James Stevenson, Halifax Christian Church
As a kid, there were several Decembers where the Sunday School ministry at my church
would put on a Christmas play in which we would re-enact the story of Jesus’ birth. When roles were being given out, there was usually a specific part that I would hope for – I wanted to be a wise man.
It wasn’t because I believed that I had more wisdom than the other kids. The reason I wanted to be one of the wise guys was because they only had to wear a fake beard and velvet robe, holding a ‘gift’ while standing still, looking at Jesus in reverent silence (a little girl’s doll usually played the part of Jesus). The role of Joseph or Gabriel seemed like ones in which there was more attention on you and might require the actor to memorize more lines. If I could choose my exact role, it would be ‘Wise Man Number Three’ because it meant that one of the other wise men would most likely deliver the line, “Where is the newborn king? We saw his star and we have come to worship him.” The role of the wise men seemed easy. As a child, to me, the wise men felt inconsequential to the overall story. Close to thirty years later, I have come to see things differently than I did back then.
Why did God choose to have wise men show up to worship Jesus? Why are they highlighted in the gospel of Matthew’s birth narrative?
Matthew 2:1-2 (CSB) tells us, “After Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of King Herod, wise men from the east arrived in Jerusalem, saying, ‘Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we saw his star at its rising and have come to worship him.’” [1]
There is quite a bit of myth to separate from what the Bible tells us about the wise men. At this time of year, we hear the song in which the wise men are described as kings, bearing gifts who’ve traversed from afar to see the baby who was “born a King on Bethlehem’s plain.” As much as I enjoy that song, scholars debate whether these travelers were kings or not.
Christmas art usually depicts three wise men because there were three gifts described: gold, frankincense, and myrrh (Matthew 2:11). We don’t know how many wise men there were. We know that there was more than one because we’re told there were wise men – not a wise man. There were likely more than three, travelling with an entourage to assist them, but we can’t nail down an exact number.
Question: Where were they from? Answer: The east. Astute, I know. Matthew simply tells us that they came from somewhere to the east of Judea. Scholars speculate that they might have been from Persia, Southern Arabia, Babylon, or even farther. This puts estimates of the distance they travelled to get to Bethlehem anywhere between 800-2,400 kilometers (that’s 500-1,500 miles for my friends who prefer the Imperial system), potentially even farther, which means the journey most likely took them several months.
Why did the wise men come to find Jesus? Yes, the Sunday School answer, “to worship the newborn king of the Jews,” is correct. But what causes you to decide to leave home for several months, potentially a year, in search of newborn royalty?
This raises the question of what do wise men do? Scholars debate what the responsibilities of someone who chose the wise man career involved. Some have called them sages, royal advisors, magicians, dream interpreters, astrologers, students of sacred writings, pursuers of wisdom, etc. In general, it’s safe to assume that wise men looked for wisdom wherever they could by studying various fields.
While we’re not told that this is what happened in Scripture, the Bible-nerd in me geeks out
over this next part because it might help fill in some potential gaps. Some scholars believe that these wise men may have become familiar with Hebrew scriptures because of the time the Jewish people had spent in captivity in Babylon during the sixth century BCE. Over five hundred years later, as these wise men watched the night sky, they saw a new star appear in the western sky, and they may have recalled a verse such as Numbers 24:17 (CSB) which says, “I see him, but not now; I perceive him, but not near. A star will come from Jacob, and a scepter will arise from Israel. He will smash the forehead of Moab and strike down all the Shethites.” (How has this verse never been put on the front of a Christmas card?)
Whatever it is that cued the wise men to leave their studies, they knew the appearance of the new star meant the birth of the promised king in Judah. After a long journey they found themselves in Jerusalem, the capital city of Judea, which is where you’d naturally look for a king. Standing before King Herod, they asked, “Where is the newborn king of the Jews?” Asking the current king of the Jews where the newborn king of the Jews is seems a bit foolish/dangerous, but I’ll defer to their wisdom – they’re the professionals. Herod played along, pretending that once the wise men discovered where the newborn king was, they should come tell him so that he could come worship him as well.
Back on the road, the wise men were eventually led by the star to where Jesus was – Bethlehem. By this time, Jesus was probably approaching two years old. The wisemen didn’t get to the stable the night Jesus was born, arriving conveniently just after the shepherds had their turn. (You can stop reading to go move the wise men in your nativity set to the eastern side of your room because they are still a long way off.) Finding the child, they bowed down in worship and offered Him their gifts.
God warned the wise men in a dream not to return to Herod but to go home via another route, which they did. Their mission was complete.
When Herod realized that the wise men weren’t coming back, he ordered the murder of all the boys in the region of Bethlehem who were two years old and younger to be murdered. Herod represented the worst type of leadership. Paranoid that his family members were trying to usurp his throne, he had no problem killing them in order to protect his position. Herod was evil. It was an evil that Scripture tells us is not just human in origin but is influenced by Satan. Revelation 12:1-6 gives us a look behind the curtain of the spiritual war that is raging and we see that Herod was a tool of Satan’s to try to kill the Messiah.
Jesus would have been a victim of Herod’s genocide in Bethlehem had God not warned Joseph, Jesus’ adoptive-earthly father, in a dream to flee to Egypt and stay there until told to leave because Herod had murderous intentions for Him. Joseph and Mary obediently left everything behind: relationships, a career, a home, etc. which would be a difficult thing to do. However, I imagine that since God had brought wise men from the east to worship the infant Jesus as king, it was a confirmation to Joseph and Mary that God had some amazing plans for their little boy.
Relocating to a new country is rarely cheap. It’s likely God made this exile in Egypt financially possible through the lavish gifts offered to Jesus by the wise men. The gold, frankincense, and myrrh likely helped to provide for the family’s needs. This reminds us that our God is a God who will go to great lengths both to save and to provide for His people – often in ways that we would never imagine. This is ultimately what we see in the Gospel – God the Son, left heaven, put on human flesh to save us from our sin and make us right with God.
The Bible doesn’t tell us what happened to the wise men after they returned home, but I’d like to imagine that they went back to reading old scrolls while drinking good coffee in order to stay awake as they watched the night sky. The wise men show us that God can use us for His plans – even when we’re not aware of them. They didn’t know how the family would need the confirmation that came through their visit and that their gifts would be used to preserve the newborn king’s life – but God used them.
At the beginning of Jesus’ life, we see non-Jewish men worshipping Him as a king. This may have been foreshadowing – an indicator that Jesus would be the true King of people from every nation, tribe, people, and tongue.
Perhaps God used the wise men to put the cosmic forces of evil on alert when they told king Herod that a new king had been born. Perhaps God was using them to declare to Satan that the true King had come and evil’s days are numbered. With the gift of hindsight, we can see Jesus’ arrival in Bethlehem that night was a beachhead from which God would push back darkness and begin to establish His Kingdom here on earth.
The wise men were forced to choose between loyalty to king Herod or loyalty to King Jesus. In other words, they had to decide, “Who is the true king?” Two thousand years later, we see that the Son of God’s arrival still forces people to decide: “Who has my allegiance? Do I choose the principalities and powers of this world or do I choose the King of Heaven?”
Who is your king?
These non-Jewish men followed a star, travelled hundreds of kilometers over the course of
several months, to give expensive gifts to a child, and to worship Him as king. It makes me ask, how far am I willing to go to worship Jesus?
I remember talking to a guy several years ago who said he was so busy getting ready for Christmas that he couldn’t help serve during the Sundays leading up to Christmas. He was so busy that he wasn’t sure if he could make it to one of our Christmas Eve services.
This is a busy time of year. Many of us are working hard to create a sense of wonder and joy in our homes and churches and there is nothing wrong with that. However, if you’re like me, you probably know what it is like for Christmas day to come and go, and yet feel a bit underwhelmed. We thought Christmas would be a bit more; we did not experience the wonder and joy we hoped for because we were busy, almost trying to force it.
Guided by a star, and maybe a few old manuscripts, the wise men searched, discovered, and worshiped. Matthew 2:10 is one of those verses that we can rush past in our assumed familiarity with Jesus’ birth narrative. Matthew tells us that finding Jesus brought the wise men joy. In the end, they weren’t underwhelmed upon discovering the newborn King.
Joy is found – not manufactured.
May I suggest that the wise men point us to where we can truly find joy this Christmas? They searched for, discovered, and worshiped Jesus. Over the next week, I hope you get to enjoy gatherings, great food, good gifts, and time with those you love – but remember that joy is found in Jesus. Don’t miss it this year. We get to worship the King of Heaven, who was born, and then died, to save His people from their sins. Through God’s grace – we get to be His people.
Almost thirty years later, I suppose I still want to be like the wise men.
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[1] The Christian Standard Bible. Copyright © 2017 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. Christian Standard Bible®, and CSB® are federally registered trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers, all rights reserved.
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Photo by Robert Thiemann on Unsplash
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