This Sunday in the Church calendar can be celebrated in two ways. A church can either celebrate Epiphany, when the Magi visited the baby Jesus bringing gifts from afar or we could celebrate Jesus’ baptism by John in the river. Both are important events in the life of Jesus and next year, the way the calendar falls, we will have a separate Sunday for each event…. But for this Sunday, we had to celebrate one event or the other. Both stories reveal the true nature of Jesus. Both speak to the fact that Jesus is the one for whom we have been waiting.
I have chosen to go with the story of the magi for this morning. I have been enjoying this holiday season and know that it ends after today….Maybe I am not ready for Jesus to grow up yet and I want to experience him as a child for one more Sunday. But listen again for the story of the visitors from other lands that, guided by the stars visit the baby Jesus:
(read Matthew 2:1-12) The Word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.
In the time of King Herod, after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, wise men[a] from the East came to Jerusalem, 2 asking, “Where is the child who has been born king of the Jews? For we observed his star at its rising,[b] and have come to pay him homage.” 3 When King Herod heard this, he was frightened, and all Jerusalem with him; 4 and calling together all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Messiah[c] was to be born. 5 They told him, “In Bethlehem of Judea; for so it has been written by the prophet:
6 ‘And you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,
are by no means least among the rulers of Judah;
for from you shall come a ruler
who is to shepherd[d] my people Israel.’”
Then Herod secretly called for the wise men[e] and learned from them the exact time when the star had appeared. 8 Then he sent them to Bethlehem, saying, “Go and search diligently for the child; and when you have found him, bring me word so that I may also go and pay him homage.” 9 When they had heard the king, they set out; and there, ahead of them, went the star that they had seen at its rising,[f] until it stopped over the place where the child was. 10 When they saw that the star had stopped,[g] they were overwhelmed with joy. 11 On entering the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother; and they knelt down and paid him homage. Then, opening their treasure chests, they offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. 12 And having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they left for their own country by another road.
The main characters in this story are the three visitors, King Herod, and the baby Jesus. Perhaps for today, we could look at them separately and see what the story says about them.
First there were these visitors. We call them Magi, astrologers, the Three Kings, or Wise Men and folklore has taken over what we have in the Gospel reading and has given them names, races, and even different countries. But perhaps all that was added to fill out what was already a great story. What we know is that they were not kings. They were magi. The term derives from Persian court circles and it grew to include magicians in general. Greek versions of the Book of Daniel have the magi among the officials in the Babylonian court where, as the story goes, they have trouble interpreting the dreams.
But these magi are not portrayed as charlatans and we do not know if they came on their own or were representing kings from other countries. What we do know is that they enjoyed a freedom of travel or were authorized to travel, that they read the skies correctly, and that they brought gifts to the child Jesus. It is described that the magi worshiped him. The word actually used is proskyneo which means they fell to their knees. Our Bible interprets that word to mean they paid Jesus homage.
The magi did not come to study Jesus. They followed the stars and came to worship what they found. And what they found was a baby or maybe a toddler of a family of modest means, a baby born to a teenage mother. I am sure this was not what they expected. This was not the formula for future success in in the ancient world or in our world today. BUT THEY KNEW. They looked at the baby and beheld the substance of what had been hoped and prayed for. And they worshiped the gift of God.
And what we can take from their visit is the gift that this Messiah, this newborn King, is not just for the Jews. These gentiles were fully capable of responding to God’s work. They saw, they witnessed, and they worshiped the newborn king. Their witness signaled Jesus’ prominence not just to Israel but to the whole world.
Greg Cory, professor of New Testament at Lancaster Theological Seminary says that the story of the Magi cracks open the story of Jesus the Messiah for all. It means that there is a place for those who are not Jewish and those who came after. There is a place for you and me.
The second character in the story is King Herod. Unfortunately, every story needs a villain and he comes across here as really, really bad. King Herod follows the script of the frightened tyrant who is unsure of his ability to be where he is. Imagine Herod, finding there are people in his lands who are traveling from other lands and are not there to see him. To King Herod, he was the most important person in Jerusalem, and it must have filled him with both fear and rage. He was afraid of losing his control and his power. He secretly seeks the advice of his priests and the magi and he enlists them to help him. Herod comes off as frightened and underhanded. We are told that God intervenes and the magi leave Israel without telling him where the baby is. And as we know…. Herod has to act on his own. Like many people who desire to project power but who lack inner strength, he grows murderous. Without virtue, courage, or self-control, he lashes out and, in the end, fails.
And the main character, who has no role in the story but to just be who he was meant to be, is the baby Jesus. In the end, Jesus will define true royalty, not on the terms of the Israelites, or King Herod, or any powers that be but God’s. And all this should have been expected. Isaiah announced that all nations would stream to the Lord’s mount. And they came. The gentiles came from the east and witnessed to the birth of the king of kings. But, as we know, the lowly birth of this baby who was said to be the king of kings shocked Herod the none the less. One of my favorite quotes about the story is by Thomas Long, a professor at Emory University’s Chandler School of Theology when he said, “Herod, the Pharisees, and the scribes could not have been more shocked and perplexed if it were Gladys Knight and the Pips, whoop whopping it into town on that midnight train from Georgia.
You see, the first lesson on the story of the ‘Visit of the Magi’ is one of joy. We, like the magi, are to rejoice in the coming of Christ. And it is not enough for Jesus to have been born but we have to perceive him as the magi did as savior and king.
Today marks the end of the Christmas Season. Our stories are no longer about the baby Jesus but about the man who wields divine authority. And somehow the magi got the picture of who this child would be. Somehow they knew that this King would make us comfortable by offering grace and love while making us uncomfortable if we accept the status quo. Yes, Jesus will reign and ask his followers to do as he says, but he will single out the poor in spirit, the mourner, the lowly, the people who suffer injustices as his reign is one of compassion and justice.
Nothing more is said of the magi after their visit. Of course, fictional stories and books have been written about their lives after following the star, seeing the new king, offering him gifts and worshiping him. They had to have been changed drastically. How could they experience such wonder and return to their lives? Much like those mountain top life-changing experiences we have had, did they have difficulties translating it to their families and friends?
But we know. We all here have been changed by experiencing the love, the ethic, the reign of Christ in our lives. We know the power and reign of Jesus in our lives. It molds us, it shapes us, and it defines our actions and responses to the world around us. Yes, thank God… We know….. Amen.