"Now After Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the east came to Jerusalem saying, 'Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.'" (Matthew 2:1-2)
Every Christmas we get cards and we see nativity scenes depicting three kings bringing their gifts to Jesus in the stable the night he was born. However, this conflates texts that happen at different times. When the magi visited Jesus it was some time after his birth. Jesus would have been a young toddler, and judging from Herod's plot to murder him, he may have been up to 2 years old when they finally arrived. The magi didn't come to see him in a manger, they came to a house and found him with his mother. They were not kings, but they were wise men.
These wise men were probably similar to the wise men that we read of in the book of Daniel. King Nebuchadnezzar had many wise men whom he sought counsel from when he wanted to have his dreams interpreted. It was probably customary in Babylon for the rulers to have courts of these wise men, but how would they have known to look for a child born king of the Jews? They were probably not in the dark. The Jews had been exiled to Babylon in 586 BC and continued to have a Jewish population even after they were allowed to return to their homeland. These wise men could have learned about the expectation of a Jewish Messiah from the Scriptures used in the synagogues of Babylon.
So, some time when Jesus was a toddler he was visited by these magi. They were foreigners--Gentiles--astrologers--and they came looking for this child who was born king. When they came, they didn't come straight to Bethlehem. They came to Jerusalem. They probably expected that a king would be found in the capital city, in a palace, but when they got there, no one seemed to know anything about this child king. Herod was the king, and he was paranoid. He killed his own wife, and he killed two of his sons because of his paranoia. One of the ancient historians said that it was better to be Herod's dog than his son. When the magi mention that a king was born, Herod's paranoia kicked into gear. He was already scheming to kill anyone who would challenge his rule. So he asked these magi to report back to him what they found. Herod called on the chief priests and the scribes to find out what these magi were talking about. These religious leaders had the right academic answers. They could quote the Old Testament and tell the magi to go to Bethlehem to find the new king. Yet one wonders, why were these religious leaders to apathetic. Why didn't they come along to worship Jesus too? They knew the prophetic expectation, but they didn't seem to care much that these gentiles came along saying that the Messiah had been born.
So the magi made their way toward Bethlehem, and when they came to the house where the child was they worshiped Jesus and they gave him gifts. There's more that can be said here, but I want to draw attention to the contrast. These Gentile astrologers came and worshiped this new born king. The reigning king of the Jews who was appointed by Caesar wanted to kill him, and the religious leaders could care less. People still respond to Jesus in the same way today. Probably most people are in the place of the religious leaders. If you ask them what they think of Jesus, they may be able to spout an academically accurate answer. He's the Son of God. He's the Savior. But if you look at their lives there is no evidence that they really care about that. They are apathetic, and aren't moved to worship Jesus. Then others are in the place of Herod. They are hostile, and they are vocal. They want nothing to do with Jesus or God. They don't want anyone else to talk to them about Jesus. These may be relatively few, but in actuality, all of us, apart from God's grace are in this position. We all stand with our fists shaking at God and demand that he give us our way. We are rebels at heart, and we would rather kill God than worship him--unless He first does a work in us that calls us to worship him. Then there are the magi. These are the ones who would be far off and distant from God. They were not the Jews who had access to the Scriptures. They were pagans, yet they were drawn to Jesus, and they fell on their faces and worshiped him. These magi are the picture of all true Christians. Believers are those who are drawn into the worship of Jesus. We fall on our faces before him and are in awe. We give him our all as an act of worship--not because we are great people, like a king--and not because we are religious intellectuals with all the right Bible answers--like the scribes--but because we saw his star--we hear his voice calling to us--and we cannot help but bow down and worship the God who took on flesh.
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