Matthew 2:1-12 – God’s (NOT-SO) Mysterious Ways

Over the years I’ve read this passage (Matthew 2:1-12) a number of times and always focused on the wise men and their gifts, Herod and his insecurities, and baby Jesus and his mother, but I don’t think I’ve ever considered the chief priests and the scribes. God, through the prophet Micah, told them that the Christ would be born in Bethlehem. Sure, that was nearly 800 years before they were called in front of Herod, but they knew it well enough to quote it. Have you ever wondered why they weren’t in Bethlehem looking for the Christ? If they knew Micah’s prophecy and believed it, wouldn’t it have made sense to constantly have someone posted in Bethlehem watching for the Christ child? I don’t know; maybe not. At the very least, you would think that after Herod had called them to ask about it they would have sent someone, out of curiosity, to see if anything special was happening in Bethlehem; but it doesn’t seem like they did.

The fact that the text relegates them to a provider of information makes me think that God had sort of given up on them by this point. What I mean is, he sent a message through his prophets and told them that he was sending them a savior. The chief priest and the scribes, at the very least, knew all about this, yet they didn’t seem interested enough to act on it.

If I were God that would have ticked me off. The Israelites were my chosen people through whom I was going to save the world, but they had constructed so many rules and regulations that they were unable to see the forest of God’s hand for the trees of their laws. (Thankfully, I’m not God…for many more reasons than just this event.) And, in response to their unwillingness, or inability to see the obvious — Jesus would later call them stiff-necked and hard-hearted — God did something totally unexpected and something of which we would probably be skeptical today: he placed signs in the stars.

When we think of signs in the stars we probably think of horoscopes. And while that’s kinda the case here, it’s a little more nuanced than that. The text calls these star-gazers “wise men from the east,” meaning that, to the best of our knowledge, they were most likely followers of Zarathustra. Some extra-biblical traditions even tell us the names of the wise men: Gaspar, Melchior, and Balthasar. These followers of Zarathustra actually still exist today as a religious group, the bulk of whom live in Iran; they are called Zoroastrians. Among other beliefs, they believe that the divine one — their name for him is Ahura Mazda — reveals himself in the stars. We might find this sort of odd as most of us scoff at the daily horoscopes (and probably don’t even know anything about Zoroastrianism), but that isn’t the point. The point is that these weren’t Jews. None of them were direct descendants of Abraham (although it is quite likely they were descendants of Shem, Abraham’s forefather).

I realize this might seem like a rabbit trail leading away from the passage about the birth of Jesus, and maybe it is. But bear (pun alert) with me. God’s sending a star sign to non-Israelites seems to tell us something about God that we might not have realized: God revealed himself to a group of people who study the cycles of nature to discern the will of the divine. These people worshipped a different god, and yet, God revealed to them something he had been telling the Jews for hundreds of years. These star-gazers, armed with a little bit of knowledge — and that gained by studying the stars — left their homeland and traveled a long distance to worship this newborn king. Now, compare their trek to Jerusalem with the Israelites who, living just a few miles away from Bethlehem, didn’t seem to be taking God seriously; even Herod seemed to have taken God seriously. Granted, Herod’s actions were probably driven by his selfish desire to stay in power, but at least he gave the prophets their due.

After the wise men heard where the king was to be born, they went to Bethlehem, found the Christ child, and worshipped him. Then, after giving him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh, they listened to God once again when he warned them in a dream to not return to Herod. They, much like Joseph, obeyed God when they received God’s message in their dreams.

I suppose a valid discussion might be had on whether they will be in heaven. But I’m not sure we would ever get to a conclusion; the Bible is silent on their eternal destiny. But we can talk about God. We can talk about how God counted Abraham’s faith — following God’s call to go to another land (Hebrews 11:8-12) and believing that God would make of him a great nation — as righteousness (Genesis 15:6). We can also talk about how God’s ways are above our ways, something about which Isaiah wrote (Isa 55:8-9). And then, as we ponder Abraham’s faith and God’s ways, we might be close to answering our question about the wise men and heaven, but a better conclusion is for us to return to the opening line of the Lord’s Prayer, “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.”

This story, while seemingly focused only on important earthly events, is also an open window revealing to us a little bit more about God. God works through people we would never expect, including worshippers of a false religion. I suppose we could also discuss how God’s truth finds its way into humanity’s every religion and philosophy, or how shadows of the truth can be found in every fabricated religion and how they can be used by God to bring others to him, but I think I’ll limit myself to a few questions that come to mind as I read this text.

What other god would choose to work through those who worship someone other than him?
What other god would use the philosophy of their beliefs to point to his son?
And, what other god would warn them of danger?

Yes, this story seems to be about a star, some wise men, Herod, gold, frankincense, myrrh, Mary, and the baby Jesus. But I think it’s possible that this story is really about God. While God may not send us a star to lead us in the night, he does reveal himself in ways we might not always expect. He also reveals himself to people we might never expect and leads them to his son through ways we could never imagine. But God doesn’t always operate so clandestinely; God has also revealed himself through the Bible, a very accessible message. And for most of us today, we should spend less time looking for “messages in the stars” and more time reading his word. I realize many of us are probably somewhat like the high priest and scribes in that we are able to quote extensively from God’s word, but quoting words isn’t enough; we should also listen to God and be willing to act on what he says.

God may work in mysterious ways, but his ways are not so mysterious that those looking for him can’t find him. For God’s readily accessible word as well as his ability to continually surprise us with his power to reach unbelievers and bring them to his son, we pray…

Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.

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