“Christ” was a title, not a personal name. The Greek word “christos” meant “anointed one,” the same meaning as the Hebrew word “mashiach,” or “Messiah.” Matthew said Jesus is called “the Christ”—that is, the anointed king. Israel loved the hope of God sending a ruler born in Bethlehem. The “chief priests and legal experts” knew Micah 5 when King Herod asked them. But it was the foreign magi who spoke of the infant as Israel‘s ultimate king.

• Matthew used the Greek word "magoi" (English “magi”) to describe the visitors from the East. Picture the scene in your mind's eye: these wise men, often honored and respected themselves, honored the young child Jesus and named him “king.” What did this say about their hopes for who Jesus was and would become? What do you hope Jesus, the king, will do in your life?
• The Magi didn’t say, “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We have come to make a treaty with him,” or “We have come to attend one of his meetings.” Scholar William Barclay noted that the magi had “the reaction of adoring worship, the desire to lay at the feet of Jesus Christ the noblest gifts they could bring.” As you plan for Christmas, how will you honor Jesus’ birth through “adoring worship” this year?