The Magi: orient-ing outsiders (Matt. 2:1-12)

Where are your gifts from a few weeks ago? Are they stowed away already and forgotten? Did their fun wear off or the initial draw they had when you first opened them?

I don’t know if gifts usually come to mind so much in January, but January is also the month of Epiphany in the church calendar. Epiphany marks the visit that the magi made to the Christ child and his parents. Pastor Prestriedge’s message in December has me rereading the story, and a few things have particularly stood out that I wanted to share with you too.

Let’s dive into this story and really try to get past all its familiarity!

The magi and their star (Matt. 2:1-3)

Nothing seems to give too strong of support to the traditional “three wise men,” or the “we three kings.” Here we’re told that magi (unnumbered) arrived to Jerusalem after Jesus’ birth in Bethlehem, and mysteriously they drop into the story, without any other Gospel account or build-up—and not necessarily did they report straight to Herod either! Instead it seems they may have been wandering the streets, riling people wherever they went.

The magi come presenting a quest and a puzzle that reaches apparently to the palace of Herod the Great, and to the whole city generally. These magi (probably gentile astrologers and fortune-tellers from Babylon or Midian, rather than representing any “kings”) want to know where the one “has been born, the king of the Jews.” Herod learns of the foreign travelers and their quest, and both he “and all Jerusalem with him” were troubled, “agitated” like water that has rocks thrown into it.

The magi followed a “star,” which also has no other accounting in the stories, even with the shepherds and manger of Luke 2. (In Greek, “a’star” is the word for “a star.” We get “astrology” and “astronaut” from this…) Further indicating they’re astrologists (see also Daniel 2:2, in Babylon), the magi are taking a particular star and they label it “his star,” the star of the king they’re seeking.

The magi ask, really, about finding a king of the Judeans—and this is particularly where the anguish has to come to Herod. “King of the Judeans” was Herod’s exact title granted him by the Roman authorities in Rome! But the men visiting his city want one who was “born” king of the Judeans.

Herod to be sure received the title rather than being born to it—or taken the other way, he was a man in his mid-60’s, not at all one who was just born or who even was a child. Herod now senses an opponent!

(Another gentile quest ended up with a hapless king, too. Find it in 2 Kings 5.)

Herod and his officials (Matt. 2:4-6)

Sensing a challenge and threat to his power, Herod calls a council before “secretly” summoning the magi themselves.

In Greek Herod “synagogues” his scribes and his chief-priests (Annas and Caiaphas, later of the crucifixion), gathering them for a bit of research. As officials, chief-priests had become coveted Roman-appointments of clout and patronage, like Herod’s position. Meanwhile, the scribes had remained untainted and respected as the “lawyers,” “rabbis,” and “teachers of the law” found elsewhere in the Gospels. Herod consults them for fact-finding and wants to know his possible challenger’s whereabouts.

Rather than consulting any stars, these officials consult the scriptures. Herod senses that the “king of the Jews” is tied to the “Christ” (verse 4), a royal title, marking the coming Messiah and “anointed one.” So the scribes and chief-priests point him to Bethlehem, the place prophesied in Micah 5:2. With Herod intent on a king of the Judeans, these officials indicate a ruler in Bethlehem, “the land of Judah.”

Foretold long ago by Micah, the king of these Judeans is also a “shepherd”: likely enough for the quest, a shepherd “of Israel.”

(For “ruler,” check out 2 Samuel 23:3-4. For “shepherd,” flip over to Exodus 2:16-22.)

The magi and their child-King (Matt. 2:7-12)

Herod holds a second meeting, this time with the magi themselves. Herod has a where of the Christ, and now he asks the magi for the when of the star. The magi answer, doubtlessly having paid attention along their route, and Herod connects them to Bethlehem as he himself was informed. He sends them to the little town, home previously to King David (Matt. 1:17), and tells them to bring back word of any discovery that they make.

Interestingly, Herod joins the quest of the magi, but he does it by proxy. Rather than dispatching troops to Bethlehem and sending the magi elsewhere—was it Herod’s laziness? His shortsightedness? Herod banks his mission on outsiders who owe him no allegiance, and they leave him.

The magi return to following the star, and it leads them to the goal of their quest. The star and the scriptures line up together—and for a king, the magi find “the child.” They’re not disappointed or confused, either, by someone so young. Instead they, “with great joy” (Greek, mega joy), rejoiced! A child gives them no sense of failure whatsoever.

(Read Exodus 7:8-12 for another time when God’s purposes interacted with sorcery.)

Judah for sure had known such young kings in its past, Josiah being 8 years old at his crowning and Joash being just 7. The Greek word signifies a newborn that Matthew uses for “child,” whom the magi find and meet there. This isn’t an adolescent whom they’ve been seeking, nor even a toddler. They rejoice at a child just days—(perhaps weeks)—old!

They come to the child, still in the arms of “Mary his mother” (verse 11), and astonishingly they make a strong display to someone so young. First, they “fall down” and they “worship.” Worship was what the magi said they would do (verse 2), and falling down is what disciples and others did in shock and awe (Matt. 17:6, for instance).

Then, the magi offered gifts. Opening “treasures” (verse 11), they kick off a motherlode fulfilment of Isaiah 60, and they give to this child precious gold, and frankincense, and myrrh. A light has “shone” (Isa. 60:1), and kings came to the brightness (Isa. 60:3). With them, the wealth of nations has come (Isa. 60:5), and they present “gold and frankincense” and praise (Isa. 60:6). And with magi from Babylon, that former place of the exile, “the sons of those afflicting you shall come bending low to you,” and “all who despised you shall bow down at your feet” (Isa. 60:14, emphasis mine).

Then, once again God’s purposes interact with sorcerers, and a dream warns the magi not to return to Herod in Jerusalem. And as quickly as the magi appeared in this remarkable passage—they turn east and return their way on a different road than they had first come.

Some thoughts

• Herod definitely didn’t join the magi in “worship,” though he had promised (verse 8). Instead, he discovers the double-crossing of the magi, and in a fury he commits the Massacre of the Innocents: the murder of all baby boys in the area who were two years old or younger (Matt. 2:16-18). In other words, rather than being a “shepherd” (verse 6; Micah 5:2) who even welcomes enemies to a banquet table (Psalm 23), Herod is a cruelly cold-hearted slaughterer instead.

• Also important is our offerings and our poured-out giving (see Acts 20:35). Acts 8 has an account of Simon Magus, a magician who offered gifts in order to gain power and prestige. So instead of gain, each magus of the magi reminds us to give from a heart of awe and praise, rather than out of any attempt to grab or clamor. (See Acts 8:9-24.) Giving is worship, too.

• As Jesus carried no pockets of gold, and forbade his followers from doing the same (Matt. 10:9), time, talent, and treasure are for the glory of God and not primarily for the lining of our pockets!

He was “king of the Jews,” it said right there on his cross (Matt. 27). His crown was of thorns. His robe was of scarlet—hiding or blending with lots of his own blood, no doubt. And the chief-priests, the scribes, and the elders shouted at him, “He is the King of Israel. Let him come down from the cross” (Matt. 27:42). Three days later, he walked out of the grave! (1 Cor. 15:57)

• Finally is our place in this remarkable story. The magi after all are outsiders: Babylonians most likely, and certainly Gentiles rather than Judeans. Yet they recognize more of the Child-King and his Kingdom than even Herod or his religious officials do. Isaiah 9:2, “The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness (Babylon and USA, both!), on them light has shone.”

For family worship:

• Consider singing “Jesus, We Crown You with Praise.”

• And use this Epiphany season to memorize:

For the LORD is a great God, and a great King above all gods. … Oh come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the LORD, our Maker! (Ps. 95:3, Ps. 95:6)

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