All throughout Advent, we’ve been talking about what the Bible really says about the Journey to Bethlehem and the Nativity—contrary, many times, to what our tradition tells us. Well, it wouldn’t seem right unless we ended up this season the same way … in speaking about the biblical reality of the wise men … or ‘wise guys’ of Christmas, as I like to call them. So, what does the Bible really have to say about the wise men of the Christmas story … and others involved in this part of the story? We’re going to have to exit Luke’s version of the story and go back to Matthew to get the answers. Would you join me in our scripture reading for today? Listen carefully…
Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the reign of King Herod. About that time some wise men from eastern lands arrived in Jerusalem, asking, 2 “Where is the newborn king of the Jews? We saw his star as it rose, and we have come to worship him.” 3 King Herod was deeply disturbed when he heard this, as was everyone in Jerusalem. 4 He called a meeting of the leading priests and teachers of religious law and asked, “Where is the Messiah supposed to be born?” 5 “In Bethlehem in Judea,” they said, “for this is what the prophet wrote: 6 ‘And you, O Bethlehem in the land of Judah, are not least among the ruling cities of Judah, for a ruler will come from you who will be the shepherd for my people Israel.’”
7 Then Herod called for a private meeting with the wise men, and he learned from them the time when the star first appeared. 8 Then he told them, “Go to Bethlehem and search carefully for the child. And when you find him, come back and tell me so that I can go and worship him, too!” 9 After this interview the wise men went their way. And the star they had seen in the east guided them to Bethlehem. It went ahead of them and stopped 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 his mother, Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasure chests and gave him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. 12 When it was time to leave, they returned to their own country by another route, for God had warned them in a dream not to return to Herod. – Matthew 2:1-12 (NLT)
One very important thing we learn from this account of the Christmas story is that King Herod was still alive when Jesus was born. What’s that got to do with anything? You may be surprised … to know that most scholars date Herod’s death at 4 B.C. … which tells us that Jesus was born no later than this—4 B.C. And for reasons I’ll note before this message is done, Jesus may even have been born 2 years prior to this—in 6 B.C.
So, how—you might ask—could it be that Jesus was born 4 to 6 years B.C.? Doesn’t B.C. mean ‘before Christ’? Well, here’s something you may not know: It was in 6 A.D. that a monk named Dionysius Exiguus calculated the year when Jesus was born—the ‘year of our Lord’ (anno domini, A.D.). It is generally recognized that Exiguus made an error in his calculations—that he was off by at least 4 years. (Nothing worse than a monk with bad math skills!) As a result of Exiguus’ mistake, Jesus was actually born 4 to 6 years B.C.!
And, folks, it is not only our dating that is a bit off; our way of imagining what happened after Jesus’ birth is typically a bit mistaken as well … particularly as it relates to the wise men as they arrive in Bethlehem to visit Jesus (and it is a magnificent story, just as it actually happened). Let’s first look at…
THE ‘THREE KINGS’ OF THE CHRISTMAS STORY. Were there three?
Take a look with me at the Christmas or Ephiphany hymn called “We Three Kings.” We love this song, don’t we? And, we love it so much that some have even used ‘clamation’ characters (1980s) to share it, but what is the true story? The song speaks of ‘WE THREE KINGS.’ Matthew’s account, however, speaks of ‘some wise men from eastern lands.’ It never has given a number of wise men who came to visit Jesus. Somehow, John H. Hopkins, Jr. (1857)—the hymn writer—got ‘we three kings’ from the number of gifts that were given to Jesus … but there could just as well have been many who traveled to Bethlehem and offered these 3 particular gifts—gifts, by the way, that truly symbolize who Jesus was to be…
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Gold … is the gift of kings—Jesus was to be the ‘King of kings.’
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Frankincense … was used by priests in their offerings to God—pointing toward Jesus’ role as our High Priest before God.
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Myrrh … was used in embalming the dead—a gift that pointed, even then, to the fact that Jesus was to have a very important death, like no other…
So, this is more than likely how we’ve come to know ‘We Three Kings’ of the Orient… And, where did they really come from? Well, first of all… Were they kings?
Matthew actually identifies them not as kings, but as magoi … from which our English word ‘magician’ comes from. They were probably not magicians in the traditional sense, but more likely priests who studied the stars and who believed the relative positions of the stars were signs of future events. These wise guys of the Christmas story were something between astrologers and astronomers—likely from Persia (modern-day Iran) and likely following the teachings of Zoroaster. They would have traveled about 1,000 miles to Jerusalem to pay homage to the newborn King, their journey taking anywhere from 3 to 6 months. But, what we are sure of is this: These priests or magi … apparently saw an alignment of stars in the heavens that led them to believe that a new and great king had been born in Judea…
Here’s a question for you, before we continue this story:
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Why would it be that God would choose these magi (truth-seekers) from a foreign land—not Jews—to come and pay homage to this newborn King?
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And God beckoned these people to come to Jerusalem in the most unorthodox way—yet a way that these Zoroastrian priests, in particular, would have understood…
Folks, let me suggest this: If Luke’s telling of the shepherd’s story points toward God’s concern for the humble and lowly in this world, then Matthew’s story of the magi points towards God’s concern for all peoples—even those who are privileged … like the magi! In other words, JESUS CAME TO SAVE ALL PEOPLE EVERYWHERE … regardless of their socioeconomic status…
And, along with that, let me ask this: What might the magi’s story tell us about how God looks at people of other faiths? Christians are all too often quick to judge people of other faiths, but this text seems to say that God deeply cares about people of other faiths! After all, we too were once those who did not know Christ personally … but, by God’s grace (not by our own doing) we have come to know life through Him. ‘Some questions to ponder as we continue on in this part of the Christmas story! Let’s move now to…
THE ‘HEROD’ OF THE CHRISTMAS STORY (and pay particular attention to the ‘responses’ of those in the story). The ‘wise men’—believing that this was a ‘newborn king of the Jews’—assumed the baby must be Herod’s … and his response was FEAR!
Let me begin with this in regard to the Herod of the Christmas story: Herod’s response to the wise men was completely consistent with what we know of Herod during this period. Clearly, Herod was a prisoner of his own paranoia and had become a tortured soul—a confused man. Let me give you some background to understand this part of the story better…
Herod was not a Jew; he was an Idumean who had been appointed by Rome to be the king of the Jews. (Idumean=Edomite=descendant of Esau or from the area of Petra in modern-day Jordan.) So, Herod was appointed by Rome to be the king of the Jews. But, these wise men were seeking a child ‘born king of the Jews.’
Herod’s response was one of FEAR. He constantly thought that others were conspiring to overthrow him; that is well documented…
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He had his favorite wife executed…
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He put his mother-in-law to death as well…
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He had his brother-in-law killed…
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And, during the period when Jesus was born, he had three of his own sons executed, for fear that they would want to overthrow their own father someday…
So, Herod’s response to the wise men was—again—completely consistent with what we know about Herod during this time. Herod told the wise men to let him know what they find out in Bethlehem, as he wanted to pay homage to the new king as well (yeah, right!). Then, of course, once he realizes that the wise men have not let him in on what they found in Bethlehem, we come to the ‘slaughter of the innocents’ part of the story, where Herod has all male babies in Bethlehem who are 2 and younger killed. Herod’s response to all of this was not Christ-like at all!
Contrast, now, Herod’s response to that of the wise men when they came to find Jesus in Bethlehem; their response was the appropriate Christmas response—they were ‘overwhelmed with joy’ or ‘filled with joy’… And the truth is that when we fully understand what is happening at Christmas, our response should be the response of the magi; we too should be ‘overwhelmed with joy’ at what God has done for us…
One last word about the magi, as we finish up this study of Matthew’s account: MATTHEW, FOLKS, HELPS US TO SEE THAT ALL ARE INVITED TO PAY HOMAGE TO JESUS! Again, while Luke helps us to see the lowliness of Jesus’ birth and emphasizes God’s concern for the poor and the humble, Matthew helps us to see that the privileged—the wealthy—too are invited by God to pay homage to Jesus. The affluent magi brought gifts to honor Jesus—gold, frankincense, and myrrh, gifts that would highlight what Jesus’ life would be all about…
The important thing to note is this: Jesus came for all—no one excluded from God’s plan to save us from ourselves…
So, those are some of the facts about the story of the wise men. And even if it differs from the story we know from songs, it is magnificent in itself—just the way it really happened. The greatest gift in this story was not the 3 items brought by the wise men; the greatest gift was that given to the wise men (and to all)—the gift of the One in the manger … Christ Jesus, our Lord…