“Telling the Whole Story”
Matthew 2:1-12; 16-18
In the 1990s, while attending graduate school at San Fransico Theological Seminary, I had the opportunity to perform in the opera Amahl and the Night Visitors. Have any of you seen this opera before? It concerns a visit by the three kings to a single mother with a disabled child, Amahl. After many twists and turns, the low-income family is blessed with some gold, and the child is miraculously healed. This is definitely one of those feel-good, happy ending stories.
I had the privilege of playing King Balthazar (The three were traditionally named Melchior, Kaspar, and Balthazar at some point in history).
It was fun to dress in regal robes, sing all the low solos and notes, and to be feared and respected as some powerful king.
The opera has very little in common with this morning’s passage.
First, we do not know if these travelers were wise sages or astrologers who read the stars. At least one Catholic priest believes that the Magi were likely diplomats from the neighboring region of Judea known as Nabataea. They hailed from the city of Petra (Yes, the same Petra we see in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade). After hearing that a new heir to the Judean throne had been born, the Nabataean King Aretas IV sent them as envoys to King Herod’s court to pay homage to the newborn king. The gifts they brought were customary of the Arabian kingdom from which they journeyed.
Some theologians believe they were Zoroastrians, priests of an ancient Persian religion that may date back to before 12,000 B.C. Furthermore, “Magoi” in Greek, is a word used by Zoroastrians to name their priests. In addition, they came from “the East.” Zoroastrian doctrine holds that human beings have the choice between truth and cosmic order, the principle of righteousness or "rightness" that is promoted and embodied by God, and falsehood or deceit- the essential nature of the evil god that expresses itself as greed, wrath, and envy.
There is also the possibility that tradition is correct. These magi were earthly kings. But, honestly, we do not know who they were. We know they observed a star in the sky, which they interpreted as a sign that a king of the Jewish people had been born.
Second, we do not know how many there were. Three is the number of wise men traditionally present in almost every manager scene, Christmas card, this morning’s sanctuary decorations, opera, and in most of our heads right now, because three gifts are mentioned. We do not know how many visited, and precisely who they were.
Third, some theologians have speculated that the visitors who went to see Jesus weren’t all male. Theologian Bo Yung Lee writes, “The term magoi comes from Old Persian, and in Zoroastrian tradition, both men and women could hold this title.” Can you imagine the uproar from traditionalists if there were a Christmas card with 10 visitors heading to see baby Jesus, and half of them were women? It’s a war on the Wisemen!
Fourth, the magi did not visit an infant Jesus, nor did they see him in a manger. Assuming the star first appeared on the night Jesus was born, it would have taken considerable time for the magi to organize a caravan and travel to Jerusalem. They would have crossed the mountains from Persia into Iraq, followed the Euphrates River north, up into Syria, and then through Lebanon to Israel. That would be about 1200 miles, over two months of travel time, with camels traveling twenty miles a day. Plus, after seeing the star, the Magi had to figure out what it meant, which could have taken weeks or months of research. And then, they needed to organize their travel, plus the actual travel time. So, we’re looking at anywhere from three months to maybe a year or more.
As for the location of this meeting between the magi and the Holy Family, in this morning’s passage from Matthew, we read in verse went into a house to see Mary and Jesus (V.11).
There is one similarity between the opera and the actual visit of the Magi, although it is a bit of a stretch. This concerns the original language the magi may have spoken, if they were indeed Zoroastrians, given that they visited Jesus. Old Persian is an Old Iranian language, known to its native speakers as “ariya.” In the opera, many of us sang arias, that is, “a long accompanied song for solo voice, often found in operas.” (Webster's Dictionary online) I told you it was a bit of a stretch, or perhaps a bad old dad joke.
The last big difference between Amahl and the Night Visitors and this morning’s first passage is that the story does not have a happy ending, as we hear in this morning’s second passage, the slaughter of all male infants in Bethlehem who were two years old or under. What led to this horrific act?
First, Herod summons his allies in the ruling coalition (Matthew 2:4–6). While we think of chief priests and scribes as religious figures, they are better understood as societal and political leaders (see Sirach 38:24–39:11). Roman governors appointed chief priests. Herod inquires about the Messiah's birthplace, and his allies cite Micah 5:2, saying the birth of this new king will occur in Bethlehem.
Having consulted his allies to obtain this information, Herod adopts a second strategy (Matthew 2:7–8a). He summons the magi and turns them into spies. Allies and spies. He dispatches the magi to Bethlehem to locate the child. They are to report his location to Herod. Why?
Herod now adds a new part to his two previous strategies of allies and spies: lies. He informs the magi that he “too may also go and pay him homage” (2:8b). The subsequent narrative reveals the lie. He wants to kill Jesus, not worship him.
The magi, however, were warned in a dream about Herod (as Joseph was) and, rather than return to report Herod Jesus’ exact location, departed to their own country by another route. That brings us to Matthew 2:16-18. Rev Lee writes, “Matthew 2:16-18 is no fairytale. It is a political and theological narrative. From the first verse, we are reminded: this story takes place in the time of King Herod, a puppet ruler of the Roman Empire known for violent paranoia. Herod represents the worst of power—one who responds to a threat not with humility but with tyranny. The massacre of the innocents in verses 16-18, echoing Pharaoh’s infanticide in Exodus 1, shows how fear-untransformed— can mutate into mass violence.”
When I first left seminary and received my first call as an Associate Pastor at Faith Presbyterian Church in Sacramento, I was given the privilege of preaching on Epiphany Sunday. I chose both of these passages, and I sensed a level of discomfort rising in the congregation as the lay reader read verses 16-18. After the service was over, one of the elders took me aside and said he thought the slaughter of innocent children had no place during the Christmas season. I disagreed, said it was time to be done sanitizing the story of Jesus’ birth, said the two passages were connected, and that the slaughter of innocents is something that still happens to this day, even during the Christmas season. Let’s say we did not come to any form of agreement on whether it was appropriate to include this passage on Epiphany Sunday. In fact, you may feel similarly. Why can’t we just be left with that nice picture of three kings kneeling and worshiping the baby Jesus?
As we come to the close of this holy season, we can’t ignore that the Herods of the world still loom large. The slaughter of the Holy Innocents is a painful story that mirrors devastating modern-day events and realities. One example still going on today is happening in Gaza, where, since the beginning of the war between Israel and Palestine on October 7, 2023, when Hamas slaughtered 1,200 Israelis, an estimated 60,000 Palestinians have since been killed, 20,000 of them who were children, according to Save The Children International.
Atlanta, Georgia, pastor Avery Arden, in seeing this modern-day slaughter of innocents, has rewritten the words to the Christmas hymn, “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel.” They read in part as follows:
O come, o come compassionate Divine,
And ransom captive Palestine
That mourns with tears that will not be soothed.
Till empires fall and nations’ hearts are moved.
Rejoice! Rejoice! God’s justice is at hand.
To liberate the people and the land.
O come, o bright and ever-burning star;
Bring Gaza comfort from afar!
Dispel from her the shadow of death
That murders dignity and chokes out breath.
Rejoice! Rejoice! God’s justice is at hand
To liberate the people and the land.
O come, O King of Peace and Justice, break
All weapons down, and from them ploughshares make.
Let all tears dry, all peoples respond:
“We are each other’s magnitude and bond.”
Rejoice! Rejoice! God’s justice is at hand
To liberate the people and the land.
Credited to Avery Arden of binarybreakingworship.com
We arrive at the end of the Advent and Christmas journey, and yet the world still brims with violence, uncertainty, and fear. The birth of Christ has not silenced the Herods of the world. Empire continues to rage. The innocent still suffer.
This Jesus, born in the midst of Herod’s brutality, knows our suffering and comes again at a time of slaughter. He comes to the frightened and the sick and the hungry. He comes to the grieving parents of dead children. He feeds and heals and teaches the presence of God’s power wherever there are tears, whenever suffering occurs. I believe God’s word stands amid great pain and suffering. The Magi model for us what it looks like to be led by hope, moving through fear without letting it paralyze us. As a new year begins, may our journey in faith continue, and not let fear have the last word. May we follow the teachings of our Messiah, go out in faith, accompany others in their pain and suffering, and work to bring God’s justice and peace. Alleluia. Amen.
