Matthew 2:1-12 Christ Revealed to the Nations

Ever wonder what happened to the Magi? You know, those guys that traveled hundreds of miles, on foot, or maybe on camel, we don’t really know. But those non-Christians, probably not Jewish, religious leaders who by divine inspiration, possibly through the reading of the stars, knew more about what was going on a quarter of the way around the globe than the people who had something so miraculous happen in their own town? What happened to them!?

Isn’t that the case so often in life? We never get to know as what Paul Harvey used to say “The rest of the story.” What did they go on to do? Who did they tell about what they bore witness to? I find it hard to believe they would make such a treacherous journey, carrying expensive gifts, arrive at their destination safely, say “Hey look, the Messiah has been born. We brought these for you.” Then just turn around, go home and never speak of it again.

And yet… that’s what we got. We don’t get to know the rest of the story. It’s kind of like when someone does something really horrible at work and you want o know what sort of punishment they are given, or if anything even happened to them at all, and yet… it’s none of your business. But Enquiring minds want to know…

I have no idea why I started having 1980’s and 90’s flashbacks as I read this passage but I felt the need to just roll with it. I try to question God as little as possible anymore and just try to trust that there is a method to what may seem like madness.

It’s hard to mind your own business. My niece started working at a flower shop doing deliveries. She was telling me about her job one day. On the first Tuesday of every month she delivers flowers to a woman who gets very angry about the flowers. My response is of course curiosity and I ask her “Why?” assuming that since she is telling me this story she has more information. Nope. She’s never asked.

How can you tell me such a story and not ask why this woman is upset? Are they from an ex-boyfriend? An enemy? Who would give flowers every single month to someone who so obviously doesn’t want the flowers? Some lingering order placed and paid for in advance for years to come from someone who’s dead?

I have a wild imagination in case you can’t tell. But seriously? Why?

Isn’t that always the question? Why? Human beings are such inquisitive little creatures. Anyone ever spend time with a small child? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why is the sky blue? Why is the sun so bright? Why do you have that hair growing out of your chin?

Why did they magi come? Where did they go? Where were they even from? Do you have any idea how vast and vague the word “East” or even “from the Orient” is? Asia is huge and east is well… a direction not a distance. For a group of people so intimately connected with God so much so that they received information in a dream to avoid being persecuted, who are they? Where do they go? What is the rest of the story?

But alas, we don’t get to find out. It’s none of our business apparently, like why this unknown woman keeps getting flowers.

Here’s where I land. God wants us to be inquisitive. God wants us to ask questions. God wants us to seek. God wants us to follow God’s guidance not our own. My favorite Proverb 3:5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding.

As we approach the same destination, God, we also draw closer to one another. If we’re all going to the same place,  it’s like being willfully drawn into a black hole, God is pulling us together. The 3, 12, or however many wise men, kings, magi, came from far to come together in Christ.

There are many many topics of debate in this story. TO debate them would be to miss the point of it. God summons foreigners, strangers, people with nothing in coming together. God is what unites us through Christ.

What is it that stands out in this story? What is it that you remember about it? What is the focus?

The Star? The gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh? Herod?

The lights, the presents, the shopping, the travel? The same things. These are the same things that we argue about in this story. The very things that distract us from enjoying Christmas to its fullest. The things that distract us from the purpose, the only thing that matters.

The Greek word proskynesis appears again and again in this story. It is what is supposed to stand out and yet we get lost in so many other things. We get lost in the tangible. We get lost in the details and we miss the point.

Proskynesis, the thing we forget is “veneration in the form of falling on one’s face that according to Greek understanding is also befitting superior persons, especially kings.” Let me say that again in English which is easier to understand. We forget that we are here to pay homage. To bow down and worship. We forget that the whole point of this journey we call life is to fall down on our face and worship the Lord our God.

Isn’t it comforting to know that part of our primary purpose is to fall on our face? I feel like I’ve mastered an important life skill now.

The point of this life isn’t to amass gifts. Although, on a side note I love that the point of the gifts the magi bring is that they are ridiculously expensive and completely inappropriate for a baby. As a child, there’s not much worse than getting underwear and socks for Christmas as a child. Practical gifts aren’t appreciated until you’re an adult and even then, it better be something awesome like a new vacuum cleaner that doesn’t get hair wrapped around the sweeping blade or some non-stick cookware.

The point of life isn’t to know what happens to everyone else at their end of their story. We don’t always get to know how others are punished or what the consequences to their actions are.

The point of life is to fall flat on our faces and pay homage to God for what we do have. To be willing to travel any distance if that is what God asks of us. To trust that wherever we are going , it will draw us close together even if it seems further away, so long as we are trusting in God as our compass.

That’s right, you get a compass not a map. You get a direction to go in but you don’t get to know what lies on the journey ahead. They’ll be clues along the way, like gifts that don’t make a lot of sense or are impractical at the time. But, the one thing we do know for certain is that our final destination is worth every step we take, every mountain we climb, every battle we fight, every gift we deliver to someone else.

Just don’t get wrapped up in the process and forget why we’re making this journey. We live to pay homage to our God. That’s it. There’s always going to be a whole lot of information we don’t know. The only way to get to know the rest of the story is proskynesis. Fall on your face.

May, the Lord bless you and keep you;
May the Lord make his face to shine upon you
And be gracious to you;
May the Lord lift up his countenance upon you
And give you peace