God of the Nations

Read Matthew 2:1-12

Growing up, I would hear lots of messages about how our God is a God of every nation, and it was an easy message to take for granted. God is big and universal and timeless, and there are people all over the world who follow the same Jesus that I know. I thought that everyone understood God in the same way. As I got older and met more people from different cultures, I saw more and more clearly how God shows up differently and uniquely to people of every ethnicity and culture. 

In this passage, we see the Magi, who are people who study the stars and know so much more about the stars and astronomy than your average person, travel a great distance because of a very unique star. They recognize Jesus as King because even the stars in the sky point to His majesty. God shows up so clearly to the Magi in their specific context in such a way that they KNOW that someone very important was there; someone worthy of worship. The message from God to the Magi was so clear that they had no problem going straight to Herod and asking where the real King was. 

This passage offers us yet another lens to see the authority and divinity of Jesus. The Magi offered the other people in this passage and they offer us a perspective we would not have seen otherwise. Our understanding of who God is and who God’s people are is incomplete without one another. We need each other’s stories to see God more fully than we’d be able to see God on our own.

This story from Matthew leads us to wonder which perspectives we’re not paying attention to. How can you submit to the leadership of Christians who come from a different social location than you? We see that God uses even the stars to radically expand the family of God, and God still wants us to broaden our understanding of God’s family today. May God give us all fresh and new eyes to see the majesty of Jesus.

For Family Discussion: Who are some people that God has put into your life to show you what God is like? What have you learned from them about who God is?

For Personal Reflection: How can you be open to learning from Christians of different backgrounds? Is there a way you can adopt a posture of humility and curiosity as you learn from the global church of Christ? 

by Josh Green