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What
did the Wise Men See? Andrew Katay
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Andrew
Katay works at St Barnabas' Broadway in inner city
Sydney. |
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Happy
families |
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You can
imagine the scene, can't you. Perhaps it's some time
after the child was born, weeks or even months; after
all, in a gruesome imitation of Pharaoh centuries
beforehand, also at the birth of a leader of God's
people, Herod later ordered all babies under 2 years old
to be killed. But perhaps it's his actual birthday, as
our hymns and carols imply. His mother reclines,
exhausted from her ordeal, with the little boy contented,
feeding. |
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It's night now, with
stars shining brightly in the dark sky. Suddenly, even
frighteningly, there is a bang on the door, and outside
are some men, obviously foreigners, exotic and
foreboding. They ask to come in, and what could she do?
She could hardly turn them away, hospitality was so
important, and to give them the flick would be so rude,
so shameful; besides they were obviously completely full
of joy and delight. She had had visitors aplenty that
day, bringing their congratulations and gifts, but it was
late and they were unknown. |
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But their Persian
faces and strange clothes were the least surprising of
all the events that night. As they came in and took their
overgarments off, they paid no attention to the offer of
food and drink, but were transfixed by her boy. They just
looked at him, and then dropped to their knees, and then
on their faces, prostrated, doing obeisance, to the
little kid, as his mother looked on mystified. And to top
it off, they opened boxes, full of gold and wonderfully
smelling ointments, obviously expensive, and had placed
them before him, before this boy, a mere baby. |
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Such is the scenario
that Matt chapter 2 presents us with. And in some ways,
it's not too far from what might happen at any other
birth of any other child. When my son, Miles was born, we
had heaps of visitors, from the rushing grandparents and
aunts to the friends and acquaintances, most of them
bringing gifts and most of them very happy for us. Change
the buildings and the technology, and in many ways the
stories are not too dissimilar. With one major exception
- the guests of which we read in Matt 2 pay homage to
that child. |
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Paying Homage |
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And paying homage is
the point of the story - you see that Matthew uses the
word 3 times, to make it perfectly clear. The wise men,
magi, most likely astrologers or sorcerers or magicians,
(it's where we get our word from), come to Jerusalem in
response to a remarkable zodiacal occurrence, and in v. 2
indicate that paying homage is the purpose of their
visit. "Where is the child who has been born king of
the Jews, for we observed his star at its rising, and
have come to pay him homage." Similarly, when the
brutal and cunning King Herod hears of this, and realises
the potential threat to his dictatorship, he does what he
can to find out the exact details of this king's birth -
the where from the complicitous chief priests and the
scribes of the people, and the when from the wise men,
after which he sends them on their way with instructions,
v. 8: "Go and search diligently for the child; and
when you have found him, bring me word so that I may also
go and pay him homage." And then finally after
taking the short walk to Bethlehem, 8 km south of
Jerusalem and locating this one for whom they have
searched, v. 11 they "Kneel down and pay him
homage". The word most often means in the Bible
worship of God, and although it can mean simply the
homage offered to a king, since kings and emperors often
enough saw themselves as gods, in the end there is not
much difference. These wise men, perhaps with one gift
each so that there are three of them, worship the baby
before them. |
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Now, as wonderful as
the birth of my son was, and I wouldn't want you to
underestimate that, no one actually got down on their
knees and then face and worshipped him, and had anyone
attempted to do so, I would have interrupted in most
likely a violent manner. Why? Because to worship other
than God is false worship, idolatry, a blasphemous insult
to God. Which is precisely why Dr Barbara Thiering wrote
in the Sydney Morning Herald (20/12/97): |
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"If this
Christmas I were in one of those glorious Gothic
churches, I might well stand with the congregation and
say, 'I believe in God the Father Almighty, maker of
heaven and earth' … when however, the congregation
came to the next words, 'And in Jesus Christ his only Son
our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of
the Virgin Mary', I would perform an act of religion. I
would quietly leave by the side door, not wanting to
worship an idol. Jesus, a man who lived in Israel 2000
years ago, was someone whom I admire very much, for what
he did politically. But I will not worship a human
being". |
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Idolatry? |
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The issues here are
clearly delineated, then wrongly pursued. As we have sung
hymns of praise to Jesus, as in just a moment we pray to
and through and in the name of Jesus, as we in our own
context kneel down and pay him homage just as those
strange men so many years ago did, are we in fact
committing an act of idolatry, putting a mere human being
in the place of God? For if that child was not and is not
God come amongst us, God in human flesh, then that is
exactly what we are doing. |
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Of course, I would
suggest that if Dr Thiering really did have the profound
respect for Jesus that she professes, then she would not
baulk at the second half of the creed, just as Jesus did
not baulk at the worship offered him by his disciples
after his resurrection. You see, Jesus' own words and
deeds leave you little option other than to conclude that
he is God amongst us - his compelling claim to be the
only one who knows the Father and makes him known, and so
to be the bread and light of life; who can say of the Old
Testament, you have heard it said of old, but I say to
you, and get away with it as one speaking with authority.
And his deeds, his manifesting the kingdom of God, giving
sight to the blind, enabling the lame to walk, cleansing
the lepers, healing the deaf, raising the dead and
preaching good news to the poor; these words and these
deeds are utterly compelling for those with ears to hear
and eyes to see. And chief of all are his death and
resurrection, his death for our sins, that great act of
obedience to his heavenly father, and his resurrection,
the Father's great act of vindication of his beloved Son.
No, those with respect for Jesus are driven to conclude
that he is indeed God with us, driven beyond respect to
worship. |
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Without that
confession, there is no Christianity. Take God out of
Jesus and there's nothing left. All you have is another
in the long line of self help gurus, another claimant to
speak on behalf of someone else, another purveyor of the
latest spirituality. Take God out of Jesus and there is
no grace, only demand. No self giving goodness of God,
like that of the shepherd for whom God's people longed,
the shepherd who lays down his life for his sheep, who
actually gets in amongst it and does something for his
people, fighting their fight for them. Instead, only the
demand of God, that you perform and satisfy him, that you
measure up, and if you don't then you can justly be
consigned to the scrapheap. Without Christmas, there is
no Christianity. |
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But with the baby who
can be worshipped without idolatry, with Immanuel, God
with us, we have not just someone's theories about God,
not just someone's teaching about God which might be
right for you if it suits, but God revealing God, God
himself disclosing to us who he is, and perhaps more
importantly, how he is towards us, full of love and
grace. And it means that we have not just self help, but
God help, God himself come as one of us to save us
because God is the only one who can save us from our real
enemies, from sin and the devil and death. It means we
have God in Christ who can go to death and not be
consumed by it, but rather consume it in the power of his
own divinity. |
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Who do you see? |
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Did the wise men see
all this? I don't know. Certainly they saw a confused and
startled mother with a helpless child, but in reality
they saw much more than that. Somehow, in and through the
compromised mix of astrology and Old Testament they saw
that the baby before them was one worthy to be
worshipped, one before whom all they could do was pay
homage. What do you see? Have you been so jaded by the
sheer familiarity and commercialisation of the thing that
all you see is plastic nativity scenes with sale price
tags alongside? It wouldn't be hard to sympathise if that
were the case. But I invite you to see more deeply, more
truly; to the God who is present with that baby, to the
God who is incarnate, enfleshed, made one of us in that
baby. Will you see again this Christmas the wonder of
grace, the grace of God which came down as one of us, for
us, to do battle with our enemies and to bring us home to
God. Will you see Emmanuel, and worship? |
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