“Melchior, Gaspar, and Balthasar. Tradition gives them a name. Tradition tells us there were three. The Magi. Called kings by some. Wise men by others. Still others have preferred to portray them as astronomers. In some corners of the thick tradition, you might find them described as more like magicians, even some kind of cultic priests. Melchior, Gaspar, and Balthasar. Tradition has done a lot with the Magi. Matthew doesn’t say very much.
            But the tradition grants quite a legacy. The tradition, and every Christmas Pageant from then until the kingdom comes in all glory. It has become quite a role to reprise. The Three Wise Men. Colorful garments or terry cloth bathrobes. Fancy shoes or bare feet. Mortarboards, homemade hats, or some kind of crown. When it comes to wardrobe, it’s never hard to pick out the Magi but their place in history is built upon those gifts.
            The memorable story entitled “The Best Christmas Story Ever” tells of the Three Kings bringing a ham to the baby Jesus. It still had the ribbon on it that said “Merry Christmas.” A story of a different kind tells of “The Fourth Wise Man” who took a sapphire, a ruby, and a pearl as his own multiple gifts for the King of Kings. One very good friend of mine once wrote a pageant for his congregation. In that drama, the three showed up in Burger King crowns for proper identification. They were carrying bags of potato chips. Wise potato chips.
            The identity of the Magi in the tradition doesn’t come from proper dress. It comes from those gifts. Matthew says very little about those Magi. It’s a rather understated role. He doesn’t count them. He doesn’t name them. But he tells of the gifts. He records the gifts. Gold. Frankincense. Myrrh. Tradition has done a lot with the gifts too. After all, they weren’t the normal gifts one brings to an infant, even in antiquity. They weren’t just lying around either. They weren’t objects crying out for some re-gifting. Gold. Frankincense. Myrrh.
            The gift of gold was one fit for a king. This child Jesus was proclaimed by prophets and trumpeted by angels as the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords. Frankincense was normally used as incense by a priest celebrating rituals. This child Jesus was to be the great high priest for all people, closing the great divide between God and humankind, offering one sacrifice beyond all others, one sacrifice on behalf of all. And the gift of myrrh? It was often described as a very expensive perfume. But it was also used to embalm the dead in the ancient world. This child Jesus would one day suffer and die to save His people. The aroma of myrrh was not one of romance. It was one of passion, as in suffering and death.
            Three gifts. That’s how the tradition arrives at thee kings. Three Wise Men. Three Magi. The gifts have been seen as symbols from the life of Christ which was to come. Tradition has a whole lot to say about the gifts. All Matthew does is name them.
            They even have their own holiday. Melchior, Gaspar, and Balthasar. Their own liturgical feast day. Epiphany. Officially to be celebrated yesterday, January 6th. The twelfth night. The Feast of Three Kings. Celebrating the arrival of the traveling men from the East, their arrival in Bethlehem. Celebrating the light of the that star that came to rest over the place where the child was. Celebrating the manifestation of the light of Christ to the Gentile world.
            Tradition has even added Epiphany to the cottage industry that has cropped up around the Magi. Truth is Epiphany pre-dates Christmas as a celebration in the church. Epiphany. An ancient celebration of God’s light made known to the world in Christ Jesus. Before it was a celebration of the star in the sky leading the Three, before it was a celebration of the Three and their homage paid to the Child Jesus, before it was a celebration of those gifts, it was a celebration of God’s revelation made known in the birth of Jesus. Epiphany was the first, the oldest Christmas celebration for the followers of Christ. Tradition has shaped Epiphany to include the Magi. Not surprisingly, when it comes to Epiphany, Matthew doesn’t say anything.  
            He does talk about Herod the King. Matthew tells of Herod and all of Jerusalem being frightened at the news of these wise men coming from the East searching for the child who was born king of Jews. He describes how Herod called together all the chief priests and the scribes of the people, how he wanted to know where this child was to be born. The religious folk in Matthew’s gospel knew their Bible and they quoted from the prophet Micah, “you O Bethlehem in the land of Judah.” Herod is the one who invites the Magi to the stage when he called them secretly and ask them for the time. Herod is the one who according to Matthew, occupied everyone’s dreams or nightmares. In Matthew, Herod has quite the role, though for good reason, few pageants ever cast that part.
            The line always forms for the Wise Men. The Thee Kings. The Magi. But Matthew doesn’t say very much. The Magi came from the East in search of the child who was born king of the Jews. The East refers both to distance and heritage. The non Jewish Wise ones who were far from the promise of God, they told of observing a star just as it came into view in the night sky. They were coming to show this child honor. To offer their allegiance. To pay him homage. After a meeting with King Herod they set out on a journey to follow the star. When they realized the star had stopped, when they found themselves right under the star, when their journey was over, Matthew says “they were overwhelmed with joy.”
            Matthew says nothing of crowded inns or a venerated manger. The travelers from the East simply went into the house and found the child there with Mary his mother. They knelt down, probably as a sign of great adoration. They opened their treasure chests and offered those gifts to the babe in arms who they believed to be a king. Nothing more is said. Nothing about Mary or her heart. No song from an angel. No profound words from the overly religious. No word about what happened to the star. No stage direction that tells of an infant crying or googling or sleeping. Nothing about creation bursting into praise and joining the scene defined by homage. Matthew only tells of a dream. Matthew is unclear whether all had the dream or just one dreamer who then told the others. There was a dream and a warning about Herod. And the wise men from the East left for their own country by another road.  
            Tradition says a whole lot about those Magi and their gifts. When it comes to Matthew and the Wise Men, not so much. When it comes to the gospel, it’s more like the Magi unplugged. No wonder there has been such embellishment through the centuries, someone had to think of the costumes and the props. But Matthew’s telling invites a different kind of response. A bare bones encounter with the gospel invites a different kind of participation.
            Those who come from a distance; who have felt themselves somehow far from grace, somewhere back east. Those who have wrestled with the hunch that an encounter with God is not dependent upon being in the right pew, or having the right lineage, or even doing the right thing. Those who can give a witness to the diverse and unpredictable call of God. Those who come to know that the call of God is not judged by the abundance of religious jargon, or the correctness of the piety, or one’s ability to define it all away. Sometimes it’s like wandering in the night trying to figure out how to stand right under a star. Those who find themselves urged to look in unexpected places for an experience of God’s presence, in unexpected places for the holiness of the Christ Child. Those who taste of great joy, not just in the journey, but with the sense of a journey fulfilled right now in the presence of God; purpose affirmed, meaning found. Those who come with a heart overflowing with thanksgiving, with an urgent sense to simply bow down and be still and worship the Living God. Those who want to figure out what on earth homage means. Those who find their own lives somehow transformed. The experience of God so moves or challenges or convicts that a return to life as usual isn’t really acceptable anymore. A change that is often beyond words but one that ought not to be denied. Those who are committed to traveling together along this Christian Way, this life in Christ, this way of the Cross, those who know themselves to be followers of the Child Jesus, along another road.

            The invitation to participate is for you. Christ Jesus himself bids you to come, live into your role and live out your homage. The line forms here. Any gifts left?

Property of Nassau Presbyterian Church
Contact the church to obtain reprint permission