Will the True King Please Stand Up?

The visit of the wise men to the baby Jesus is a story that is just as popular as that of the shepherds who came on that first Christmas morning. It is a story that is pure theater—exotic orientals dressed in exotic clothing bringing exotic gifts to the baby Jesus. Who were these wise men? 

First, there is no evidence whatever that they were kings, even though they are sometimes described as such. There is no evidence there were only three of them—although three presents are mentioned—gold, frankincense and myrrh. They almost certainly didn’t come to the stable where the baby Jesus was. Matthew says it was a house into which they came. We must be cautious and conscientious with the actual text. 

And as we read the story, we must ask ourselves: What lessons are there in this visit of the Magi for us? 

As I’ve reflected on this, I’ve discovered three ways in which the story of the Magi challenges me. The first is this: No trouble is too great in our search for the truth. 

Once these wise men had become convinced that the universal King so widely expected had been born, nothing would stop them in their determination to find Him. They likely came from Mesopotamia, which is modern Iran and Iraq. They would have traveled about 500 miles and it would have taken them several weeks, probably skirting around the most dangerous parts of the desert while still at risk from robbers and wild beasts. They endured heat by day and cold by night, but nothing would deflect them from their search. In comparison, our little exertions in search of the truth seem paltry. 

Oh, we heard a Christian rumor, a Christian tradition, that God became one of us. It sounds fantastic. We dismiss it as a myth, a legend, a fairytale without ever taking the trouble to investigate the credentials of the story or read the Gospel accounts. Is that an honest search? Let me remind you of a promise that Jesus made in the Sermon on the Mount: “Seek and you will find, knock and it shall be opened unto you. For everyone who seeks finds” (see Matthew 7:7-8).

Why is it that some never find Jesus Christ—they never come to know Him and render homage to Him? Could it be that they’ve never sought? You may be quite sure you’ll never find if you never seek. Remember, no trouble is too great in our search for Christ. 

The second lesson is this: No people is too alien to find Him. 

To be sure, these wise men were a very alien people from a very alien culture. The Magi were a Median tribe mentioned by the Roman historian Herodotus. These astrologer-priests peered at the stars. They were restlessly inquisitive about the nature of the universe. 

Those two groups, the Magi and the shepherds who paid homage to Jesus, could really not have been more different racially, socially and intellectually. The shepherds were Jews. The Magi were Gentile outsiders. Socially, the shepherds numbered among the have-nots, but the Magi were wealthy, judging from their gifts. Intellectually, the shepherds may have been smart men, but they were simple and untutored. Yet despite those three barriers, which normally divide human beings, the Magi and the shepherds were united by their worship of Jesus. 

In fact, the Magi were forerunners and representatives of millions of other Gentiles who have come to worship Jesus. As pluralism grows and spreads in every society throughout the world, it is right to remember that all other religions are called ethnic religions because they’re mostly limited to a particular people, ethnos and culture. 

Only Christianity is not an ethnic religion. Christianity isn’t limited to any one culture or any one people. It’s not an accident that Jesus was born in Palestine, which is contiguous to three continents: Asia, Africa and Europe. 

It is the universal appeal of Jesus that first brought the shepherds from their fields and the wise men from the East—and today, it attracts people of all cultures. The universal appeal of Jesus is one of the most cogent evidences that He is indeed the Savior and the Lord of the world. 

The third lesson is this: There is no offering too great to give Him.

The Magi opened their treasures—gold, frankincense and myrrh—to the baby Jesus, not His parents. Again, how paltry our gifts seem. I’m not thinking of money. I’m thinking of the gift of ourselves. What God asks of us is that the whole of our lives be dedicated to Him through Jesus Christ and that we learn to put Him first—at home, at school, in the university, in the marketplace, in the office, the hospital, wherever it may be. 

In the end there are only two possible attitudes regarding Jesus Christ, and they are epitomized in the responses of the Magi and King Herod to His birth. Herod was bent on destroying Jesus; the Magi were bent on worshipping Him. 

The reaction of Herod the Great is fully in keeping with his character, and his cruel and bloody reign as described by the Jewish historian Josephus and Roman historians like Tacitus and Herodotus. Josephus called him a pitiless monster, and the emperor Augustus said, “It’s safer to be Herod’s pig than his son. You are less likely to be slaughtered.” Herod the Great was paranoid about his throne. So here come the Magi with their question: “Where is He who is born King of the Jews?” 

We know what happened in Herod’s attempt to destroy Jesus, and in principle, it is still the same today. Many people perceive Jesus as a rival and a threat to their own autonomy. They want to rule without interference. Jesus comes along with His claims and He is a nuisance, an embarrassment, an encumbrance; or, in the words of C.S. Lewis, He is a “transcendental interferer.” 

Either we perceive Him as a threat and a rival and are determined to get rid of Him, or we perceive Him as King of kings and Lord of lords, the only ruler of princes, and we are determined to worship Him. 

May you and I kneel beside the Magi at the feet of Jesus, that we may bring Him the most precious treasures we have, and that we may gladly give to Jesus Christ the homage of our hearts and lives. ©2024 Allsouls.org

This article is adapted with permission from a sermon preached by John Stott on Dec. 19, 1993, at All Souls Church Langham Place in London. Stott long served as rector at All Souls in a ministry that had a global influence through his numerous books and Biblical preaching, and the ministries of Langham Partnership, which he founded.