In this third week of our series, we look at the visit of the Magi, the wise men from the east. Who are they? Why did they come? What can we learn from them that will make our Christmas unforgettable? This message is based on Matthew 2:1-12
There is a beautiful old tradition about the star in the East. The story says that when the star had finished its task of directing the wise men to the baby, it fell from the sky and dropped down into the city well of Bethlehem. According to some legends, that star is there to this day, and can sometimes still be seen by those whose hearts are pure and clean. It's a pretty story. It kind of makes you feel warm inside. There are other legends about this story of the wise men from the east. For instance, how many wise men were there? In the old days in the east, they believed that there were 12 men who made the journey, but now most agree there were three. Only three are mentioned in the story, but that doesn’t mean more weren’t there. One old legend even tells us the names of the three. Melchior was the oldest of the group, with a full beard. He gave the baby the gift of gold. Balthasar also had a beard, but was not as old as Melchior. He presented the gift of myrrh. The youngest of the three was Casper, who had no beard yet, but did present the gift of frankincense to the baby. Another legend says that after seeing the baby, the three continued traveling as far as Spain, telling the world the good news about what they had seen. I doubt this one, Matthew tells us that after seeing the baby, they went back to their own country by another route. I think they went home. But I don’t know, it could have been a really circuitous route. These stories bring the wise men a little more to life, and add some color to the meaning of Christmas. But they may also get in the way. The problem with legends is that sometimes they add color to stories that don't need any more color. In fact, sometimes legends are so colorful, they seem unbelievable, and they can end up making the entire story unbelievable as well. Kind of like that star falling in the well. It makes you warm inside. It also makes you wonder. Or maybe doubt. I am not out to ban legends, but I do think it might be worthwhile to hear the story one more time, the way it was told the first time. The part we know for sure. I need to hear it anyway, and you are welcome to listen along if you like. It all started sometime after Jesus was born. It might have been a few weeks, or even a few years. You remember that when Herod tried to kill the baby, later he murdered every child under the age of two years. Apparently, he wasn't sure how long it had been either. And he wanted to make sure he got him. One thing we do know about those times is that it was explosive. Every nation in that part of the world was on edge. In historical writings from all over the Orient, we read that nations shared the belief that it was fated that a tremendous new king was about to arrive, one that would rule the entire world. From throughout the Roman Empire, into Armenia, as far away as Persia, the people waited for the king's arrival. Perhaps these stories were why Herod was so disturbed. With all this tension, all the world awaiting a new and very powerful king, and with Herod knowing this was the king that would be called the Messiah, I find it quite amazing that no one went to Bethlehem with the Magi. We saw in our reading that Herod had called together all the chief priests and teachers of the law and asked where the Christ would be born. Yet he didn’t send anyone to go with them when they found out he was just less than 10 miles away. None of the chief priests or teachers of the law who were brought in to consult with Herod, none of them were interested enough to go and see if the Messiah was really born. These were the people that had to be looking forward to the birth of the Messiah more than anybody, the chief priests and teachers of the law – and here it is reported to them that He had come, the Messiah has been born, and He is less than a three hour walk away – yet no one checked it out? God was so close, yet they were too busy to make any effort to see such a wonder. I guess we can’t be too astonished at that. The very same thing happens all the time today, doesn’t it? God is so close, yet we get so busy we miss Him. God is so close, yet we’re in a hurry, our schedule is full, we have things to do, and quite honestly, while it doesn’t sound very flattering, we’re just too self-absorbed to notice that God is in our midst. The very one that can deliver us out of the busyness of our hectic schedule, is in our midst, and we’re too busy to notice. After a very short delay, the Magi are back on the road, and just a few hours later they arrive in Bethlehem, the star reappears and guides them to the very house where the child is. A lot of people tend to get sidetracked wondering how they could find the very place because a star guided them. Stars are so high, how can they show the very house? I don’t know, but I don’t think it’s important. God was directing these Magi to the right place. Somehow they knew just where to find this child they were looking for, because God showed them. God shows us, too. He shows us how to live our lives each day. He shows us what to do in difficult situations. He guides us in decisions throughout the day. And sometimes when the day is over, somebody asks us how we knew what to do, and we have to say, I don’t know – I just sort of knew. That’s God. We can’t explain how He works. But we know He does, and our lives are full of these fingerprints of the divine. Trust yourself in these times that you think you hear Him speaking. Trust yourself when you have a difficult decision. He will quietly speak to you, and you might not even hear him, but you will know. We don’t really know where these Magi were from. Some traditions point to the Orient, China perhaps. Some don’t have them coming from nearly that far, perhaps Persia, present day Turkey. But one thing they all agree on is that these Magi were not Jewish. Yet they came to worship Jesus. A reminder at His very birth that His gospel is for all people. They came from far away, because He would be their king, too. While he never held political office, he was the prince of peace, and king of the kings. He is our prince of peace and our king of kings, also. Two final thoughts on the gifts themselves. First, his own people rejected him. Yet these Magi from far away brought very expensive gifts. The chief priests and teachers of the law stayed in Jerusalem, but these foreign Magi brought gold and frankincense and myrrh. Very expensive gifts that would support the family in their exile in Egypt and their early years after they return to Galilee. Mary and Joseph were very poor people and they didn’t have the means to finance a trip like this, so the Magi’s gifts were very much needed. God provides for those who love him and trust him. He will provide for your needs, also. It’s pretty bizarre that when the Jews didn’t pay any attention to Jesus’ birth, Magi from far away would come with such expensive gifts. God will provide in ways that we will never see coming. We can’t mistake them for our own good works or sheer coincidence. The Lord sure does work in strange ways. The final thought is on the gift of myrrh. Myrrh was a very expensive perfume, but it wasn’t commonly used except to prepare bodies for burial. It had other uses, but the most common was to prepare a body for the tomb. At Easter we say that Jesus lived to die, that the purpose of his coming to earth was to die for our sins. At Christmas, with all the celebrations, it’s easy to look at the baby in the manger, and even think of the ministry that He would have, but miss that. We can get so caught up in his birth and excitement of that, that we forget that he was born to die. And out of nowhere in the Christmas story comes the gift of myrrh, an expensive perfume usually used to prepare a body for burial. A stark reminder in an otherwise wonderful story. A glimpse of the crucifixion in the story of a new birth. The story of the Magi is story that reminds us that God is close. It is story that shows us that while God’s own stayed home, God provided in another way. It is a story that reminds us that Christ came for all people. It is story that reminds us that this incredible child laid to rest in a manger, was born to die for each of us. Because through this child, our sins are forgiven, and we are made holy in God’s sight.
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