The Magi

Robert E. Hall
Tarrytown United Methodist Church

January 7, 2007

Text: Matthew 2:1-12

What will God bring to pass next?! First shepherds and now Wise Men arrive to celebrate the birth of Jesus.

GOD’S FREEDOM TO ACT

God is the great initiator. God draws people into the picture, without consultation.

You would have thought that the scribes and Pharisees (consultants), learning from the Magi about their quest, would be at least curious enough to go to Bethlehem. But they did not go. Herod reacts later, initiating genocide of the male children of the area just to be sure that he is safe.  (In character for him, this slaughter of the innocents: for Herod killed his own sons rather than risk their rivalry for the throne:  In a Greek play on words, it was said that it would be better to be Herod’s dog than to be his son.).

WISE MEN?

Who were these Wise Men in Matthew’s story? They were “Magi,” probably Zoroastrian priests, representatives of the best of pagan lore and religious wisdom. They were astrologers, those who believed that the destiny of people and nations was determined by the alignment of the stars. They were interpreters of dreams. They were very close to being “New Agers” as we define the term. They would have been eclectic in their beliefs, with an eye out for evidences of the divine.

Yet, they are drawn to the birth of this baby, a child born to a peasant family in humble circumstances in a provincial town of no worldly importance. Bearing gifts, they come. They fall down in adoration of Jesus.

In Isaiah, the prophet says, “See, I am doing a new thing; do you not perceive it?” God’s ways are not our ways. God has planted in the hearts of pagans, apparent unbelievers and seekers, a hunger to see and worship God’s Son.

INTERESTED AND NOT INTERESTED

 We so often divide people into Good and bad prospects. It is a mind-set in which we decide who is worthy of our attention, who we will “market” our “product” to. We say “no” for people.

I heard a bishop tell me about an incident when he was pastor of a church. He and volunteers were canvassing a new affluent subdivision, hanging flyers on the door knobs. A kid rode up on his bike, watched what they were doing, and then asked, “Are you going over there?”-- ---pointing to a lower class, older neighborhood of double-wides). The boy added, “Them’s people, too.”

As I have heard Christians say, when asked about the new people moving into their communities, “They are not the kind of people who would be interested in our church. They are”(and you can choose the disqualification): “They are too young/poor/brown/black/uneducated/secular/conservative/liberal/osophisticated.” I want to reply to them, “What if these dis-qualified people are looking for Jesus instead of you? Do you think Jesus would be interested in them?”

But God’s invitation is not limited by our guest lists. The Wise Men’s visit puts an end to any justification for prejudice, any claims to racial or ethnic superiority. All are created in God’s image. All are potential disciples. God’s mercy, forgiveness and strength are offered to all peoples.

Thank God this is so!  I would probably not have been on Israel’s expected list either. The barbarians of Anglo Saxon heritage (mine) were every bit as much outsiders as the Magi----but without their spiritual credentials. So, as we remember the first guests according to Matthew, we can only give thanks. God had us in mind, too, when the Word of God became flesh and dwelt on the earth.

HOME BY ANOTHER WAY
The story has the Magi going home by another way. They did not return to Herod to tell him of Jesus’ location and identity. Matthew tells us nothing more about them. But by the time that Jesus met his disciples after resurrection, the Jewish apostles fell down on their faces---just as the Wise Men did----and they heard Jesus tell them that they were to go and make disciples of all nations, not only among the people of the Covenant, but whosoever is led and will respond. The word is ethne , the people of the whole wide world, the outsiders, the non-Jews.
 
SEEKERS YESTERDAY AND TOMORROW

Seekers like the Wise Men were there yesterday and are here today. People search everywhere, looking for the sacred, looking for salvation, happiness, fulfillment, clues to the meaning of life. Credulous, yet skeptical they are, easy prey for hucksters.

About 10 years ago we visited Mystic, Connecticut. I was surprised to see many shops full of educated people who were big into mysticism---crystals and candles and books on the supernatural. Today we witness a rebirth of longing for mystery and hunger for the transcendent. This surprises us, for we have been busy making our faith story reasonable.  People say they are spiritual but not religious, being skeptical of “churches.”
We are all influenced by this quest. We are shaped by the quests of our day: aromatherapy, exercise, self-realization, tarot cards, astrology, Myers Briggs, Enneagrams, rituals of all kinds.

I believe that God is involved in this re-birth of spiritual and mystical interest. (“Our hearts are restless until they rest in God.”)

In our quests, we here today have found that God has drawn us to Jesus. As helpful as we may find all of the other wisdoms of our time, we have found ourselves on our knees before this incarnation of God’s faithfulness and love. Do we really understand Jesus? No, not fully---but then, neither did the Magi! But we become disciples, students, followers. Something in him and in the people who identify with him speaks to us. We will learn who he is and who we are in this relationship.

 The novelist Eugene O’Neill wrote about his early life. He was placed in a boarding school when he was five because his parents were traveling actors. He was sent to many other schools through the years, being kicked out of them because of his behavior. He ended up on the street in Brazil, penniless. One day he began to remember that the only people who had ever shown him love were two nuns in a Catholic school. This remembrance was a turning point. He began to write, married a loving woman and his life was redeemed. He wrote of this experience, “People are broken. People need mending. And it is God’s love alone that does it.” (Source: Reverend Wayne Day of the Texas Methodist Foundation staff.)

WE REPRESENT CHRIST

We try not to get in the way of or obscure Jesus for others. “Let not those who seek you be disgraced because of me,” the psalmist wrote (Psalm 69.7.)  We re-present Jesus. We want to be the living body of his presence. And we welcome those whom God draws to Jesus. We want to include them in the fellowship. God overcomes the barriers we have erected between people: rich and poor, old and young, insiders and outsiders. We are pulled to create a new community of people, united by our devotion to God.

 OPEN TABLE

Here we are at the table of the Lord: kneeling in homage; we stream to this dwelling of God in Jesus through the Spirit.
Prayer is on our lips and gifts are in our hands: This is who we are. As much as we have chosen to be here, God has led us here. We are participants in a movement which we did not start. Can we comprehend what is happening when we take the bread and cup? Not really, but we are on our knees in prospect of God’s steadfast love and faithfulness.

 “Here O my Lord, I see Thee face to face, here would I touch and handle things unseen; here grasp with firmer hand eternal grace, and all my weariness upon Thee lean.” (Hymnal, number 623, Horatius Bonar, 1857

Like the Wise Men, we can only fall down in worship and bring Jesus the gifts that we have:

     “What can I give him, poor as I am?
      If I were a shepherd, I would bring a lamb;
      If I were a Wise Man, I would do my part;
      Yet what I can I give him:
      I give my heart.”
(“In the Bleak Midwinter,” by Christina Rossetti, 1872; hymn 221 in the Hymnal.)

Today as you come to receive the sacrament, offer God your heart.