The journey of the Magi

 

My New Year's resolution is to return to blogging, so here we are.

We are told very little about the Magi in the Bible. There is a short story in only one gospel, Matthew 2:1-12. We are told about a disturbing visit from Magi from the East who had come to worship a new king, and who had brought three gifts: gold, frankincense and myrrh.    Imagine Mary and Joseph, probably some time after the birth, having these mysterious people visiting with such strange and very expensive gifts, entering their humble home and bowing down in the straw on the floor to worship their little baby boy.

We know very little of who these Magi were. The word Magi refers to an eastern wise man, someone with knowledge from dreams, who searched the heavens for signs from God. It is the word from which our word magician comes from. There are many legends that have grown up around these men, but who were they and why this long journey?

So where else in the Bible do we learn about a group of friends who were very wise and could understand dreams and could hear what God was saying to them? Well, the book of Daniel comes to mind - young men who were exiled in the Babylonian court who advised the king. Daniel and his friends were given remarkable abilities to understand dreams and visions.    One particular dream that was given to Daniel was about someone called “the son of man”, in Daniel 7:13:-

and behold, with the clouds of heaven
    there came one like a son of man,
and he came to the Ancient of Days
    and was presented before him.
¹⁴ And to him was given dominion
    and glory and a kingdom,
that all peoples, nations, and languages
    should serve him;
his dominion is an everlasting dominion,
    which shall not pass away,
and his kingdom one
    that shall not be destroyed.

Jesus used this title for himself. He was the eternal son of God who had been given absolute rule and authority, but born as a human being, just like us. So, I wonder if the Magi had heard of this prophecy of Daniel, and were looking out for celestial signs that such a king had been born. 

Having heard from God, off they went into the desert, bringing their gifts to worship this long-prophesied king, guided by a sign placed in the heavens by God for them to follow on their long journey, a new wild star that drew them onward.

So, we too need to listen quietly and patiently to hear what God is saying to us and be willing to hear the call to go wherever we are being led, willing to give up all that we have and bring whatever Christ asks us to give, and to go wherever He asks us to go.

So what about the three gifts? Again, the Bible does not attribute any meaning to them. However, there are many ideas as to their significance.  I think the first thing to note is their lavish expense. Mary and Joseph were soon to be refugees fleeing to Egypt, so these gifts would have been very welcome, gold was a universal currency and the two spices were very portable, and weight for weight much more expensive and precious than gold. God was very careful to provide for His son on His dangerous journey,  just as He provides for all His children when they ask.   However, the gifts had special prophetic significance for Jesus, 

Jesus, King of Kings and Lord of Lords

Gold was the stuff of kings, especially King Solomon who had a vast wealth in gold. Jesus is now ascended to the right hand of the throne of God. He is the one who we worship and adore. the one before whom we will all bow, at His coming in glory.  

                                                 Jesus the great high priest.

Frankincense was what the incense used by the priests was made from, and it demonstrates Christ's priestly role which we learn about in Hebrews, for example Hebrews 4: 14-16

¹⁴ Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has ascended into heaven,^[a] Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. ¹⁵ For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin. ¹⁶ Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.

Also in the book of Revelation we read about the prayers of the saints being offered like incense, and we too are called to be Kings and priests, for example 1 Peter 2:9

But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvellous light.

Jesus the sufficient sacrifice for our sins

The gift of myrrh was of special significance for Jesus and we see its use in John 19:39-40  

39 Nicodemus also, who earlier had come to Jesus by night, came bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-five pounds in weight. 

40 So they took the body of Jesus and bound it in linen cloths with the spices, as is the burial custom of the Jews.

It was used in the burial of Jesus, who died once and for all for the remission of sins. Jesus died on the cross, so that our sins are forgiven and we could live forever with Him.

So are we as diligent in seeking Jesus as these ancient travellers? Will we listen for His call and go wherever He is asking us to go? Are we willing to  give our most precious things for Him?

At this time of year, a covenant prayer written by John Wesley is proclaimed. It is it a solemn promise  we are willing to make to our crucified and risen King Jesus.

 I am no longer my own but yours.
Put me to what you will,
rank me with whom you will;
put me to doing,
put me to suffering;
let me be employed for you,
or laid aside for you,
exalted for you,
or brought low for you;
let me be full,
let me be empty,
let me have all things,
let me have nothing:
I freely and wholeheartedly yield all things
to your pleasure and disposal.
And now, glorious and blessed God,
Father, Son and Holy Spirit,
you are mine and I am yours. So be it.
And the covenant now made on earth, let it be ratified in heaven.'

The Methodist Covenant Prayer

The earliest image of the Magi. From the catacomb of Priscilla in Rome

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Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus, sacrifice courage and kindness.

Hopeful by Howard Zinn

To be hopeful in bad times is not just foolishly romantic. It is based on the fact that human history is a history not only of cruelty, but also of compassion, sacrifice, courage, kindness. What we choose to emphasise in this complex history will determine our lives.

If we see only the worst, it destroys our capacity to do something.

If we remember those times and places — and there are so many — where people have behaved magnificently, this gives us the energy to act, and at least the possibility of sending this spinning top of a world in a different direction.

And if we do act, in however small a way, we don’t have to wait for some grand utopian future. The future is an infinite succession of presents, and to live now as we think human beings should live, in defiance of all that is bad around us, is itself a marvellous victory.

Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus

It was already late on Friday afternoon, and the body had to be taken down from the cross, before the start of Passover. All the fear that had haunted them before about supporting Jesus had gone. They were disgusted at the illegal secret trial held on Thursday night, which they knew nothing about, and so they arrived too late on Friday morning, when Jesus had already been delivered over to Pilate with a cruel howling mob baying for His death. There was nothing that they could have done in that horrible moment when Jesus, already bloody from a beating, was led out to be crucified, but there was still one thing they could do now. That was to stop His body being thrown into some anonymous pit with the other criminals who had been executed. 

Joseph was no youngster, and in fact he had only recently thought about preparing a tomb for his own burial, it had been newly completed, and was there, empty and available to be used, it would be an honour to share his own tomb with such a wise rabbi, or was Jesus more than that? Joseph had thought that He could have been the Messiah long expected but the body hanging on Roman cross looked nothing like an all-conquering king.

Being a member of the council, it was not a problem for Joseph to get an audience with Pilate, who gave the necessary permission after sending a centurion to make  doubly sure that Jesus was really dead.

Getting the body down from the cross was quite a  struggle for two elderly and usually  very dignified men who were not used to physical work. 

Handling a body the night before Passover was going to make them ritually unclean, something any self respecting religious man would never do. However, they were driven by compassion and a strange inner compulsion that this was their destiny: to fulfill that one line in the prophecy of Isaiah:

And they made his grave with the wicked
    and with a rich man in his death,
although he had done no violence,
    and there was no deceit in his mouth.

So, as gently as they could, they bandaged the body, interspersed with the few spices they could find; Mary and the other women would have to come and do the job more thoroughly in the morning, so  as night fell they left with a strange new  confidence that they had not just buried a body, but planted a seed.