In today’s Gospel story we heard the story of the Magi, or the Three Kings or Three Wisemen. We know very little about these three Magi, and I mean very little. The Church of England commissioned a report about twenty years ago, and it concluded we know so little about them that we don’t even know if there were three of them. We don’t know if they were kings. We don’t know if they were wise. We don’t even know that they were men. We know almost nothing about these folks.
What do we know about them? We know they are a group. There are at least two, but it could be more. There could be twelve or a hundred, but there are at least two. Of those two there is at least one man. It could be a mixed group, but it can’t be an all female group. They bring three types of gifts. They don’t bring three gifts necessarily, but three types of gifts. There could have been five people bringing gold bars, we don’t know. We do know they bring gold, frankincense, and myrrh.
Then there are things that we sort of know, but they also raise many questions. For instance, we know they came from the East. What does that mean? Does it mean east of Bethlehem, or does it mean “the East” of which Bethlehem is part and areas westward are a part? There is much speculation about where they came from: Persia or Babylon or India or China or Vietnam. There is one tradition that says one came from Europe, one came from Africa, and one came from Asia. And it does not mean that they all came together. They could have come from different places. There is a tradition that says they came from all over, from different places and were therefore each a different people.
It says that they followed a star. What does that mean? Stars don’t move like that and descend over buildings. There are many theories about that. Maybe it was a comet. Maybe it was an astrological planet that ended up in a certain constellation in a certain way that signified something. Maybe it was a mystical event. There is a story about the Magi from between the 3rd and 8th century that says the star was the Christ Child. It showed up and disappeared and then showed up again. So the Christ Child was above the manger, and then the Magi went inside and saw the child in the manger. There are many wild, weird, and mystical theories about the Magi.
Then there is the word, Magi. What does it mean? The Greek word means magician, but in the 1st century that is like a slur or slander, so it doesn’t make a lot of sense in this story. No one has ever thought that they are magicians, and have tried to find another explanation. That is why they are also called wisemen or kings, the ones we know best, but also sages, religious leaders, priests. There is a tradition that says they are princes. Someone claimed that there was a tribe of people called the Magi, so these people were Magians. Like Eugenians from Eugene bringing their gifts. I can see them as a whole family, kids and everyone.
There is another tradition that says do not use the Greek word for Magi, but use the word in the native language that the Magi were from. What language is that? Where were they from? We don’t know. There is a theory that they are from a mythical land. There are so many questions, and we know so little about them. And what happens when we don’t know much about something? Our imaginations run wild, and there are some pretty wild imaginations like the explanations we have just heard.
We have an imagination that there are three of them, each one of them has a gift, and they have names: Balthazar, Melchior, and Caspar. That is one tradition. But there are other traditions. One of then from the far East, the Syriac church, has twelve Magi, and they all have names as well. It is an interesting thing, and all the imagination is fun, but hold it lightly because we don’t know. What we do know is that it is a group with at least one man, and they bring three types of gifts. Everything else is imagination.
The people that have these imaginations are trying to figure out what really was, but are also linking things up to other elements of the Biblical story. The idea that Magi are kings only comes from people’s imagination. There is no evidence that kings are a translation of Magi. But with the use of the word kings they are referencing some Old Testament language of the Prophets and Psalms. They are also trying to highlight Jesus’s kingship with the image of kings bowing down to a king. This imagination is looking to the past in Scripture and looking forward to the Gospels and the Epistles.
It is fun, and I’m trying to avoid spending the entire sermon time telling you wild and crazy ideas that people have had about the Magi. Instead, I want to share one more with you, and it is my favorite. It is a relatively recent imagining, coming from the 19th century, not the 3rd or 8th. It is a story written by Henry Van Dyke and it is called “The Other Wiseman.”
In Henry Van Dyke’s imagination, there are the three, Caspar, Melchior, and Balthazar, but there is a fourth. His name is Artaban. They do not live in the same place, but in different areas. They are all friends and have come together in the past. They are astrologers or astronomers who watch the stars, and have been searching Scriptures and looking to the stars to see what they can know about their faith. There is to be a king born of the Jews when a certain star situation happens. They all agree that when this occurs they will meet within 10 days and then go together.
The event happens, and Artaban sells his house and all his possessions and buys three jewels to give as his gift: a ruby, a sapphire, and a pearl of great price. He takes the jewels and rides his horse across the desert. It is pushing it to get there in 10 days, so he is driving his horse rather hard. The horse is getting really tired so they stop at an oasis, and there Artaban finds a man who is dying. Artaban is a wise man and has some medical training, and wants to help this man but also knows if he does so he will miss his friends’ caravan. But he has a strong feeling that he has to help the guy. He nurses him back to health and then continues on his journey, but when he gets there, his friends have already gone. There is a note: sorry, time passed. We are on our way. Catch up.
Artaban’s horse is not going to make it, so he has to buy some supplies and a camel, and sells one of the jewels to do so. Now he has two left. He makes the journey to Bethlehem and learns that his friends have departed. But Herod’s soldiers are there to kill the children. Artaban tries to find the Holy Family, but they have escaped to Egypt. He meets a young mother with her baby and learns that Herod is killing all the babies. As he is preparing to go to Egypt, soldiers arrive at the door to search the house where the mother and baby are. That same feeling he had when he discovered the sick man at the oasis hits him, and he bribes the soldier with one of his remaining jewels not to search the house. The soldiers move on and that baby survives.
Artaban goes to Egypt and searches for the Holy Family. He searches for years and years, but cannot find them. He comes upon a Rabbi who says the Messiah will come from among the poor, and advises Artaban to go where the poor live. He goes to ghettos, poor houses, soup kitchens, not just in Egypt but all over the region. For thirty three years he searches for the newborn King.
Artaban ends up in Jerusalem where everyone is talking about a man they call King of the Jews who is being crucified. He thinks that perhaps this man is the one he has been looking for. He has one jewel remaining, and maybe he can us it to save this King of the Jews. Artaban goes through the Damascus Gate, but stops when he sees a young woman who is being sold into slavery. That same feeling hits him inside, and even though he wants to go meet Jesus and perhaps save his life, he uses the jewel to buy the young woman’s freedom.
Then everything goes dark. There is an earthquake, some stones fall from the Temple, and one hits him on the head, knocking him out. He is dying, and the young woman hears him whisper: when did I ever see you hungry? when did I ever see you thirsty? When did I ever see you a stranger? Those words are from Matthew 25. Then the young woman heard another voice, quieter than the whispers of Artaban, saying that whenever you do it to the least of these, you do it to me. With that, Artaban realized he had given his gifts to Jesus.
My friends, be another one of the Magi and seek the Christ Child. He told you where he would be. He said, this is my Body, this is my Blood. He said, I am in all those who hunger and thirst. I am in all those in prison, I am in all those who are naked, I am in all those who are strangers. He also said I am in every child. What point in our life have we not been a child or been a stranger or been injured? Christ is in every person. Christ is in your neighbor. Seek the Christ in them, and offer them your gifts, whatever they may be, and be one of the Magi.
AMEN.
