My Nativity Project (#5 - The Maji)

My Nativity Project:
A Journey Through the Manger Scene in Sermon and Song
(#5 - The Maji)

As I have noted I don't typically put the Maji (also called the Wisemen or Kings, usually assigned the number 3 because of the gifts) in the nativity since it's likely that they arrived about two years after Jesus birth. However, for this exercise we are dropping them in the scene.

While we sing of these men and place them in the story each year it appears to me that we don't really know who they were - other than worshipers of the toddler Jesus from the East. The word Magi is explained in Strong's Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible as "Oriental Scientist, by implication a magician; sorcerer." This definition strikes me in two ways. First, it sounds more than a little racist. Second, is the idea that these men may have been scientists. We don't sing, "we three scientists, of Orient are..." How would the story of Christmas be different if three scientists were next to the manger on our mantle?

Another way to define Maji is, "a member of a priestly caste of ancient Persia." Now if a group of scientists in the Manger Scene wasn't thought provoking, how about priests of a different Religion worshiping Jesus in the Nativity? But this definition makes some sense to me. 

A few years back I was student in a class on Church History being taught by Dr. Ray Bakke. Ray, in speaking about the Magi, stated that 600 years before Babylon had carried off the royalty of Israel, including Daniel. He noted that in Matthew 2:18, the verse about Rachel weeping, it not just about the toddler genocide of Herod, but also the weeping of Rachel for those taken in exile. He went on to speculate that the wisemen were Rachel's children returning after being on mission in Babylon. With a bit more speculation about Daniel having prophicied about the coming Jesus, Ray stated that the first non-Jewish worshippers of Jesus were from a land and people that had nearly destroyed the Jews and had carried them off into exile. I don't know about you, but I find all that pretty thought provoking.

If the Maji were from Babylon and representatives of an oppressing army that carried Israel into captivity, its interesting that as soon as they arrive a new oppressor kills all the toddler and baby boys forcing Jesus, Mary and Joseph to flee into exile.  The paralell is stunning.  It is also a part of the story we don't talk about.  We put the wisemen in the manger scene, but maybe we should have a soldier with a bloody sword or a maniacal king lurking in the back.

Today in church services across the US and Canada some time will be given to talking about refugees, in particular Syrian refugees. There has been a lot of discussion recently (interestingly at the center has been a maniacal wannabe king) about what to do with refugees and what a Christian response should be. Matthew 2, and the Magi should tell us all we need to know. Jesus was a refugee. That is a song we don't sing at Christmas either. Jesus was a refugee.

A few years ago I added a Christmas ep titled simply Christmas by the band Low to my collection of holiday music. Their song "Take the Long Way Around the Sea" (above) offers the perfect atmosphere for reflecting on the Magi, Herod's toddler genocide, and Jesus the refugee.

Joel K

Read the lyrics to as you listen here.

For ways to support refugees check out: http://www.worldrenew.net/refugees
#wewelcomerefugees