Magi from the East

A line of travellers, dusty from weeks on the road, rides through the gates of Jerusalem. They are foreigners. They are scholars. And they are asking a question that is about to trouble a king.

Matthew sets the scene with two names. Jesus has been born in Bethlehem of Judea, and it is in the days of Herod the king. Herod was the ruler the Romans had put in charge of Judea. He was a brilliant builder, the man behind the great new temple in Jerusalem. He was also suspicious and ruthless, quick to destroy anyone he thought was a threat to his throne, even members of his own family. Into Herod's city, one day, come visitors from far away.

Matthew calls them magi, often translated wise men. He tells us they came from the east. That probably means somewhere like Persia, or Babylon, or Arabia, lands far beyond the Jordan River. The magi were learned men. They studied the night sky, and they were known for interpreting dreams and signs. Notice what Matthew does not say. He does not say there were three of them. He does not call them kings. He does not give their names. Those details came later, in Christian tradition. Matthew only tells us they came, and what they were looking for.

They arrive in Jerusalem, the capital, and start asking. “Where is he that is born King of the Jews?” Imagine people's faces. King of the Jews? We already have one. His name is Herod. And he was not born king; he was appointed. These foreigners are asking about a different king, a newborn, a royal child they believe God has sent. The question would have spread through the streets. People would have glanced nervously toward the palace.

Then the magi explain why they have come. “For we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him.” They had watched the sky, and they had seen something that told them a great king had been born. And they had travelled for weeks, perhaps months, across deserts and mountains, to worship him. Here is the wonder of it. The first people in Matthew's gospel to come and worship Jesus are not priests or rulers of Israel. They are foreigners, outsiders, who knew very little of Israel's scriptures, and yet who followed the light they had been given all the way to Jerusalem.

The Greek historian Herodotus, writing about four and a half centuries before Jesus, describes the Magi as one of the tribes of the Medes, in the region of ancient Persia. He tells how the Magi interpreted dreams for kings. By the time of Jesus, the word magi was used more widely for wise men and astrologers from the east, like the visitors Matthew describes.

The magi's arrival is in Matthew chapter two, verses one and two. Strangers from a far country, who followed a star to find a king. Christians have long seen in them a sign that Jesus came for people of every nation. So here is a question to carry with you. What light has God given you to follow, and how far would you go to find Jesus?