THE BIGGER MESSAGE OF THE STORY

This story is more than a story.  It is more than just an incident in the narrative history of Jesus Christ.  It is more than all these things.  This story seems to have a deeper meaning.  Here we see the irony of a Jewish King who resists the birth of Messiah and sages from a different land, a land far from Israel, far from the prophets of the previous ages, sages from a different land and religion, traveling from Persia to Judea to welcome this auspicious new birth.  It is this irony, this deep perplexity, this unusual ambiguity that transmits for us the deeper meaning of the story.  The king of the Jews is raging against the promised Messiah and the pagan priests have traveled across the planet to welcome a king of another race and religion.  This story is not only a great irony, it is also a great paradigm for the different ways in which we all respond to the savior.  But let’s put that on hold for a while and retell the story with a little historical flourish.

HEROD AT THE END

In this story, we encounter Herod at the very end of his long and rather brutal rule.  This period of time in Herod’s life is also characterized several years of palace intrigue which would have been occurring at just this time.  I mentioned last week that Herod had ten wives – not all at once! – and with all this offspring there ended up being a tremendous amount of tension toward the end of his life.  Political instability always occurs at the seams of a dynasty when power is handed over from one generation to another.  The heirs of a great monarch often end up battling between themselves for rule with civil wars resulting from a king’s death. 

This was especially true in Herod’s case – Herod had three sons who were in fierce contention for the throne.  Herod had already executed three of his sons for trying to speed up his death so they could take the throne (Antipater, Alexander and Aristobulous).  Now there are three more sons (Antipas, Archelaus and Phillip) who are primary contenders and several other minor contenders to Herod’s throne.  It took Caesar Augustus’ personal imperial order to straighten this mess out after Herod actually did die two years later.  But the point is that at exactly this time, the whole kingdom is on pins and needles because they know that civil war could break out at any moment but especially at the moment of Herod’s death.  It is a volatile atmosphere making it hard to breathe.

THE MAGI IN THE MIX

So add to that volatile mix these magi from the east who are seeking the newborn king of the Jews.  “We have seen his star rising (often translated ‘in the east’) and have come to pay him homage.  No wonder not only Herod but all Jerusalem is troubled by this message.  This is a bad time to be talking about newborn kings.  That is just the kind of spark that could set this whole cauldron on fire. 

So who are these Magi?  Magi is simply the Latin masculine plural for magus, which refers to not kings but sages.  They were more thank likely Persian priests/sages who were well known for their interests in astronomy and astrology.

Many doubt the historicity of this story.  Why would Persians honor a Jewish king?  There are several factors to remember.  Persia was a Zoroastrian kingdom and Zoroastrianism is a monotheistic religion which had many affinities with Judaism.  Remember, there was still a rather large Jewish community in Babylon (which created the Babylonian Talmud called Bavli).  It is well-documented that they had a great interest in astronomy and astrology and had sages who sought to predict future political events using their knowledge of the stars.  In fact, two Roman Historians document an instance in AD 66 in which Persian magi made a trip to Rome for similar purposes.  It was also widely believed that the stars heralded the birth of important new leaders.  Really no reason to doubt this story.

More important than the historicity of the event is the meaning.  God lead these non-Jewish Persian sages from the other said of Mesopotamia all the way to Bethlehem to worship the savior.  What is that about?  What does that signify?  We’ll put that on hold.

AND ALL JERUSALEM WITH HIM

But their entrance of the magi caused quite a stir in Jerusalem.  Herod was threatened by this and took steps of action to stop it.  But the story seems unlikely on another level.  Why would Herod, as a convert to Judaism, call the biblical scholars to ask about the place of Messiah’s birth (as if he believed the scriptures), and then seek to kill the very Messiah the scriptures predicted would be born?  Herod did seem to be a practicing Jew – as is indicated by the fact that all the coinage found which he produced is completely without imagery.  Herod and his father Antipater were in fact converts to Judaism as Josephus tells us.  He married a Hasmonian princess (a Jewish royal blood-line) named Mariamne to secure his position and he desperately loved her.  He actually mourned for days after he had her executed – on good evidence she was plotting against him.

But there is the irony of Herod.  Here we have a Jew trying to execute the promised Messiah of the scriptures.  Josephus tells us that Herod’s sanity started to fail him toward the end and he acted increasingly irrationally.  This seems to be another instance.

But all Jerusalem was troubled with Herod.  You would think they would be overjoyed.  You would think there would have been dancing in the streets.  But no joy is described, only anxiety and fear.

THEY JOYED AN EXCEEDINGLY GREAT JOY

There is joy described in the story.  In fact, the joy described in exceedingly great joy.  The Greek reads kind of interestingly; a literal translation would be they joyed an exceedingly great joy.  It makes no sense in English but you get the point.  They offer gifts of great value; gold, frankinsense and myrrh.  They paid Jesus and this holy family the highest homage imaginable.  Then, being warned again not to go back to Herod, they went to their homeland by a different route.  The Holy Family has to escape to Egypt, again under an angel’s orders, to prevent being destroyed by Herod.

WHAT IS THE MEANING?

What is the meaning of this all?  Here we have persons from a distant land and religion seeming to be more keen on the coming of Messiah than the Jewish people.  We can at least understand Herod’s reaction to some degree – he was irrational and brutal.  But the people of Jerusalem were troubled rather than overjoyed.  They interpreted this news of the entrance of Persian sages seeking a newborn king as a threat rather than a promise fulfilled.  The Greek verb used here is tarasso which means, “stirred up, disturbed, unsettled, thrown into confusion.”  These were unsettled days and they feared the worst.  They must have feared civil war – which was about to break-out anyway.  They feared the worst instead of reminding themselves of the promise of a coming Messiah. They forgot the promise of a coming deliverer – thus their response was one of fear and forgetfulness.  This is to be understood as a forshadowing of what will happen – the Jewish people reject the Messiah while Gentiles come from afar to worship.

The magi, on the other hand, are non-Jews who seem to be more spiritually alert than the people of Jerusalem.  They come from far away to worship and adore.  Again, the Greek word used here proskuneo means to worship.  It is the same word used for the worship of God.  Pagans worshipping the newborn Jesus.  They clearly are harbingers of a new day when those from other nations would come into Israel through the worship of Jesus and receive the promised Messiah and heavenly kingdom.  We are also those who come to worship, like the magi, at the manger, from far away.  They foretell the day when many gentiles will worship this Jewish messiah.

PARADIGMS OF RESPONSE

I see here two paradigms – or basic patterns – of ways we respond to the gospel of Jesus.  We respond in fear and forgetfulness or in adoration and faith.  This reminds me of the different ways people approach life in general.  You can take different people and put them into the same kinds of situations, and they will respond so differently.  I know a guy who had prostate cancer surgery recently.  He was convinced he was going to die.  He obsessed about this and drove everyone around him crazy.  He responded with fear and forgetfulness of God’s greater promises.  This is a person who has been a Christian for many years, but somehow his faith didn’t provide him any comfort at all.  If anything – as our Pentecostal friends like to say - he had just enough of God to be miserable.

On the other hand, I see how others have responded; with courage, hope, faith, fight, and confidence.  They come through tragedy closer to God, family and friends.  So what makes the difference?  I wonder if we see here something of a phenomenon; that is, we tend to fail to appreciate that which is right beside us, what we’ve known all our lives.  It is easy to not see what is right before you.  Faith is kind of like sight, or even smell.  When you smell something for a long period of time, you cannot smell it anymore.  When you’ve believed something for a long time, sometimes you cannot believe it anymore.  Maybe these people in Jerusalem had heard about the coming Messiah-king for so long, when it happened, they just didn’t respond.  All they could process was the immediate social/political context rather than the broader purposes of God.  They failed to see the larger picture and interpret the new stimuli based on divine promise and inspired faith.

SO WHAT DO WE DO?

What can we do with all this?  How should we respond to this Christmas story?  Certainly it isn’t enough to simply say, “Be like the Magi, not like Herod and Jerusalem.”  I want to make three simply kinds of encouraging remarks to help you stay spiritually centered during this holiday season.  My hope is that these exhortations will help you keep Christmas about Christ – so that you don’t start forgetting the point of it all.

Be Alive.  Have you taken your pulse recently?  Stay alive!  Alive to the moment.  Alive to the message of the angels.  Alive to the deeper meaning of Christmas.  Choose – and you truly must decide this – to make Christmas about Jesus.  You must make this choice.  Be alive in Jesus this Christmas.  Be alive in the knowledge that your heart is the true manger, and Christ is born and lives there.  Be alive because Jesus is your newborn king!

Be aware.  Beware!  Be aware of how hopelessly selfish we all become at Christmas.  Be aware of how Christmas can become about getting rather than giving.  Make Christmas be about giving and true expressions of love.  Give to Christ.  Give to those you love.  Give to those less fortunate.  Think about the lonely this Christmas and do something for them.

Be joyful.  Choose to rejoice this Christmas.  Choose to make merry.  Make merry because Jesus has been born and you would travel across the world to worship this king.  Make merry because you know Christ is born in your hearts as well.  Be Joyful as a matter of choice and principle.

I leave with you a simple reminder that our bishop sent to us all this week.  Remember that the fact that Christ comes through you is the best part of Christmas.  Make this the best part of Christmas.