The Visit of the Magi

Matthew 2:1-12

When Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, in the days of King Herod, behold magi from the east arrived in Jerusalem, saying, “Where is the newborn king of the Jews? We saw his star^* at its rising and have come to do him homage.” When King Herod heard this, he was greatly troubled, and all Jerusalem with him. Assembling all the chief priests and the scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Messiah was to be born. They said to him, “In Bethlehem of Judea, for thus it has been written through the prophet: ‘And you, Bethlehem, land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; since from you shall come a ruler, who is to shepherd my people Israel.” Then, Herod called the magi secretly and ascertained from them the time of the star’s appearance. He sent them to Bethlehem and said, “Go and search diligently for the child. When you have found him, bring me word, that I too may go and do him homage.” After their audience with the king, they set out. And behold, the star that they had seen at its rising preceded them, until it came and stopped over the place where the child was. They were overjoyed at seeing the star, and on entering the house they saw the child with Mary his mother. They prostrated themselves and did him homage. Then they opened their treasures and offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. And having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they departed for their country by another way.

Discussion Questions:

1. During these Christmas days of gift giving and receiving, what gifts did you give or receive that were uniquely symbolic, personal, or relational? How did this make you feel? 
2. The Magi remind us that the God of the poor and lowly always invites those with abundance to step out of our comfort zone and seek more. What new invitations are you sensing from God this Christmas Season?
3. In what ways might you challenge yourself to be more “spiritually wise” in this coming year? Can you describe what would this look like?

4. The ultimate gift is one that embodies and gives life to “relationship”. How does this reflection from Fr. Marsh help you understand God’s gift of relationship in new ways?

Biblical Context

Matthew 2:1-12
Sr. Mary M. McGlone CSJ

Artists probably have had more influence on our understanding of the story of the Magi than has Matthew the Evangelist. Painters have shown us that there were three kings, one of them often dressed like a Muslim. Many depictions include one black king and some artists have portrayed them as representing youth, adulthood and the elderly. The hymn “We Three Kings,” the first widely popular Christmas carol written in the United States, has helped to cement the interpretation of the gifts they brought as gold for Christ as king, incense for his divinity and myrrh as a sign of his future suffering. The notion that their names were Melchior, Caspar and Balthazar began some 500 years or more after the birth of Jesus along with the legend that they came from Persia, India and Babylonia. All of those ideas have their place in popular piety and thus real evangelical worth even though they are not part of Matthew’s story.

When we look to Matthew’s text, we find none of those details fully corroborated. The assumption that there were three is based only on fact that Matthew named three gifts — offerings which could have come from the hands of two people or a whole caravan which included women and children. Matthew did speak of the Magi in the plural, so we know he intended us to think of more than one person, but he does not indicate what the gifts symbolized nor does he name the visitors or their places of origin except to say that they came from the east.

All of that information leads us to ask what Matthew really does tell us and why. Matthew begins his Gospel with a genealogy and the angels’ message to Joseph. Until Chapter 2 of the Gospel, Matthew hadn’t even mentioned where Jesus was born and that news comes in connection with the visit of the Magi. Matthew began by concentrating only on the fact that Jesus was a descendant of Abraham and David. He then only mentions Jesus’ birth in connection with the fact that it took place in Bethlehem in the days of King Herod.

Bethlehem had the curious and typically scriptural fame of being a very little place that had great importance because it was the city of the shepherd-king, David. The fact that Jesus was born during the reign of King Herod tells historians that it happened before Herod’s death in the year 4 B.C.E. That detail also tells social historians and Matthew’s first audience that Jesus was born in a terrifying time of history. Jesus, the “king of the Jews” was born during the reign of a ruler so despotic that he had even arranged the murder of his own sons because he thought they were plotting against him. (Some people were known to quip that it was safer to be Herod’s sow than his son while others pointed out that Herod demonstrated far more interest in saving his throne than his soul.) Matthew’s subtle bits of historical information provided the equivalent of ominous background music to the story that was to come.

As Matthew tells the story, when the Magi arrived in Jerusalem, they began to talk about the star they had seen and asked around about the newly born king of the Jews. This was Matthew’s subtle explanation that the wisdom of the Gentiles goes only so far; the Magi knew that someone important had been born, but they had to turn to the prophecies of the chosen people to understand it more fully. Matthew also uses this story to contrast the religiously open Magi to the leaders of the chosen people who, although they could read the prophecies, exhibited little or no curiosity about the Magi and what their star might portend.

The story goes on with Herod’s fearful inquiry about the origins of the Messiah and his request that the Magi inform him of everything they learn. Throughout, Matthew is weaving a story that highlights the contrast between Jesus, the one born as king, and Herod, Rome’s paranoid puppet. 

Matthew’s infancy narrative will end with the holy family’s flight into Egypt and eventual return to Galilee. In recounting this story, Matthew has woven a Gospel in miniature. He shows us that Jesus is the legitimate son of David, and more. He foreshadows the conflicts Jesus will have with both Roman and Jewish authorities who collude to defend themselves from the threat he poses to their exercise of power. The story both summarizes the Gospel and brings the Christmas season to a fitting end by reminding us that, like the Magi, we must seek signs of God’s activity in our own moment of history.

The Treasure We Carry

Reflection
Fr. Michael K. Marsh

“Then, opening their treasure chests, they offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.”

Everyone of us comes here today bearing gifts. That is one of the truths about the Epiphany. It is true not only on this day but every day. Many of us, however, have never been told this. If we have been told, we frequently don’t believe it. Sometimes we even deny it. “It might be true for someone else,” we tell ourselves, “but not for me.”

Too often we separate ourselves from the beauty, power, and grace of the Epiphany and settle for a flash of insight. We work to “get it,” waiting and hoping that one day the light will come on. We have been convinced that the “aha” moment is our epiphany. That, however, is a diminishment and impoverishment of the Epiphany. It is not the gospel story we just heard, and it is not the Epiphany we celebrate today.

The Epiphany we celebrate today is not about “getting it.” It is about what we have already been given. The Epiphany is the manifestation, the revealing, the showing and making known that divine life and presence fill all humanity and creation. It is most fully and profoundly revealed in the person of Jesus Christ. It is not, however, limited to him. He is the archetype of who we can become and the way of our becoming. 

The manifestation of God in and through Christ is the aperture through which we see the truth about our lives. Whether we know it, understand it, or believe in divinity, God’s life, is the treasure and gift we each carry. Every one of us is a Magi. We are carriers of the treasure. We have been entrusted with divine gifts. We are, as a friend of mine likes to say, “epiphanal beings.” That is true for you, me, and every other person, even Herod.

The Epiphany is not limited to a specific time, place, or a particular people. It is for all people, in all places, at all times. There is no one who does not carry this treasure. The difference is not that some carry the treasure and others do not. The difference is between those who know and trust themselves to be carriers of the treasure and those who are blind to and ignorant of the treasure within them.

That is what distinguishes the wise men from Herod. The Herod’s of this world, those who do not know the treasure they carry, the treasure they are, remain closed and isolated. They will always live in fear, demand answers, seek absolutes, make judgments, establish a cult of personality, wield individual power, and relate through violence. The wise man or woman, the one who knows himself or herself to be a bearer of gifts, however, is willing to open his or her treasure chest and offer those gifts. They hold nothing in reserve, offering all that they are and all that they have.

Every day we have the opportunity to bring and offer our gifts to the world and in so doing we pay homage to the child. We reveal and make the child known to the world. Our gold, frankincense, and myrrh are offered in a thousand different ways.

Every time we offer our gratitude and prayers of thanksgiving we are pointing to the presence and work of God in our lives. Whenever we spend time feeding the hungry, housing the homeless, or caring for those in need we are revealing God’s compassion and concern for his people. Whenever we freely and without need of recognition give our money to care for and help another, we are demonstrating God’s generosity. Our presence at the bedside of one who is sick or dying reveals God with us, Emmanuel. Whenever we offer forgiveness rather than retribution and mercy rather than condemnation, we demonstrate God’s grace. The moments we spend in silence, solitude, and stillness manifest the mystery of God. The intimacy we share with another is a reflection of God’s self-giving love. Every time we offer our treasure, we are mirroring God’s offering of his treasure.

The only reason we can ever offer our treasure is because God first offered his. It happened that night when God opened the treasure chest of his house to reveal the child with his mother Mary. In response, the magi opened their treasure chests and offered gifts.

God has never ceased opening the treasure chest of his life and offering gifts. Each one of us continues to carry the treasure of God’s life. That is the truth and good news of Epiphany. Every gift we offer from that treasure reveals God’s life and presence. The Epiphany of God calls forth our own epiphany. Epiphany meets epiphany, treasure meets treasure, and God’s life and presence fill this world and our lives. It’s not just something we do, it’s who we are. Our lives become epiphanies manifestations, of Christ to the world.

Reflection Excerpt from: Interrupting the Silence, Fr. Michael K. Marsh