The Odd Tale of the Magi

While the calendar says that this is New Years day, for Christians, it’s still Christmas. January 6 marks the end of Christmastide with the celebration of Epiphany.  This is when we remember the visit of the Wise Men or Magi. Take a moment and re read Matthew’s account of the visit of the Wise Men. This is a familiar story yet we sometimes forget to appreciate its oddness and irony.

First, a little background on magi. The “wise men” or “magi” were astronomers and astrologers, most likely from Persia. While they had access to royalty, they themselves were not kings.  Magi claimed special insight and special abilities based on their studies. The powerful and the well to do consulted them. But at the same time, not everyone believed in their abilities. Some dismissed them as frauds. The Magi were neither universally acclaimed nor universally reviled, they had a liminal status. One didn’t necessarily dismiss them out of hand but neither did one want to whole heartedly believe them. Whatever Herod thought about the magi, their appearance was potentially troublesome for him.

It is also helpful to remember that it was not unusual in the ancient world for important persons from the “east” to travel to Jerusalem or Rome bringing gifts for rulers.  And many people believed that the birth of important persons were marked by the appearance of special phenomena in the sky.

Matthew’s story is odd and even funny in places. These learned astrologers skilled in the art of reading celestial signs follow the star to Jerusalem and then need to ask for directions. Even more oddly, they ask the current king where the new king is! “Oh King Herod, would you happen to know where your replacement is? “  Given Herod’s ruthless reputation, perhaps not the wisest thing these wise men ever did. Never the less, the magi did notice the star, (no one else seems to have noticed it), they traveled to find the person its appearance proclaims, and they recognized that worship was the appropriate response once they found the person.

It’s interesting, isn’t it, that the chief priests, the scribes and all of Herod’s court missed this sign? The religious elite know where the Messiah was to be born (v5-6)because Scripture tells them,  but the quest of the magi doesn’t prompt them to go look for the Messiah. They leave that to the magi. Verse 3 tells us they found the knowledge of the Messiah’s birth frightening.  Were they afraid of Herod’s response? Were they afraid of the status quo being shaken up? Were they afraid that they would lose status and power?  Perhaps they were too busy to be bothered. The text doesn’t say.

After the religious and political elite in Jerusalem have been notified of the Messiah’s birth by the magi, and after the magi receive help from those learned in the Scriptures, (odd how they each need the other for complete information, isn’t it?) the star reappears to finish its work. The magi, gentiles of dubious reputation,  find the Christ child and worship him.

Notice that this worship of the magi, which has both religious and political overtones, is odd and out of the ordinary. It doesn’t happen in Jerusalem in Herod’s court or in the Temple. This worship happens in little Bethlehem in a humble home.

 This is a story where the people who should have been seeking the Messiah don’t leave the comfort and security of their homes. The people who seek and find the Messiah are gentiles with shaky reputations. Jesus is just a baby and already he’s hanging out with the wrong sorts of people.

There is much more that can and should be written about this story. My goal today is to encourage us to appreciate the odd and interesting ways God is a work in the world.  Now that the holiday hoopla – in all its various guises- is over, it might be appropriate for us to read the story of Jesus birth again. Read it in the quiet of January, without the choirs, without the fanfare, without the festivities.  Not that there is anything wrong with choirs and fanfare and festivities, they are all quite nice and even appropriate ways to celebrate the birth of the Messiah. But the story ( and we its readers) also benefit from a quiet, careful reading, a reading that listens to the odd and amazing story of God.

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If you would like read more about the Magi and the Nativity stories here is a list of some resources:

 “Read More about it”

Here is a link to last year’s post on “The” star.  “Wondering about the Star of Wonder”

Christ the King

I wanted to think a bit today about what it means to call Jesus king. For those of us who observe the liturgical year, tomorrow is Christ the King Sunday, the last Sunday of the church year.   The gospel reading for Christ the King Sunday this year is John 18: 33-37.   

 ”King” is a difficult word for Christians in the US. We have a historical and cultural bias against kings. We don’t talk much about kings, at least not in a “nice” way. But once a year the liturgical calendar causes us to consider the “king” word. It is fortunate that Christ the King Sunday comes right before Advent when many of us begin singing carols to the “newborn king”. It is good for us to spend some time thinking about this king and  this king’s kingdom.

  We often get ourselves in trouble one of a couple of ways when we think about kings and kingdoms. We either overly spiritualizing Jesus’ kingdom or we assume that Jesus will rule as typical human kings rule with crushing power and might.

The passage in the Gospel According to John can be read in more than one way. Sometimes, depending on the translation, Jesus’ reply to Pilates question is “My kingdom is not of this world”.  People can interpret, “not of this world” to mean a sort of dualism. Jesus’ kingdom is spiritual and not part of the material world. Jesus doesn’t, and by extension Christians ought not to, concern himself overly with the things of this world. This earth is not where the kingdom is found or located.

The NRSV translates Jesus reply as “My kingdom is not from this world”. The “from” points us toward thinking about origins. We ask people, “Where are you from?” It’s not an idle question. The answer can tell us some important things. “I am from here” can suggest that you and I have some things in common- a shared local culture, perhaps a shared worldview, perhaps a shared history.  To answer ” I am not from here”, might serve to highlight distinctions. I might be defining myself  as different in some way. Where I am from can tell you some important things about me.

In Greek, the word in question here is “ek”  ( I have to apologize, I don’t know how to get Greek letters into WordPress.) It means “out of” or “by” and is used with the genitive case which describes or defines. Ek can have to do with place, with origin, source, or cause, or with time. ( My  Greek Lexicon has 3 pages of fairly small print concerning how the word “ek” is used, so my discussion here is not exhaustive. ) According to my lexicon, in John 18:36 the meaning has to do with origins. My kingdom is not of earthly origin.

I would like to suggest that Jesus is not talking about the present and/or future location of his kingdom but rather where his kingdom originates and therefor where his kingdom gets its values. Jesus goes on to clarify this  by telling Pilate that if his kingdom were like other kingdoms of the world, Jesus’ followers would be fighting for Jesus freedom. But behavior in Jesus’ kingdom is not typical kingdom behavior.

Jesus’ followers are not fighting because this world doesn’t matter. They are not fighting because they are living in this world by completely different rules. Where Jesus is from shapes the actions of Jesus and his followers.  Certainly the actions of Jesus’ life tell us that Jesus and his followers are living by another set of values.

Pilate has never encountered a king and a kingdom like this. The disciples have lived with this king and by these new values and they still find if difficult. Modern followers of Jesus have seen glimpses of this kingdom but it is so easy for us to get confused. We start thinking Jesus will be a king like any other great king, crushing opponents, ruling from a position of power, rewarding the faithful.  On the other hand, if we try hard to visualize what Jesus’ kingdom looks like,we have such difficulty that we can’t imagine how it can work in this world and we shift the kingdom into a spiritual realm.

But the reality is somewhere else. The kingdom is here, in this world operating with a completely different set of values. It’s tough to hold on to. It’s tough to see. It’s tough to live. It’s good to have “Christ the King” Sunday to remind us.

I’d like to know,what do you think?