The Wise Men
From a distant land to a very small place and back home by a different path
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By now you have probably heard that there weren’t three of them. The Wise Men of the Christmas Story, that is. We don’t know how many of them there were. Three gifts are named. We made a simplification for narrative purposes (and to cut down on the clutter of the nativity scenes). I suppose there could have been three, but we don’t know. I say by now because if you happen to attend church during the Christmas season, you may have heard this. Christmas comes every year. That means in many if not most churches there are four Christmas themed sermons every year. One sympathizes with the pastor who runs out of fresh angles … you are going to talk about the Wise Men at least once every second or third year. And there isn’t a ton of background given on this group traveling from the East … one repeats oneself.
It is the lack of background that interests us, though. Who are these people? Diviners, Seers, Astrologers, readers of the ancient texts. They are called Magi, depending on the translation - magicians, workers of mystery. And why are they traveling? They were studying the stars, as they do, and they saw the star of the one who was to be born the King of the Jews. That is enough to wonder about. What did they see? Whatever it was, they had nailed it. The King of the Jews had indeed been born. (Oh, by now you have probably heard that they show up a year or so after Jesus’ birth … see the narrative simplification explanation above). So that is interesting. By studying the stars, they knew this world-historical event had occurred. Interesting and unexplained.
But that isn’t the most arresting detail. They came to worship him. They brought gold, as one would for a king. They brought frankincense, as one would for worship. And they brought myrrh, as one would to anoint a body for burial. A King to be Worshiped and whose death is intertwined with his birth. Here are some mysterious dudes who by mysterious means know that a king to be worshiped with an eye toward his death was born and who come to Jerusalem to ask the people who should be on top of it, but who are, for the most part, not. And, after finding the newborn King and worshiping, they are warned in a dream not to return to Jerusalem and Herod - but to go to their homes by another, safer, route. God speaking directly to these mysterious outsiders so as to throw the bad guys off the scent of this new king. God seems to have had a lot to do with the workings of these outsiders.
Here is my only point - God is at work everywhere in ways that are not explained to us. This is a good thing to remember, especially if we are prone to view ourselves as the bringers of truth to the people who don’t have it. Maybe. But God is and has been already at work in ways that we can’t see. Everywhere, always. So, like the Wise Men, follow the call without knowing all the details. That is the only call we appear to be getting - the kind without all the details.
Merry Christmas! (I know, I know, a day or so late)
After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem and asked, “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.”
When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him. When he had called together all the people’s chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Messiah was to be born. “In Bethlehem in Judea,” they replied, “for this is what the prophet has written:
“‘But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,
are by no means least among the rulers of Judah;
for out of you will come a ruler
who will shepherd my people Israel.’”
Then Herod called the Magi secretly and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared. He sent them to Bethlehem and said, “Go and search carefully for the child. As soon as you find him, report to me, so that I too may go and worship him.”
After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen when it rose went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route.
Matthew 2:1-12
