Three Men and Baby

Matthew 2:1-12

In Matthew 2, we heard this morning about the days following Jesus’ birth and specifically about a group of Magi who went and visited Jesus. Matthew tells us that after Jesus was born, the Magi saw a star and understood it to be a sign that the Messiah had been born. It was widely believed during this era that stars heralded the birth of human beings destined for greatness. Apparently the Magi in Matthew used some astrological calculations to determine that the star they were seeing was a sign of the birth of a great king. And since Jerusalem was the capitol city of the Jewish world, they figured that Jerusalem would be the natural place for the birth of that king. So they went to Jerusalem, and started asking where this newborn king was. You can imagine the intrigue that this must have caused. Magi wandering the streets of Jerusalem looking for a baby king.

When King Herod got word that a group of astronomers were wondering around Jerusalem looking for a newborn king of the Jews, his mind began to run wild with plots to kill this newborn baby and thwart any threats that the baby may pose to his rule. After all, if the Magi were right and a king had been sent from God to be king of the Jews, then Herod’s people may no longer honor his authority. Herod understood Jesus’ birth as a direct threat to his rule.

But it was not only Herod who was disturbed by the birth of a king, Matthew says that all of Jerusalem was disturbed. It was not that Herod was a great ruler and the people did not want the Messiah to come, but that they were terrified of the actions that Herod might take when his power was threatened. The people were scared that Herod would take his anger out in destructive ways. The people understood that Herod was a paranoid ruler and that he would employ extreme measures to protect his throne. As the rest of Mathew chapter 2 reveals, the people were right.

Once Herod heard about the Magi’s quest to find the newborn king, he called together and quickly consulted with all the chief priests and religious teachers who were living in Jerusalem. Herod asked them where the Messiah prophesied about in the Old Testament was expected to be born. These experts were very familiar with the Old Testament prophesy and told Herod that the Scriptures said that the Messiah was expected to be born in Bethlehem.

After receiving this information from the religious leaders, Herod called the Magi in to see him and told them to go to Bethlehem, find the new born baby, and then report back to Herod where the child had been found. Herod told the Magi that he wanted to know where the child was so that he could go and worship him, but it is clear as the story continues that Herod only wanted to know where the child was so that he could kill him. Herod never had any intention of worshiping the child, but always intended to use the Magi to help him eliminate the threat to his rule.

The Magi obeyed Herod’s order and left Jerusalem for Bethlehem. Once again the star that had been a sign to them of the king’s birth, led the way. They eventually found the place where the child was and were overjoyed to see the baby and his mother Mary. They immediately bowed down before the small child and paid him their respects. They knew that the star had indeed led them to greatness, and that those moments before this small child were worth the long journey that they had taken to find him.

And as a demonstration of their adoration for the child they presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. Bringing gifts was particularly important in the ancient East when approaching a superior and the fact that the Magi brought Jesus such gifts indicates their deep respect for him. And while the wise men did not likely know the significance of the gifts they were bringing, other than that they were gifts well suited for a king, the Christian tradition has understood the gifts to have symbolic significance. Traditionally, the three gifts have been understood to symbolize the three aspects of the mystery of Jesus Christ. Gold represents a gift fit for a king, and thus points to Christ’s kingship. Frankincense is a type of incense used in worshipping God, and thus points to Christ’s divinity. And Myrrh was a burial ointment, and thus points to Christ’s humanity, and in particular, it foreshadowed his death on the cross.

Likely because of the moving experience that they had with the child king and also because they had been warned in a dream to avoid Herod, the Magi decided not to return to Herod and tell him where they found the child, but instead returned to their country avoiding Jerusalem altogether.

So what does all of this mean? What in the world is going on here? Did this really happen or is this just a great Christmas story? Well there are a few things missing from the story Matthew tells in comparison to the story that we all think we know. How many wise men were there? Three right? Actually, the bible does not say. It just says wise men, or Magi. . . it never says how many.

And what are Magi anyway? They are kings right? How does the song go? “We three kings. . .,” right? But the Magi were likely not kings, but astrologers. They were men understood to be particularly skilled in interpreting the stars and often dreams too. Some scholars would even refer to them as magicians or sorcerers. Definitely not the type of people that you would typically expect to show up and visit Jesus.

So what does this all this tell us? Well, for one, read your bible because sometimes tradition gets things a little mixed up. After having just experienced Christmas a week ago, and encountering a Christmas season centering on trees, presents, and Santa Claus we know how disconnected tradition can become from the actual events. If someone visited earth for the first time and watched our Christmas celebrations, they may not even know that Jesus had anything to do with it.

Second, we learn from Matthew’s account of the events following Jesus’ birth that this story is about much more than three men and a baby. Not only are we not sure how many Magi there were, we know that Jesus was much more than just a baby. He was the long-awaited Messiah that was already, at just a few days old, drawing attention from throughout the region . . . and he would eventually impact the whole world.

The Magi in this story are representatives of the diversity of Christ’s followers and represent, for the first time in the Gospels, the power of Jesus to transform not just the lives of Jews, but all people. Matthew’s inclusion of this story about the Magi explains how a group of Gentile astrologers sought Jesus out, while a Jewish king who should have known the Old Testament prophecies failed to honor the new Messiah. Matthew contrasts the eagerness of the Magi to worship Jesus with the apathy of the Jewish leaders and the hostility of Herod.

So what does this 2000 year old story mean for us? We likely understand the significance of Christ’s birth, that God sent Christ to die for our sins. But what about these Magi, these pagan astrologers . . . what can they teach us today?

Today is New Years Day, the beginning of 2006. A new story is about to be written. Over the last few days I am sure most of us have been fretting over New Year’s resolutions and thinking and anticipating the New Year to change some part of our life. Today is probably your day to begin something new. I imagine that your New Year’s resolution might be one of these, the ten most common resolutions:

1. Lose weight, 2. Stop smoking, 3. Stick to a budget, 4. Save or earn more money, 5. Find a better job, 6. Become more organized, 7. Exercise more, 8. Be more patient at work/with others, 9. Eat better, 10. Become a better person

The birth of Jesus and the story of the wise men is about beginnings. Jesus’ birth was the not the end of the story, we are very thankful for that, it was the beginning of the story. His birth was hope for an entire world and it is still hope for us today. Jesus’ birth was the beginning of a new era.

I think that as 2006 begins we can learn something from the way the wise men responded to the new beginning they encountered. So what did they do? Well the easy answer would be they brought God gifts. After all that is the part of the story that everyone remembers, that is the part that anyone marginally familiar with the story could tell you. They brought Jesus gold, frankincense and myrrh. And while that was nice and symbolic, I think the actions of the wise men prior to them finding Jesus are more significant for our lives in the upcoming year.

The wise men cared enough about this newborn king that they went looking for him. Now remember, these were not Jewish scholars who understood the Old Testament prophecies and had been waiting for a Messiah . . . these were pagan astrologers. They were not experts in Jewish tradition, but they, rather than Herod and the Jewish leaders went to find Jesus. They took the initiative to go looking for him. It is not about knowledge, it is about will.

Our faith must be this way too. We must take the initiative and pursue God. He is there waiting for us to come to him. This is a continuous process. Not a once you find him everything is done thing, but something where we need to continually choose to go to God . . . continually pursue him. Growing to maturity in Christ is a life-long process.

Marriage is a great example of this need for action every day. As a husband, I am called to love my wife. Now most days this is not too difficult. It is easy to love my wife. But there are those other days, where I am just aggravated. Certain things Dana does make me angry or frustrated. She likely has a lot more reasons to be angry with me than I with her, but the point is that it is not always natural to love. Sometimes we have to choose it. We have to make an effort to go out and find it. We have to look for it in our marriages and cling on to it, refusing to blot it out with the clutter of our lives.

It is the same way with our New Year’s resolutions, right? We must do something. We must go after our goal and formulate ways in which to make it happen. We cannot simply say that we want to lose weight or stop smoking or save money . . . we must implement steps, take our goal one day at a time . . . in order to accomplish our goals. We must pursue our goal.

Our faith is the same way. On this first day of 2006, we cannot simply say I am going to be more faithful this year, or I am going to pray more this year, or I am going to be more adamant in verbally confessing my sins this year . . . we must actually take steps to make these things happen. We must go out and find God. We must continually pursue him. So whether it is instituting a daily devotional time or praying everyday in our car on the way to work or making a point to invite people to church or taking time to find God in every situation . . . we have to take action.

The ironic thing is that God never moves, He is always waiting for us to come to him. When I talk of us going to find him, we are not looking because he has hidden himself, but because we have put so many things between ourselves and God that we often need to go climbing through things before we ever get back to God.

It is kind of like this punch bowl that my brother and I were looking for at my parent’s house over Christmas. The punch bowl has always been in this cabinet in the kitchen, but over the past year my mom has been putting things in front of it, pushing the bowl farther and farther back in the cabinet. So when John and I went looking for it we had to move a hundred things before we ever got to the punch bowl. We had to make an effort to go and find it . . . not because it had moved, but just because so much stuff had been put in front of it.

Make that your New Year’s resolution. To seek after God. To go and find Him everyday. To find him in your joys, in your pain, in your confusion. We need to wade through all of the things that we have put between ourselves and God and strive to be with him.

God appreciates our gifts. He appreciated the gifts that the wise men gave him. But what he wants more than our gifts is ourselves.

While the wise men brought gold, frankincense, and myrrh, the most valuable gift they gave God was their willingness to go and find him so that they could be with him. That truly showed where their hearts were.

I think that if we do this, if we continually go and find Jesus this year so that we can be closer to him, that we will feel as the Magi did. We will be overjoyed. This clearly does not mean that everything will go perfectly, but that we will feel a sense of peace in knowing that we have hope and that we will being doing nothing alone in the coming year.

I imagine too, that by seeking to find God everyday this upcoming year, that we will have increased strength to lose weight, stop smoking, save money, and so on. Do as the Magi did, give God what he deserves, yourself.

Lord, please help this church to be an open community in which we share with one another our hurt, our pain, our joy, and all areas in which we hope to improve. Help us to support one another and to continually draw closer to you in faith and obedience. Lord, give us the strength to seek after you and to take the initiative to find you amidst all of the things in our life that we set between us. Lord as we begin this New Year give us the courage to push aside distraction and pursue you above all else. Help us to go find you as the Magi did. In all this we pray in your name. Amen.