Bible Text: Matthew 2:1-12 | Preacher: Rev. Jenn Geddes
I recently learned about John Polkinghorne who was a particle physicist and among the first to study quarks. For the record, despite having just spent a week with my brother who is an atmospheric scientist, I really have no idea what a particle physicist does nor do I understand what a quark is. But I do know that Dr. Polkinghorne was a tenured professor at Cambridge University so he was incredibly gifted and smart. But after 25 years of this career and calling he hung up his lab coat and went back to school to become a congregational minister. As many of you found out yesterday Dr. Polkinghorne was not the first of many scientists to do this. When I was at Knox College studying for ministry I had one classmate who was formerly a chemist, another was a former professor of physics and of course I have a father who changed from geology to ministry when I was young. But when Dr. Polkinghorne wrote about his experience in becoming a minister, he said,
“When I gave up being a physicist and started to train for the ordained ministry in the church of England, my life changed in a variety of ways. Yet some things remained constant, among them a desire to understand the rich and complex world in which we live and to seek the truth about it. In my view, the insights of science and the insights of religion are both essential to that task, for the more we learn about the structure and history of the natural world, the more we need to ask the question of whether there is meaning and purpose behind that fascinating story.”
Why this seems an important story to tell today is because Dr. Polkinghorne’s words and passion are similar to those of the Magi. He searched for God through the exercise of reason and inspection of the world. The Magi were inspecting the heavens and they were led to God Incarnate. Through their study and experience they encountered God and then were led home by a different route.
The word magi comes from Latin, Greek and Persian. In Latin it has come to mean wise men. In Greek it has come to mean astronomers or astrologers. In Persian it means priest or magician. It is believed that ancient magi were most often men who were adept at astronomy as well as certain darker arts like magic. What I want to point out is that it means the Magi studied. In fact many commentaries suggest that the Magi were pre-scientific scientists. Meaning that they studied what we would now call science before the discipline had a name. Some commentaries even state that the scientific study was likely their hobby while the fortune telling and entertaining rulers was what paid the bills. Which means they would have been comfortable around a tyrant like Herod, but they would have also known what they were talking about. We know they had a hunger for knowledge in part because that is what the Bible says. They had knowledge of the heavens, the courses and patterns of the stars, so when they saw something different they knew that the heavens were telling them something. Matthew clearly thinks of them as astronomers who have found a rising star in the sky and they see it as a historically significant event. They were trained in identifying, quantifying and classifying, essentially the scientific method. But in order to understand further they had to experience it. They had to go to Bethlehem to understand the truth of what the heavens were telling them.
The Magi experienced God by following through with their scientific research. Knowledge and information are credit and currency in our modern age but they have always been so. The conversation between the wise men and Herod makes that point clear. The Magi inform Herod that they have observed a star at its rising. The sincerity of the Magis’ desire to worship is contrasted with Herod’s insincere pledge, straight out lie, that he too wishes to worship.
Matthew’s story can be divided essentially into five scenes. (1) The wise men’s arrival, (2) Herod’s fear and consultation, (3) Herod’s lie, (4) the Magi’s visit to Jesus, and then (5) their departure. Of these five scenes three of them are punctuated by the Greek verb, Proskynein, meaning to worship or pay homage. The wise men experience the results of their research and in following of the star, they experience Christ and worship. Through this action they become symbols for all the gentiles who will come to lay gifts before Jesus. Through their actions they are also changed. The magi go home by a different route.
Think about it for a moment. The magi must have been tired after their long journey to find Jesus. They were a long way from home. And not only were they tired, they were under political pressure to return to Jerusalem and to inform Herod of what they had found. Herod was a ruthless ruler, and to defy him could have meant death for the Magi, so they were taking a big risk. But through their experience with God they were changed. How often do we encounter God and are changed, different from the way we were before? Like Dr. Polkinghorne, for me often this awe and change happens in observing creation. But like the Magi it is manifested in the words of Christ.
If God is mostly clearly revealed in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus- which is what we Christians declare each time we affirm our faith, then surely God can use creation to reveal divine truths. My friend and colleague Reid Chudley once said, “If Jesus was truly flesh and blood, if sweat and blood truly poured out of him, if he walked and talked and listened and loved, all while being the perfect revelation of God, then God must truly be able to reveal truth to us through Creation. All the great things you come to know under heaven aren’t worth a cent if you do not understand why you were made to know great things.”
The passage from Isaiah and even the psalm work together with the Gospel passage here to point out just how powerful God truly is. In spite of the un-predictabilities of human history and in spite of the exploitative and tyrannical “powers that be” in our world, God manifests Godself in ways that bring about transformation, healing, goodness and peace. Oh how we need to begin 2018 hearing those words and trusting them to be true. That no matter how powerful and evil, angry and greedy people can be, God is more powerful, God is greater, God’s love is stronger and God’s peace will overcome. Through the power of God’s presence, the magi come to visit the child who is the promise of Emmanuel- God with us for all people. While the Herods of the world will use their power for destruction, God comes to be with us. That is essentially what Epiphany means. It is a celebration of the manifestation of God’s presence in the world through Jesus Christ.
Like Dr. Polkinghorne and the Magi before him, we are called to look for God in the world we live in and in the Scriptures we study. It is science and faith at work together. This is not an “either/or” but a “both/and” situation. But we also cannot remain comfortable with the way things are. We cannot remain as status quo but must encounter God and be changed. Go home differently. They went home changed by their encounter with the child in Bethlehem, but note they did not give up on their earlier pursuits of study and knowledge; instead they went home better understanding what it all means. As the gentiles in this story, the Magi not only represent the fine relationship between science and faith, but also they stand for all the nations, including us, who study, who come to worship Jesus, who are transformed when we see the manifestation of the glory of God in the face of Christ among us. We are the modern Magi. Amen