Magi at Jordan
Matthew 2:1-12; Mark 1:4-11

January 11, 2009


At the very end of the story of the Magi, Matthew observes almost off-handedly that “being warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they departed to their own country by another way.” We have never been sure which country was their own, nor what route they took in the first place.

The Gospel tells us only this, but that hasn’t stopped many from imagining many things about these wise men three or more. Marco Polo claimed that he was shown the three tombs of the Magi at Saveh south of Tehran in the 1270s: “In Persia is the city of Saba, from which the Three Magi set out and in this city they are buried, in three very large and beautiful monuments, side by side. And above them there is a square building, beautifully kept. The bodies are still entire, with hair and beard remaining.” And except for the fact that their bones are interred in the Shrine of the Three Kings in the Cologne Cathedral, Germany, from 1164, slightly over one hundred years before, we might be well satisfied with Persia. Maybe there were six kings, Matthew never numbers them.

The Magi were supposed to be wise, but part of that wisdom would have included journeying to Palestine over the traditional trade routes from Mesopotamia, and on the way eventually to Jerusalem, by necessity they would have had to ford the River Jordan. The Jordan is The Biblical river, not a particularly beautiful one as rivers go, but over Jordan many a Biblical personality traveled.

It was the entrance to the Promised Land at the end of the Exodus of Israel. Na’aman the Syrian general was cured of leprosy washing seven times in the muddy Jordan. Elijah and then Elisha smacked their coats on the waters and split the Jordan so that they walked over on dry land. When John felt called to institute a new ritual, a baptism for the forgiveness of sins, the only authentic place to baptize was the Jordan. There was no other body of water that Jesus could be baptized in legitimately, except the Jordan. Do any of you know the name of any other Israelite river, for that matter?

Now strictly speaking, there are approximately 30 years separating the journey of the Magi through the Jordan and the baptism of Jesus in the Jordan. There is another tradition floating around that the Magi themselves were all eventually baptized by the Apostle Thomas on his own journey to evangelize India. That meant that the Magi had to dilly dally for well over those same 30 years before finally committing themselves to the Christ Child. In a way they didn’t have to wait.

The Magi are among the most favourite characters from the Bible, an exotic gaggle of gurus, intellectuals, and wannabe magicians, who have held our fascination since the beginning of the Gospel. There are plenty of cynics and Biblical critics who have assumed that these three kings are figments of an imaginative evangelist Matthew, but the Magi are remarkably modern pilgrims whose search for something meaningful in life has burned eternal. We are Magi still.

The Magi were apparently a mixed bag of intellectuals and pseudo-intellectuals, even shams, but generally they were Zoroastrian and their way of thinking was essentially religious. They were the first religious people to see the child, and how ironic and significant in our sensitive and explosive era to realize that they were not Jewish and certainly not yet Christian, yet they could see. But not unlike many today they took their religious concepts wherever they could find them. If it sounded good and amicable to their taste, they adopted it. They collected ideas like playing cards, nice to look at, but nothing you would want to do anything with. And once they realized that Herod was not someone they wanted to continue to deal with, they were gone and never heard from again. Did seeing Jesus and giving those gifts do anything to their souls? Did it change their lives? Were they ever baptized?

Actually, the fact that we never hear any more of them, that we don’t know how their later lives were affected, is the fate of most characters in the Bible and the Gospels. And it’s what happens to you and me as well - we worship, hear the scriptures and sermon, pray and sing, and then leave the church and it is not certain whether the nice ideas have changed us at all. Seldom do we really hear what happens.

The Magi waded through the River Jordan once, if not twice, but baptism was not likely, it takes more than water. Baptism is a sacred action full of symbolic power and meaning, if we pay attention. What baptism is all about is being resurrected, even as an infant and his or her parents, to a new way of life driven not by the old ways and the old routines and the old sins. Being temporarily wet is the only physical consequence of baptism. It’s what happens on the way home that matters, whether you decide to begin living as if you were resurrected, brought back from the dead. By which road do you choose to travel home, the same old one or one that requires a little bit more attention, a little more life?

William Willimon observed the ironic fact that many parents work hard to train their children in academic and vocational skills, but believe that they should not impose ethical or religious values upon them. “We will let them make their own decision,” I have heard many times. Regrettably, a decision has already been made and most children learn very well.

The end of the story of the Magi is the beginning for us descendants and heirs of the Magi. Being warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they departed to their own country by another way. In the sixth century one of the greatest of Christian preachers was in fact the Pope, Gregory the Great. Perhaps he waxed too eloquently, but when Gregory arrived at this last verse he made special note that once one has met the Christ Child nothing in one’s life could be the same. They had to go back home a different way, perhaps once again through the Jordan.

Modern-day Magi prefer stability, abhor being radical and adventurous except on holidays, and are uneasy taking any route except the familiar one home. Most of us here have been baptized, some are considering the sacrament for themselves or their children. Wading through the water is a nice experience, but it’s which road you are taking home that shows whether you are living in the resurrection.

Preached by Robert Kitchen
Knox-Metropolitan United Church
Regina, Saskatchewan