The Magi of our Imagination

Epiphany • Sermon • Submitted 4 years ago

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The Magi are an interesting topic and team of characters in the birth narratives. In our nativity sets we have done all kinds of things with them like name them and dress them like kings. We have even written hymns for them. We love to imagine the magi. However, the magi are important theologically in ways that we have not always thought about. They represent something more in the Christian mission.

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Matthew 2:1–12 NIV

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.

Pray.

Introduction

Every year in church there is always someone that will ask us why are we still doing Christmas stuff....let’s move on. Now, I get it you felt obliged to take down your Christmas stuff and you are grumpy with the rest of us that decided to leave it up a little while. I assure you there is purpose behind Christmas time continuing into the beginning of January. If you have spend any amount of time in the church and now the liturgical rhythms of the year then you know that today is Epiphany.

EPIPHANY Term “epiphany” comes from a Greek word which means “appearance” or “manifestation.” In Western Christianity the festival of Epiphany, observed on the sixth of January, celebrates the manifestation of Christ to the Gentiles, the coming of the Magi to see the child Jesus (Matt. 2:1–12). The 12 days between Christmas and Epiphany have often been called the “Twelve Days of Christmas.”

Fred A. Grissom1

1 Grissom, F. A. (2003). Epiphany. In C. Brand, C. Draper, A. England, S. Bond, E. R. Clendenen, & T. C. Butler (Eds.), Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary (pp. 501–502). Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers.

So we look to the Magi and their journey to Bethlehem to see the newborn King.

Babylon Bee: Scholars Now Believe Jesus Ignored Magi’s Gifts, Just played with the boxes they came in. With a 4 and 2 year old and having just experienced christmas. Yeah I get this. if he is fully human, right?

The magi are the most peculiar additions to the birth narratives as there is a lot of commentary considering who they might be. Discussion of their religion background:

Are they pagan?

Are they practicers of dark arts and magic?

Are they astrologers or studying of the constellations as a way of reading the time and future, etc?

what is their role in the telling of this story? There is no doubt many details of the birth and the journey that are left out, why include these magi and the giving of their odd gifts.

Any time I think of these stories, I immediately go to the characters in the live nativity scenes of my childhood. The Magi are interesting because they have sort of taken on a life of their own.

....there is nothing in the text to tell us there are three Magi. Likely based on the three gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. And in our live nativity there was as many as we needed to fit kids haha....extra sheep and wiseman. (I guess it would be inappropriate to have an extra Jesus or Mary haha).

And why have they become like these kings from another land? Even sometimes having specific names Gaspar, Balthasar, and Melchior. Some of this is mixed from OT allusions like that of Isaiah 60:3

Isaiah 60:3 NIV

Nations will come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your dawn.

Still it is interesting what has come of this story.

You remember the childhood game called telephone? 1 of 2 things would happen when you played this game....

Either the phrase would start with 25 words and end with like three....

or it would become the greatest manipulation of the original. So what began as a simple statement has taken a life of its own.

Should we be concerned that we have kind of imagined what is going on with these magi. That we have created details and added to it some. No, I dont think so. Not when you consider the purpose of Matthew’s gospel and his including them in the birth narrative. I believe the inclusion of the magi is less about historically reporting details of those early days and more about theologically claiming something profound that was going to begin at Jesus birth. Namely, the gentile movement of the world.

I think there are theological takeaways we should see in this text....

(The came to Worship)

If you read the text a few times and pay careful attention there is some repetition here that might clue us in on what Matthew is emphasizing. The word “Worship” which can be translated to several different things in English is repeated three times.

First, verse 2

Matthew 2:2 NIV

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.”

Second, verse 8

Matthew 2:8 NIV

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.”

Third, verse 11

Matthew 2:11 NIV

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.

The Magi teach us about worship

The repetition is not accidental and the force of the text is to show who is worshipping Jesus. This is where we will spend our time. I want you to see three movements of worship this morning.

Worship requires action

Worship requires action and really all of the characters in this text act in some way. True worship has a specific flavor of action that we will discuss.

Herod

Herod’s action is not one of disbelief but it is of fear. His aim is to control and protect his own power. Before you dismiss his actions, think of the times that you have chosen to not submit to God because you wanted to control things...

Religious people

Then Herod calls together the religious folks. These are the experts, the ones who know the scriptures… and their response is a little trickier. They find the right answers in the scripture upon asked and pass on the information and then that’s it. They do not consider the impact on themselves, they do not inquire more, they just fade back into the shadows. And later on they will be the very people that question all of Jesus motives and actions.

The response of religious folks in this story and throughout the gospel of Matthew should invoke a strong conviction to measure our actionable response to Jesus.

Thinking about the year that is in front of us. The church continues to lose credibility in the eyes of the world. Scandal, politics, race.... Make sure your rhetoric, your approach, how you talk to people, and how you pray is an action that acknowledges your allegiance to Jesus above all else.

Magi

The magi go. They bring gifts, they bow and worship. The word for worship is used around 70 times in the Greek New Testament. It has nothing to do with a hymn you sing, or a Chris Tomlin song, or a location, it does not matter if it is in a gym or a sanctuary....it actually has nothing to do with the gifts the magi bring. The word is about bowing before God. Prostrate before God. People throwing themselves at the feet of Jesus time and time again.

This is an action of humility. Not before a Hedonist God who needs your praise but in a place of identity, desperation, and purpose.

Bob Stamps:

“Worship is the churches’ appropriate response in thanksgiving and praise to who God is, to what God has done, and to that which God has spoken.” - Dr. Bob Stamps

Worship is:

an affirmative response to a seeking God

a right answer to a speaking God

a vital encounter with a living God

Would Marvin be a church known for this here? Not how good our music is. Not how good our preaching is, but for our response to the seeking, speaking, and living God?!

That begins in us individually and our response to Him. Is it one of fear? Is it one of self-perservation, complacency?

Worship inspired by the supernatural and rooted in Scripture

I need to make this one quickly, but I want you to see this. The Magi respond to God moving supernaturally in the world. However, the supernatural gets them so far....they turn to the revelation of scripture for clarity and completion of what God is doing.

Thomas Long: (Matthew Commentary pg 19)

“In terms of contemporary religious experience, the world is full of ‘stars in the East’ —events in nature, personal experience, and history that point toward the mystery of God. The seemingly permanent Berlin Wall comes swiftly down in a sudden political storm, a daffodil opens in all its spring beauty and glory, a troubled relationship is healed, a child is born—all these experiences and countless others draw our attention to the divine mystery that pervades and pushes through human events. Without the defining and clarifying word of scripture, however, we could not recognize these holy moments for what they are; we would not be able to see God’s face clearly in them. Like the wise men, we would be aware that something had happened, but we would not, without the revelation of God in scripture, know where or how to worship.” - Thomas Long

God is working all around us. God has also revealed himself through the law and the prophets, through the coming of Christ as revealed here. This is not a manual on life though it helps in this life, it is the story of the redemption of the world and God has given us the opportunity to know this story and our place in it.

(Picture of ultrasound)

I can see God in the birth of my children, what a miracle. But it is in scripture that I learn about the purpose of life, calling, identity. It is in scripture that I learn the love I have for my children is a snapshot of God’s love for me.

Worship from the Pagans

So who are the magi? Well we know that they from the east and we can gain from Matthew’s gospel that they are at least astrologers. Historically and in places of the Bible we can see them known as being seers and doing of incantations and other things. The bible actually speaks strongly against some of these practices. As a matter of fact a document called the didache which is a first century document helping to instruct believers in the way of life, “do not act the part of a magos.”

So what is the deal here? Some commentaries think that Matthew is showing God’s power that is superior to the dark arts or astrology or whatever. However Matthew seems to not be very critical of them.

Raymond Brown, NT scholar writes

“My own opinion is that There is not the slightest hint of conversion or of false practice in Matthew’s description of the magi; they are wholly admirable. They represent the best of pagan lore and religious perceptivity which has come to seek Jesus through revelation in nature.” pg 168

So what are you saying JW? Well I am not promoting pagan practices, so hang on a second. We will not be doing spiritual incantations or starting Astrology 101 class: finding the spirits in the stars. That is not what I am saying.

My point is that the magi are a theological movement for Matthew that we can miss if we only look at the historical narrative and not at what lies behind it. Theologically, the magi are the gentiles coming to Jesus. They are the least expected. The least, the last, the lost. I think the magi should convict us strongly here as a church, and as a church in north america

A few observations here:

Their access to Jesus is not based on looking like one of the religious folks of the story. They do not have to go get religious to come see Jesus, they just have to act.

Don’t make people look like us. That is not the way you access Jesus

Don’t only go to people that look like us.

We need to quit assuming that people are not searching. In the world we live in, in a post christian world. We need to not assume who knows Christ, who doesent, and more importantly who does not want to. By all accounts these magi, seers and wealthy people serving pagan kings likely, they would not be the likely ones you would invite to church. Why would they care about the jewish messiah.

There are people out there that desperately need this good news and are searching. They are your coworker, your family member, your neighbor....

My neighbor, Jehovah witness come to the door.

If I am not there already, can I crawl into your comfort zone for a second. In Matthew 2 the religious folks and leaders are the ones that recite scripture at command. They are the ones that invite the magi to give Bethlehem a try as they look for this messiah…and then they fade away again.

What if the modern day telling of this story is religious folks inviting people to church and then fading away?

first, invitations to church are fine and good and if you do it then make sure you go with them and take them to lunch after, but they largely are not working.

What if we will go with the magi on the journey to Jesus?

Doctorate work: professions of faith 650+ but anecdotally like 10

and in interviews....someone comes to Christ. Most refer to a pastor, most say one on one mentorship, but none talked about what it was like to actually do that with someone.

Matthew’s gospel has this theological and literary chiasm at work here. A chiasm is like a bookend. Could be a phrase you find repeated at beginning and then again at end. Or it could be something more, like this.

At the end of Matthew’s gospel there is a great reversal. The gentiles have come to worship Jesus in the beginning. And in the end as the disciples have to worship the resurrected Jesus in Matthew 28, then they are now sent to the world for the gentiles. They are sent out to the magi.

What if we imagined the magi of our world again? And what if we joined them in the journey to Jesus?