From Revd Dr Mark Cheetham
Dear Friends,
As I write we are still in the Christmas season, and while Candlemas (the first presentation of Jesus in the Temple) falls on February 2nd, my mind is still sitting with Epiphany and the arrival of the magi at Jesus manger. Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night came to mind and how around the world (on twelfth night) special pastries, such as king cake, would be baked. The king cake would often have a tiny baby figure inside it! Traditionally, if you are the one to find the baby in the king cake, you are given the title of “king” or “queen” for the day.
And it seems that those who searched for and found the baby Jesus on the first Epiphany also received the title of “King” even though they were not, in fact, kings. In the actual story in Matthew, there are only two persons designated as “king” and those are King Herod and the one whom the magi sought, the child rumoured to be king of the Jews—Jesus. The word magi is from the Greek word μάγοι—magoi, a word of Persian origin that has referred to Zoroastrian priests since at least 520 BCE. So the Magi are not kings but rather learned holy men of a different religious tradition whose practice included astronomy.
Early on, the story from Matthew got interpreted through the lens of texts like Psalm 72:10-11, “The kings of the West and the islands will pay tribute to him. The kings of Arabia and Ethiopia will offer him gifts. All kings will bow down before him and all nations will serve him.” It makes sense that interpreters would associate the magi with these prophecies in the Hebrew Scriptures.
A key theme in the Gospel according to Matthew is that God’s saving love and grace is not just for one tribe but is extended to all people. The story of the magi sets this theme in stark relief. These foreigners from a different religious tradition traverse from afar to seek out Jesus and to shower him with gifts. It was they who had keen enough knowledge to notice what was, for them, a signal of the birth of a great king. Adherents of the Zoroastrian tradition looked for a future saviour figure who would bring light and righteousness to the world, like the Jewish and Christian concept of the Messiah. If the magi were Zoroastrian priests, this shared concept of a coming saviour could explain their interest in Jesus’ birth. They demonstrate hope that this child would bring goodness and justice and joy to the world—no matter where or from whom he came.
The magi come to the holy family not as conquering kings—not asking for anything, not threatening anything, not forcing anything, but rather they come in humility, kneeling before the child, and offering their best as a blessing. We won’t ever know exactly why the however-many magi made their journey, but what a story!
Our stories—family, personal and faith—shape us and give us a sense of identity and belonging. It is how we remember and tell our stories that is important.
One of the beautiful things about our Christian tradition is that generally speaking we have been trained to listen to many interpretations of the same story, to study the context in which the scripture was written, to question the texts, to put ourselves inside the text to listen for new insight, to study and pay attention to new discoveries from archaeology and other sciences that impact our understanding of the story.
This means that over the years, we might shift or edit our understanding of different stories in the Bible. This doesn’t mean that the truth of the story changes, but rather that the perception of that truth deepens and grows. Further, listening to others’ insights into the stories, based on lived experience, culture, and context also deepens our capacity to receive more of what the story has to teach us.
The story of magi reminds us that part of the richness of our spiritual tradition comes from the engagement and witness of those outside our own spiritual tradition. Among our spiritual ancestors are likely Persian (modern day Iranian) Zoroastrian priests. They model for us what it means to truly seek God’s saving grace. They are seekers, journeyers, paying attention to signs and whispers in their dreams, studying the subtle movements of life and of creation to remain focused on the source of hope and of life. They journeyed in a time of great danger and political scheming and oppression. Yet they found what they sought. They found whom they sought and were filled with overwhelming joy.
The story we tell is not the story of magi who were or wanted to be kings, but rather of magi who had the opportunity to choose what kind of king they would bow down to. Friends, what kind of king do you/will you bow down to?
Every Blessing.
Rev Mark