Wise Men Still Seek Him

When they saw the star they were overjoyed.” Matthew 2:10

This morning when I was selecting the verse of the week, this one jumped off the page at me – one I don’t think I’d ever paid any attention to; those are the ones the spirit usually leads me to.

This past June I bought tickets to the Coldplay concert in Nashville, TN, which we were going to with our youth minister and his girlfriend, but my daughter was hospitalized and we had to sell them. When I asked Michelle and her daughter, who bought the tickets, how much they enjoyed it, Larramee, the daughter, said it was the best concert she had ever been to and she had been to many. When I asked Wes on a scale of one to ten how it was, he said it was an eleven. Even though Coldplay is a group with many “stars” it, it cannot hold a candle to the star the wise men saw, that led them to Christ. Matthew tells us that the wise men, “went on their way, and the star they had seen in the east went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. When they saw the star, they were overjoyed.”

Paul tells us to “do everything without complaining or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe as you hold out the word of life--.

When trying to think, this morning, about characteristics of stars, the only one I could really think about, which is the most obvious, was that stars shine in the darkness. The darker it is the more you can see them twinkle. [I have to add this here, even though it doesn’t go with the message at all. But, the other night, just recently, while Bella and I were stargazing out her bedroom window, I made the comment that I couldn’t see Diddley to which she replied in about two minutes, as she was still looking for stars, “Mammie, I see Diddley!” I admitted I saw him too, to go along with her imagination, told her he had thick wavy hair, his dog was with him and he was coming to see us. It was just a silly time, but precious -- one I’ll never forget.]

Not only did the star light the way to THE LIGHT that lights THE WAY, I, too, am supposed to become a light, a city set on a hill that cannot be hidden, that points the way to Jesus. When I see opportunities to be that light and point others to Jesus am I as overjoyed as the wise men were when they saw the star that led them to Jesus? Am I that little star in the darkness that leads others to Christ? I’m not speaking about baptism here, which is what for years has become the “pinnacle” of salvation, which in reality is just the beginning. I’m taking about doing things as simple as what scripture tells us Onesiphorus did for Paul as recorded in 2 Timothy 1:16. This is one of my favorite, yet most often overlooked, passages.

“May the Lord show mercy to the household of Onesiphorus, because he often refreshed me and was not ashamed of my chains. On the contrary, when he was in Rome, he searched hard for me until he found me. May the Lord grant that he will find mercy from the Lord on that day! You know very well in how many ways he helped me in Ephesus.” The only other time Onesiphorus is mentioned in the Bible is in Paul’s concluding remarks to Timothy when he says to greet him along with Priscilla and Aquila.

Look at three things Onesiphorus did.

He often refreshed Paul – in prison. Yes, Paul was light to all those around him, but Onesiphorus was light to Paul in a dungeon. Does it seem insignificant that Paul deemed it so important that he had a friend who often refreshed him that he mentioned him by name when he wrote this letter? Never underestimate what refreshing does. The Greek word for “refreshed” means to recover from the effects of heat, recover the breath, take the air, cool off. When we read about Paul’s sufferings in 2 Corinthians, he must have felt like had had the breath knocked right out of him. He must have felt the heat when his feet were held to the fire. He must have wanted the breath of the Holy Spirit to revive him. That is what I think Onesiphorus did. That is what I want us to do. I want us to often refresh people when they’ve had the life sucked right out of them. You know who those people are in your life. I know the ones in mine.

He was not ashamed of his chains. On the contrary he wanted to be with him so much, he SEARCHED FOR HIM IN ROME. In Paul’s day, Rome had a population of over ONE MILLION with many people in prisons, not equipped like ours today. If the prisoners had food, clothing, etc. it would have had to have been brought in from someone visiting from the outside. Onesiphorus did that for Paul. And he had to have looked for him in more than one dungeon.

He helped him in Ephesus. Scripture does not tell us specifically what Onesiphorus did in Ephesus, but it does tell us one of the things that happened there I imagine Onesiphorus might have witnessed. One of the headings in my Bible, and probably yours, in Acts 19 is The Riot in Ephesus. Here is where the people were “furious and began shouting: Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!”…. “Soon the whole city was in an uproar.”…. “Paul wanted to appear before the crowd, but the disciples would not let him.” …. “When the uproar had ended, Paul sent for the disciples and, after encouraging them, said good-by and set out for Macedonia. He traveled through that area, speaking many words of encouragement to the people…” I speculate, my sisters, that one of the reasons Paul could speak encouraging words, after having been through a riot, was because Onesiphorus had often refreshed (encouraged) him. No. I don’t know how Onesiphorus helped him in Ephesus, but I do know how it feels to need help and someone be there for you. I’m sure Onesiphorus was not there because he wanted Paul to look at him; he wanted Paul to fix his eyes on Jesus who lived in him.

One time when the children were quite young, Phil and I took them to a WKU ballgame in Diddle Arena, which you can imagine is quite large. Right in the middle of the game the lights went out. Thinking they would come back on everyone just sat there until it became quite obvious they weren't. So, “officials” started handing out flashlights to light the way up the steps, to the top of the arena, so everyone could get out safely. One of the observations I made that I have never forgotten was that no one looked at the flashlights—even though they were quite important for lighting the way and getting everyone out safely, no one looked at the flashlights; they looked where the flashlights were pointing. AND as more flashlights were turned on, the more light shone and more people found their way out, even in the dark.

“When they (the wise men) saw the star they were overjoyed.” The star brought them to Jesus, who, himself, is the light -- that shines in the darkness. When that light shines in me, I become the star that shines in the universe that points the way back to Christ. I pray I am as overjoyed to be that light as the wise men were, who found Jesus because of it. Wise men still seek him.

Twinkle, twinkle little star
How I wonder what YOU are.