We have all heard the Christmas story and in it, we are told about a group of men who are commonly known as the “wise men”. The word used in the original language of the Bible, Greek, for these wise men is “magi”. The Magi were a class of priests and experts, who specialized in the mysterious subjects of the paranormal, including astrology, dream interpretation, the study of sacred writings, the pursuit of wisdom and magick.
Recently, I came across a series of statements apparently overhead on the wise men’s long trip from Persia to Bethlehem: “Man, I’m starting to get a rush from this frankincense!”
“You guys ever eat camel meat? I hear it tastes like goat.”
“You know, I used to go to school with a girl name Beth Lehem.”
“What kind of name is Balthazar anyhow? Phoenician?”
“Hey, do you either of you know why ‘MYRRH’ is spelled with a ‘Y’ instead of a ‘U’?”
“Okay, whose camel just spit?”
“All this staring at a star while riding a camel is making me woozy.”
Those comments likely never happened but, according to the Bible, what did happen is that when these men arrived in Jerusalem, they asked, “Where is the One who has been born the king of the Jews?”
But these Magi were likely displaced Jews who had been had been taken from their homeland and resettled in Persia and Babylon, as the result of the Assyrian invasion of Israel in 722 BC. At that time, some young Jewish men like Daniel had been drafted into the King services and taught to be Magi.
As such, these Jewish men would have been familiar with various prophecies of the Bible, such as Numbers 24:17 which predicted that “A star shall come out of Jacob and a scepter shall rise out of Israel.” For centuries, this prophecy had been understood by Jews to point to a Messianic deliverer to come to Israel.
But what I find most interesting, almost startling, is their next statement to King Herod: “We have come to worship Him.” This is startling because, typically, kings were not worshipped; they were only men and men were not worshipped, even if they were kings. Kings were obeyed, revered, feared, respected but never worshipped. Indeed, worshipping a human being was seen as blasphemous in the rest of the Bible.
The reason these men therefore are to be considered wise is not because of their work in astronomy but because they recognized the true nature of the Baby in the manger. They recognized that He was no ordinary baby, not even just another human king to be, but rather, God in human flesh. That’s why they worshipped Him.
As John, one Jesus’ disciples later revealed the true identity of that Baby as the Word: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God… The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us. We have seen His glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.” John 1:1, 14
So, my point is this: the truly wise person today is one who recognizes the true nature of the Baby the wise men worshipped: that He is God who became man. And so, out of that recognition, also like the wise men of old, comes our worship of that Child.
Are you worshipping Him this Christmas?
