Our reading from Matthew’s Gospel tonight, recounted the visit of the Magi – a visit quite different to my opening caricature – but a visit, nonetheless that plays an important part in the Nativity Narratives. Tonight, I want you to come with me on a journey, a journey of searching, a journey of learning about these characters.

To begin with, a question for you all, ‘how many Magi were there?’
If answer = 3, ask why 3? Answer: Yes, tradition suggests three, perhaps because of the number of gifts given, and we can all think of carols such as ‘We three Kings’ and the Nativity plays that depict 3 wise men. But, believe it or not, this is one detail the Bible does not tell us. We’re just told about some ‘Magi from the East’. What is important is what we can learn from them. So, what can we learn from them?

The first thing that we can learn is what kind of people they were. The text tells us they were Magi – or wise men as more often called today. Most likely, they were highly educated men who devoted their lives to understanding the world and all its mysteries. As such, they weren’t the sort of people to run off on a wild goose chase following up their every whim, because they took their work extremely seriously. So, the fact that some wise men appear in the Nativity account would suggest one of two things: either we have chanced upon a bunch of foolish dreamers with nothing better to do, which is highly improbable, or else the truth is that we have some wise men who believed that something significant – something earth shattering had happened.

But, how on earth would these wise men have learned of this event, especially bearing in mind that it didn’t happen in their immediate neighbourhood? Well, we know that they didn’t learn about it from the Television or Newspaper – neither did they surf the internet because they had none of these mod cons that we enjoy today – instead, they learned of this event by reading and interpreting the stars. And this is the second thing we learn about the wise men – they were men who had devoted their lives to reading the signs of the age using the stars.

Now to us, this might sound a strange thing to do, yet, in the ancient world, there were many people, especially those who lived in the east, who had developed the study of the stars and the planets to a fine art, in which each planet and star were given a particular and unique meaning.

You see, their belief that under girded this scientific study was that everything in the world was connected to each other, As such, when something important was happening on earth, you could expect it, to see it reflected in the heavens. Likewise, the same was true that if there was an important event in the stars and heavens, then this had to have some correlating event on earth. So, in our Matthew account, which way round was it? If we look at verse 2, it tells us of the Magi asking Herod: ‘Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star in the east and have come to worship him.’

So in this case, it is the appearance in the sky and the heavens of a particular significant star that is the catalyst to compel the wise men to set off on a long, arduous journey. Now, over the years, one of the mysteries that scholars have sought to explain is Matthew’s star – what was it? Was it a supernova? Was it a comet? One of the most likely explanations is that it was the conjunction of the planets Jupiter and Saturn. According to astronomers (who can map the movement of stars back in time), this conjunction is thought to have occurred 3 times around the time Jesus was born. What makes this conjunction so important is the associations with these planets: Jupiter is the royal or kingly planet, while Saturn was often thought to represent the Jews. Thus one can see how the conclusion ‘a new king of the Jews was about to be born’ was arrived at. Whether this is how it happened or not is not important – what is important is that these wise men believed that a king had indeed been born - not just any old king, but a very important king, so important that they had to go for themselves and find this king.

Now if we had been looking for a King 2000 years ago, the first place most of us would have looked would have been at the King’s palace, after all, Kings are usually born in surroundings fit for a King, and this is what the wise men did! But, they got it wrong and this is the third thing we learn about the wise men. For all their brilliance, for all their learned ways, they got it wrong. The assumption that all Kings were born into a state of opulence came crashing down around them as no baby was to be found, yet, through this mistake they gleaned one new and vital piece of information, and that was Bethlehem was to be the birth place of this prophesied king. And so, they take up their journey again they travel to Bethlehem.

So, the fourth thing we learn about the wise men is that they then get it right – they find the right place and the object of their search – that is Jesus, but in very different surroundings to that expected. There’s a modern children’s carol that asks the questions: why wasn’t Jesus born in a palace –where was this new King’s royal golden crown - how could a King have such a humble birth? And it was nothing short of one of the most humbling births one could have – being born in a stable – the place where the animals were kept – the place where no sensible men or women would choose to sleep.

Now it’s true to say that by the time the wise men found Jesus, it is more than likely that Mary and Joseph were no longer living in the stable – but the fact remains – this king was born into a state of poverty – he wasn’t born with a silver spoon in his mouth – Mary and Joseph were not wealthy people. But the wise men still recognised Jesus as the one for whom they had searched, and they honoured him as a king, even if he was a different kind of king to what they expected, bringing and offering him gifts fit for a king, and worshipping him.

Now, the re-telling of this account usually ends there on a happy note, yet verse 12 introduces us to another very real dynamic whose implications are more often than not left untouched and unspoken – so what are these? From verse 12 we read:

And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route. When they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. “Get up”, he said, “take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him.”

The wise men’s visit to King Herod in search of a kingly baby was to have profound implications upon Bethlehem and its vicinity for countless families in that it managed to upset an already neurotic and volatile king. You see, the reality as Tom Wright puts it is:

At the heart of the Christmas story in Matthew’s gospel is a baby who poses such a threat to the most powerful man around that he kills a whole village full of other babies in order to try to get rid of him. [Likewise] within a generation [this baby’s followers would] be persecuted by the empire as a danger to good order. Whatever else you say about Jesus, from his birth onwards, people certainly found him a threat. He upset their power-games, and suffered the usual fate of people who do that.
In fact [as Tom Wright continues], the shadow of the cross falls over the story from this moment on. Jesus is born with a price on his head. Plots are hatched; angels have to warn Joseph; they only just escape from Bethlehem in time. Herod the Great, who thought nothing of killing members of his own family, including his own beloved wife, when he suspected them of scheming against him, and who gave orders when dying that the leading citizens of Jericho should be slaughtered so that people would be weeping at his funeral – this Herod would not bat an eyelid at the thought of killing lots of babies in case one of them should be regarded as a royal pretender.

And this is what the latter verses of our reading are about – the anguish – the suffering of individuals at the hands of an insecure individual – an individual whose paranoia concerning his own position led to the massacre of countless babies. So, here within the lovely peaceful Christmas story that we love to tell each year is an example of what untold evils humanity can inflict upon one another. Now, imagine for a moment if we were to rewrite our Nativity plays to truly reflect all these events – the trouble, the tension, violence and fear – all smouldering under a respectable exterior of celebration and thanksgiving. Yet, this is part – and an important part at that of the Christmas story – in that it is as God planned it.

As Tom Wright concludes: Before the Prince of Peace had learned to walk and talk, he was a homeless refugee with a price on his head…[Yet] this is how God would set about liberating his people, and bringing justice to the whole world. No point in arriving in comfort, when the world is in misery; no point in having an easy life, when the world suffers violence and injustice! If he is to be Emmanuel, God-with-us, he must be with us where the pain is.

And this is our God – a God who meets us in the joys of life and in the pains of life. As a Kendrick song says:
He walked where I walk; He stood where I stand; He felt what I feel; He understands.
One of a hated race; Stung by the prejudice; Suff’ring injustice; Yet he forgives…

And this God is worth searching for, just as the wise men searched all those years ago and found Him and worshipped Him. In the same way, today we all have a decision to make. Will we search for and bring the gift of our lives to Him like the wise men did? It demands a response from each of us – what will yours be at the start of this new year?