God's mystery men

After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judaea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem and asked “Where is the one who has been born King of the Jews? We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him”. Matthew 2:1-2

There are few people in the Bible more mysterious than the wise men. They raise all sorts of intriguing questions, many of which we can only guess at.

Who were they? What is a “magus” (that’s the singular of Magi)? “Wise men”, philosophers, teachers, scholars? Probably all of those. Were they priests? If so, not in any sense recognised by the Bible. They came following a star – so were they astronomers, or astrologers? Was there even a more sinister aspect to their activity? – after all, Simon in Acts 8, sometimes called “Simon Magus”, is described as a “magician” or “sorcerer”; and is not portrayed in a good light.

Where did they come from? Well, that’s easy – Matthew says quite clearly “from the east”. Well, yes. But it’s a big place, the east! Babylonia? Arabia? Persia? Persia seems as likely as any, but we don’t really know.

How many of them were there? Oh, that really is easy – three, of course! But, hang on a minute, Matthew never says that. Oh yes, three gifts are mentioned: gold, frankincense and myrrh. But there’s nothing to suggest it was one gift per wise man; who knows, perhaps there were a dozen of them (a bit of a squeeze, then, round Jesus’ manager).

Perhaps most intriguing of all: what kind of relationship did these men have with God? Clearly they were used and blessed by him, but everything suggests that they were gentiles rather than Jews, Israelites. Did they know God in any sense that we would recognise? And why would they be so interested in signs that pointed to a little nation like Israel?

What, if anything, did they expect from this new-born “king of the Jews”? What did they do about their great discovery when they got back home? Did it change them, did it shape the rest of their lives, and if so by what means; or did it simply become a long-cherished memory?

Questions, questions, questions.

God hasn’t seen fit to give us answers, but there are certainly good things that we can draw from the story. Here are three…

First, they remind us that Jesus is for all people, not just for Israel, the Jews. Oh yes, he is indeed “the King of the Jews”, but according to the Old Testament, God called Israel in the first place to be “a light to lighten the gentiles” (for example, Isaiah 49:6), not just his own people. And so their King is to be everyone’s king – and that includes you and me.

Are you yet a subject of King Jesus?

Second, they encourage us to be persevering in our search for God. We don’t know the full extent of the difficulties and dangers of their journey; but we do know that they didn’t give up until they found that manger. John tells us that at Jesus’ birth “the true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world” (John1:9). The human race may be sunk in deep darkness; but every human being has some access to his light, however faint it may be.

One of the greatest things the baby of Bethlehem ever said, thirty years later, was “Seek and you will find”. In those five little words there is both a promise (“you will find”) and a condition (“seek”). You could translate it “If you seek, you will find”. Those are words to be taken absolutely at face value!

Are you seeking that light of God day by day?

Third, they remind us to bring our best to Jesus. There are various theories about the significance of the gold, frankincense and myrrh. But there is no doubt that they were costly, precious items.

Jesus, then, is worthy of the best we have; and, even if we don’t have a lot of gold, frankincense and myrrh (not me, anyway), there can surely be nothing more precious than our humble, whole-hearted faith and obedience and love.

Are you a whole-hearted Christian today?

Real challenges there. But for me, the sheer mysteriousness of the wise men is the most appealing aspect of their story. They remind us that there are things about the ways of God with men and women that we haven’t even begun to understand.

They put me in mind of that strange and rather wonderful man “Melchizedek king of Salem” (Genesis 14), to whom even Abraham paid tribute – who on earth was he! Or of that rather sinister figure Balaam (Numbers 22-24), used by God to speak truth, but certainly no Amos or Isaiah or Daniel. Even of grumpy old Jonah, God’s bad-tempered prophet.

Some forms of Christianity like to have everything pinned down: logical, mechanical, cerebral, conveniently dished up on a doctrinal plate. As a result they tend to squeeze every last drop of mystery out of their understanding of God and his workings. They fail to see that the Bible is designed by God to fire our imaginations and to challenge our attitudes and behaviour as well as to instruct our minds. They leave little room for silence and wonderment, for questionings and even doubtings.

This is a pale reflection of the kind of “religion” we find in the Bible, both Old Testament and New. It is Christianity with a whole major component missing. It is a form of Christianity that breeds ill-nourished disciples.

Here’s a question: will we meet the wise men one day in heaven? They never “believed” in Jesus in the New Testament sense. But I find it very hard to say No. Don’t you?

We thank you, O God, that you are a God who moves in mysterious ways. While we hold fast to the great central truths of our faith, help us at the same time to be open to the mysteries which we don’t fully understand, to sometimes be silent in your holy presence, not to be afraid to ask questions and even challenge stale and second-hand views – at all times to be open to the life-giving movement of your Holy Spirit. Amen.