The heroes of this little narrative certainly seem familiar to us. Each year we all receive at least one Christmas card with their picture on the cover. Every card depicts them exactly the same way: long flowing robes, beards, and big turbans. They are always in one of two poses: either kneeling at Jesus' crib or sojourning across the desert on camels. In our carefully carved nativity sets, they rub elbows with the shepherds from Luke. We don't really know them very well, though. Most of us have probably heard by now that what we think we know about them is not accurate. They weren't kings; there weren't necessarily three of them; they didn't come on the night of Jesus' birth. After the service, someone will come up and tell me that "We Three Kings" is a favorite hymn and I just ruined it! Whether there were two, three, or twenty of them, and even if they didn't quite make it in time to help boil water for the birth, they have some things to teach us about what it means to encounter Jesus.
We rejoice that, early in his gospel, Matthew has Gentiles come to celebrate Jesus' birth and to offer him worship. The church has long understood this passage as a message about opening the gospel to the world, represented by the three outsiders who come to Jesus. We find curious not that Matthew has Gentiles come to worship Jesus, but that they find Jesus the way they do. These Gentile visitors are not kings, but Magi. We often call them "wise men." That title bears some explanation.
In biblical times, especially in the Old Testament, "wisdom" meant many things. A wise person could be someone who had a particular skill, such as an artisan. A wise person could be someone who observed life, arriving at mature conclusions about how we should live our lives. This kind of wisdom is the basis for the book of Proverbs. Proverbial wisdom warns us away from such things as pride, sloth, and foolishness. One form of this wisdom was to draw analogies about life. "The crucible is for silver, and the furnace is for gold, but the Lord tests the heart" (Proverbs 17:3). This wisdom saying compares the processing of metal to the testing of human hearts. We value this kind of wisdom.
Yet another kind of wisdom is mantic wisdom. A person who had the skill, or maybe the gift, of mantic wisdom could discern things that could not be learned just by observation. Mantic wisdom had a touch of the supernatural. A person with the gift of mantic wisdom could interpret dreams and visions. A person with the gift of mantic wisdom could explain signs and omens. The Magi in this passage fall more into this category. They studied the stars to interpret life. In that practice lies the strangeness of this passage.
The Old Testament authors ridiculed the idea that the stars had any influence on life. The future unfolded with God's providence and our own choices. The belief that the stars exerted power over people originated with the Babylonians, the staunch enemies of the people of Judah. Astrology, then, was a foreign belief system, one that the Old Testament writers tried to steer the people of Israel and Judah away from. In the first chapter of the Bible, Genesis 1, the author describes God creating the heavenly bodies, including the stars. For the biblical authors, the stars were nothing but lights in heaven placed there by God. They held no power; they could not predict the future. They provided no signs or omens.
For that reason, we consider it strange that Matthew would tell us of astrologers who use their mantic wisdom to find Jesus. Certainly, Matthew is not endorsing astrology. We need to be clear on that. Even in the church today, some folks are confused about astrology. They are Christians, but they want to make decisions based on their horoscope readings. Matthew is not giving his okay for that. We face the future trusting in God, not knowing what will happen on any given day.
Where Matthew may be leading us, though, is to affirm that God meets us where we are. We can make our initial steps toward Jesus in any number of ways. We hear every now and then that our experience of coming to Jesus has to match someone else's experience. Matthew knows better. God can draw us to Jesus from wherever we are and by whatever path we follow. One of the delights of our faith is to hear how God has brought people to faith. Some people inch their way to Jesus, starting in early childhood. Others undergo a dramatic experience later in life, so that all of who they are is transformed. Some pastors even went to seminary in the late sixties to avoid the draft. Despite such a start, they became faithful Christians and helpful pastors, almost in spite of themselves. Many people come to Jesus in ways that don't match our expectations. Whoever these wise men were, they show us that we can never predict how God will bring us to Jesus.
These wise men teach us not only in the strange way they come to Jesus, they also teach us in the way they leave. King Herod lurks behind this story of the Magi. Herod cannot see the good news behind the birth of Jesus. Herod seethes with jealousy over Jesus as a threat to his power and his family line. He makes the foolish decision to try to hold back what God intends. He wants to stand in God's way. With a fake smile on his face and treachery in his heart, he invites the Magi in for a talk. Claiming that he wants to pay homage to Jesus, he asks the Magi to let him know the whereabouts of the child.
Herod represents all those in power who claim a noble purpose, but who act out of self-interest and greed. He stands in for all who clutch at power without regard for who might be hurt. When he claims a desire to pay homage to Jesus, he becomes the ancestor of all politicians and leaders who have used religion to gain votes and exert control over others.
Herod's plan would have worked, except for God. Speaking to the Magi in a way they could understand — through a dream — God points them to a different path, away from Herod. The wise men have taught us by the way they arrived, and now they teach us by the way they leave. "They left for their own country by another road" (Matthew 2:12). When we stand up after kneeling before Jesus (even if we can kneel only in our hearts), we stand up to resist the evil of the world. Worshiping Jesus gives us the motivation and the strength to fight back against greed, oppression, and injustice. The Magi practice a form of "civil disobedience." They refuse to do what the government tells them to do.
We may have an easier time seeing Herod as an example of evil government than we do our own government. We should not deceive ourselves. Are our minimum wage laws and tax policies fair to the poor? Does our government turn a blind eye to pollution and its effects? Do our leaders condone torture of prisoners? Do our leaders seek to ensure access to health care for all people? Many in the church do not want to hear criticism of our government. A pastor in Minnesota preached a series of sermons in which he challenged the notion that the United States is a Christian nation. Gregory Boyd, pastor of Woodland Hills Church in St. Paul, Minnesota, refused to endorse candidates for office and to promote political rallies. Reverend Boyd wanted to go on another road. He did not want the church to be too beholden to political candidates. At the end of the sermon series, 20% of the congregation left Woodland Hills.1 We may not want to hear it, but we are not called to cozy up to politicians and leaders.
We are called to go on another road. We are called to resist such evil. If we kneel before Jesus, we rise ready to go another road from the evil of the world. Matthew Herbst, a pastor in San Diego, saw an evil that the church needed to resist. He leads the church community in its fight against domestic violence. Domestic violence may be the closest thing we have here and now to Herod's actions. Domestic violence is usually based on irrational fear and a sense of threat. It harms and kills children, leaving grief and agony behind. The problem is much more widespread than most people think. Its influence is more pervasive. In response, Herbst started the Peaceful and Healthy Relationships Project in San Diego. The program teaches teens about healthy relationships, concentrating on groups with the highest rates of potential abuse.2
We have some new things to think about when we see the Magi in the nativity scenes and Christmas cards each year. They teach us that God welcomes us wherever we might have started out. They show us the call of those who worship Jesus to resist the evil of the world. As we begin a new year, let us pledge ourselves to going on another road. Amen.
1. Laurie Goodstein, "Disowning Conservative Politics Is Costly for Pastor," The New York Times Online, July 29, 2006.
2. "Domestic Terror," Christian Social Action 17.1 (January/February 2004), pp. 9-11.