The Gifts of the Magi (Matthew 2:10-12)

On the 12^th day of Christmas my true love gave to me… 12 drummers drumming, 11 pipers piping, 10 lords a-leaping, 9 ladies dancing, 8 maids a-milking, 7 swans a-swimming, 6 geese a-laying, 5 gold rings, 4 calling birds, 3 French hens, 2 turtle doves, and a partridge in a pear tree…

Actually, I’m still waiting… my true love hasn’t given me any of those things, and, in case you didn’t know, today is the 12^th day of Christmas.  December 25^th is the first day of Christmas, today is the 12^th day of Christmas, and tomorrow… tomorrow is Epiphany, a day that is sometimes called the Day of the Three Kings.  It’s the day that the church has set aside to remember the arrival of the magi, and the gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh which they presented to Jesus not long after his birth.

What do we know about these magi? 

Not much, really.  To start, they were probably not kings.  At least, Matthew never says they were kings, and Matthew is the only book of the Bible in which they are mentioned.  If they were kings, I think Matthew would have said so.

And there may or may not have been three of them.  Again, Matthew doesn’t say how many there were, only that they brought three gifts.  We just assume that there was one gift per magus.

Magus, by the way, is the singular form of the plural word magi. And since the magi were not kings, what were they?  Well, the word magi comes from the Greek word that means “magician.”  Matthew also portrays them as astrologers, since they were guided by a star. 

Magi were also considered priests in a number of ancient near Eastern religions, such as Zoroastrianism, a religion that had an influence on Christianity, and vice versa.  These religions were prevalent in places like Arabia and Persia, although the traditional homeland of the magi – the “Orient” – is probably not where they came from. 

Nevertheless, they were from a different land, and practiced a different religion.  When they arrived in Jerusalem, one look was all it took to realize that “they weren’t from around here.”  Their dress was different, and  they most certainly talked with an accent. 

Such things were not all that unusual in Jerusalem.  Jerusalem was, after all, a big city, with visitors coming from all over the world.  But we know that, even today in big cities, prejudice still exists.  And if they were to go to the temple, they certainly would not have been welcome. 

The high priests guarded the temple, which had courtyards within courtyards and chambers within chambers, and gentiles and foreigners were limited to the outermost courtyards.  This is because of ancient scriptures like Deuteronomy 23, which forbid foreigners from entering the temple. 

Of course, other scriptures, like Isaiah 56, explicitly welcome foreigners into the temple; but as we know, people who live in fear will often search for scriptures that reinforce their own prejudices, while ignoring scriptures that speak of God’s welcome for all, scriptures like Isaiah 56 which states: “I will bring the foreigners to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer… for my house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples.”

For the magi, just walking through Jerusalem must have been an experience, not to mention the little town of Bethlehem where, I would guess, foreign visitors were not as common.  What kind of a reception did these magi get? 

Clearly they must have been the odd men out.  I’m thinking of Lightning McQueen arriving in Radiator Springs, a town where no one knows that he’s famous; they just laugh at his big city ways. 

I’m also thinking of the Prancing Elites, the drag queen dancing group that was invited by a small Alabama town to participate in their annual Christmas parade a few weeks ago; the parade organizers didn’t realize who they were inviting, and the Prancing Elites – who really stood out in that small southern town – received many stares as they danced their way down the parade route.

The Magi stood out in Jerusalem, and even more so in Bethlehem.  I don’t know if the magi tried to go to the temple, or even if they had any interest in the temple.  The star that guided them led them first to Herod, and then to Jesus.  The star seemed to ignore the temple completely.  Perhaps the star knew that the temple, the religious institution, would not welcome these foreigners… but Jesus would.

And this actually seems to be the point Matthew is trying to make.  Matthew appears to have looked around at his fellow followers of the faith, and saw that there were too many who followed their own fears and prejudices (using Deuteronomy 23 to back up those fears and prejudices) and not enough who followed Isaiah 56 call for welcome and inclusion. 

Matthew is not the only one with this opinion.  Luke wrote both the book that bears his name as well as the book of Acts, and in the book of Acts, there are a number of incidents in which the inclusion of gentiles, foreigners, and even those who are sexually different in the church is called into question; and each time in Acts, the argument for inclusion wins. 

In Acts 15, for example, there is a debate over whether those who seek to follow the way of Jesus needed to be circumcised.  In other words, did they need to become Jews in order to follow Jesus?  Was the way of Jesus, and the healing, wholeness and salvation of Jesus, limited to those who were a part of Israel?

The concluding statement there is that “God makes no distinction.”  In fact, those who “place a burden on the shoulders of these [non-Jewish] disciples” by requiring them to become like them are criticized and condemned.  What they were doing was nothing less than using their own fears and prejudices to keep people who were not like them from joining the church… and using scriptures like Deuteronomy 23 to justify their actions.

And then there are the writings of the Apostle Paul.  The book of Romans, in particular, seems to be all about different groups of people accepting one another.  The first eight chapters are about healing the divisions between Jews and Gentiles.  The next three chapters are about healing the divisions between Jews and Christians.  And the last four chapters are about healing the divisions between Christian Jews and Christian Gentiles… and all this seems to lead up to Paul’s command in chapter 15, verse 7, to “welcome one another, just as Christ welcomes you, for the glory of God.”

It’s all about being followers of Jesus who live out the radical hospitality and welcome of Isaiah 56.

When I was in northern California, the congregation I was a part of lived out the teachings of Isaiah 56.  I remember the story of one congregation member – Iris Hatanaka was her name – who, before she died, told me of her time in an internment camp, where the American government sent all of its Japanese citizens during World War II.  When they were released and allowed to return to their homes, the American people, in general, were not very welcoming of these people who – though they were American citizens – were identified with the enemy.  Iris told me that she didn’t find a welcome anywhere, until the day she walked in to that little Disciples of Christ congregation in Sutter County.

Unfortunately, that little congregation is no longer in existence, a fact that is quite painful to me.  In its place is a congregation that is no longer affiliated with the Disciples of Christ, a congregation that chooses verses like those in Deuteronomy 23 to reinforce its own prejudices and fears. 

Bixby Knolls Christian Church has long lived out the call to welcome one another, to extend grace and hospitality to all.  As a result we have become one of the most diverse congregations in the country.  That sounds like an exaggeration, but it’s not. 

I think we sometimes take this diversity for granted.  I know I have.  To counter this, I have already talked to a few of you about sharing your stories, particularly on days like Pentecost and World Communion Sunday.  Sure, the magi with their exotic dress, strange ways, and mysterious place of origin are fascinating, but so are the stories that many of you have, the lives you’ve lived and the places you’ve come from. 

We have geographic diversity, racial diversity, sexual diversity, language diversity, and generational diversity.  This is a rare thing among congregations, even in the 21^st century!  I want to celebrate that every way I can, and if you have any ideas on how we can celebrate, please share them with me.

I know one way we can celebrate our diversity, our radical welcome and hospitality, and the fact that we are an Isaiah 56 people, is to have as large a group as possible attend next week’s regional Martin Luther King, Jr. celebration.  The regional church does this the week before the MLK holiday, I’m guessing because a number of our youth and young adults are away attending Jr. High JANboree over the MLK weekend. 

Anyway, this event takes place next Sunday at 4pm, at First Christian Church in Garden Grove.  I’ve heard from people in other congregations of our region who are sad that so many congregations in this day and age are still segregated by race.  It would be an amazing demonstration of hope to them if we could have a large, racially diverse group from a single congregation – Bixby Knolls Christian Church – attend next Sunday afternoon.

Please consider attending.  There is even a special event for youth before the main worship celebration.  How many do you think we can get there?  Please make plans, right now; mark it in your calendar.  Let’s witness to the world that God’s house can and should be a house of prayer for all peoples.

Our work is not done.  In October we reaffirmed our identity as a congregation that follows Isaiah 56 and the radical welcome of the New Testament when we voted to identity ourselves as Open and Affirming.  But let’s be honest:  we’re still figuring things out.  In fact, we’ll always be figuring things out.  The work is never done. 

The work of welcoming the world to God’s presence wasn’t finished with Isaiah.  It wasn’t finished with Matthew or Luke.  It wasn’t finished with Paul or the early church.  Over and over again, the writers of scripture had to re-present this identity, this vision, and place it once again before the church.

The work of combating racism, sexism, nationalism, age-ism, and overcoming prejudice is never done.  We are called to continue working on extending and expanding the welcome… understanding what that means… making mistakes… repenting… and moving toward being who we want to be, and who God calls us to be.

The gifts that the magi brought to Jesus were gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.  But they also brought another gift.  They brought the gift of themselves, with all their different-ness.  This is the same gift that we bring to Jesus today.