I guess that male bashing is the order of the day in some circles and now it’s reached even to the three wise men. Recently, I saw something that suggested that if the wise men had been women, things would have been different and better.
First, if the wise men had been women, they would not have arrived many months after Jesus’ birth because they would have stopped to ask for direction. And had the wise men had been women, they would have been there to clean up the mess so Jesus wouldn’t have had to be born in a barn. And finally, had the wise men been women, they would have brought much more practical gifts including a casserole so the family would have something to eat.
What do we really know about the wise men? Not much when you examine the scripture. Where did they come from? “The east” you say. But where in the east? How far east? Beaumont? Atlanta? Africa? We know they came from the east and they came from a long way away, but we don’t really know where they came from.
How many of them were there and what kind of men were they? Again, we don’t know. In the second century, a church father named Tertullian suggested that these men were kings because the Old Testament had predicted that kings would come to worship him. He also concluded that there were three kings based on the number of gifts mentioned, gold, frankesence and myrrh. And the manufacturers of nativity scenes caught on and so in every nativity scene, you see three kings or wise men. But the Bible doesn’t tell us who they were or how many of them came.
In the sixth century, someone decided that their names were Melchior, Baltazar and Gaspar. And so operas have been written ascribing these names to them. But no one really knows what their names were.
We don’t even really know that they were wise. In the original manuscripts they are called the “magi” from an ancient Iranian word, “magoi” which was used to describe people who acted in very strange ways, were captivated by astrology, spells and incantation and dressed in a very bizzare manner. The latin word is “magi” from which we get words like “magician.” You’ll see a clear example of this in the adventures of King Arthur and the knights of the round table. You’ll remember Merlin, the magician and the strange way he dressed.
So we don’t know who they were, where they came from or even how many of them there were. Why not? Why doesn’t Matthew tell us any of this information? I’m not sure I know with certainty, but I’d suggest that all of this detail is left out of the picture in order that the full emphasis may be placed on the one thing that is central to this story, namely their statement, “we have come to worship.” That’s the main point of this particular story as Matthew tells it to us. “We have come to worship.” And as we look at what Matthew tells us about these men,although they may have been strange little men who dressed weird, they really were wise men.
And the challenge for us today, is whether we will be wise men and women. I believe that wise men still seek him. Wise men still serve him and wise men still worship him. Let’s read the text.
[Read Matthew 12.1-12.]
First, wise men still seek him. It’s likely that these magi were descendants of the ten tribes of Israel that remained in Babylon after the time of Daniel. Many of the Jews did not return to their homeland but rather chose to remain behind in Babylon. There they were assimilated into the culture and probably adopted many of the religious practices of the pagans. So these magi may not have been very orthodox in their faith, but still, they were looking for the coming messiah. They took literally the statement from Numbers 24.17: “A star will come out of Jacob; a scepter will rise out of Israel.” And so they searched the skies for hundreds of years looking for a sign that the messiah had come. And when they saw the star, they rejoiced and came seeking the one who was born king of the Jews.
We don’t know exactly how far they traveled, but it is likely that they came from 500 to 1000 miles away. Imagine traveling that far on the back of a camel. One hump or two? It might not be that bad if you were on a two humper. Maybe you could settle in between the humps and put it on auto-pilot, or auto-camel. But imagine being on top of a one humper trying to keep your balance the whole way! And it was a long and difficult trip across the desert. Give these men credit. They really wanted to come and worship Jesus. They were serious seekers.
Contrast them with the chief priests and teachers of the law. They were not the least bit interested. They didn’t care about the star. And they wouldn’t travel 6 little miles down the road from Jerusalem to Bethlehem to check out what was happening. They knew the right answers. They just weren’t willing to make the effort to see if what they had heard, was true.
Let me give you a little background about this gospel at this point. Matthew is writing this gospel to Jewish people who are living away from Israel. His purpose is to convince them that Jesus is the Christ predicted in the Old Testament. That’s why he makes so many references to it. And what he is saying to these people to whom he is writing is that they should be like the magi, not like the Jewish religious leaders. Wise men still seek him. Check him out. Do what ever it takes to convince yourself that Jesus really was born King of the Jews.
Wise men and women still seek him. What about you? These men teach us that perfect theology is not required to come to the conclusion that Jesus is God’s son who came to earth for you. Don’t miss this. The Apostle John says that Jesus came to his own but his own did not receive him. Literally, he is saying that Jesus came into this world that he had specially prepared for himself. He came into the world he had created, walked the land he made and came to the people he had chosen as his special people. And he was rejected. But then John says that to as many as received him he gave the right to be his sons and daughters.
Are you seeking for something to fill the void in your life this morning? Let me suggest to you that there are a lot of ways to fill that feeling of emptiness. But there’s only one way to fill it in a way that will last. That’s to realize that the emptiness is caused by God in order to bring you to himself. God sent Jesus to fill that void. He came to earth as a man, lived a perfect life, died for our sins and rose from the dead. He offers you forgiveness, fulfillment and peace happiness. What you have to do is first to recognize that you have sinned against him. Ask him to forgive you for your sins and be the lord of your life. Your life will never be the same and you will be on the road to being a wise man.
For many of us, we’ve made that commitment. But it’s important that we continue to seek him, to know him each day and to know his word. Realizing that all of us need help in this, we begin each year with a special emphasis on seeking to know God in a greater way. We call in “The Life that Really Matters.” And this year we have decided to carry it on past our usual 28 days. This year we are going to work on seeking to know our God all year. We’ll begin in January emphasizing daily Bible reading and prayer. We’ll only meet on four Saturdays but then we’ll ask you to continue to grow in your relationship with God all through the year.
We have two options and will give you your choice. If you would like to read the entire Bible with us this year, we have a special Bible that will take you through it all this year. If that sounds like too much for you, we have a great book that takes 365 key sections of the Bible and takes you through the major sections of the Bible in a year. The choice is yours. We’ll also provide you with a pattern for your prayer life so that you can seek God through prayer. So if you truly want to seek God through his word this year, this is one way for you to do that. Wise men still seek him.
Second, wise men still serve him. The magi came to worship. They stopped in Jerusalem to find out exactly where Jesus could be found. There they met King Herod. He must have been enraged by their question and statement. “Where is he who is born king of the Jews? We have seen his star in the east and have come to worship him.” “Born king of the Jews?” Kings are not born. Herod had to murder, commit acts of deceit and treachery in order to become king. Who in the world could be born a king? And why would he have a star? And why would these men want to worship a baby? Herod must have been beside himself. But he kept calm and tried to make a deal with the magi.
“Tell me where he is so that I too, can come to worship.” The magi knew through supernatural means that he was lying to them. But now they had a choice. Who would they serve? The little tiny helpless baby born king of the Jews or the full grown, murderous treacherous Herod? After all, if they served Herod, he might reward them greatly. Jesus was just a baby. Maybe they could worship and serve him later is life. Maybe they could serve Herod now and Jesus later. Maybe they could have the best of both worlds, have their cake and eat it, too.
But that’s not what they did. They went to worship this little tiny baby. And then when God warned them supernaturally in a dream and they understood what he wanted them to do, they were faithful to serve him regardless of the danger of disobeying the murderous King Herod.
Wise men still serve Him. Are you serving Him? What has He called you to do? I don’t claim to know specifically, but I do know that serving God involves serving others. There are a lot of opportunities to serve others especially at this time of year. In fact, this year we are serving to an even greater extent than we have in past years. A record number of gifts will be given by this church family to others this Christmas season. Many of you have chosen to serve God by serving others in our Project Angel Tree outreach. All the angels are taken and a lot of children are going to have a better Christmas because of you. Many of you are involved in our family to family outreach. Many of you have bought gifts or will bring food next Sunday morning when our friends will be here. We’re planning a special children’s musical program as well as a presentation of the gospel. We’ll be doing church bilingually next Sunday so that we, as a church family, can serve God by serving his people who speak a different language.
Maybe you would serve God by inviting your friends, neighbors or associates at your office to our Christmas Concert. We’ll have a great choir presentation, a full orchestra and a presentation of the gospel message. Maybe God would use you to bring a friend to church to find Christ on that Sunday. What a great Christmas gift that would be!
But doing good for others doesn’t end with the Christmas season. Again, as part of our commitment to live a life that really matters, we will call ourselves to serve God by doing premeditated acts of kindness to those around us. We’ll call ourselves to give time to serving God either through our church or other avenues of service. God blesses those who serve him. Wise men still serve him.
And finally, wise men still worship him. These men had one come all this way with one purpose in mind. That purpose was to worship the one who was born king of the Jews. They came to worship the Son of God. They did it with confidence. They did it with the certainty of hope. Look at some of the language. “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We have seen his star in the east and have come to worship him.” They didn’t just set out for a leisurely ride in the desert, show up in Jerusalem and say, “we heard something was going on in this area. What’s happening? We saw some bright stars and thought maybe they meant something. What do you think?” No. They were definite and they were certain. “Where is he? We have come to worship him.”
And they brought with them expensive gifts, gifts fit for a king. They brought gold, a gift of wealth for royalty, frankenscence, a gift for a man living a hard working life, and myrrh, a gift to suited for one’s burial. Did they appreciate the significance of their gifts? We don’t know. But what we do know is that they didn’t just wander out, find a little baby and then decide that they needed to find a mall to pick up a gift. They brought gifts, expensive gifts, because they knew they were going to worship a king.
Wise men still worship Him. Are you a wise man or woman? Are you spending time worshipping him? I’m not just talking about attending church. You can attend church and still not worship. Worship involves praising God both in speaking and in singing. Worship involves hearing the word of God taught and responding by changing our lives. And worship involves giving of our gifts to God. How are you doing in your worship? Are you taking time to praise, to confess, to study and to grow? Are you giving generously, extravagantly to God’s work? Giving is an act of worship. As we come to the end of this year, I want to simply ask you whether you are giving gifts to your church that are sacrificial and worthy to be given to the one born a King? In faith they gave gifts to a baby. In faith we give gifts to our risen Lord.
And so, as I close, I think of the words of the great Anglican Bishop, J. C. Ryle, who said of these men, “We read of no greater faith than this in all the Bible. It is a faith that deserves to be placed side by side with that of the penitent thief. The thief saw one dying the death of a malefactor and yet prayed to him and called him ‘Lord.’ The wise men saw a newborn babe on the lap of a poor woman, and yet they worshipped him and confessed that he was the Christ.”
The magi really were wise men. And today, wise men still seek him. Wise men still serve him and wise men still worship him. My prayer for us is that we will be a church of wise men and women, seeking him, serving him and worshipping him as he leads us every day to become more and more a growing family of believers being transformed to wholeness and joy.
