Journey

Adoration of the Magi, by Peter Paul Rubens

Matthew 2:1-12

Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, saying, “Where is He who has been born King of the Jews? For we have seen His star in the East and have come to worship Him”...

 

Yes, we are into the New Year and still talking about Christmas. But contrary to your suspicions, this is not part of a commercial campaign to extend your shopping season from Halloween to Martin Luther King Day. Remember that song about the Twelve Days of Christmas? Well yeah, it's real. Some of you who follow a Liturgical Calendar at your church know that Christmas seems to never end! It's like a religious version of Dr. Who. Well at least in Western Christianity it doesn't end until Epiphany. That's when we celebrate Jesus being visited by the Magi, you know the Wise Men or maybe you know them as the "three kings" from the song. Whatever you know them as we all can agree on one thing: paintings of them look a lot like the band Journey when Randy Jackson played bass. But who were and what were these Magi? Why did they search for the newborn Christ-child and what significance could this story hold for our lives today? I'm glad you asked, hypothetical reporter that I imagine when I am writing a three point essay. 

 

The Journey

 

Paintings of the Magi like this one from Peter Paul Rubens (not to be confused with Paul Rubens) usually include a solitary "Randy Jackson" type figure as one of the Magi. Why? Not just because 1980's Randy Jackson is a perfect mix of LT and Bernie Mac, but rather because he represents what we know the most about the Magi outside of the biblical record: The were different, they were mysterious, they were foreign. Sure, tradition tells us that they were Melchior a Persian scholar, Caspar (also Gaspar, Jaspar, Jaspas, Gathaspa), an Indian scholar and Balthazar an Arabian scholar, but that is just one among several ancient Christian traditions. Use of the Persian term "Magi" denotes that they could be a range of things from magicians, fortune tellers, sorcerers and/or followers of Zoroastrianism. "Wise men" of these backgrounds were used by rulers in the Orient as advisers hence their designation as being from "the East." So the biblical writer left his interpretation of what it meant to be different: from a farther more mysterious region of the Middle East out of Roman control and most probably Gentile. Centuries later the Flemish painter Rubens would leave his interpretation of what it meant to be different: from a farther more mysterious region of the Old World, namely the Third World, out of Western control and African. Now maybe you are or are not Black or of a darker hue, and maybe you are or are not Gentile but I would argue that everyone reading this article has more in common with the Magi than with any other character in the Nativity story... because you're different, mysterious, and foreign. In the least you are two millennia away from being similar to the Holy Family. Like the Magi, coming to faith in Christ requires a journey: one that is quite different from how we are used to thinking and may feel like we are just chasing stars. But if we follow on in the story we will realize that the walk of faith is based a lot less on mystic tales than on everyday scenarios that we encounter in our everyday life. Faith is more than just an agreement among men of what occurred in the past but it is an acknowledgment with God of how we treat men and women in the present. 

 

The Encounter

...When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him. And when he had gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people together, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born. So they said to him, “In Bethlehem of Judea, for thus it is written by the prophet:

‘But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,
Are not the least among the rulers of Judah;
For out of you shall come a Ruler
Who will shepherd My people Israel.’”

Then Herod, when he had secretly called the wise men, determined from them what time the star appeared. And he sent them to Bethlehem and said, “Go and search carefully for the young Child, and when you have found Him, bring back word to me, that I may come and worship Him also”...

I have no experience in mastering the bass guitar like Randy Jackson, or using my hair to simultaneously Kid N' Play and A Flock of Seagulls... such greatness eludes me. Yet I do have extensive acting experience playing King Herod in my church's Children's Nativity play. It was appropriate when I was 9 years old and the children were my peers but it became inappropriate when I was still filling this role at age 23 and the wise men were still played by nine year olds wearing pajamas and bedazzled Burger King crowns #smallchurchfail. This being the case I have done a little background research into this Herod fellow. Herod the Great was the puppet King of Judea under Roman rule. He was not ethnically Jewish but was Idumean (an Edomite), a closely related group that were the offspring of Essau in the Old Testament. He does however appear to have practiced Judaism, in that he greatly expanded the rebuilt temple in Jerusalem. Shows of power like this combined with displays of ruthlessness is what gets him the historic suffix "The Great." However his outward religiosity and "greatness" as a ruler are both betrayals to the spiritual meanings of the words. Scripture teaches us that "Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world." This is also close to it's definition of greatness:"But he who is greatest among you shall be your servant. ¹² And whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted." Herod's greatness and religious practices were more smoke and mirrors to disguise the trickery of a perverse ego. When he encountered the magi and their talk of a new "King of the Jews" he feared the loss of his job and glory. Christ didn't come to dethrone Herod from his rule but rather to dethrone the ruling notions of how life is to be lived, greatness to be pursued and God to be glorified.

 

So Herod turns to his own "wise men" for counsel as to the details of this Messianic prophesy. They correctly respond with a loose quotation of Micah 5:2, that declares that the humble Judean town of Bethlehem would be the birthplace of the Messiah's birth (just like his ancestor King David). It is at this point that we see the contrasts between Herod's advisers and the magi. Both were groups of "wise men", trained in their respective religions and respected by their local leadership but only one group used it for good. Herod's advisers served an earthly king, a tyrant who sought the subjugation of the people for his own gain. The Magi sought a heavenly king, the sovereign Messiah whose birth provided "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men." So the "everyday scenarios that we encounter in our everyday life" that this Magi speak to are not our daily encounters with a tyrannical ruler or pilgrims from the Orient bearing gifts but rather the encounter we have with God everyday when our values, priorities and perceptions of a life well lived clash with His. Ideally this will lead us to a personal epiphany of what matters. 

 

The Epiphany

...When they heard the king, they departed; and behold, the star which they had seen in the East went before them, till it came and stood over where the young Child was. When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceedingly great joy. And when they had come into the house, they saw the young Child with Mary His mother, and fell down and worshiped Him. And when they had opened their treasures, they presented gifts to Him: gold, frankincense, and myrrh. Then, being divinely warned in a dream that they should not return to Herod, they departed for their own country another way.

Recently my mother-in-law was in town. If you've read this blog regularly (in spite of the fact that I don't write it regularly) then you might remember when I referenced Hamlet and stated that she was the world's biggest Hamlet fan and an English teacher. When she was here she mentioned the Irish author James Joyce, and his short stories "Dubliners." Well to make the story short, it is placed on the Feast of Epiphany (the end of the Christmas season) and it is about people making epihanies (meaning "a sudden consciousness of the "soul" of a thing"). James Joyce is the first to coin this usage of the word epiphany. Before then everyone understood its usage in the Christian theological sense as God revealing himself. But maybe the religious notion of the word entails both, fore it is when we discover who God is (really, really is) then we discover what life is and who we are. Now that doesn't mean that believing in Jesus means that you have life wrapped up. The reverse may also be true: if you don't really understand who you are and what life is actually about you may not understand something integral to who and how God really is (despite your external religious practice and fervor). That's the most mysterious thing about the Magi: for all intents and purposes they were theologically what you would term a "heathen" yet they were the ones who recognized the newly born Messiah for who and what he was when they saw him. I spite of their religious difference they understood something about the soul of pure religion and the essence of God to recognize him in the flesh. They saw past Mary and Joseph's poverty to realize that they were the parents of the true King of the Jews. They saw past the Christ child's age and understood that this was the Eternal God in flesh. They understood themselves as well in the in the scheme of things and fulfilled their religious duty to give to those who were without in their midst. And in doing so they gave to God.

Discovering who the characters in the Magi story truly were should lead us to question who we really are. What do their lives tell us about ourselves? Are we seeking God or our own selfish gain? Do we practice external religion for societal and cultural acceptance? Is our worship of God and relationships with those around us about getting or giving? Considering these questions are not exclusive to the Christmas season, but for the New Year and the rest of our lives. It is a journey that reveals what greatness truly is: it is glorifying God by living humbly in service for your neighbor, concern for the stranger and love for your enemies. I challenge you on this Epiphany to have an epiphany of your own.