When I was a kid, my family got the board game Trivial Pursuit. We played it a lot when my sister and I were teenagers. My dad was really good at remembering cultural, historical, scientific, geographic, entertainment, and sports info; therefore, he won a lot. That board game became a kind of cultural phenomenon in the 80’s. But playing it and winning it, never changed anyone’s life; hence the name “Trivial Pursuit.” The information, and the pursuit of it, was trivial.
In Matthew chapter 2:1-3, wise men from the east are privy to information and a revelation that most Bible scholars and religious officials in the Holy Land missed:
Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the east came to Jerusalem, saying, “Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.” When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him.
The wise men from the east knew something that most of Israel didn’t, but that information was not trivial. It demanded their pursuit. How did they know what that star represented? We do not know. Some speculate that these men were descended from the Babylonians and that they had insight about the star from one of Daniel’s revelations. Daniel was named a wise man, or the ancient term Magi, like them. The Old Testament’s only reference to a star and the coming messiah was spoken by Balaam, son of Beor, as he prophesied this obscure line in Numbers 24:17, “I see him, but not now; I behold him, but not near. A star will come out of Jacob.”
We don’t know how they knew, but when they saw the star, likely what we call a comet since it moved in the sky, they knew it represented the birth of the king of the Jews. They followed that star to Jesus, they worshiped him there, and they gave him gifts to show devotion and appreciation.
I want my knowledge of God to produce action. The wise men traveled 500-800 miles in their quest. It makes me remember Romans 12:1, “Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship.” Let’s pray our lives will not get lost in the pursuit of the trivial, but will be found in the pursuit of what’s eternal.
Pastor John Riley