, this just in, there's eight days until Christmas. Eight days. And for some of you, that just triggered some stress right now. The adrenaline is coursing through your veins and your mind is racing to all the things that you still have to do. You know, there's gifts and cookies and shopping and crowds and traffic and crowds and traffic, and you get the picture. This Friday, I got my first "Are you ready for Christmas?" question. Anyone ask you this before? "Are you ready for Christmas?" Let me just word to the wise here. If you're asking the average male if he's ready for Christmas in the middle of December, the answer is no. Okay. We're not ready. We're not going to be ready until hopefully 11 p.m. on Christmas Eve if we're lucky.

But really what's behind that question is, have you checked all the boxes? Have you covered all the extra bases, you know, the things you have to do and buy and wrap and bake before December 25th? So you have some semblance of joy and peace on Christmas morning. Because Christmas has become something that we have to gear up for, right? You got to pick up the pace, people, because there's a lot of stuff we still have to cram in. And by the way, Merry Christmas. But I want to encourage all of us today, in all the busyness, and let's face it, a certain amount of busyness is just inevitable this time of year. But in all of that, don't forget to see the treasure right under your nose.

Don't forget to stop and also see the joy in a child's face or the beautiful lights and decorations in the December sky. It's just amazing. And most important of all, don't forget to take time to drink in the meaning of this season, because if you don't, you might just miss it. In fact, it's a very easy thing to do to miss the treasure that's hiding in plain sight. And I'll give you an example of that. It started with a pretty innocent question by one of the staff members at Fordham University. Maybe you're familiar with the school's prestigious school in Manhattan. It's beautiful. But inside of their administration offices, the hallways are adorned with beautiful artwork, oil paintings, and the like.

And not too long ago, one of the staff members said, "I wonder if any of these portraits and paintings are significant, valuable." And so shortly after that, they called in an art historian to check it out. In fact, the staff showed the art historian the particular pieces that they think are significant. And guess what? None of them actually were. But this art historian, she discovers a note in the archives of the school referenced to a painting by an artist named Cristobal de Vilpando. He's a Mexican artist that lived over 300 years ago. At the time, he was one of the most renowned painters in the Spanish world. In fact, this very same art historian would later refer to him as the "Michelangelo of Mexico" for his era.

And so she asks the staff, "Well, do you have anything by Vilpando?" And they kind of scratched their heads. One person says, "What? You know, I vaguely recall a painting. It's hanging in the president's office, and at the bottom, there's scribbled villains, something down there. But surely it's been there for over a hundred years. We would know if it was important. I mean, there's a lot of smart people around here, by the way." But when they usher the art historian into the president's office, her jaw just drops. Because right across from his desk, staring at him every day, is a massive, previously unknown painting by Vilpando. And there it is for over a hundred years, hiding in plain sight.

Here it is, being removed from the president's office. It's on its way to be on display at the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art. And that's Fordham's president wondering if he's ever going to get that painting back. He actually did just a couple weeks ago. But what I love about this story, about this painting, is how it all connects to the passage that we just heard from Matthew 2, about the visit of the Magi when they come to see Jesus. You know, it's really a story about when God is hiding in plain sight. And yet, very few people actually spot him. And what's so incredible are the people that actually do—these Magi.

And in order to unpack this and really appreciate what's going on, I want to begin by asking the question, "Who were the Magi?" I mean, who are these wise guys? Because the only thing that Matthew tells us is that they came from east of Palestine, following the star. And the only thing the Magi ever say is in verse 2 of Matthew, where they say this. They say, "Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star in the east and we have come to worship him." That's it. Now, of course, there's all sorts of other stuff that's crept into this story, lots of Christmas lore. And in order to tease this out, I'm going to spring a little pop quiz on you. I know there's some students here. You just got back from college. You're like, "Pop quiz? That's the last thing I want in church." But this is going to be an easy one. You're going to ace this, so just relax.

But first of all, you've got to put on your thinking caps. All of these questions are true or false. And I want to hear you answer with confidence, okay? Loud and proud. Here we go. True or false? There were three wise men. Oh, a little mixed opinion there. The answer is, "We don't know." We don't know. Matthew uses the Greek word magoi. That's plural. So we know there's at least two of the Magi. But if they were part of the caravan, there could have been dozens of them, many of them. The Eastern Orthodox Church has traditions involving 12 wise men. So they have to have bigger mantles in their homes or something to accommodate all these extra wise men. But the Bible doesn't really tell us. We probably got the tradition of the three wise men based on the three kinds of gifts that they brought, right? The gold, frankincense, and the myrrh. And so beyond that, it's anybody's guess.

All right, next question. True or false? Here we go. I want to hear you. You were a little timid the first time around if I might be so bold to say. So here we go. Let me hear you. Their names were Gaspar, Balthasar, and Melchor. Someone said, "We don't know." The answer is false. These names were given to them several centuries later. The Bible never names them. All right, third question. True or false? They were kings. You know, I don't know. I'm not even going to say anything. Come on. They're true or false? It's false. The song gets it wrong, and so do you that said true. They're most likely... They were astrologers. They were priests. They were magicians. In fact, we get our word magic from the same root as the word the Magi comes from.

But because they were seen as people of great knowledge, they knew about the stars, and yet there was no line between science and superstition. And so they just wowed people, amazed them, and because of their extraordinary standing, it was typical for them to be in the eastern part of the Middle East. In Persia and Babylon, they became part of a king's circle of advisors, and we're going to see that in just a moment, so hold on to that. All right, next question. True or false? They visited Jesus at the manger. It's false. That's right. The manger, the nativity scene in your house right now, it's wrong. In fact, you're spreading false information to your kids and your grandkids. They weren't there. If you're listening, Matthew says in verse 11 that the Magi visit Jesus at a what? A house.

All right, here we go. Last question. True or false? Here we go. There was a little drummer boy with them. That actually is true. Do I even have to ask about that one? It is totally false. All right, so clearly there are a lot of myths that have surrounded this story, so what do we actually know? Well, I want to take you on a little bit of a search. First, we're going to go back to the Old Testament, to the Book of Daniel, where the Magi are the dream interpreters of ancient Babylon. This takes us back to a time when most of the Jewish people have been hauled back to Babylon, and some of the best and brightest of them, like Daniel himself, were included among the Magi, because again, they provide counsel to the king.

And in this case, the king's name, chapter 2, is Nebuchadnezzar, and one night Nebuchadnezzar has a really bad dream, so much so that he calls in the Magi and he says, "I need you to interpret this dream for me. What does it mean? But, not so fast, guys, in order for me to know that you know what you're talking about, the first thing you got to do is tell me the dream, and then I'll believe you when you tell me what it means." And they're like, "Uh, okay, can we buy a vowel?" Because, you know, Your Highness, no one can actually do that. And so they're like, "Why don't you tell us the dream, and then we'll interpret it, and we'll be right spot on." And he's like, "No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, it's not going to go down that way."

And they go round and round a little bit, and then finally, Nebuchadnezzar blows his stack and he orders the execution of all of the Magi, so now Daniel's neck is on the line as well. And Daniel, he asks some of his fellow countrymen to pray, and God answers that prayer. He reveals to Daniel not only the dream but what it means. Daniel tells us to Nebuchadnezzar, he's happy, saves the day, and Daniel gets a big promotion. Daniel becomes the new CEO of all of the Magi. And so in the following years, Daniel's a very likely source of information for these guys about the Jewish expectation of a Messiah King that someday would be born.

And not only that, but also in Babylon at the time, there are thousands and thousands of Jews. In fact, some of them never left, and so they would be sharing their hopes and their faith in the same. Before we leave the Old Testament, though, just want to mention, also in the book of Esther, you can read about the Magi as well, and what is really significant in Esther is the amount of political power that the Magi have. So now, several centuries later, these guys arrive in Jerusalem. Hey, they're impressive. They're exotic. They're wealthy. They're no doubt. They're flanked by soldiers, and most of our major scenes have camels. I envision them on these Arabian steeds or something like that. I mean, it's like, wow, this does not happen every day.

So it's no wonder, you know, this kind of rocks Herod's world on a number of levels. First, because it's just such a spectacle, and this is a show of power, but also Herod was a psychopath. I mean, on par with any of the political despots that you can think of in our day, he was so paranoid that someone would betray him that he had his own wife executed and two of his own sons. So when Herod is disturbed, all of Jerusalem is disturbed with him. Do you know what I mean? All right, that's the Old Testament picture of these mysterious, exotic Magi. Now let's jump over to Matthew and go into the New Testament because in the book of Acts, two references to the Magi, or at least individual Magi, appear, and the first one is in Acts 8, where in verse 9 it says this. "Now for some time, a man named Simon had practiced sorcery in the city and amazed all the people of Samaria." Now look at that word "sorcery" right there. That's the same word that Matthew uses for Magi, or what's sometimes translated "wise men," and yet here it's interpreted "sorcery." Why? What's a contextual thing? This is how this guy amazes people. This is kind of his main focus. But again, it kind of messes with the picture a little bit.

Now it's like you're thinking of Dumbledore or something like that, or Voldemort. In Acts 13, there's another reference where Paul and Barnabas are telling people about Jesus, and then in verse 8 it says this, "But Elimas, the sorcerer, for that is what his name means, opposed them." Paul will go on to call Elimas a child of the devil. I'm not exactly a compliment there, but the word "sorcery" right there, exact same word that Matthew uses to describe the guys who visit Jesus, the Magi. The point is, these guys are full-on pagans, okay? They do not fit within the expected lane. They are outsiders. In fact, in the Old Testament, the best you can say is they're viewed neutrally, but by the time you get to Acts, Magi is a bad word.

So there's this mixed connotations, and amazingly, Matthew, he doesn't try to sanitize us. He just kind of tells the story matter-of-factly, which is a problem for people who would like us to believe that the gospels basically are the beginnings of Christian propaganda about Jesus. Bear in mind that Matthew's chief aim in his gospel is to convince his Jewish brothers and sisters that Jesus is the Messiah. If that were the case, do you think that Matthew would actually include a story about these Magi? Not a chance, unless it actually happened. Because of all the people, when Jesus is born, the first to recognize that he is the Messiah, that he is the King, the first to actually worship him, are these strange, kind of weird guys we don't really trust and we don't really do the things that they do. It's really amazing.

But unfortunately, for us, this story has become so familiar, or we reduce these guys down to little figurines in our nativity sets. We miss the shock value of what is actually happening here. And the subtext is, the King of kings and Lord of lords was born in Bethlehem, and the only person who took notice were the most unlikely people of all. You know what this means for us? Well, first of all, I think it means that God has a heart for seekers. God has a heart for people who are seeking after him. And I believe sometimes he reveals himself to them in ways that we're not privy to. I mean, think of these guys. We wonder about people who live in times and places where they don't have the type of exposure to the gospel that many of us have had over a course of our lives, and yet there are the Magi, right in the middle of our Christmas story, and they are completely off everybody's radar. This is the total shocker that they show up.

Today, missionaries that do outreach into the countries that now comprise ancient Persia and Babylon can tell you story after story after story of how Jesus reveals himself in amazing ways to people who, you know, there's significant obstacles for these missionaries, and yet Jesus finds a way to reach them. And I think in heaven we will be stunned at, you know, the folks that are in the Magi category, if you will, that God reached in amazing ways because God has a heart for seekers. But for those of us that are here where, you know, the message of Jesus is so accessible for us, I mean, let's be honest. We have an embarrassment of riches when it comes to Christian resources. You can now, you can download, well, don't do it now, but wait till after church, you can download dozens and dozens of versions of the Bible for free right to your phone.

Just like that. It won't cost you but a couple seconds of time to do that. It's amazing what we have, but because of that, it also means that God can be doing wondrous things all around us, miraculous things, joyous things, and yet we completely miss them. It's like he's hiding in plain sight while we, well, quite frankly, while we binge on activity and information and all sorts of stuff that, in the grand scheme of things, doesn't really matter. But the good news is this, it doesn't have to be that way. The good news is that we have a choice. We can choose to focus on what is essential this Christmas. It just begins by asking God to open our eyes to the treasure right in front of us.

I'll show you what I mean. Let me take you back to that portrait by Vilampando, the adoration of the Magi. There are things that Vilampando gets wrong in this, but there are also some things that he really gets right. He just nails these things. In fact, for starters, you'll notice that they're not at a major when the Magi arrive. He doesn't put them at a major. And if notice, some of these details, notice this. If the Magi were truly wise enough, they have the insight to seek Jesus as the long-awaited Messiah, then they might also offer him not just gold, but a golden chalice as a reminder of the cup of suffering that he one day would drink.

Or if they were truly kings, well, then they would bow down before Jesus like this one and cast their crown at his feet because this guy knows there can only be one king. And there's another detail that you may have missed. Did you notice the three children? There's one for each of the Magi. In fact, they resemble them because I think Vilampando is reminding us that in the presence of Jesus, we must all become like a child. And what I love about this is that all of these details are hiding in plain sight. They're all right there, but you'll never see them unless you take the time to actually gaze and discover the treasure that's there, which is exactly what happened in the story involving the Magi, right?

Let me ask you to jot down a couple of things. The first is this. Sometimes the people farthest from Jesus are the most eager to find him. You ever notice this? Sometimes the people farthest away, they're just so eager. I mean, you can try to bring up spirituality at a Christmas party or something like that. It's going to be — it'll be considered impolite by some, but you can go to countries across the globe, people dying to hear about Jesus. In some cases, literally. Let me give you an example of this type of spiritual hunger. A couple years ago, National Geographic awarded this photograph as its photograph of the year. This man is the chief of the Ramnami people in India. The Ramnami worship a deity they call Ram. And in order to demonstrate their devotion to Ram, they have Ram's name tattooed on their body. They have it tattooed on every square inch of their body. Ram, Ram, Ram, Ram, Ram. One needle stick at a time.

And whatever else you may think of this photograph, it is a picture of spiritual hunger. It is a picture of a man who has lived his life with this yearning to connect to the God who created him. And I don't know where he is today or what he may know about Jesus or come to know about Jesus, but I know this. The good news that we've been given and are called to share is that we don't have to pierce ourselves or work ourselves or do whatever to ourselves in order to earn the love and approval of Jesus Christ. It has all been given to us freely in Jesus Christ. Amen to that. And by the way, it was Jesus who was pierced for us. That's the gift that we've been given.

But like I said, we can become so accustomed to all of this, we can become so accustomed to the Christmas stories, we miss the irony of ones like this one, where the outsiders, they're the ones that find the treasure, they're the ones that get it, and the insiders, well, they can't be bothered. And that's a theme that recurs over and over again throughout the Gospels. My simple prayer is that God would save us, save me from having a jaded or distracted heart this Christmas season. I mean, again, if nothing else, ask God to give you fresh appreciation for what he's done for you, eyes that are open to see. Don't miss what he has for us.

Because you know what, there's a flip side to all of this. If people who are sometimes far away from Jesus have a hunger for him, sometimes people closest to Jesus are the most likely to overlook him. And again, you see that in this story. Remember what Herod calls the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and he says, "Hey, tell me where the Messiah must be born." And Matthew doesn't say, "Well, then they went away for a couple days, and they, you know, kind of hit the books, and they figured out the answer, and they came back to him." They don't do that at all. They're like, "Duh, that's easy, Herod. Try reading your Bible." And in verses 5 and 6, they say, "In Bethlehem, in Judea." We all know that. And by the way, Bethlehem is six miles from Jerusalem. Just hold on to that.

But they say, "For this is what the prophet," that's Micah, "has written, 'But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah, for out of you will come a ruler who will be the shepherd of my people Israel.'" And they just rattle it off like that, like, "Pfft, now, next question." But then what happens? Is their curiosity piqued at all by the question they've been asked, and by the fact that these Magi have been shown up? Do they even think, "Well, maybe we ought to investigate this?" There's another verse that they clearly know that would have sparked or could have sparked some further intrigue in their minds. In Numbers 24, another outsider that says this, "A star will come out of Jacob. A scepter will rise out of Israel." That might be why the Magi were looking for a star, because of this particular verse. It's a verse that the chief priests and the elders surely know.

But despite all this, do they travel six whole miles to Bethlehem to check it out? I mean, how many of you have run in the wharf-to-wharf, or you know people who have? Yeah, that's more than the six-mile trek. Okay, a little over, what, 6.3 or something like that? That's further than they have. But do they go? No, they don't. Tragically, they never go and investigate, because, well, hey, they've got all sorts of other things to do, right? I mean, they've got meetings, and they've got schedules, and they've got important stuff, so they just blow it off. And in the meantime, the long-awaited Messiah is six miles away. Six miles.

Reminds me when I was a kid, we loved to watch this TV show called "Get Smart." Anyone remember that show? Maxwell Smart, kind of the bumbling spy government agent. And every time, Matthew, Maxwell Smart would blow it, which was like basically every episode. He had an answer for that. He would say to his chief, he'd say, "Missed it by that much," right? "The bad guy got away," or whatever, "Missed it by that much." It was a punchline to this show over and over again. And when it comes to the chief priests and the teachers of the law, well, they missed it by that much.

Now, if you're a church person, and I happen to know that many of you are, because I see you here all the time, or heaven forbid, you're the modern-day equivalent of a chief priest or a teacher of the law, like a pastor, this is a cautionary tale, isn't it? I mean, we're in one of the greatest times of the year for our faith, this opportunity to soak in the gift of God becoming one of us. And when Christmas 2017 comes and goes, you will not want to look back and go, "Ah, missed it by that much." And by the way, if you haven't yet placed your faith in Jesus, maybe you're just here because you're curious, or you're here because you're visiting friends or family, and you didn't know this, but they intended to drag you to church today, and you were too polite to say no, so here you are. And I'm glad you are, because I don't think it's an accident. I think that God has something for you to see or experience this morning.

And so I just want to offer an application for all of us. This is a takeaway from the story. Every single one of us can apply this, whether you're just kind of curious about Christianity or you've been a believer for decades, it's something that we can all do, and this application comes from a very unlikely source. It comes from King Herod. And it's so good, in fact, you may have missed it, considering it came from Herod, but Herod says this. In verse 8, he says, "Go and search carefully for the child." Go and search carefully for the child. Now, Herod's not going to take his own advice, but if you are wise, you will. You will search for the child, and not just pondering like, "Oh, that's a real clever point, Mark," but actually putting feet to it.

In fact, specifically, let's just drive this point home. Ask yourself this question, "How will I search carefully for Jesus this Christmas?" How will you do this before you get distracted and your holidays are just hijacked by someone else? Because here's the way the world works. If you do not prioritize your life, somebody else will. That's just the way of the world. If you don't prioritize your life, somebody else will. So how will you search carefully for the child? In fact, I want to encourage you to write some things down in the blank spaces of your notes, and if I may be so bold to suggest the first one, it would be this, "Read my Bible these next eight days." In fact, read these stories that, again, they're so familiar, perhaps, to many of us, but there's treasure in them.

Beginning of Matthew, beginning of Luke, one of the things that I've been doing to try to live this out in my own life is it's the old Billy Graham trick. You just keep your Bible open in your house all the time because an open Bible is a red Bible. So I always end up at the same place in our kitchen every morning, and I've just kept my Bible there open to greet me and to get me to gravitate towards my Bible than towards my laptop or something like that. So read these stories. Soak in these stories. Be blessed by these stories. Then when you have time for prayer and praise and celebration, it'll be so much more meaningful for you, meaningful for you for this.

And we've even got tools and resources for you. You can go to our website and get our daily video devotions. Maybe you start your morning with that, and then you read your Bible or you end your day with that. It's four minutes of your time, and there's also a free Advent book. It's a free resource. You can download it, and you might be thinking, "Well, Advent's half over or more." But hey, better to do the last third than not at all. And again, it will get your mind reengaged with one of the most significant... I think you could put it in the top two, right? His birth and his death and resurrection. Like the coming of God to this world.

And finally, again, I think just make this a non-negotiable, not that God will love you more, but you will be so blessed to be part of our candlelight services. So I hope you don't let anything derail you from that because it's so beautiful. It's so meaningful. You will be blessed as you take this opportunity to soak in the wonder of Christmas. Remember, there's eight days till Christmas. So go and search carefully for the child because he is the king of kings. He is the Lord of lords. He's our savior. He is Emmanuel. He is God with us. And he is infinitely worth all the time and attention that you give him. Amen? Amen.

Would you pray with me? Heavenly Father, we thank you for this morning. We thank you for this opportunity to gather together, to hear from your word, Lord, and to have your spirit activated in our hearts and our minds. And so, Lord, that's my prayer, that this week, for these next eight days, you would give us a real hunger to search for the child of Christmas, to search for Jesus and not allow all of the extra stuff, which is good in its own right, but not allowed to derail us. And, Father, if there are folks here in this room or next door or tuning in somewhere, and this is new to them or they have questions, Lord, I pray that you would lead them in the discovery of Jesus Christ and help us to be facilitators in that process.

But, Lord, I know this much. You have promised that if we seek you, we will find you. And so, Lord, we want to seek you this Christmas time. And in these days ahead, in the process, it would fill our hearts to overflowing, that we would not only be blessed in ourselves, but we would be a blessing to the world around us. I pray this in the wondrous, beautiful name of Jesus Christ. All God's people said, "Amen." Amen.