Dec. 19 "Behold, I am bringing you good news of great joy"

Monday, December 19 | Matthew 2:1-6

The Magi are some of the most enigmatic characters in all of scripture. They only appear in Matthew’s gospel: unnamed, coming from somewhere in the East, only to disappear from the story and never be heard from again. Stargazers who ask about a child born to be king and where they might find him to pay him honor, they probably struck the residents of Jerusalem as rather bizarre.

They certainly attract Herod’s attention. When he hears this news of a birth, his reaction is the opposite of the wise men: fear. Alarmed by a potential threat to his own power, Herod orchestrates one of the most horrific crimes recorded in all scripture: a mass slaughter of babies.

Strangers from the East pay homage to a newborn; a king who is close to the event resorts to murder. Scripture is full of stories that narrate opposing reactions between “insiders” and “outsiders.” Herod, perhaps the consummate insider (as ruler of the people), cannot comprehend the significance of Jesus’s birth. The Magi, outsiders who have no kinship or cultural connection to the events in this story, recognize the magnitude of the event.

We often think that the Jesus story is meant for insiders: a story for the church, a story that belongs to us. But the story of the Magi suggests it is something more: a story for the world that invites countless responses. We don’t know anything else about the Magi. We don’t know if they eventually became followers of Jesus after they returned home. But it seems reasonable to assume they did not. They are, however, changed: changed enough to make a long journey from the East; changed enough to seek a newborn king even when the established king becomes consumed by fear; changed enough to return home by another road. I think they’re the ones who really get the story—a story that belongs to the world in all its splendor.

– Dr. David H. Jensen Professor in the Clarence N. and Betty B. Frierson Distinguished Chair of Reformed Theology