We move on
to chapter two today, the visit of the Magi. I'm gonna have a little bit of fun today pointing out mis-conceptions. This is actually a passage that is very full of them in today's views of the manger scene! Give this a read, and we’ll go
from there!
After Jesus was born in Bethlehem
in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi[a] from the east came to Jerusalem 2 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.” (Matthew 2:1-2)
Lets stop here, and just point out a few mis-conceptions in the
nativity story we know and love. The VERY FIRST line says after Jesus was born. This would specify that the magi came not to
the stable, but later on to Jesus’s home. This is also specified in verse 11
when it says “on coming to the HOUSE”. Some people have guessed that the magi
actually arrived roughly two years after Jesus’s birth, based on Herod’s later
decision to kill all Jewish infants aged two and under.
There are two other mis-conceptions I would like to touch on.
1) They were
kings (nope! The truth is no one knows. All we can assume is that they were
distinguished foreigners, distinguished enough to casually appear before King
Herod. We cannot know if they were scholars, wise men or kings really)
2) There were
three of them. (nope! There were three gifts!
Some eastern varieties of the nativity story include up to twelve magi in their
telling of the story.)
As fun as it is to point out those little details, ,that is not my focus for today. Lets move on in the story. So the Magi (an un-known number of distinguished
foreigners, after the time of Christ’s birth) show up at the palace of King
Herod and ask him where the king of the Jews was. God had obviously birthed a
star, when Christ was born, and this is what they had followed thus-far. (if
they WERE kings, then it’s pretty astounding that several kingdoms were unified
by a single star. And if they were wise men or scholars, it is ALSO astounding,
that they were able to agree on this one conclusion that this star meant that
the king of the Jews had been born! This would also go to show that somehow,
far-off nations were aware that the Jews were expecting a savior...)
6 “‘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.’[b]”(Matthew 2:3-6)
are by no means least among the rulers of Judah;
for out of you will come a ruler
who will shepherd my people Israel.’[b]”(Matthew 2:3-6)
It is
interesting how even King Herod consults the scriptures for an answer in this
situation. The quoted passage is Micah 5:2,4. Yet we later learn, he thinks he
can stop this king from coming, by sheer force..
7 Then Herod called the Magi secretly and found out from them the
exact time the star had appeared. 8 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.” (Matthew 2:7-8)
This was, of course, a lie...
9 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. 10 When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. 11 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. 12 And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route. (Matthew 2:9-12)
What I have never understood, is that the star actually was moving; as though maybe it were actually a comet, not a star. And then I also wonder, which star is it, in the heavens now, that is Christ’s star? Can we still see Christ's star? I sometimes wonder if it is the planet Mars, given that Mars is the brightest “star” in our sky (and that carbon-dating is so inaccurately false)...but I guess they would have been looking at a very different sky than mine. And it has been 2000+ years since then...so perhaps it has faded by now... (just some pondering)
In any case, we are told that the star actually moves, and that the Magi follow it until it stops in the sky over Bethlehem. They eventually stumble upon the house and find Mary and Jesus inside (Joseph is not mentioned, so we can assume this happened during the day time when Joseph would have been working, or at the temple).
Here comes the beautiful part... FOREGNERS, unclean foreigners, bowed down, worshiped Christ (before anyone else other than the lowly shepherds got to), and even gave him gifts! We can read many studies about how prophetic each of these gifts were for Christ. I have also heard the interpretation that while the symbolic meaning of the gifts stuck, the actual gifts were likely sold for money that the family needed at the time. After all (as we will see tomorrow), Joseph leaves his livelihood shortly afterward, to protect Jesus and flee to Egypt. Perhaps these gifts were given just in time that they would be sustained in Egypt! Who knows... What we DO know, is that Foreign distinguished men came to Jesus when he was a toddler of sorts, and worshipped him...
Can you imagine trying to worship a toddler? How well would THAT go over!? We're talking worshiping someone with Josiah's developmental level! Someone like Susie (my neice), or Kairo, Logan, Titus, Aubrey (friends of Josiah)... Sounds like a recipe to have your head bonked with toys (obviously wooden, with a carpenter dad), and having your hair pulled, and your fancy distinguished-man hat pulled off! But what’s even crazier, is that these distinguished men had the faith, to believe that the home of this peasant woman and a little toddler, who’se sole provider was a simple carpenter, was going to be the king of a great nation! And more so than that, that this great king toddler, was worthy of their WORSHIP! Do we think these men just traveled around looking to worship EVERY newborn king, or was Jesus different? We of course know that Jesus was different...
But this leads me to one last question; is there maybe a part of the story not told in this Jewish rendition, that perhaps the Magi recorded for their own people? Perhaps it has been lost... but I wonder if they didn’t see the angel Gabriel as well (total speculation here), or if perhaps the star itself, God knew, would be interpreted as a greater sign to their particular culture. Wouldn't it be neat to hear the story from their perspective.
What it all boils down to, REGARDLESS of all these speculations and current mis-conceptions of this story, is that God CALLED these men. God beckoned them to come worship his son. God was already drawing gentiles to worship His son, even as he was a funny little toddler. Sometimes, when I am reading the words of Christ in the new testament, I think that the gentiles were a second choice for him since he tries so hard with the jewish people for his whole ministry... but here in the story of the Magi, we see an in-disputable glimpse that that is not the case, and that my worries are un-founded. Here, we see that it was GOD’S plan right from the beginning that the birth of Christ would break down the walls of culture and religion, and open a way for ALL PEOPLE to be with God forever. This is such a beautiful part of Christmas, that it is no wonder we have made an exception for “time” and place these magi in our nativity scenes each year. It has such a POWERFUL meaning for us gentiles today! This clear-cut message from God (that he will call us each in a way we can understand-like he used the star for the Magi) is why we can celebrate Christmas at all! We have been in his plan from the very beginning! We are NOT a back-up kingdom! Christ came not just for the Jews, but also for everyone else! Praise God!
Take some time today to really praise God for doing this for us all! How blessed we are, that God planned on having us in his kingdom, right from the beginning.
Dear God, thank you so much for this blatant example of how we were not second best, as gentiles. Thank you for showing us how perfectly beautiful and planned out our salvation is. Lord we take time today and we worship you! Come and meet us here and fill us with your holy spirit as we do so.
In Jesus Name
Amen
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