Epiphany Sunday: the Magi
By Sydney Gautier
The Wise Men are a very popular part of the Christmas story. There’s a well-known song about them called, “We The Kings.” We see them in all the Christmas plays, in the Nativity scenes set up on fireplace mantels, and in front of churches. What you may not have known is that they were not kings at all, but instead they were Magi—basically they were pagan astrologers. The word magi is actually where we get our word magic. So why is it that the first people to go see Jesus were people that practiced magic, something that God condemns?
God is the ultimate seeker and that He has a heart for the nations.
“When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy. And going into the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother, and they fell down and worshiped him. Then, opening their treasures, they offered him gifts, gold and frankincense and myrrh.” (Matthew 2:10-12). These pagan astrologers saw the star and came from the east. They weren’t from Israel, and they weren’t righteous or holy, but God led them to Jesus from afar. This shows us his love for all the world.
As we have seen through this story of the Magi, God has a radical love for all people. He desires everyone to come and worship his son, not just the righteous. Jesus said he came for the sick, those who knew they were in need of a savior. This is what we see God doing here with the Magi. Even though the Magi practiced something that was shunned by the Jews, God drew these men to come and worship Jesus. God loved the Magi more than we can understand. God loves us more than we can understand. That also means that God loves those around us more than we can understand as well. At New Circle, we talk a lot about seeing the city of Indianapolis made new through the Gospel. That renewal involves men and women, boys and girls, rich and poor, gay and straight, liberal and conservative, convicts as well as upstanding citizens all coming to know Jesus as their Savior. God loves these people and wants them to come to faith more than we can imagine. No one is too far gone for God to give up on them!
God desires all people to come to know him, and he uses a variety of ways to bring people to his Son. With the Magi, we see that he used their love for astronomy to lead them straight to Jesus. He used something applicable to them, something they can relate to. In other stories through the Bible we see God use things like miracles, a talking donkey, tragedies, and nature to bring people to himself. God is still doing this today. People may be into practices that can look strange to us, but God can lead people to himself using these things just like he did with the Magi.
The two means that will always be a part of the story of God drawing people to himself are the Word of God and the people of God. When the Magi went to Jerusalem, because that was the city of the Jewish people, they asked Herod where the Messiah was going to be born. Herod didn’t know, so he assembled the people of God to speak to the Magi from the Work of God. Here God used both his people and his Word to lead the Magi to Jesus. And if you are a believer, and have his word in your heart and your hand, you have everything you need to be used by God in the story of someone else’s salvation! “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:18-20). Jesus is with us always, and has not asked us to go alone into sharing the Gospel, but to trust that he is with us in it!