Unlikely
Read Matthew 2:1-12.
I once had a pastor tell me that he wouldn't allow anyone to go on a mission trip if he wasn't sure they were fully converted and sold out to Jesus. I get what he was saying—that if you're going to do work to demonstrate the love of Jesus, you ought to have that love in your heart and life. But I also have difficulty squaring the guideline with Scripture.
Take the story of the Magi, for instance. These men of the stars were not Christian, nor were they Jewish. They apparently had an interest in all sorts of religious prophecies and ideas, but they would likely have been followers of the Zoroastrian faith. While Zoroastrians believe in a single god, it is not the same as the God of the Jews or Christians. They practice good deeds in order to keep chaos at bay, and they have a strong ecological bent. These particular Magi, or "wise men," had an interest in the stars and had apparently also studied some of the Hebrew texts, enough to know that a bright star in the direction of Jerusalem indicated a king had been born. That star, then, set them out on a journey to find this king—not out of religious interest, but out of intellectual curiosity.
Here's the point, though: God used these Magi, these scholars of another religion, to proclaim the news about Jesus. In fact, the only people who were first witnesses to Jesus' birth were unlikely candidates. Shepherds, who could not go to formal or official worship because they were ritually unclean, and Magi, whose faith pointed them toward another god and another way of life. Herod, the king of the Jews who was at least part Jewish, wasn't interested. He was more threatened by the newborn king than in awe. The religious leaders in Jerusalem knew the king would be born in Bethlehem but couldn't be bothered to travel the short distance to see if the prophecy has been fulfilled. They were too...busy? In short: the "likely" proclaimers of Jesus ignored him while the "unlikely" are still, two thousand years later, being used to tell his story.
God can use anyone he wants to—even the unlikely. Especially the unlikely. He can even use you and me for his purposes. Thanks be to God!
I once had a pastor tell me that he wouldn't allow anyone to go on a mission trip if he wasn't sure they were fully converted and sold out to Jesus. I get what he was saying—that if you're going to do work to demonstrate the love of Jesus, you ought to have that love in your heart and life. But I also have difficulty squaring the guideline with Scripture.
Take the story of the Magi, for instance. These men of the stars were not Christian, nor were they Jewish. They apparently had an interest in all sorts of religious prophecies and ideas, but they would likely have been followers of the Zoroastrian faith. While Zoroastrians believe in a single god, it is not the same as the God of the Jews or Christians. They practice good deeds in order to keep chaos at bay, and they have a strong ecological bent. These particular Magi, or "wise men," had an interest in the stars and had apparently also studied some of the Hebrew texts, enough to know that a bright star in the direction of Jerusalem indicated a king had been born. That star, then, set them out on a journey to find this king—not out of religious interest, but out of intellectual curiosity.
Here's the point, though: God used these Magi, these scholars of another religion, to proclaim the news about Jesus. In fact, the only people who were first witnesses to Jesus' birth were unlikely candidates. Shepherds, who could not go to formal or official worship because they were ritually unclean, and Magi, whose faith pointed them toward another god and another way of life. Herod, the king of the Jews who was at least part Jewish, wasn't interested. He was more threatened by the newborn king than in awe. The religious leaders in Jerusalem knew the king would be born in Bethlehem but couldn't be bothered to travel the short distance to see if the prophecy has been fulfilled. They were too...busy? In short: the "likely" proclaimers of Jesus ignored him while the "unlikely" are still, two thousand years later, being used to tell his story.
God can use anyone he wants to—even the unlikely. Especially the unlikely. He can even use you and me for his purposes. Thanks be to God!
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