The Gift of Seeking: Becoming One of the Magi
The Gift of Seeking: Becoming One of the Magi The Rev. Bingham Powell In today’s Gospel story we heard the story of the Magi, or the Three Kings or Three Wisemen. We know very little about these three Magi, and I mean very little. The Church of England commissioned a report about twenty years ago, and it concluded we know so little about them that we don’t even know if there were three of them. We don’t know if they were kings. We don’t know if they were wise. We don’t even know that they were men. We know almost nothing about these folks. What do we know about them? We know they are a group. There are at least two, but it could be more. There could be twelve or a hundred, but there are at least two. Of those two there is at least one man. It could be a mixed group, but it can’t be an all female group. They bring three types of gifts. They don’t bring three gifts necessarily, but three types of gifts. There could have been five people bringing gold bars, we don’t know. We do know they bring gold, frankincense, and myrrh. Then there are things that we sort of know, but they also raise many questions. For instance, we know they came from the East. What does that mean? Does it mean east of Bethlehem, or does it mean “the East” of which Bethlehem is part and areas westward are a part? There is much speculation about where they came from: Persia or Babylon or India or China or Vietnam. There is one tradition that says one came from Europe, one came from Africa, and one came from Asia. And it does not mean that they all came together. They could have come from different places. There is a tradition that says they came from all over, from different places and were therefore each a different people. It says that they followed a star. What does that mean? Stars don’t move like that and descend over buildings. There are many theories about that. Maybe it was a comet. Maybe it was an astrological planet that ended up in a certain constellation in a certain way that signified something. Maybe it was a mystical event. There is a story about the Magi from between the 3rd and 8th century that says the star was the Christ Child. It showed up and disappeared and then showed up again. So the Christ Child was above the manger, and then the Magi went inside and saw the child in the manger. There are many wild, weird, and mystical theories about the Magi. Then there is the word, Magi. What does it mean? The Greek word means magician, but in the 1st century that is like a slur or slander, so it doesn’t make a lot of sense in this story. No one has ever thought that they are magicians, and have tried to find another explanation. That is why they are also called wisemen or kings, the ones we know best, but also sages, religious leaders, priests. There is a tradition that says they are princes. Someone claimed that there was a tribe of people called the Magi, so these people were Magians. Like Eugenians from Eugene bringing their gifts. I can see them as a whole family, kids and everyone. There is another tradition that says do not use the Greek word for Magi, but use the word in the native language that the Magi were from. What language is that? Where were they from? We don’t know. There is a theory that they are from a mythical land. There are so many questions, and we know so little about them. And what happens when we don’t know much about something? Our imaginations run wild, and there are some pretty wild imaginations like the explanations we have just heard. We have an imagination that there are three of them, each one of them has a gift, and they have names: Balthazar, Melchior, and Caspar. That is one tradition. But there are other traditions. One of then from the far East, the Syriac church, has twelve Magi, and they all have names as well. It is an interesting thing, and all the imagination is fun, but hold it lightly because we don’t know. What we do know is that it is a group with at least one man, and they bring three types of gifts. Eve