We Three Kings

Scripture: Epiphany of the Lord, A.D. 2015 B

Sermon:

In the Name of the Father and of the +Son and of the Holy Spirit. AMEN.

Few stories from the Bible have so captured the Christian imagination as the Adoration of the Magi. Details in Matthew’s Gospel are scarce: Magi arise from the East, led to Jerusalem by a star, in order to pay homage to the newborn King of the Jews. The chief priests and scribes guide the Magi to Bethlehem of Judea, where they find the Holy Family and worship the Christchild, offering to Him their famous gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. Then, warned by an angel of Herod’s treachery, they return to their homes by a different road.

Who were these Magi, and whence did they hail? What was this remarkable star that guided them? What is the significance of their gifts for us today? Matthew is silent on all these accounts, and so Christians traditionally have looked to another biblical author for answers—namely, the great prophet of Christmas, whose book is often called the Fifth Gospel, Isaiah.

“Your light has come!” prophesies Isaiah from of old. “Nations shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your dawn … the wealth of the nations shall come to you. A multitude of camels shall cover you, the young camels of Midian and Ephah; all those from Sheba shall come. They shall bring gold and frankincense, and shall proclaim the praise of the Lord.”

This does indeed sound like our Magi, and if so then Isaiah does fill out the story a bit. These wise men are kings, Isaiah writes, and they come bearing their wealth upon camels from the lands of Midian, Ephah, and Sheba. Three kings from three lands, riding upon camels: that ought to sound familiar to anyone with a Nativity scene. In fairness, however, the word “king” might be a bit lofty for the rulers of Midian, Ephah, and Sheba. “Arabic chieftains” might be a better term. All of them lived within 12 days’ journey from Bethlehem.

Yet these are important peoples nonetheless. Midian, Ephah, and Sheba are all nations descended from Abraham, and thus cousins of Israel. They held the ancient prophecy of Balaam, that a star would arise in Israel and a great ruler from Judea. We may recall from Sunday school that the Queen of Sheba visited King Solomon and reverenced his God-given wisdom a thousand years before the birth of Jesus. And according to classical historians, Sheba held a monopoly on frankincense. Psalm 72 also seems to speak of the Magi, calling them kings of Sheba and Tarshish—Tarshish here interpreted by the Church Fathers as the Arabian Sea.

So the Magi are reminders of God’s promises throughout the Old Testament: the promise that Abraham would be a great nation, the promise of a Star arising from Israel, the promise of holy wisdom given unto Solomon, and the promises of Isaiah and the Psalmist that the Messiah would be born for all the peoples of the earth. As for the nature of that Star, well—despite modern efforts to peg it to some celestial phenomenon, the Church Fathers rather unanimously declare that Matthew is clearly describing not something natural but a miraculous light given forth by an angel. That’s why a lot of Nativity scenes seem to confuse Matthew’s Star with Luke’s Christmas angels: the Star itself was understood to have been an angel.

More than this, however, the Magi’s stargazing—for indeed, “Magi” broadly refers to astrologers—has long indicated to Christians that the wonders of Nature, and even the slivers of truth present in pagan religion, point us ultimately to Christ. He is the Messiah of Israel, to be sure, but He is also the Savior promised to all nations and hinted at by the poets and prophets and sybils of the Gentiles.

In art, one of the Magi is usually portrayed as having dark skin. That’s because Midianites, such as Moses’ wife Zipporah, were known to be of swarthier complexion. But over time the appearance of the Magi grew in symbolism. They came to represent the three sons of Noah—Shem, Ham, and Japheth—who populated the three known continents of the ancient world: the Asiatic Middle East, Africa, and Europe. The Magi thus came to symbolize all peoples of the earth. Further yet, artists began to depict the Magi as being three different ages—youth, middle age, and seniority—to represent that we come to Christ in all stages of life.

We come now to those famous gifts of the Magi, gold, frankincense, and myrrh. Gold, then as now, was considered the perfect metal: beautiful, incorruptible, and rare. It was a gift fit for a king, and it prophesies Jesus’ royalty as the Son of David and King of Kings. Frankincense was burned by Jews and pagans alike exclusively for the worship of deity. Frankincense burned night and day in the Jerusalem Temple, and the Psalmist sings that our prayers rise before God as incense. It is a gift reserved only for God, and in worshipping Jesus and giving to Him this frankincense, the Magi proclaim Him as Immanuel, God-With-Us.

Finally we come to the most expensive and lavish of all the gifts, myrrh. Myrrh, like frankincense, derives from the sap of a rare tree. Unlike frankincense, myrrh is used as an expensive perfume, especially in funerary rites. Romans would throw myrrh on funeral pyres to cover the smell of burning flesh. Israelites would dissolve it in oil to anoint corpses for burial. Myrrh is a prophecy of Jesus’ suffering and death. It is Christmas already pointing to Good Friday.

So the Magi represent the promises given to the Jewish people of the Old Testament and to the universal Church of the New. They represent every ethnicity and stage of life. They represent science and religion pointing to Jesus. And they represent our Lord’s threefold sovereignty as our King, our God, and our Sacrifice. Most importantly, however, they represent us: called out from the nations, led by both reason and wonders, adopted into the promises given unto Israel. We, all of us, by the grace of God, have observed His Star at its rising. And we have come to worship Him.

In the Name of the Father and of the +Son and of the Holy Spirit. AMEN.