Three Kings?

Today is Epiphany, or Three Kings Day.  For Christians, this day is the culmination of the Advent and Christmas seasons, celebrating the three Magi who came, following a star, to find the Christ child.  In my lifetime, I have heard many wonderful stories about the significance of the announcement of Christ’s birth to the shepherds.  They were the least and the lowest as far as their place in society.  They represented the idea that salvation was for everyman, not just for the elite.  But, in light of that, what do these Three Kings represent?  I decided to do some research.

The first thing I discovered was that scripture never says how many of them there were, it only says that Magi came from the east.  The idea that there were three men came from the number of gifts mentioned: Gold, Frankincense and Myrrh. 

Then, I discovered that the Bible never says they were Kings.  They were “Magi”, which is not nearly as fancy a title as I’ve been led to believe all these years.  In fact, its meaning was rather surprising to me: sorcerer, wizard, magician or astrologer.  If you have studied scripture in reference to any of those words, you will know that the people of God were clearly forbidden to have anything to do with those who did such things.

Prior to this story, the closest that scripture comes to presenting these practitioners in anything resembling a positive light was in the story of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream found in Daniel 2.  When none of Nebuchadnezzar’s magicians, enchanters, sorcerers and astrologers could tell him his dream and its meaning, Daniel, only with direct revelation from God in answer to his prayer, was able to do so.  As a result, Nebuchadnezzar put Daniel in charge of all of his “wise men.”  The obvious implication of that story was that God alone is the source of true wisdom.  Daniel was only a “wise man” because he was a conduit of God’s wisdom.

In the New Testament, the same word translated as “Magi” in the story of the visitors from the east, was used in only two other verses, Acts 13:6 & 8, and was translated there as “magician” and “sorcerer”, referencing a wicked man.

What we now have in the Epiphany story are a group of pagan sorcerers and astrologers to whom God chose to reveal himself.  Through their forbidden practices, he enabled them to discern the fact that a powerful king, the King of the Jews, had been born; and, by their astrological charts, he showed them a star, which they followed to find him.  These men, whose deeds God called detestable in scripture, are contrasted against Herod, the currently reigning King of the Jews, to whom God revealed nothing.

This is scandalous!  So scandalous, in fact, that we felt the need to dress up the story, making these men presentable and worthy by elevating them to the status of kings who must have somehow procured copies of the Hebrew Scriptures and carefully studied them; and on whom God bestowed his favor, because of their diligence, by leading them to Christ. 

The truth is, they were not worthy of that honor.  They were shockingly unworthy, just like the shepherds to whom the angels came; just like us.  Yet, God met those practitioners of the detestable black arts right where they were and demonstrated to us all that no one, no one, is beyond his reach. 

That’s worth celebrating!