Monday, January 6, is celebrated by many Christians as Epiphany which traditionally commemorates the day the Wise Men arrived to worship Baby Jesus and present their gifts. Because they were not Jewish, it is often recognized as the time when Jesus was first revealed to Gentiles.
Matthew’s depiction of these Wise Men can help us in our own quest to find the Savior. How did they locate the Messiah? It is believed that they consulted the ancient writings of Daniel and other Old Testament prophets which they considered to speak for God. They paid attention to these prophecies and were looking for God to fulfill His promises. That’s a good strategy for us for God still speaks through His Word as well as through His created world around us.
Because of what they had studied and learned, they believed it to be true and they acted on what they knew. They didn’t wait until they had every question answered and every detail completed. They sought Jesus with as much as they knew and as a result they became a part of God’s plan and the fulfillment of His prophecies. We too should act on as much as we know. We don’t have to have all the blanks filled in to trust in Jesus. As we reach out in faith, He reveals more and more of Himself to us and the more wondrous, beautiful, and precious He becomes.
These individuals also went to great lengths to worship the new King. They didn’t make excuses that the journey was too long, the terrain too difficult, the temperature too hot or cold or anything else. The multitude of excuses we generate to avoid attending Sunday worship is shameful especially compared to these non-Christians who took a leap of faith and trudged many difficult miles to find the One worth finding.
They also brought gifts to Jesus. Their worship not only cost them time and effort but it also cost them financially. None of the three gifts they presented to Jesus were inexpensive and each of them represented a different aspect of His future life and ministry, although they were likely unaware of it at the time. Their gold foreshadowed His kingship, their frankincense foretold His priesthood, and their myrrh spoke to His sacrificial death.
Our worship should also involve our financial resources in some way. These offerings are not made to the church nor to the pastor, but to God most high. It is then up to the local body of believers to allocate those resources in such a manner as to obey Jesus’ commands and bring as much glory to God as possible. We may not have any of the three specific gifts they brought, but we can and should bring what we do have to advance Jesus’ Kingdom today.
Their encounter of worshipping Jesus also changed their actions. Instead of going home by the same route they came, they traveled back an entirely different way. They feared God enough to change their ways. So too when we truly discover and worship Jesus, it will cause us to change our ways as well. If we have really worshipped Him in spirit and in truth, we will leave differently than we came and will seek to obey God in every way we know how. To persist in the sinful paths of our past indicates a failure to fully appreciate and receive the newborn King.
We can be thankful today for the Magi who journeyed to find the new King for they are in some fashion, akin to the spiritual ancestors of all of us who are not Jewish. I’m thankful for the effort they exerted to discover the King of the Universe. As we ponder their intentional struggle to make their trip, their generosity in presenting gifts to Jesus, and their changed behavior after encountering Him, may we follow their examples as we worship the Savior today. Epiphany Blessings, George