Episode Transcript
PRAYER OF CONSECRATION
Wake up, sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.
Jesus, I belong to you.
I lift up my heart to you.
Help me to eagerly desire spiritual gifts, especially the gift of prophecy.
I set my mind on you.
Help me discern your thoughts.
I fix my eyes on you.
I offer my body to you as a living sacrifice.
Jesus, we belong to you.
Praying in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, amen.
Matthew 2:1–12
After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem and asked, "Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him."
When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him. When he had called together all the people's chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Messiah was to be born. "In Bethlehem in Judea," they replied, "for this is what the prophet has written:
"'But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,
are by no means least among the rulers of Judah;
for out of you will come a ruler
who will shepherd my people Israel.'"
Then Herod called the Magi secretly and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared. He sent them to Bethlehem and said, "Go and search carefully for the child. As soon as you find him, report to me, so that I too may go and worship him."
After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen when it rose went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother, Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route.
CONSIDER THIS
On Friday, we considered the role of our hearts—our desires—in prophetic ministry and Paul's exhortation to "eagerly desire spiritual gifts, especially the gift of prophecy." Yesterday, we looked at the role of the mind. Today, we want to think about our eyes: "Lord, I fix my eyes on you."
And we will begin with another hymn, "The First Noel," particularly the opening line of verse two. If you want to look it up, you'll find it in the Seedbed hymnal, Our Great Redeemer's Praise (hymn 188). Oh, and thank you to the people who gave me a gift of the deluxe leather version of the hymnal. What a beautiful gift! There may be some left in the Seed Store if you're looking for a wowzah gift for a friend or yourself.
But I digress. Let's look at "The First Noel."
If you read through verse one, you'll know it's about angels, shepherds, fields, sheep, and a cold winter’s night. Verses two through five should be about the Magi. It begins with the line, "They looked up and saw a star." The hymn writer must have jumbled up his scriptural index cards because the pronoun "they," used at the beginning of verse two, makes it seem like it was the shepherds who saw the star. Not in my Bible! The shepherds saw a multitude of angels; it was the Magi who saw the star. According to Wikipedia, "The First Noel" is an old English carol, so let's blame the English—we get a bunch of stuff wrong, so let's add that to the list.
Now let’s return to the line in question, "They looked up and saw a star." I’m fascinated by the words "looked up" in this verse. Let me explain.
When I was recording the companion videos to my new Seedbed book, Speak Tenderly: Prophetic Ministry Seasoned with Grace, Andrew Dragos, our director of content and resourcing strategy, didn't want me to simply summarize each of the eight chapters, he wanted me to come up with 60 percent new content. Yikes!
As part of my preparation, I researched all the usages of the phrase "looked up" in the New Testament and discovered that every time it is used in Scripture, it always involves a miracle or Jesus seeing more than he could naturally see. Let me give you some examples:
Before Jesus fed the five thousand, Jesus looked up. Let's read Matthew's account found in Matthew 4:19: "Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke the loaves."
Jesus looked up before the miracle of multiplication.
In Mark 7:32–35, we read how Jesus healed a man born deaf and unable to speak. Before he prayed, Mark records that Jesus looked up to heaven and, with a deep sigh, said, "Be opened."
Jesus looked up before the man was healed.
In Luke 21:1–4, we read the story of Jesus watching people put money in the temple treasury. Verse 1 begins, "As Jesus looked up," he saw that the widow had put in all she had. He could see more than the others could see.
Jesus looked up and saw the woman's generosity.
Why does Jesus keep looking up? I think it's because he's looking to see the Father's heart about the person or situation. I think it is something we can learn to do too.
Let's give one final example to show that this type of looking is not reserved only for Jesus. In Mark's gospel, chapter 16, he records the story of three women, Mary Magdelene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome, walking toward Jesus's tomb on resurrection morning. As they neared the tomb, they asked themselves who might help them roll away the stone. Now, let's look at Mark 16:4–5:
But when they looked up, they saw that the stone, which was very large, had been rolled away. As they entered the tomb, they saw a young man dressed in a white robe sitting on the right side, and they were alarmed.
As they looked up, they saw more than they could see—an angel—a young man dressed in a white robe and, understandably, they were alarmed.
So, let's return to the Magi and the First Noel.
When the Magi looked up, what did they see? For sure, they saw the night sky. But I wonder if the star they saw was another example of seeing more than they could see. I don't doubt they saw a star, but no one else appears to have done so. There must have been other Magi with similar training, yet only these few journeyed to Bethlehem. Why wasn’t there a Magi stampede to pay homage to the new king?
Now, don't get me wrong. I do think they saw a star. But I wonder if the Lord had to open their eyes to see it. Elisha's servant, for example, could only see what Elisha could see—the hills full of horses and chariots of fire—after Elisha had prayed, "Open his eyes, Lord, so that he may see" (2 Kings 6:17).
So, let's ask the Lord to help us see more than we can see. We'll add another new line to the Prayer of Consecration tomorrow so we can pray about it until the New Year.
THE PRAYER
Lord, open my eyes. Help me to see more than I can see. Amen.
THE QUESTIONS
Have you ever heard of a star stopping? How do you understand the line, "The star they had seen when it rose went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was"? Have you ever had an experience of seeing more than you can see? What happened? If not, would you be open to having one?
