On Christmas Eve we celebrate one of the biggest events in history, the day God came to earth to make his dwelling place among us, so that one day we might dwell with him. In most manger scenes on church lawns and court houses the Magi are present at the birth of Jesus, but in the Bible these wise men do not show up until nearly two years later. They were following the star that announced Jesus’ birth, and when they saw his star in the East they could only follow it and travel at night. Such a journey would take a long time, and require a great deal of planning since there was not an interstate, or a Walmart, or a Motel 6 to leave a light-on along the way. The purpose in saying that is not to burst anyone's bubble. Please enjoy your manger scene. The truth, is however, better than Drummer Boy Legend.
After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem and asked, “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.”
When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him. When he had called together all the people’s chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Messiah was to be born. “In Bethlehem in Judea,” they replied, “for this is what the prophet has written:
“‘But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,
are by no means least among the rulers of Judah;
for out of you will come a ruler
who will shepherd my people Israel.’”Then Herod called the Magi secretly and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared. He sent them to Bethlehem and said, “Go and search carefully for the child. As soon as you find him, report to me, so that I too may go and worship him.”
After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen when it rose went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route. (Luke 2.1-12, NIV)
The quote is from the NIV because it uses the more accurate rendering Magi rather than the more generic wise men. Do you know what a Magi is? A Magi is a person who is kind of a combination astronomer, scientists, doctor and philosopher all rolled into one– That’s why we call them wise men. They were well educated and they were also very wealthy. It also says in Matthew, that they came from the east, meaning they could have come from Persia, or India, or from China. We don’t really know. We do know that they had to cross the Middle Eastern desert and that trip probably took them about four to six months to make in order to get to Israel.
Isn’t it ironic that Jesus was born just thirteen miles away from the epicenter of Judaism in Jerusalem, where all of the Jewish scholarship in the world at that time was concentrated, but not one of the Jewish religious leaders went to search for the messiah? These wise men that did go to see Jesus weren’t necessarily even believers in Yahweh God, they were “pagans” yet they came from a far away land to worship him and give him gifts. The Magi stand out because they did not rest on the laurels of what they already knew, nor did they speculate about God as if they were somehow experts on God, but when these guys saw the change in the sky they knew it was significant and they set out on a quest to know what it meant.
Sadly, there are far more speculators in the world than there are wise men. Speculators are people who say, “Well, I think … My idea is like…. I really imagine ….” Honestly, Who cares? Who set them up to be an authority? Just because you think something doesn’t make it true or even a reality. Speculators just guess, they conjecture, and your guess is as good as mine what is true. Those who are wise are the people who diligently search for the truth, they search what is real, not just opinions that please them. They take the time and effort to find the answers to life’s questions. That’s what these Magi did.
The problem with many of people today is that we all want to know what’s real but they don’t want to take the time to find it out. Few of people even have enough gumption to Google it, let alone do any real study, or search out any real answers. The Magi saw this star come down low over the earth like no other star and they knew that this had to mean something. They knew enough to know that stars don’t just hover above the earth. This was no ordinary light in the sky, and they went to see what it was.
The second thing to love about these guys is that unlike Herod they were not threatened by the truth. Instead they sought to ally themselves with the truth. Herod felt threatened by it and sought to destroy it, but the Magi were people of character and integrity. They wanted truth to triumph, no matter how much their lives had to change because of it. So much so, that they spent more than two years and many of their resources on pursuing
You also have to love these guys humility. When they realized who Jesus was they worshiped him, not their religion, not their past, they let him become their future, they even put their lives at risk after they met Jesus, and they went home another route to avoid Herod. It was a dangerous decision to defy a king on his own territory. These guys changed their religion, their loyalty, and their lives because of what they found. There willingness to act is what separates wise men from plain old wise guys.
That first night when the star appeared it burned bright in the darkness to tell the whole world that God’s Son had been born in the world. And all who followed the light whether shepherds or wise men eventually came to bow before the son of God, and worship him. Others saw the light and ignored it.People still respond the same way today. Most see the light and speculate, filling the air with their haughty and empty presumptions. Others simply ignore it. A few, out of fear, try to stamp it out, but some like the Magi, in wisdom seek understanding, and for them Christmas is not only the birth of a child, but the promise of better things to come. May you be the later.Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
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