“… behold, the star … preceded them … it came and stopped over the place where the Child was. They were overjoyed at seeing the star, and on entering the house … saw the Child with Mary His mother. They prostrated themselves and did Him homage. … they opened their treasures and offered Him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.”
Mass Readings 1.4.15 — IS 60:1-6 — PS 72:1-2, 7-8, 10-11, 12-13 — EPH 3:2-3A, 5-6 — MT 2:1-12
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In today’s Gospel, the three magi from the east visit the Infant Jesus, Mary and Joseph in Bethlehem, paying homage to Christ as a newborn king, bringing gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. God apparently intended this as part of His Divine Plan, including that evil King Herod is alarmed by the magi’s arrival and quickly plots to murder the Christ as a threat to his evil earthly reign.
This action helps illustrate various realities.
- Jesus is revealed as King and Lord, even as an infant in humble circumstances, with earthly figures of stature bowing before Him. This continues the revelation already occurring as the result of the Angels and the testimony of the shepherds.
- Jesus is the Savior of all people and persons, from all lands; the Universality of His Saving Power also could help remind us that He comes to Save all, especially the most sinful
- their gifts, subject to interpretation, relate to His Kingship with the gold, His Holiness with the incense, and His future death and burial with the myrrh; on the latter point, He Saves us through His Passion, Death and Resurrection
- Christ comes to overthrow the evil that temporarily rules the world, with King Herod showing how threatened he is by the arrival of the Messiah, and his vicious, murderous response (the fullness of which is outside the scope of today’s passage)
- while some might comment that the Holy Family will later possibly beg to support themselves during the Flight to Egypt, the gifts can help finance them, especially the gold; this fact signifies that God Provides, even in an earthly sense, however unusual the methods by which He chooses to do so, as a Mission appointed by God is lived out, even in the face of insanely evil earthly challenges
The magi follow a star to Bethlehem, which they regard as a sign of the birth of king. When they first present themselves to evil King Herod on their quest, he is alarmed at their arrival.
When Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea … magi from the east arrived in Jerusalem, saying, ‘Where is the newborn king of the Jews? We saw his star at its rising and have come to do him homage.’ When King Herod heard this, he was greatly troubled, and all Jerusalem with him.
Yet the evil Herod actually gets used by God in this unfolding story, because he ascertains from the priests and scribes, experts in Scripture, where the Messiah is to be born.
When they relate the prophecy about the Messiah’s birth in Bethlehem, Herod actually sends the magi to Bethlehem, hoping that they will help him find the Child. His intent is evil, of course, because (outside the scope of today’s passage) he will then order the slaughter of baby boys there, to avoid having to compete as earthly ruler with God’s Anointed Christ. The manipulative Herod tells the magi he, too, wishes to pay homage.
Yet his evil designs get used by God, to actually provide the magi the instructions they need to go find Christ. The magi naturally looked in Jerusalem first, as the main city, yet now proceed to Bethlehem.
Assembling all the chief priests and the scribes of the people, [Herod] inquired of them where the Christ was to be born. They said to him, ‘In Bethlehem of Judea, for thus it has been written through the prophet: And you, Bethlehem, land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; since from you shall come a ruler, who is to shepherd my people Israel.’ Then Herod called the magi secretly and ascertained from them the time of the star’s appearance. He sent them to Bethlehem and said, ‘Go and search diligently for the child. When you have found him, bring me word, that I too may go and do him homage.’
The star still guides them, such that one wonders if they really needed to stop and visit Herod. They had no idea, of course, of the enormity of the Birth and its significance, or the nature and reaction of Herod. Unknowingly, perhaps they had considered the stop in Jerusalem a natural and sensible step. Yet the star beckons them not only to Bethlehem, yet also to the very house where the Holy Family have now found shelter and refuge.
After their audience with the king they set out. And behold, the star that they had seen at its rising preceded them, until it came and stopped over the place where the child was. They were overjoyed at seeing the star, and on entering the house they saw the child with Mary his mother. They prostrated themselves and did him homage. Then they opened their treasures and offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.
Note that, after starting out in the stable, or cave-stable, the Holy Family now have lodgings.
Commentary has varied, perhaps, with regard to the gifts of the magi.
The gold likely relates to Christ’s status as King. The incense likely relates to His Holiness, given the role of incense in the worship of God in the temple and now in church. The myrrh, used in those times to anoint a body for burial, likely foreshadows Christ’s burial, and the means by which He would Redeem us, through His Passion, Death, Burial and Resurrection, including offering up His Life on the Cross to pay the penalty for our sins. Indeed recall the later scene at His Burial where His Body indeed would be anointed by much larger quantities of various substances.
Yet these items also have earthly commercial value, especially the gold. While some commentary envisions the Holy Family begging for alms during their later Flight into Egypt, perhaps out of a sense of their solidarity with the poor, the gold and other gifts of the magi could also help support them financially.
Using the magi as His instrument, we are reminded that God Provides, even in an earthly sense. God often seems to Teach us by illustration, and here He provides us the following dynamic.
The Holy Family, and Jesus especially, are upon a Divine Mission, part of Salvation Histrory, the details and nature of which Mary and Joseph are not entirely aware. Facing adversity, they respond as best they can, in response to God’s Will. God Provides, however unpredictably to them, shelter with the cave-stable and later the house, and now earthly riches by means of the astonishing arrival of the magi.
Soon, outside the scope of today’s passage, they will face they will face the horror of Slaughter of the Innocents, the slaughter of infant boys ordered by Herod. God will provide Joseph with guidance of the practical, immediate actions he is to take.
Today, with the gifts of the magi, God provides the earthly means to finance the journey.
So we encounter the ineffable Greatness and Glory of God, interwoven with a Mission for the Holy Family ordained by God, which nevertheless faces earthly challenges that are utterly and violently insane. Yet, in the midst of this, God sends the magi, to let the astonished Mary and Joseph be informed and reminded of the special nature of what they are doing, just as He sent the shepherds to bear witness to the messages of the Angels in the fields. And God sends the magi to provide the Holy Family with earthly resources to help facilitate their Mission, journey and survival.
Meanwhile, after completing their quest, the magi are warned in a dream not to return to Herod. Even though the magi are apparently gentiles, they still seem to want to respond to God’s Will. So they return to their home country by another way
And having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they departed for their country by another way.
Christ’s time has not yet come, and will not come for about thirty-three years.
Had the magi returned to Herod, he likely would have ascertained more readily the location and presence of the Infant Christ and immediately sought to kill him.
By tradition, the magi also are usually referred as kings themselves, or as “wise men.”
By tradition, their names also are thought to be Gaspar, Melchior, and Balthasar. By one tradition, their initials are chalked over the door of a house, with crosses, to signify that the home is dedicated to holiness and that anything that is not of God may not enter.
