Visitors from the East
In last week’s article we saw how humble shepherds were the first to welcome Jesus when he was born. Here we look at another group of people who came looking for the Messiah, the Magi.
You may want to read Matthew 2:1-12 at this point.
The first thing to point out is that these were not kings, and neither is there any mention of there being three of them, contrary to the traditional Christmas carol ‘We Three Kings’! These were Magi, or Wise Men, who would normally be on hand to answer complicated questions that a king of a country may ask. Judging by the way these wise men found Jesus, we might presume them to be astrologers, people who look for patterns in the stars for meanings and answers. The passage indicates that they came from the East, but it doesn’t say exactly where, so we can safely say this is largely irrelevant. The point is that they came. Distance was no object, time was not important. They saw a sign that they recognised and were so filled with hope and expectation that they were prepared to go wherever this star directed them, for as long as it took until they found what they were looking for.
Now, these wise men were not Jews, as despite their knowledge they didn’t know the prophesies of the Old Testament. If they had, they probably wouldn’t have stopped off at Jerusalem at all, but instead gone straight to Bethlehem. In fact, it was Herod who actually told the wise men where to look for Jesus, having consulted his own wise men first. Like the shepherds before them, they were stumbling through it all, not really knowing exactly what they were looking for, but excited and hopeful of what God had told them about. We can all relate to this, as we are all too often stumbling through life, with a rough outline of where we think God is taking us, but never really finding out completely until we actually get there! These are just the sort of people who came to see Jesus, so we shouldn’t feel inadequate about coming before God in our daily lives.
Much has been said over the years about the significance of the gifts the wise men brought. Just to briefly run through them, gold was normally given to important people like kings, thus recognising that Jesus was a king; incense, or frankincense, was used in the synagogues to make things holy, showing that they recognised Jesus as being God; myrrh was a spice used to embalm dead bodies, a prophesy of Jesus’ death on the cross. As I said before, much has been said about this, and so I’m not going to go into this in particular detail (do research in other places though if you are interested). It may be helpful, though, to focus a little on another aspect of this gift-giving.
In those days, I doubt there would have been a Tesco in Bethlehem. In fact, Bethlehem was little more than a village, and probably wouldn’t have things like gold, frankincense or myrrh just lying around. The wise men didn’t find Jesus, then go off and buy some gifts. No, they already had their presents, and had probably been carrying them since they started off on their mission. They may not have known exactly why they were carrying them, and may have felt slightly confused giving them to a mere baby in a smelly stable. Certainly Mary and Joseph would have found little practical use for them! There are times, too, when God asks us to do things, or take on new responsibilities, or train ourselves up for something, and we may have no idea how it all fits together. We will feel like saying to God “But why this? Why now? Can’t this wait until later?” And yet, as we see here with the wise men, they ended up bringing exactly what they needed to Jesus. In the same way, if God is building us up, it is for good reason. There may be something just round the corner that we can’t see, but God wants us to be ready for it when it comes and may start preparing us years in advance. This doesn’t mean we should try to learn everything and be good at absolutely everything, but be aware that God might well put you in a situation where you can make good use of the gift He has given you. You may be unaware that you even have that particular gift, but God knows, and is preparing you for something. You may be gifted in leadership, or friendship, or music, or drama, or honesty, or humility. And you may not even know you have that gift. But if you are prepared to let God use you, He will lead you on to a situation where you can use your gift for Him. God used the wise men and their gifts to fulfil prophesies about Jesus; He can use you too, maybe to show someone around you that God loves them too.
Finally, then, we look at what the wise men actually did first when they met Jesus. Verse 11 of the above passage says “On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshipped him.” The very first thing they did, before even presenting their gifts, was to recognise Jesus as Lord and worship him. That should be our response too. Whenever we meet with God, whether it be at church on a Sunday, or walking through the park on a frosty morning, or watching the sunset from a cliff top, or curled up in bed at night, we should worship God and praise him for who he is. We should remember who we are in comparison, and marvel that God wants anything to do with us at all. Worship should be the first thing we do when we come before God, whatever form that may take. God came down to earth as one of us, as a little baby, to live alongside us and live as one of us, because he loves us so much that he wanted to save us. The wise men realised the wonder of this, and we certainly shouldn’t forget it!
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Matthew has long had a strong involvement with Christian websites. He was a keen contributor to the original Crossring site, and subsequently launched his own website, Focus On Faith. Focus On Faith was incorporated into Crossring in September 2009, and Matthew took on the role of lead writer for the site. Matthew works as a web designer, and lives in the West Country with his wife, Ellie.
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