In my home church when I was growing up we children always had to be in
the Christmas play. Some of us played angels, others shepherds, even
various kinds of animals like sheep (one year I had to play the part of
Mary's donkey; no smart remarks about what good casting that was). Of
course, there were always the parts of Mary, Joseph, the Innkeeper, and the
Three Wise Men (who have always been my favorite Christmas characters). I
remember one year when for some reason we had a shortage of males (I tried
to get out of it, too, but my mother wouldn't let me). So, my three
sisters ended up being the Three Wise Men. My sisters were of the opinion
that women made the best wise men anyway. I was wise enough not to argue
with them.
The story of the Wise Men has always intrigued me. So I have done a lot
of study about them. As Christmas draws near, I want us to ride along
with them on their journey as they seek the Christ. For I am convinced
that wise people still seek the Christ of Christmas.
The Bible really doesn't tell us much about the Wise Men, so traditions
developed about them over the centuries, trying to fill in the gaps of our
knowledge about them. Let me give you some examples.
How many were there?
Traditions says three, largely because there were three gifts given. But
the reading in Matthew does not tell us how many there were. In fact, in
the Eastern Orthodox Church there are twelve wise men.
Were they kings?
So says tradition. In fact, they have even been given names. Balthsar,
dark skin, was King of Arabia. Melchoir, elderly with gray hair, was King
of Persia Caspar, young, breadless, was King of India. This tradition
inspired the carol, “We Three Kings.”
How did they travel?
Tradition says by camels. But the Bible doesn't tell us anything about
their means of transportation.
These are traditions. What does the Bible tell us about them?
Matthew 2:1 tells us that they were “from the East.” Most scholars think
this is a reference to Persia (modern day Iran) or perhaps Babylon. This
makes a lot of sense because, as you may recall, the Jews were taken into
exile by the Babylonians centuries before this and many of them stayed
there. So it is possible that these men from the East were familiar with
the Jewish faith, especially the hope for a Messiah.
Verse 1 tells us that they were “magoi” or “magi,” that's the Greek word
for them. That's very interesting because we do know something about the
magi.
There were two kinds of magi apparently in those days. Some of them were
magicians, charlatans, soothsayers. If there had been telephones in those
days, they would have been the ones starting the psychic friends network
and the 900 numbers for you to call, and for a significant fee, get your
fortune told.
But the other kind of magi were truly “wise,” in that they were learned
individuals, kind of scientists of their day, astronomers. They were
seekers, seekers of truth. The ones in our story were these kind of magi
- seekers of the truth. And they found the One who was the Way, the Truth,
and the Life! John 14:6 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.
At no time during the year do we see the seeking hearts of people more
than this season. There's something about Christmas that brings out this
yearning inside.
I saw a movie with Chevy Chase entitled, “Christmas Vacation.” It's about
a man who more than anything wants to have an old-fashioned, heart-warming
family Christmas. He does everything he can to try to make that happen -
from an enormous Christmas tree to 25,000 light bulbs all over his house.
Throughout the movie he lays his hopes on getting a Christmas bonus. As
you can imagine, everything goes wrong and we laugh at his misadventures.
But beneath the comedy there is still a profound sense of yearning, of
seeking for something at Christmas that he never really manages to find.
Sadly, I think that's how Christmas ends up for a lot of people - yearning
for something but ending up empty. Even though they have the tree, the
stockings, presents galore, and endless parties...yet deep inside they
have this gnawing emptiness that none of that can satisfy.
You see, this yearning we have inside is for God. Nothing can fill it,
nothing can substitute for it but God. The Good News of Christmas is that God was in
Christ, becoming one of us, making it possible for us to come back to God,
to fill that restless yearning inside for restoration with the One who
created us.
How can you, like the wise men, seek and find the Christ this Christmas?
I find it interesting that when the Wise Men come to Herod to ask him
where the Messiah is to be born, Herod turns to his religious advisors for
the answer. They quote him Micah 5:2:
Bethlehem, in the land of
Judah,
you are by no means the
least of the leading cities
of Judah;
for from you will come a
leader
who will guide my people
Israel.
The religious leaders turn to the Scriptures for their answer - that the
Messiah was to be born in Bethlehem. So Herod tells the Wise Men and off
they go to Bethlehem. They do not find their way to the Christ Child
without the Scriptures.
If we are to find our way to the Christ Child this Christmas we must go to
those places where he is revealed...
One of those places is the Scriptures. Read GOD's Word
Martin Luther, the 16th century Protestant Reformer, wrote of the Bible as
the cradle of our Lord. You want to find the Christ Child this year? Then
here is the place to begin looking (hold out the Bible). Here is Christ's
cradle. Here, you can see him, hear his voice.
If we are to find our way to the Christ Child this Christmas we must go to
those places where he is revealed... The Bible Back to Home Page