CHRISTMAS – LESSON FROM CHIEF PRIESTS AND SCRIBES

The distance between our head and our heart is not much at all, but there is a world of difference between the knowledge in our head, and the knowledge in our heart. For example – Judas Iscariot; he heard what the LORD Jesus spoke; he saw what the LORD Jesus did; he witnessed for himself the miracles and the transformative power of the LORD Jesus; he touched the very God Himself with his own hands; yet his heart never was with the LORD Jesus Christ, whom he claimed to be his Master and Teacher. How sad and tragic is such a life? Can there be anything worse than the life of Judas? Yes, the lives of the religious leadership – most of them, unlike the ones like Nicodemus -John 3:1-21, and Gamaliel – Acts 5:33-42.

When the Christ child was born, the Wisemen from East came seeking to see the King who is born, and worship Him – Matthew 2:1-12. Herod was troubled and called for an urgent meeting of the religious heads, who surely would know about this King. These are no ordinary religious leaders; they are the very cream of all the religious leadership in Israel.
– “3 When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him. 4 And when he had gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people together, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born.” – Matthew 2:3-4

Herod inquired with the chief priests and scribes where the promised Christ or Messiah was to be born. This is what the chief priests and scribes read from the Scriptures.
– “5 So they said to him, “In Bethlehem of Judea, for thus it is written by the prophet: 6 ‘But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, Are not the least among the rulers of Judah; For out of you shall come a Ruler Who will shepherd My people Israel.’” – Matthew 2:5-6

The Chief Priests and the Scribes knew exactly where the Messiah would be born – “…In Bethlehem of Judea, for thus it is written by the prophet…” Yet, they were not interested at all to go verify if what the Wisemen from East were saying was true? If they were afraid of Herod, they could have done it discreetly. The Bible has no record of the religious leadership seeking to verify nor worship the Messiah. 

The Chief Priests and Scribes were seeped in Scriptures. They were at the tip of their tongue, yet, their hearts were nowhere close to the God who they claimed to be worshipping. 
– “…They understood the Biblical information correctly, but failed in application to their lives. i. Chief priests would especially include those who once held the office of High Priest; Herod changed the High Priest often because it was largely a political appointment. ii. Scribes: “The ‘teachers of the law,’ or ‘scribes’ as other English versions call them, were experts in the Old Testament and in its copious oral tradition. Their work was not so much copying out Old Testament manuscripts (as the word ‘scribes’ suggests) as teaching the Old Testament.” (Carson).”
– “…the chief priests and scribes understood that the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem of Judea, distinguishing it from another town of the same name further north. i. From this passage in Micah, they understood not only that the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem, but also that He would be a Ruler who will shepherd My people Israel. ii. Sadly, these experts had the right information but seem personally uninterested in meeting the Messiah for themselves.” – Enduring Word Commentary

How about us this morning dear brothers and sisters? Where is our heart? Is our heart seeking the Saviour? If not, all what is there in our heads does not count for anything at all. It is worthless… absolutely of no value at all.
– “34 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” – Luke 12:34

Let us seek the LORD’s help, to be people who serve Him and worship Him with all our heart and our mind, and obey Him implicitly, joyfully and wholeheartedly.
– “12 “And now, Israel, what does the LORD your God require of you, but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in all His ways and to love Him, to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, 13 and to keep the commandments of the LORD and His statutes which I command you today for your good?” – Deuteronomy 10:12-13

Even so, the LORD help us.