Pagans, Posers, and a Pseudo-king (please pronounce the p in pseudo to make the aliteration work)

Picture this ... the most important religious leader of all time is being born. His birth has been foretold for hundreds of years. His influence will surpass that of any other human on earth til that time or since. His teachings will be recorded and taught for thousands of years after he's gone. What kind of people would be there to celebrate the birth of this special child? Of course the leader I'm talking about is Jesus. The predictions of his birth are the OT prophecies, and his influence is still seen around the world today. So, who showed up for the birth of Jesus? There are three sets of people presented in Matthew 2:1-12 ... pagans, posers, and a pseudo king.

The king, king Herod, is certifiably crazy. He has killed anyone who was even remotely a threat to his reign, including family members. Clearly this guy has some security issues. He wants nothing more than to be king, king of everything, in control, with no threat to his own sovereignty. The posers are the religious leaders. They knew the prophecies, knew where the Messiah was supposed be born. In fact they are the ones who told Herod that he was to be born in Bethlehem. They had the facts memorized, had their religious structures in place. But what about these pagans? The "magi" they're called. Where did they come from? And why of all people did they feel the need to come honor this child-king who had been born. We're given little detail, only that they came from the east, had an interest in stars, and had somehow heard about "one who was born king of the Jews." These were not Hebrews, not religious guys, not well respected in Jesus' culture. They were pagans, star-gazers, foreigners, gentiles. (by the way, all we know is that they followed a star, found their way to Jerusalem, and asked about a child-king ... let's not pretend that there aren't some pieces missing here - if all they saw was a star, how did they know to expect a king? did an angel visit them as well and we're not told about it? did word travel to their land about Jesus? did they somehow have copies of ancient Hebrew Scriptures that gave them clues? for all we know, they knew very little about what they were getting into)

So, the stage is set ... who's going to show up to honor this king? tbc...