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The Gospel Truth
Magi from the East "Magi" is often translated "wise men," so we must admit they were wise men, at least on some level. But were they the real wise men? Well, before I say what they were, let me state what they were not. They were not there when Jesus was born. Travel to Bethlehem would have taken many months in those days, if not a year or more. When they finally found Jesus, he was in a "house," not a manger. While I'm glad to have the magi in a chronologically panoramic manger scene, they actually were not there at Christ's birth. There were almost certainly not three of them. The number three fits nicely with the story for several reasons. Three represents all kinds of people. We know they brought three gifts, so we depict a magi for each present. All we know from scripture is that there were two or more, and probably not three. They were not necessarily wise, at least in the way that matters to God. They were learned men, but education does not necessarily make one wise with God. They were religious men, but we all know that some of the most stupid things in the world are done in the name of religion. They knew about God, for God had revealed some things about himself to them. But knowing about God is not the same as knowing God. They even bowed down and worshiped God's son, Jesus Christ. But did they worship him exclusively, or just add him to their existing pantheon of gods? As far as we can know with certainty, these are not the real wise men. Herod the King If you could go back to the day in which this manger scene actually took place and ask the people who the real wise man was, they would have picked the most prominent man in Israel. His name was "Herod the Great." People would have said Herod was the real wise man, but they would have said so out of fear. He ruled Israel until shortly after Jesus' birth. Julius Caesar had assigned this rule to Herod's father and Marc Antony assigned it to Herod. Herod had absolute power over the people, which of course corrupts, absolutely. Herod's character comes through in this chapter. His evil gave rise to the Christ child's flight into Egypt while Herod ruthlessly murdered the other male children Jesus' age in Bethlehem. This wise man tried to trick the other wise men but was truly the least wise man of all. Like the magi he was religious, but no, not wise. He was religious, rich and ruthless, but not wise. Jesus, Mary and Joseph To say that wisdom personified had limited wisdom is akin to blasphemy. But the God-man first became the God-baby. Even the scriptures acknowledge that Jesus had to grow in wisdom (Luke 2:52). Mary was blessed among women, but not supremely wise. She did a superlative job of giving birth to the son of God. However, she did not understand his childhood loyalty to his father (Luke 2:48-50) nor his preaching about the family of God as an adult (Mark 3:31ff). And Joseph we hardly know. After the brief birth narratives in Matthew and Luke, and Luke's brief reference to an occasion at the temple when Jesus was 12, Joseph is not mentioned in the gospels. Joseph was a righteous man and Joseph did obey God, all signs of true wisdom, but Joseph is not the real wise man in the Christmas story. The Real Wise Men Real wise men know what as far as we know the magi didn't seem to know. Real wise men know what Herod didn't want to know. Real wise men know what even Jesus, his mother Mary, and Joseph had to fully realize later in life. The magi brought presents, kind of like Santa Claus, then split. I love presents and I'm not an anti-Claus, but real wise men know that Christmas is more than just Christmas presents. Real wise men know that Christmas is more than paying homage to the birth of Christ once a year and then forgetting about him. While the magi brought presents, King Herod brought a sword. Still today there are people who are trying to kill Christmas. They may use political correctness instead of violence, but they are still trying to kill the message of Christmas just the same. There is certainly no real wisdom in that. And real wisdom, like Joseph probably learned and Mary certainly learned, is incomplete with just a creche or cradle. A real wise man also comes to the cross and a real wise man also contemplates the crown.
You see, real wise men know that Christmas is not about Christmas. Christmas is about Christ. Therefore, the real wise men in the Christmas story are here with us today. They are men, women, boys and girls who know, who believe, and who have experienced the birth of Jesus Christ in such a profound way that they have been born again, born again to true wisdom and true riches, born again to be faithful followers of the one who came to the cradle, bore our cross, and will wear the crown forever.
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