Three Kings                                 Matthew 2:1-12

Last week we looked at Mary and what she teaches through her experience in Jesus’ birth narrative. Today we’re looking at another character from Jesus’ birth story, actually three characters; the three kings, sometimes called the three wise men, men who scripture calls the Magi.

First thing I wanted to do was to see who these Magi were, and where did they come from. Sounds like an easy thing to do. Not so much. First, nowhere does Matthew say there were three kings, that idea came from his mentioning three gifts: gold, frankincense,         and myrrh.

The Magi’s names: Casper, Melchior, and Balthasar are also not mentioned. It is believed these names were added in an early Armenian translation of the gospel, probably around AD 500. And the notion they were Chinese scholars came from an eighth century Syriac manuscript which describes them possibly coming from the land of Shir, and even that is hard to claim is China.

There are those that claim they were Babylonian or Persian. Clement of Rome, an early church father said they were Arabian. This opinion is shared in the writings of second century Justin Martyr who explicitly stated the Magi were from Arabia because that was the land of frankincense and myrrh.

To be honest, it doesn’t matter. I believe that by not being named or described in great detail allows them to be looked at in a broader context, one that applies to all mankind and not just one area of the world. So, looking at this with broad strokes, let’s see we can unpack from the text.

First thing we see is that the Magi go to Jerusalem. They go to the wrong place. Yes, Jerusalem seems like the logical place for the King of the Jews to be born, but Jesus is born elsewhere. These Magi show us Jesus is going to do things; Jesus is going to teach things that are going to be different. We know Jesus is born in a world and faith governed and reliant on rules. But he is going to lead us to something very different, a faith governed by what’s in our hearts, a world reliant on goodwill and love.

These Magi came seeking Jesus, led by God’s star, and yet they ended up in the wrong town. Through them we’re shown that no matter how educated one is, no matter how smart one is, no matter how wise one is, wisdom and knowledge alone cannot lead you to Jesus.

Verse 4, “When he had called together all the chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Messiah was to be born.” The Magi needed God’s word to find the baby. They needed others to point them in the right direction. All logic will not open one’s heart to God; it takes his Word to open a space in one where faith will grow. And like those Magi needed direction, when one comes to faith, they need others to help point them to what God is saying in scripture.

These Magi say in our reading’s verse 2, “Where is the one who has been born King of the Jews? We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.” Through this scripture the Magi show us one of the great truths of God. God will come to where you are. The Magi didn’t have to go to Israel before the star appeared, God went to where they were and showed them the path to find Christ.

We don’t have to quit our sin before God comes to us. We don’t have to be sober before God comes to us. We don’t have to turn our lives around and make amends before God comes to us. We can be in prison, we can be broken hearted, lost, or ashamed; God comes to us wherever we are, in whatever condition we are in.

Question, were those Magi able to ignore the star? I believe they could, God gives us free choice. But they saw the work of God in the world and went toward it.

We already saw God comes to us wherever we are, whatever our condition may be. We can see his work in the world and in our lives. Still, he gives us the free choice of moving toward him, of worshiping him, or to ignore him.

These Magi weren’t Jewish. They may have known about the Jewish scriptures, but Matthew doesn’t call them great scholars of Jewish scripture, Yet God shone his star for them. God doesn’t leave us on our own until we “get it.” We already saw how logic alone won’t lead you to Christ and faith, but God will show the way.

God sent the Magi a star, look around and see what God sent you. What could only happen in your life through divine work? Maybe one survived cancer when the odds were against it, maybe one walked away from an accident that they shouldn’t have been able to, maybe one was overcome with peace amid a dire crisis that by all accounts should have broken them. God shines bright in our lives as the star shone bright in the sky, we just have to open our eyes and look for it. The Magi saw the star and saw God in it. We have to see the things in our life and see God in it.

Verse 11, “On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother, Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him.” The Magi came to Jesus without an agenda; they came simply to meet and worship him. All mankind needs to do the same. We cannot come to Jesus because we can get others to give us money by invoking his name. We cannot come to Jesus because we think others will look at us better for it. We cannot come to Jesus to earn political points. When we come to Jesus, it is simply to worship him, and to offer him a gift, the gift of our lives.

And speaking of gifts, the gifts the Magi present Jesus with show us who Jesus is. Gold, a gift for a king. Frankincense, a gift appropriate for a priest. Myrrh, used to prepare the dead for burial. The Magi tell us Jesus is king of all the world, that he is our high priest before God, and he is the one destined to die in order to give us life.

Verse 12, “And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route.” The Magi were changed; they have seen God on earth. They will never be the same. Maybe the return by a different road symbolizes they are different people than when they started out on this journey. And perhaps they didn’t return to Herod because he represented their old selves.

When one encounters Jesus and becomes his, that person is forever changed. Their life path is different. They’re free of sin and start to develop new priorities and beliefs. What was important is no longer so, what was ignored is now important. When one becomes Jesus’s, God leads them away from those things and people that came between them and Christ.

The Magi, like other characters in Jesus’ birth narrative, gives us so much more than we see in our manger scene. They show us that wherever you are, whatever is happening in your life, God will come to you. They show us that to reach us God works in our lives and in the world around us, all we have to do to see it is open our eyes and look for it. They tell us it’s not logic or intense study that will put God in your heart; it’s God’s word that inspires faith and conversion.

Through the Magi’s gifts we are shown who Jesus is; king, our high priest, and God’s sacrificial lamb who dies in our place so we may live in heaven with God.

And they show us we will be forever changed by our embracing Jesus; 2 Corinthians 5:17, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come. The old is gone, the new is here!”

And they reveal for us that once we accept Jesus, he will revolutionize our relationship with God. No longer is it contingent on rules. It’s now one of relationship and heart and faith.

Celebrate Christmas and see all the glories we are given at Jesus’ birth.               

Amen.