Let’s Be Magi

Let’s Be Magi

After Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of King Herod, wise men from the east arrived in Jerusalem, 2 saying, “Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we saw his star at its rising and have come to worship him.” Matthew 2:1-2 (CSB)

      This past Advent and Christmas season will go down as one we all definitely want to move on from. It was difficult to figure out whether the numbers for our Christmas Eve candlelight service would exceed Governor Walz’ fifty percent capacity order. We figured far fewer would be traveling home this year.

Next to Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years are the most traveled holidays of the year. That evidence even reaches back to the first Christmas. The magi traveled roughly 400 miles or more on camel to see a baby born king of the Jews. However, their travel contained at least a few deep considerations for our lives as we enter a new year.

First of all, the word magi originally referred to a class of Persian wise men, and possibly priests, who were interpreters of special signs, particularly in astrology. These particular magi must have been familiar with the Hebrew Scriptures to put together the fact that the king of Jews was born and they obviously felt the need to travel and worship Him in person. This tells me that they were reading Scripture, watching for signs and seeking the Messiah.

Secondly, the magi would have had to plan out their travel for such a long journey by camel. They even brought gifts. This tells me that they didn’t settle for just knowing certain information. They planned out and implemented a response to go see the baby and worship Him.

Thirdly, Proverbs 9:10 says, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom…” Fear, in this case, refers to the giving of reverence. The giving of reverence is really the planned implementation of the desire to honor. Isn’t that what the magi did? They planned out the implementation to travel and honor/worship the king of the Jews. They had the fear of the Lord and we rightly call them “wise-men”.

We live in a time where the decisions of leaders and politicians and maybe even the people around us, make us scratch our heads in disbelief of the utter lack of wisdom. How can people constantly spend more money than they make? How can some people continually make the same types of decisions that got them into trouble before? It’s like seeing insanity played out as a true movie? Who are these people? Do I sometimes qualify as one of them?

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. The magi give us such a good example of that fear. It’s a fear that caused them to read the Scriptures and seek for God’s direction. It’s a fear where they weren’t satisfied with just knowledge, but planned out their travel and life in order to honor the Lord.

My prayer is that the number of magi would grow in 2021 as more and more fear the Lord and wisdom abounds. Wisemen still seek Him!

Have a blessed New Year!     Pastor Tim