Always look out for the stargazers in life.
They’re the type of people who keep their chins up toward a sunset, soaking in more than just Vitamin D.
At least the Magi did.
They believed in fire from the gods.
Whatever you call them—wise men, sorcerers, kings—they kept their eyes fixed on the sky. Part of a priestly caste, they tracked the stars as astronomers, pried out esoteric interpretations as astrologers, and counseled kings on everything from judicial appointments to meanings of dreams.
Learned men, they were initiated in the rites, rituals, and protocols of their religion. Some scholars speculate that the ones who bowed before Jesus could have trekked from as far as Persia and were followers of Zoroastrianism, built on a dualism between good and evil. (I’ll run with that theory for the sake of today’s story.)
In their homeland, kings considered them trusted advisors. Magi were known to travel from court to court, moving cross-country on the ancient version of a lecture circuit. It wasn’t uncommon for them to caravan to foreign lands and pay homage to newly-crowned sovereigns.
But it’s something of scandal that the Kingmakers poked their noses into Jerusalem. Although Magi carried gravitas, they also held a reputation for earning their keep in the occult. The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob expressly forbids such practices, having made it plain on stone tablets way back when.
Yet there they stood before Herod, likely way more than three in number and accompanied by some type of military guard who protected them throughout the journey.
One of them must have spoken up for the rest, saying:
“Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.”
Matthew 2:2
The pagans were repeating Messianic prophecy back to the covenant people.
This didn’t go over well with Herod, and the word spread throughout Jerusalem. From the moment the Magi entered, people would have made them the talk of the town.
Herod called an emergency meeting with the chief priests and scribes, the ones who should have seen this coming in the first place. Caught with their proverbial scrolls down, the scribes did what anyone does when the boss brings up something that escapes their watch: they scrambled.
Matthew doesn’t tell us what it was like, but I can imagine a cluster of scribes rushing to their archives, sleuthing through the work of the prophets, their shaking hands running along the pages in an attempt to nail down the particulars.
“When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him; and assembling all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born. They told him, ‘In Bethlehem of Judea, for so it is written by the prophet:
matthew 2:3-6
‘And you, O Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,
are by no means least among the rulers of Judah;
for from you shall come a ruler
who will shepherd my people Israel.’
They told him, ‘In Bethlehem of Judea, for so it is written by the prophet:
‘And you, O Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,
are by no means least among the rulers of Judah;
for from you shall come a ruler
who will shepherd my people Israel.’”
Nice recovery, fellas.
If they couldn’t be first to recognize the Gospel in the stars like the Magi, they’d certainly play the role of objective third party confirming the facts.
Herod didn’t take the news of another king well, even if it was the King of Kings. So he played the Magi for fools, feigned piety, and asked them to pass along the proverbial GPS coordinates once they reached the King of the Jews.
The mystery isn’t in how the story ends. The Magi made it to Bethlehem, payed joyful homage to Jesus, and finessed their way out of the region after God warned them in a dream that Herod was a snake in the grass.
“When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy. And going into the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother, and they fell down and worshiped him. Then, opening their treasures, they offered him gifts, gold and frankincense and myrrh.”
Matthew 2:10-11
The mystery is in the middle act (and the epilogue too).
How did these Magi recognize the significance of the star in the first place?
Remember Daniel? He was the head of a similar coterie of Magi in Babylon, and it’s possible he preserved a messianic awareness among the men who might have been the forbearers to the Magi who made the trip.
Daniel read from the prophet Jeremiah while he was in exile, so it’s not out of the realm of possibility.
Regardless, it’s remarkable the Magi put one foot in front of the other and moved on the motion of the star. They likely would have needed royal sponsorship, a contingent of troops for the journey, and the pluckiness to keep after it.
I wonder what that conversation was like with the king they were serving at the time. Maybe it was like the story of Nehemiah, where Artaxerxes I grants him passage, protection, and royal cash.
Let’s also not forget the implications of what they were into, i.e. the occult. Normally, they’d be after fire from the gods, and dabbling in the demonic leads to nowhere but torment.
Yet God drew them to the Jerusalem-Bethlehem corridor, a sweeping act of grace that signaled His redemption of Jew and Gentile alike. And what’s notable is that they seemed to know there was a King of the Jews, which leads me to think they had an expectation and weren’t totally blind to the ramifications.
This was not a backdoor approval of the occult. Not a chance. Instead, the Holy Spirit pulled them out of their sacred texts (or led them into the Old Testament scriptures) and into the presence of the Word made flesh.
Rare is humility in the presence of powerful idea, where a man puts into practice the declaration, “I’ll follow the evidence wherever it leads.” Still rarer is submission to the Messiah behind it all. The Magi showed both.
Their story gives me great pleasure that God vectored them into Bethlehem. Before making their journey, they were cool customers in the school of counterfeit “spirituality,” on their way to a ruinous end. Yet they nurtured a hunger to find the truth. So they got lost underneath a star. You know where that ended up.
I’m infinitely curious about the personalities of these Magi.
Nothing is certain since Scripture doesn’t document the details. I won’t add to the Holy Book, as that’s a recipe with eternal consequences.
So I’ll ask a series of unanswered questions and leave them for eternity.
Of the Magi, was there a ringleader, an old salt who dug into the the words of the prophets when the star appeared? Did he rustle up the rest of the gang and say, “This is it, boys!” (Not sure why I’m making him sound like the Persian version of Buffalo Bill.)
Was there a novice Magi who hoped to feel the fire from the gods and tagged along? Was he forever changed and realized that there was only one God?
Was there a skeptic who didn’t want or think the prophecy to be true, yet stayed the course, only to be overjoyed when he was in the presence of Christ?
Was there a manipulator who thought he could gain more credibility by opposing the journey but following along so he could document their failures, thus earning himself more clout? Was he shocked off his schemes when it all came together?
Again, these are just questions, not teaching. All we have to go on is the Bible and any surrounding context that history can provide as a backdrop to understanding the times.
When they arrived back to their homeland, did they create records of their travels?
Did they believe what they experienced or did it fade away in the pulses of court life?
Were they changed forever and put away the old practices?
Most of all, did any of the originals survive long enough to hear any trace of Jesus’ ministry, death, and resurrection? That would have been pushing the timeline since Jesus resurrection was decades later and life expectancy wasn’t as long.
I so want to know what they thought of their encounter with Christ, and I sincerely hope they’re in heaven.
Could you imagine sitting at their feet and listening to their account, how they changed and what they did after arriving home?
Maybe they kept their experiences hidden, as secret societies often do. Or maybe they followed the pattern of the gentile man in Gergesa who was delivered from a legion of demons and spread the good news far and wide.
The speculation is endless, so I’ll put the cap on it and once again say that you go by Scripture alone.
But if God the Father permits story time in heaven or keeps an archive that in the spirit of John 21:25, I want some face time with the Magi if they made it.
I’m not kidding. Everything that’s needed for life and godliness is contained in Scripture. Obviously eternal life with Christ is more than enough, so I’m not dictating what should happen there.
But don’t you get goosebumps when you read the passage below?
Now there are also many other things that Jesus did. Were every one of them to be written, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written.
John 21:25
If you’re a believer, you’re going to shake off your mortal body one day and head into eternal life’s after hours.
And if there’s an opportunity for a Q&A session with historical figures inside and outside the Bible, I’ve got a lot of people to bother.
I’d like a chat with one of the Magi, to hear how he went from craving fire from the gods to seeing that there was only One who hung the sky above.
Above all else, these mysterious figures are living proof that belief in Christ isn’t solely predicated on proximity.
So keep your head on swivel, friend. And tonight, put your nose into Isaiah 60:1-6, then take a peek at stars.
If the Magi can get pulled along in an unexpected adventure, then imagine how you can get caught up in the cause for God.
“Arise, shine, for your light has come,
and the glory of the Lord rises upon you.
See, darkness covers the earth
and thick darkness is over the peoples,
but the Lord rises upon you
and his glory appears over you.
Nations will come to your light,
and kings to the brightness of your dawn.Lift up your eyes and look about you:
Isaiah 60:1-6
All assemble and come to you;
your sons come from afar,
and your daughters are carried on the hip.
Then you will look and be radiant,
your heart will throb and swell with joy;
the wealth on the seas will be brought to you,
to you the riches of the nations will come.
Herds of camels will cover your land,
young camels of Midian and Ephah.
And all from Sheba will come,
bearing gold and incense
and proclaiming the praise of the Lord.”
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Kevin Cochrane is the creator of Replenish, the site to resupply your faith with overlooked insights from Scripture-based stories. Share your thoughts by commenting below or dropping a line to kevin@replenishstories.com.
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