What the Wisemen Really Stand For
Rev Dr Mark Porizky
Matthew 2:1-12
1/6/08
During
my first year of seminary, Donald Regan, the former chief of staff during the
Ronald Reagan administration published his memoirs in a book called “For the
Record.” In it, Regan
leveled allegations at the President and First Lady about the use of astrology
in the White House. In his book, Regan wrote:
“Virtually every major move and decision the Reagan’s made during my
time as White House Chief of Staff was cleared in advance with a woman in
Many people were horrified to think that the White House made major decisions based on the movement of the stars. Ronald, and especially Nancy, became the butt of hundreds of jokes and comedic material on late night television.
In our modern, sophisticated, and scientific world astrology seems like a bit of rubbish and a form of superstition. Of course that doesn’t keep many of us from checking our horoscopes, we just don’t want the White House making important and major policy decisions based on what they read in the horoscope or see in the stars.
Unlike the world of today, astrology
was a major player in the ancient world. What happened in the skies was closely
linked to what happened on earth, especially in the gentile or pagan world. For
many in the ancient world, strange happenings in the sky meant that something
significant was also happening on the earth. Pagan beliefs often linked the
birth of a new ruler with strange phenomena in the sky.
In
the time of King Herod, after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, wise men*
from the East came to Jerusalem, asking, ‘Where is the child who has been born
king of the Jews? For we observed his star at its rising,*
and have come to pay him homage.’ When King Herod heard this, he
was frightened, and all Jerusalem with him; and calling together all the chief
priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Messiah*
was to be born. They told him, ‘In Bethlehem of Judea; for so it
has been written by the prophet:
“And
you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,
are by no means least among the rulers of Judah;
for from you shall come a ruler
who is to shepherd*
my people Israel.” ’
When Herod secretly called for the wise men* and learned from them the exact time when the star had appeared. Then he sent them to Bethlehem, saying, ‘Go and search diligently for the child; and when you have found him, bring me word so that I may also go and pay him homage.’ When they had heard the king, they set out; and there, ahead of them, went the star that they had seen at its rising,* until it stopped over the place where the child was. When they saw that the star had stopped,* they were overwhelmed with joy. On entering the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother; and they knelt down and paid him homage. Then, opening their treasure-chests, they offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. 12And having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they left for their own country by another road.
In common jargon if someone says he had an "epiphany," he means
a new insight that came from out of a clear blue sky. Technically,
"epiphany" means "appearing" or "appearance,"
which is how it is used in the New Testament in terms of Christ's
"appearing" in judgment at the end of history.
However, in our liturgical year, Epiphany refers to the appearance of the
star in the east, leading the Magi to the Christ child.
But for Matthew's original readers, the story of Matthew 2 must have been
an epiphany in the sense of a shocking revelation. We,
however, tend to miss the scandal of this text. Because of the Magi's routine
inclusion in Christmas pageants right alongside of the shepherds and angels, we
have come to expect, and even welcome, the presence of these Magi, or Wisemen,
or Three Kings of the Orient.
That is, the magi add a dash of color to the spectacle with their royal
blue garments embroidered with gold foil. They provide a whiff of the exotic
through their Persian ways as hints of spices fill the air. Above all, perhaps,
they sound just the right note of royalty for the child-king in the manger.
Yet it appears that no such thoughts were intended by Matthew, and
probably Matthew's original audience would have sensed this acutely. First of
all, the Magi were almost certainly not royalty--at best they may have been
associated with the royal courts of
Further, we don't really know how many of them there were. The long
tradition of "three wisemen" is mostly based on the slender a piece of
evidence that they gave young Jesus three gifts. The notion of three kings was
furthered in the 8th century when St. Bede the Venerable supplied the names of
Melchior, Gaspar, and Baltasar for the Magi. Where he got those names is by no
means certain. He may have just made them up. Some centuries after that odd new
development in Magi lore, the Empress Helena made her own contribution to Magi
mythology by claiming to have had a vision that led her to the burial site of
these three kings. She had the remains exhumed, and the ostensible skulls of the
three kings remain to this day on display in
It's all fantasy, of course, on a par with Steven Spielberg's fast and
loose fiddling with the legend of the Holy Grail or the Ark of the Covenant in
the Indiana Jones films. The biblical record is the only evidence that we have
to go on.
Based on the Bible what can be said with some certainty is that these
magi were the ancient equivalent of "magicians" not of the Harry
Houdini or David Copperfield variety but more like what we would call
astrologers and star-gazers, people who tried to get the hang of present and
future events by reading what was in the stars. These were, in short, the guys
who wrote the daily horoscopes for the Baghdad Gazette.
The Magi, in other words, were what many today would label as quacks and
maybe even charlatans. A while back there was a popular show on TV called
Crossing Over on which the host supposedly is in communication with the dead and
so conveys messages from the dead to their living relatives who appear on the
show. It looks for all the world like another high-tech flim-flam, but if the
Magi were alive today, that might just be the kind of show they would be
interested in hosting themselves!
That's why the Old Testament actually provides even more choice language
for such persons: the Bible condemns Magi-types as idolatrous deceivers who are
to be avoided by Godly folk. Indeed, a Jewish rabbi, writing not long before the
birth of Jesus, once wrote, "He who learns from a magi is worthy of
death." In short, the presence of the Magi in Matthew’s gospel could
properly be called “scandalous.”
But Matthew has been presenting similar scandals from the very outset of
his gospel. Matthew seems intent on opening up the circle of salvation to
include all people and all nations in fulfillment of what God had promised to
Abraham millennia before: "You will be a blessing to all nations."
That's also why in his opening genealogy of Jesus Matthew broke with
genealogical convention by including not only four women but four women each of
whom had something foreign or scandalous attached to her. Tamar played
prostitute in order to get impregnated by her father-in-law, Judah.
Rahab was a prostitute and from the foreign city of
Apparently, Matthew is trying to strike a universal tone. He wants not
just men but women included; not just Israelites but people from all nations;
not just those whose lives conform to the standard shape of orthodoxy but even
Magi who were the least likely candidates for God's love that you could imagine.
The second chapter of Matthew, of course, does not vindicate astrology or
deny the Bible's earlier warnings about diviners and quacks such as these Magi.
What Matthew may be trying to convey, however, is the reach of grace. Matthew is
giving a gospel sneak preview: the Christ child who attracted these odd Magi to
his cradle will later have the same magnetic effect on Samaritan adulterers,
immoral prostitutes, greasy tax collectors on the take, despised Roman soldiers,
and ostracized lepers.
Matthew 2 truly is an epiphany for any and all who tend to think that
salvation is a Members Only club, the adherents of which are easily recognizable
to those in the know.
And perhaps that’s always been the most important point of the Gospel, Jesus’ reach has always been beyond our expected sphere. Odd people have been coming to Jesus since his birth. Dirty shepherds and star gazing astrologers among the lot.
Every year on
Christmas Eve there is a living nativity pageant on the front lawn of a church
in
Last year
the wise men wore not only their silken robes and fancy turbans, but they also
borrowed from the Orthodox Church brass censers, so, as they headed across the
lawn, they could be shrouded in the mystery of smoke and the aroma of incense.
Before they left the fellowship hall, they lit the censers and got the incense
going and then headed out across the lawn unaware of the fact that the smoke had
set off the electronic fire alarms in the church. An electronic message flashed
to the fire station, and they responded, convinced that the church was on fire.
It was a Christmas pageant that the
city of
Finally when the firemen figured it
out, the crowd on the lawn distinctly heard the fire chief say, "You wise
men are setting off alarms all over town!"
The
original wise men would have understood. They, too, set off alarms all over
town, because through this child, God was going to repair creation, and the
brokers of the status quo shivered and shook.
This child was not just for royalty.
No this king was for you…and me.
Will you pray with me now?
St.
Andrew Presbyterian Church, Groton
,
Web Site: WWW.SAPC-CT.ORG
Office Email: OFFICE@SAPC-CT.ORG
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