Good News For The Wise Men Series

Alba 12-22-2024

GOOD NEWS FOR THE WISE MEN

Matthew 2:1-12

J. Curtis Goforth became a Methodist minister. He told about something that happened when he was still a boy. He said his home church always put on a Christmas play with the children of the church. And one evening, he was being especially disruptive downstairs as some of the younger children were getting ready for their parts in the play.

The minister came downstairs to try and bring them under some sort of control. Curtis said he was playing one of the wise men that night. He had borrowed his father’s robe and had a crown on his head. So rather than yelling at the boys, the minister saw a teaching moment in the midst of the chaos of the Christmas program. He found an ingenious way to get the wise men to settle down. He told them that the first one to find the place in the Bible where it spoke of the three wise men would get the $100 bill he flashed before them out of his wallet.

Curtis quickly ran around the church looking for a Bible. He knew the story was in the New Testament, but wasn't sure where. He said, luckily he turned to Matthew 2:1-12 and saw the heading printed on the page that read, “The Visit of the Wise Men” and knew that he had found it. Proud that the other wise men weren't as wise as he, he exclaimed that he had found it first, and would happily accept the $100 dollar prize.

But, he said, his minister wasn't so dim-witted as to put $100 of his own money on the line knowing that he might lose it to some smart-alecky kid who got lucky in finding a passage of scripture. He reminded Curtis of the terms of his challenge. The minister said that he had to find the section in the Bible where it spoke of the THREE wise men.

Once again, Curtis pointed to that section of scripture and said, “Give me my money!” The minister asked him to read it out loud. And so he did. And you know what he discovered? He discovered that the Bible never mentions that there were three wise men. It only says that there were wise men from the east and doesn’t include the number of wise men that were there. All that is said is that there was more than just one. He says, “I had been had!”

Still, he said that what his minister taught him that night has stuck with him ever since. He learned that it is of supreme importance that we read what the Bible actually says, and not just what we think it might say.

But whether there were three, two or ten wise men, the story is the same. Good news came to them, and they made it their purpose to see the new king. It started with a star, then a search and ended with worship. It actually is all wrapped up in Matthew 2:2 which says that they ask, “Where is He who has been born King of the Jews? For we have seen His star in the East and have come to worship Him.”

1. They Saw His Star

Perhaps the best known symbol of this season is the star of Bethlehem. It is common for Christmas trees to be crowned with a star on the top, and with lights which shine as the stars in the sky under the special star of Bethlehem.

If you saw a “new star” appear in the sky, what would you do? You might say, “Isn’t that nice!” But if you were an astronomer, you’d say, “What is that? Am I the only one seeing this? Where’d this come from all-of-a-sudden?”

Well, these Wise Men, also known as Magi, were astronomers. Did you know that the wise men of Babylon were considered to be the scientists and philosophers of their day, men of education, men of letters. They were not the kings themselves, but they were often the power behind the throne. Maybe a decent comparison today would be the relationship of a President to his cabinet. They were not dummies. They were smart, and their advice was often heeded by Kings.

Who were these men exactly? A number of ideas have been offered. Some think that they were pagans. But I like the thought that they may have been Jews taken in the captivity and remained in the foreign country just like Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. Daniel is especially shown as a wise man who was an advisor to several kings in that foreign land.

The Wise Men here in chapter two of the gospel of Matthew specifically say, “We have seen His star”. How did they know that a star would announce the coming of someone very special in Israel? Well if these men had any connection to Jewish heritage and or to Jewish writings, there is a place in the Old Testament that answers that question.