Welcoming the Outsider

Matthew 2:1-12

Introduction

You may think that Christmas is over but it is not. As the song says, there are twelve days of Christmas, starting on December 25 and ending on January 6. So Merry Christmas!

When I think of Christmas, I often think of nativity sets. Each of us might be drawn to different figures of the nativity. But as we look at them, we need to remember that it probably did not look exactly that way. For example, it is very unlikely that the shepherds and the wise men were there at the same time. There are good reasons to believe that the wise men didn’t show up until well after the actual birth. And just to shake things up a bit more, Matthew doesn’t actually say that there were three of them, nor does he say that they were kings. I realize that this ruins the carol “We Three Kings” for you. Still, the wise men are an important part of the story and I want to take some time to think about them and then what their appearance in this story means for them.

The Magi

So who were these mysterious visitors that came to see the holy infant? As I said, Matthew doesn’t call them kings, even though there would be something beautiful about three kings coming to worship the baby king.

Wise men is a better way of thinking of them but the actual word that is used is magi. The original magi were the priestly class of an ancient Persian religion. These magi may have been Persians but by this time magi had a wider meaning. Any wise man could be called a magi, even if they were not connected to that religion. Many scholars think that these magi or wise men came from Babylon. While we cannot know that for certain, it would make sense as there was still a large Jewish population in Babylon, and these magi were looking for the king of the Jews.

What we do know, based on ancient magi and wise men and based on Matthew’s description, is that they were likely astrologers. Does that concern you? Try not to think so much of Jeane Dixon or astrological advice in newspapers. At that time, there was no strong division between astronomy and astrology. A person like today’s self-proclaimed astrologists would not have sought the help of King Herod. These wise men would have thought of themselves as more scientist than psychic. Still, there probably were practices by them that would make us uncomfortable.

There is something else that we know about these magi. They were gentiles, that is non-Jews. This is very interesting, especially as we compare the Gospels of Matthew and Luke. Luke was a gentile and his Gospel is especially interested in Samaritans and gentiles. Matthew was Jewish and his Gospel is the most Jewish of the four Gospels. And yet in the birth stories, Luke has the Jewish shepherds and Matthew has the gentile magi.

Not only that, but when we go back a chapter in Matthew’s Gospel, we get his genealogy of Jesus. Normally a genealogy would only include the fathers, because that is how the line passed. But Matthew mentions four women in his genealogy. That alone is remarkable. But when we look closer at these women, we also notice that all four of these women were gentiles. That seems strange to include, especially when Matthew is very interested in the Jewishness of Jesus.

Part of what Matthew is trying to do is to demonstrate that it would be through Jesus that the Old Testament prophecies of the welcoming of the gentiles would be fulfilled. Many of the promises of the Old Testament were about the welcoming of the outsider, something that made insiders very uncomfortable. But this would be part of what the Jewish messiah would do.

Notice that the magi specify that they are looking for the king of the Jews. As gentiles, that would seem to highlight that they were outsiders looking in. In fact, the only ones who refer to Jesus as king of the Jews are gentiles. We next find this phrase at Jesus’ trial and execution, when he is referred to as king of the Jews by Pontius Pilate and the Roman soldiers. They even put a sign on the cross in multiple languages that Jesus was king of the Jews. Although the title “king of the Jews” sounds very Jewish, it is actually a call to the gentiles, to the outsiders, to decide how they will respond.

The Outsiders

While I love to dig into the original context of these biblical passages, it is also very important for us to determine the application for our lives. I doubt that the visit of the magi was meant to just liven up our nativity sets. There is something important here.

The wise men or magi represent the outsider. The Jewish people had built barriers to keep themselves separate from the gentiles. There were clear distinctions between who was in and who was out. There were prophecies that the outsiders would be welcomed but no one knew what that would look like.

What we read about in Matthew with the star leading the magi, it is obvious that God wanted them there and this was not about accidentally stumbling on Jesus. It was time to welcome outsiders.

There is a danger that we could look at the insider language of the Jews and be overly critical. The truth is that Christians struggle just as much. The book of Acts chronicles the church’s ongoing struggle to open itself up to the outsider. Sadly, this is something that was not overcome in the first century.

For two thousand years, Christians have attempted to put up walls to keep certain kinds of people out. My question to you is, who are the gentiles today? I’m not referring to non-Christians, although it could include that. Are there people who, if they sat down beside you in church, would make you feel uncomfortable? Is there anyone that you would give a side ways look, wondering why they were here? Are there people that we have pushed to the outside to try and protect our identity as insiders?

What are the differences that put someone on the outside? Is it an ethnic group, religious beliefs, being LGBTQ, being homeless, disability? 

The story of the magi is a reminder that there are no “wrong kind of people” to come and worship Jesus. This is something followed Jesus through his life. He was constantly being criticized by the “right kind of people” for spending so much time with the “wrong kind of people.”

I have been criticized for numerous things as a pastor over the years. The most encouraging criticism I ever received was that I was putting too much emphasis on the poor and people with disabilities. Although it was meant as an insult, I took it as a complement. 

Conclusion

The visit of the wise men to the infant Jesus has become a beloved part of our Christmas story. We often focus on the gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. But what if the story was not just about what the wise men gave to Jesus but about what Jesus gave to the wise men. This story is not just about great men recognizing the greatness of Jesus. This story is about outsiders being welcomed into the presence of Jesus. This story is also a challenge to the church for us to welcome outsiders into the presence of Jesus. We dare not let our prejudices or desire for comfort to get in the way of that mission.