“The Wise Men,” Matthew. 2:1-12

Matthew. 2:1-12
 

Pastor Tom Johnson, January 3, 2016

Crèche 

There are a lot we do not know about the wise men from the East. Even the New Testament word here, Magoi—or as it is sometimes transliterated, Magi—is not entirely clear. Are they priests from a Median tribe, Persian astrologers, or Zoroastrian? How many were there? They bring three kinds of gifts but we are never told exactly how many persons there were. And the East is a general direction from which they came with many different kinds of people, tribes, and ethnicities. Yesterday, I noticed that even our crèche is becoming more and more shrouded in mystery as the branches of our Christmas tree are beginning to lose their vigor. We should give Matthew credit for telling us all we need to know.

The thread in this story that ties it together is their pilgrimage to worship the newborn King. God called them to make a long journey together. The star drew them in to a foreign nation. The Scriptures enlightened them to go to Bethlehem. A dream warned them to avoid Herod and go back to the East by another road. Perhaps the way he tells this story, encourages us to make full use of our imaginations on who these wise men might be. There are no boundaries between God and his creation that he cannot easily cross. There are no obstacles that God cannot easily overcome. God not only welcomes the stranger, he calls them from a faraway land. This is in answer to generation after generation of prayer. “Let all the people praise you, O God” (Ps 67). God answers Solomon’s prayer of dedication of the temple when he prays for “the foreigner who does not belong to your people Israel but has come from a distant land because of your name” (1 Kings 8:41-43). The wise men remind us that our prayers our not in vain for the nations. Our prayers are not far-fetched when we pray for God to transform the hearts of all his creatures near and far. When we pray, “Hallowed be thy Name,” we are praying for the world to be drawn to Messiah Jesus and worship his holy uniqueness.

Worshiping Christ the King is a journey. It begins where God has placed us. He knits us together in our mother’s womb. We seek. We ask questions. We see beyond our own nation, tribe, and people. We meet new people along the way. Some of them are companions and fellow sojourners. Some are adversaries. Through their knowledge of the stars, the wise men hungered and thirsted for more wisdom. Modern astronomers will tell you that ancient stargazers were great observers of the night sky. Hundreds and thousands of years ago, Zoroastrians, Persians, Chinese, Mayans, and many other peoples were able to predict with great precision the movement of the sun, moon, planets, and stars. “When I look at our heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place,” the Psalm writer (8) asks, “What are human beings that you are mindful of them, mortals that you care for them?” Knowledge leads to more questions. Discovery leads to wonder. Humility is a good companion to wisdom as we learn what we know and learn what we may never know about creation. The King of the universe knows and cares for us.

The wise men make a long trip. When they arrive at the land of Judea, they still have not completed their journey. They ask where the Messiah is to be born. And God’s people point them to the Scriptures: “In Bethlehem of Judea.”  The Word of God is such a beautiful gift. It is in the Scriptures where God reveals himself so wonderfully and clearly. Religion and spirituality can be so abstract. The Bible makes what we need to know concrete. “The Word of God is living and active” (Heb 4:12). “All Scripture is God-breathed” (2 Tim 3:16). “Your Word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path” (Ps 119:105). The Word of God leads us to the Word made flesh—the newborn King—the eternal Son of God born into humanity in the little town of Bethlehem.

The wise men are warned in a dream to not trust Herod. God speaks to their conscious and subconscious minds. There are adversaries along the way. Sin and death are still sad and devastating realities. But God still overcomes these formidable evils. And he does so by meeting these people in the secret and mysterious place of their dreams just as God gave Pharaoh dreams when Joseph was enslaved in Egypt. He gave dreams to the prophets and people of God in the Scriptures. And I hope you will remember our friend Pastor Hicham Chehab’s story and those who have been baptized by him from faraway lands in the East like Iran and Lebanon. They also encountered the King of kings and Lord of lords in their dreams. This is so common throughout the East, that even non-Christians ask one another if they have had the “Jesus dream.”

The wise men lead us to worship the newborn King. God calls us to make a long journey together no matter what tribe, nation, tongue, or people. The Scriptures enlightened us—even in the quiet hours of the night to trust in Jesus Messiah—the One who has made his own faraway journey from heaven to earth to draw all creation to himself—the Word made flesh—born to overcome our sin whether conscious and subconscious—so that we will worship him now and forever.