There really is nothing new under the sun. If you read about Herod’s history, you’ll see that although he was born an Arab, his family was forcibly converted to Judaism and so was raised a Jew. But his religious upbringing seemed rather secondary to his political aims, which would cause him to divorce his first wife in order to gain a kingdom belonging to the family of his second wife. Eventually, Emperor Augustus, ruling in Rome, would in fact, put him in charge of and even expand his territory to include Palestine and parts of what are now the kingdom of Jordan to the east of the river and southern Lebanon and Syria. He was certainly aware of the various religious groups and their capacity to influence society and culture, and how to use these various factions to achieve what he desired. Yet his true allegiance seems to have been amassing property, power and political control of various states and peoples, and getting in tight with rulers who could provide him wealth for building beautiful things. He sounds not unlike most of our politicians today.
What I love about Jesus’s birth stories is how his arrival fundamentally undermines the belief that worldly power and control is worth seeking. Like many, Herod has early success in life and he tries to stockpile and build his kingdom. He appears to be doing this, history will show. And then something starts to go wrong. Maybe it’s mental illness, maybe it’s dementia, who knows. But he begins to lash out and goes on a murderous rampage first of his own family, and finally, as we’ll read in a week or so, of all the infants in Bethlehem. He loses power and favor in the political sphere and is closing in on his own death when Jesus comes into the world.
The greatest irony in our gospel reading today is that Herod’s scheming - when seen in the light of who Jesus is - demonstrates not Herod’s power or glory, or excellence, or even his favor as he was desperate to use others to obtain for himself. Rather it shows him as he really is: finite and misguided, monstrous even. And he serves as both an example and a warning for those who scheme to serve themselves, to store up their wealth in silos, as the Scriptures put it; rather than humbling themselves to learn from, grow in, and serve Jesus Christ.
In contrast we find the Magi, who, like the shepherds at Christmas, come seeking Jesus to pay him homage, fulfilling multiple prophecies from the OT Scriptures. They bring him gold, which represents Jesus’s kingship as we hear in Daniel “As the visions during the night continued, I saw coming with the clouds of heaven One like a son of man. When he reached the Ancient of Days and was presented before him, He received dominion, splendor, and kingship; all nations, peoples and tongues will serve him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that shall not pass away, his kingship, one that shall not be destroyed.” Yet this gold isn’t just for a worldly king, for they also bring him frankincense which recognizes Jesus’s deity. In the Old Testament, frankincense was traditionally burned in the temple as an offering to God (Leviticus 2:2). Finally, they bring him myrrh. Myrrh was used to embalm bodies - as we hear Nicodemus bring to embalm Jesus’s body in the Gospel of John - so the gift here foreshadows Jesus’s death.
So we have two contrasting figures here: the magi, who, despite not being Jews themselves, go to Jesus to see for themselves this one called the King of the Jews. They go not to obtain power for themselves, not to gain influence or wealth, or a kingdom, or even control over their own lives; they go to offer him gifts that ultimately witness to their own wisdom, for they recognize Jesus for who he is: King of Jew and Gentile; God of Jew and Gentile; but a king and a God whose eternal rule over all people comes not in dominating others, but in joining them to himself, to his full human nature, and then dying for them so that they might receive his life.
Herod is shown to be what he is: frightened, domineering, and ultimately undone by his own hubris and greed. So impotent that, despite producing at least 14 children in his life, his only place in history is as a murderous tyrant; his kingdoms long turned over to others through the last 2000 years. The magi, on the other hand, serve as hopeful signs to the world, that all people - no matter from where they come or who they are - might be reconciled to God if they are willing to recognize God for who he truly is, and so offer themselves and their own particular gifts to be made by God into a sign, a relationship, a way of life, a way of caring for others, that points to him.
Ultimately both Herod and the magi will bow down to Jesus because he is the King of kings; because he judges the world in accordance with his way, not the way of Herod, or any other person; and finally, because he will use whatever we offer him - the good and the bad - to show others what God’s justice, power and love truly look like. These two figures this morning serve as both a call and a warning to us: we have received the gift of being reconciled to God in Jesus’s birth, his life and his death as proclaimed and foretold in the magi’s visit. What gift do we offer to others in this world as we come before Jesus? AMEN
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