Faithfully Seeking

 

Have you considered the faith of the magi?
They left their homes in the faith of Abraham... on a journey for an unknown destination, over an undetermined span of time, unsure whether they would return.
They pursued the promise of God, a word softly shared since the birth of Israel: a star would rise from David's house. The magi valued God's promise with awed reverence, seeking to worship a king born to a foreign people.
Yet they believed the unmatched, indescribable, unfathomable greatness of this King.
Thus, they followed a star.
Ponder how ludicrous that sounds. Bizarre, foolish, risky, pathetic, hopeless.
Imagine the mocking taunts of their countrymen as they left. Or did they sneak away at night, leaving family and friends because the group knew no one else would understand the desperation, urgency, passion planted in their hearts by a word best described as alive.
Consider the stir of Jerusalem which greeted the Magi. The people of God imitated a pagan king's response to a divine promise fulfilled. Israel became distressed to hear of the Star rising. Magi from the east stood alone in eagerly pursuing Yaweh's Son.
Picture the humble abode into which the Magi entered after months of travel, searching, anticipation. How easily they might have spurned the sight. How loosely they held to expectations! For they frowned not, nor fled aghast.
Knees draped in ornate robes bending to the floor.
Voices of authority spewing worship to a child poorly dressed.
Costly gifts offered in surrendered sacrifice.
They left in the night. The encounter did not linger. Yet their lives must never have been the same. Men who left their world in pursuit of a promise remain men kingdom minded, kingdom bound, kingdom devoted. 

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