December 28, 2014: Magi Visit

Matthew 2:1-12

After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in the territory of Judea during the rule of King Herod, magi came from the east to Jerusalem. ² They asked, “Where is the newborn king of the Jews? We’ve seen his star in the east, and we’ve come to honor him.”

³ When King Herod heard this, he was troubled, and everyone in Jerusalem was troubled with him. ⁴ He gathered all the chief priests and the legal experts and asked them where the Christ was to be born. ⁵ They said, “In Bethlehem of Judea, for this is what the prophet wrote:

⁶ You, Bethlehem, land of Judah,
        by no means are you least among the rulers of Judah,
            because from you will come one who governs,
            who will shepherd my people Israel.”

⁷ Then Herod secretly called for the magi and found out from them the time when the star had first appeared. ⁸ He sent them to Bethlehem, saying, “Go and search carefully for the child. When you’ve found him, report to me so that I too may go and honor him.” ⁹ When they heard the king, they went; and look, the star they had seen in the east went ahead of them until it stood over the place where the child was. ¹⁰ When they saw the star, they were filled with joy.

¹¹ They entered the house and saw the child with Mary his mother. Falling to their knees, they honored him. Then they opened their treasure chests and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. ¹² Because they were warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they went back to their own country by another route.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Have you ever felt that you knew someone, only to find out that all of your assumptions and beliefs were totally wrong?  For many of us, this is what happens when we are introduced to the true Magi (as they are more correctly called).  We might think of them as kings or “wise” men after hearing many different Christmas Carols.  We might picture them arriving at the manger about the same time as the shepherds.  We might even assume that there were simply three of them.  But a closer look at things will show that many of these things are merely assumptions.

First of all, these travelling star-gazers are correctly called “Magi.”  Magi were Eastern ‘holy men’ who were connected with the ancient religion of Zoroastrianism.  They watched the stars, performed ‘magic’ (‘magi’…’magic’…get the connection?), and would certainly have been considered outside of acceptable individuals by a religious Jewish audience.  Far from being “wise,” the original hearers of Matthew’s Gospel considered them wacky, astrological, hocus-pocus, freaks!

Interestingly enough, they also don’t know where the future king is meant to be born (they have to ask for directions).  It takes the religious scholars in Jerusalem to point them in the right direction: toward Bethlehem. 

Did you also notice something interesting?  It never actually gives the exact number of “Magi” who visited Mary, Joseph and Jesus. There were certainly three gifts, but maybe the Magi chipped in together and there were more than three? Who knows? And on top of that, by the time they arrive in Bethlehem, the holy family has made it into a house and the shepherds who are only mentioned in the Gospel of Luke anyway) are probably back in their fields.  So there goes the manger scene you’re used to!

So what are we to make of all of this?  First of all, Matthew’s Gospel was most likely written to a Jewish-Christian community in the First Century.  For these followers of Jesus who were also Jews, they would have hoped and waited for the time when the servant who would be the “light of the nations” would arise (see Isaiah 42 above).  In the meantime, it was very easy for Jewish people to look down “outsiders” like the Magi.  (In fairness, Gentiles did more than their fair share of looking down on Jews on the other side of the line).

The Gospel of Matthew shows that the Magi might be astrology-freaks who don’t know Holy Scripture (otherwise they’d have been familiar with what Micah has to say about Bethlehem), BUT they are the ones who actually go and worship Jesus. The scholars in Jerusalem know exactly where to go to find the new king…but they stay back in Jerusalem.  King Herod, who liked to call himself ‘The King of the Jews,” even though he wasn’t completely Jewish himself, not only doesn’t go to worship Jesus, he actively works to defeat God’s new King. When I hear him say a line like, “Go and search carefully for the child. When you’ve found him, report to me so that I too may go and honor him,” it sends shivers up my spine: if you know anything about Herod, you know he’s lying through his teeth!

It’s the Magi who are the very first to worship Jesus, the ones who make the effort to approach him.  This could be Matthew’s way of pointing out to his Jewish-Christian audience, “Listen: don’t think you have some sort of advantage because you are Jewish too.  Outsiders get it before God’s people do!”  This story shows us that the line between “insiders” and “outsiders” is always different than we humans expect it to be.  Those who are “outsiders” to us are very much “in” to God.