Matthew 2:1-12
“On entering the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother; and they knelt down and paid him homage. Then, opening their treasure chests, they offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.”
There is an Italian legend of an old woman who travels the night sky on Epiphany Eve, bringing sweets and toys to the good children and coal to the bad ones. She is often depicted as a witch with a black scarf on her head, carrying a sack or a basket, and riding on a broom. The legend of La Bafana has an unknown origin but has meaning for us today.
Like most legends, hers has become complicated. There is a belief that she is of pre-Christian origin, but today, we will stick to how La Befana and the Wise Men come together.
La Befana is said to live in a mountain cave outside a city. One day, three strange men came to visit her. They were from a far-off land and were following a star searching for a child who had been born. They told her they had brought gifts for the child and asked if she knew where this child might be. La Befana was very busy cleaning, and she told them she did not know and ran them off.
Later, she regretted her decision and decided to find these men from the East. She packed gifts for the child, mounted her broom, and flew off searching for the visitors. She did not see them or the child they sought, but she had all these gifts. La Befana decided to stop off at other places with the children and leave the gifts for them.
Our Scripture lesson from Matthew, which we heard this morning, tells us what happened to these men from the East. They found what they were looking for and more.
We know very little about these men from the biblical account. Their story only appears in Matthew’s Gospel and is vague. Matthew calls them “wise men from the East” and never mentions their occupation or number. Traditional Western Christians set their number at three, corresponding to the number of gifts they bring. Still, Eastern Christianity, specifically the Syriac tradition, has 12, corresponding to the 12 days of Christmas.
They are essential to the story regardless of who or what they are.
We also do not know when they will arrive. Again, Matthew only says this event took place in the time of King Herod, roughly 72 BCE to 4 BCE. Some scholars believe the Wise Men came many years after the birth event and visited him in a house that was not stable. Scripture tells us that upon hearing the news of the child’s birth, Herod orders the slaughter of all male children under two years of age, which would point to the idea that this even took place up to two years after Jesus’ birth. Still, the exact time and place do not matter; they came, which is essential.
The research will suggest that these men did come from the East. By the 3rd century, they had been identified as Kings, which would conform with Christian interpretations of prophecies in the Hebrew Scriptures that Kings would worship the Messiah.
Matthew calls them Magos in Greek, from which we derive the Latin term Magi. Mago comes from Old Persian magus, which refers to the Iranian priestly class of Zoroastrianism. They were known for their ability to read the stars and gained an international reputation for astrology. By the way, the word Magi is where we get the English word Magic.
Again, there is no evidence that they were Kings, and the first English reference to such was the interpretation of the word “Magi” in the King James Bible, probably to lessen the idea that these men were astrologers. The Reformer John Calvin thought that these men were not kings and that the term was invented to sanitize the story and make it more acceptable in society.
Although Matthew does not provide their names, several legends give their names, as Melchior, Caspar, and Balthazar. The most notable of these legends come from an 8th-century Latin text and the apocryphal text, The Acts of Saint Thomas.
Matthew gives only the evidence of their place of origin from the “East,” but using the name Magi points to the Parthian Empire centered in Iran. This is an integral part of the story because the Parthian Empire was known for tolerating other religions and religious practices. It is also important to note that these men are usually depicted as being of various ages and races, which will become important later.
Matthew tells us that when they found Jesus, they entered the house and knelt down to worship him. This is where the practice of kneeling in worship comes from. Jewish worship, where most of our Christian practice comes from, did not include kneeling or prostrating; all those Christian practices came from the Magi worshipping Jesus. One might argue that kneeling in worship is as old as Christianity itself.
The gifts are significant as well. All three were ordinary, and the usual gifts were offered when one paid homage to a king. These men knew this child was not some ordinary child and brought the appropriate gifts.
These gifts also have spiritual significance: gold symbolizes earthly kingship, frankincense, in the form of incense, symbolizes deity, and myrrh, an oil used for anointing, symbolizes death. This is where we get another of our Christian traditions. Incense is used in worship, signifying our prayers being lifted to God, and myrrh is often an essential ingredient in the oil used for anointing the sick and other rituals.
In my message on Christmas Eve, I pointed out that all of creation was present at the birth of Jesus. Animals and shepherds were there to worship this tiny baby that would transform the world. The men from the East signify another aspect of it all, that the message of Christ was to transcend not only geography but also culture, time, place, race, and religion.
These men were on pilgrimage; they had searched the sky for a sign and found it. They were seekers like many of us are or have been. It is interesting to note that these men practiced a religion that the Christian Church would later condemn as witchcraft, yet they were among the first to not only pay homage but bring gifts and humble themselves by kneeling to worship. This may be why La Befana is often depicted as a witch.
Later in Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus preaches to a gathering of people on a hillside. This is often called the sermon on the mount, where the beatitudes come from. These beatitudes are central Christian teachings, and it is essential to note that people of multiple races, ages, genders, and even religions were on that hillside. Jerusalem was a crossroads for trade, and people from all over the world would come and pass through it. The message of Jesus is for everyone, not just those we think fit into a specific mold or way of life.
Each person present that night and in the days after was a seeker of a sort. Something drew them in and brought them to the place where they found Jesus. Many came with nothing, only an openness to what was possible, and others came with precious gifts. Regardless of what they brought, they all came and worshipped and, no doubt, left changed.
Everyone is invited to God’s party, even those who have been traveling radically different paths. Those who have made this journey many times in their lives are invited to take a new look at Jesus and his message of love and acceptance of all, not just some. It is important to remember Jesus’ saying, “The last shall be first, and the first will be last.”
It is important to remember that this was not an ordinary birth, and by that, I do not suggest anything to do with the supernatural circumstances of how they found themselves where they were. The birth story reminds us that the creator became part of creation to show us a different way to live. But it is also a story that invites everyone to come; whether you are a shepherd or king, young or old, astrologer or believer, there is a place for you at the table.
The story of the Magi reminds us that God initiates the call to come and find, to knock, and to seek. Our job is to come with an open mind to find a story that might challenge our traditional beliefs about many things. The Magi’s journey to seek the child exposes God’s intention to welcome everyone “into the joy of God’s hoe not made with hands, but eternal in the heavens” and, remarkably, on earth as well. Amen.
