CHRIST IN COMMON LIFE
‘When they were come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary His mother, and fell down, and worshipped Him.’
Think of those Magi, great men in their own land, rich men, powerful men,—men who could undertake a long journey, and bring great wealth with them,—what did they find at last? A royal infant, royally attended,—such as, no doubt, they had expected? Quite the reverse: the babe of a poor peasant woman, in great humility. What an end to what a journey! This, to be the end to which a Star in Heaven had led them! This, the goal to which a King, instructed by the priests of God, had directed them! How strange it must have seemed! Did they doubt, or what? By no means.
I. The best for the poor.—They worshipped him immediately. Did they think that it would be a mistake to pour out all their costly gifts before so poor a family? No, they offered all. The way of the world is only to give valuable presents to rich people. Small gifts are good enough for poor people. And if these Magi had gone the way of the world, when they found what a poor family it was they had come to, they would have kept back most of their expensive offerings, and given just what would do decently for the poor family before them. They did the reverse. They gave their best. They offered all. And so they proved their thorough Faith. They not only worshipped Him, but they also made Him offerings, which showed that their worship was no empty form, but a reality, although they must have been astonished more than one can express, that, after all their journeys and all their marvels of the Divine Star, it was only to a peasant’s cradle that they had come.
II. Our commonplace duties.—How often must not we have been astonished when, after some series of circumstances which has caused us much perplexity, all that we come to is some very commonplace ending, some new position in life where the duties seem excessively commonplace, extremely unimportant, hardly worth taking particular notice of. Beware if you think this. Those commonplace duties are like the Bethlehem Cradle. In them, in fulfilling them, you shall find Christ. If it has been worth God’s while to lead you to them, it is worth your while to attend to them. In doing them with all your heart you are worshipping Him, even as the Magi were worshipping the Lord of Heaven in the lowly cradle. ‘With all your heart,’ I say, and with all your means and powers. Do not say, ‘This is a very unimportant matter, I will only give it such pains as it is worth.’
III. God’s leadings.—In all that God leads you to undertake, be it ever so small to look at, do your best. The Magi offered their best, and so they went away with a blessing. Therefore in all that God leads you unto—do your utmost. Who are we that we should be able to judge what is important and what is unimportant? If it had not been important, would God have led you to it? That is enough for us; remembering that if we do our duty, holding back nothing, the humble duty on which we spend our all will have been to us as the Cradle of Bethlehem to the Magi. In it we shall have found Christ.
Illustration
‘God guides us as much, and perhaps much more, by the things which happen to us in our daily lives, than by any inner speaking to our hearts. And this is most especially true in the earlier stages of our religion. As a matter of actual fact, it is by no means safe for those who are comparatively beginners to trust to their power to understand the inner voice of God’s guidance. It takes time and experience to enable them safely to discriminate between what is really Divine, and what is only their own fancy. There can be no mistake about plain facts. The message of our circumstances is usually very distinct. Of course we can shut our eyes to it, if we please: or we may turn our eyes away from it. But generally circumstances are so clear that we have to turn our eyes away in order to avoid seeing what they mean. Hence for beginners it is best to gather God’s will about them from His outward leadings, just as it was not by an inner voice, but by a visible Star, that God led these Gentiles to the Cradle of the Lord.’