Were the Wise Men Saved?: Epiphany Part 2

Today is the first Sunday after epiphany, the day the Christian church remembers the arrival of visitors from the East at the home of Joseph, Mary and the Baby.  Epiphany happened around 2 years after Jesus birth, but you might know the Wise men from a nativity scene you have in your home or see elsewhere over Christmas.  

 

Our nativity scene is back in a box and tucked in our shed.  The reality is that the figures representing the Magi spend most of their time in boxes where no starlight can get in (thank you Terry ScottTaylor).  When the Wise Men do come out of their box, they get shoved into the wrong scene all together - near the manger, in line with the shepherds, waiting for a visit with a newborn wrapped in cloths.  This has always bugged me - our misplacement of the Magi - but it is another placement I have been pondering this year.

 

I grew up in an Evangelical world that saw everything in terms of in and out.  For example, music was either Christian (or even sacred) or secular.  This was also true for people.  People were viewed as either Christian or non-Christian, saved or un-saved, in or out.  Which makes me wonder about the Wise Men.

 

For a few years I taught High School Bible classes.  In my class there were weekly writing assignments that were aimed at making students think about Jesus.  The essays were all titled "Jesus is/was _________?"  One of the most challenging for the teens was "Jesus is/was a Christian?"  I got a lot of papers that amounted to "of course Jesus was a Christian" despite the term itself not showing up till after his death and resurrection.  In a similar way I have been pondering this epiphany season if the Wise Men were Christians.

 

We know only a little about the Magi, though we think that we know a lot.  We think there were three (no Biblical evidence, but there were three gifts).  We sing about them being from the Orient but that is not very likely.  We say they were kings, which is not right at all.  (Can we get rid of that song now?) The Bible tells us they see a star; they follow it; they want to worship the new king; they worship him; they bring gifts to "The King of the Jews;" and they thwart the plans of the reigning King of Jews, Herod, by going home another way which triggers a mass murder of infant and toddler boys.  That is about all the details we have. 

 

My evangelical training causes me to notice something.  These foreigners (who would not have been allowed into the temple) show up, worship, give gifts and leave.  First, I admire their dedication to the game.  After two years on the road they do what they came to do.  Second, there is no record of the Magi praying a prayer, or professing faith in Jesus, or even necessarily having a clue who Jesus really is.  This leads me back to the question, were the Magi saved?  Are the Wise Men, who are wrongfully included in the Nativity scene, excluded from heaven?  Are these visitors from the East in or out?

 

The professions of faith of the participants in the nativity are pretty well chronicled.  Mary sings a song in response to learning of being favored by God and that she is carrying the Messiah.  Joseph changes his plans from a quiet divorce to acceptance of marriage (that came with a heap of disgrace) in response to a dream and displays his faith in doing so.  The shepherds are the first evangelists of the coming of the promised one of God by spreading the word of the child's birth to anyone that would listen.  It goes without saying that the angels know what is going on and are celebrating the birth.  But with this band of outsiders, who take the longest trip to a baby shower ever, it is a bit hard to tell what exactly they believed.  No record of a profession of faith by the Wise Men is found in the Biblical text.

 

There seems to be an assumption that the Wise Men are saved.  I think this stems from the fact that they are in the story and everyone’s nativity scene.  However, clearly not everyone in the Bible is automatically in just by the virtue of being on the page.  Another assumption is that the Wise Men are saved based on the word "worship" which appears in the account three times.  The word is the same each time in the original language - proskuneo - which means to kiss; to fawn; to crouch; to prostrate oneself in homage; to do reverence; to adore.  It is essentially the act of bowing before a king - which is what they came to do - so this makes sense. The word is used twice in reference to the wisemen: first, when they announce their intention and second, when they perform that action.  Herod also uses the word when trying to trick the Magi into providing information.  This word, in my opinion, does nothing to help clear up the question at hand.  The Wise Men could have worshipped Jesus as a king without knowing he was the Messiah - the Son of God.

 

The question I am asking is impossible to answer.  It is clear to me that the Wise Men do not belong in a nativity, but as for them being in out of heaven that is a mystery.  I wonder too if it's the wrong question.  In the Gospels Jesus is often frustrated with those that think they know who is in and who is out as it relates to the Kingdom.  A number of Jesus' exchanges with the religious leaders of the time are around this idea of who is "saved."  Maybe it is not up to us to decide if the Wise Men are in or out, or if anyone else is in/out for that matter.

 

What is interesting to me about the Wise Men is that they are on a journey.  They are willing to follow a star for two years, not knowing entirely what it meant or even where they were going.  These Magi alter their trajectory in life to give away part of what they have.  These visitors from the East travel to a strange place and become outsiders asking the old king about this new king - something that could have gotten them killed.  Finally, after two years of slow travel they alter their direction again at the direction of a dream.  

I don't know if the Wise Men are in or out, but I do know they are a great example of the spiritual journey.  They are willing to give up their time, their wealth, their status and their plans to follow their spiritual impulse.  From the example of the Magi we can know what devotion to a Spiritual journey looks like.  Perhaps we should consider their orientation and not their location.  Rather than consider if they fall in or out, maybe we should value the direction they chose.  They are willing to give up a lot to head in the direction of Jesus, not knowing at all where it will lead them.  Am I willing to take that journey?  Are you?

 

Joel K