Pilgrimage, Matt 2:1-12
The Magi and Herod are both seeking the Messiah, both believe the Messiah exists, but they seek for very different reasons.
I notice in this scripture that the Magi may have begun their journey with an Intellectual fascination, but in the scripture, as they draw near to the Child, the Magi’s motivation appears to grow, “We’re on a journey to worship him.” At the pinnacle of their pilgrimage, they are moved to something greater than how the journey began. The scripture says when they find the child in his Mary’s arms, they are “overcome.”
The scripture says Herod was terrified. Herod’s purpose is evil, but he too is seeking to find the Messiah. He calls the religious scholars and asks them for help to find the Messiah. Herod tries to use the Magi to find the Messiah, because out of fear he wants to kill the child. They seek with different motivations and for very different reasons.
What draws you to see the Messiah? Why do you journey and seek? What about the Kingdom strikes your wonder, curiosity, and compels you to lean in and pursue the magic of the Kingdom the Love, Joy, and Grace of God?
The Morse family collaborated to answer this question. We found a variety of answers to these questions:
Compelled to worship
A lifestyle, To live a life of faith
Fear
Faith, Hope
Hopeless, Need, Desperation
I don’t care, but I was told to seek
Emotional curiosity
Faith of a child, blind faith
To prove the myth wrong.
Seeking peace from this world. I feel discontented and want something more.
David noticed that Herod was seeking to keep the Messiah from doing to him, what he wanted to do to the messiah. To kill him. Self-preservation.
We Journey for the joy of Christ in good times AND also for the unconditional love and grace when we are in hard times.
It is compelling to pursue something bigger and more awe inspiring than ourselves. Also, there is a sense of stimulating discovery in the pursuit. It’s cool that the process of discovery is somehow safe and loving.
To know that in a world that doesn’t always appear just or fair and holds suffering, there is a Messiah and a God that transcends the world
Pursue out of wanting to be fully known and loved. Not fully trusting (being insecure) that someone would love me if they really knew me but having faith that if anyone could fully know me and love me, it would be the Savior: The Graceful One.
Why do you journey? What do you seek?
Mike Morse and the Morse Family Contributors