Ok, so I’m reading my daily Bible passages and Matthew 2:11 states that the wisemen, upon finding the Christ child a while after the manger, bowed down and worshiped him. In my study Bible notes the commentator states that "it is doubtful that the wisemen would not have known about Jesus divine nature." According to the dictionary the word doubtful simply means something that is not known with complete certainty or is not readily apparent. Which means it is still possible and not “unlikely” for God. That comment in the study Bible is not spoken from a posture of faith in God’s supernatural abilities, but strictly from a human, earthly, and limited assessment.
Let’s ask ourselves this question, “What about Jesus birth is not unlikely or doubtful from a human - finite perspective?” I mean come on, really? Here’s a list of absurd circumstances by which and into which the incarnation took place.
1) Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit and a human teenager. The angel Gabriel appeared to her and spoke to her. Sounds supernatural to me.
2) God choses a humble family, in one of the humblest of towns, in one of the most abused, rejected, and “backwards” countries of the time. Not in your top ten places to have God take on flesh. Again, yep, supernatural and one might even say doubtful from our perspective.
3) Joseph, Mary’s betrothed was spoken to by God in a dream to take Mary as his wife in spite of the scandal it would have created in Nazareth. Again - “In a dream?” Sounds supernatural.
4) Mary’s cousin Elizabeth got pregnant waaaaaay past her fertile time as a woman. She couldn’t conceive even when she was of child-bearing age. Uh, supernatural? Kind of!
5) Zechariah, Elizabeth’s husband, who was a high-ranking Levitical priest, when ministering at the altar of incense, was struck dumb when he doubted in his heart that Elizabeth could conceive and bear a child. I mean, she never could before and now was “too old.” Oh, and when John the Baptist was born, Zechariah just happened to get his voice back at John’s briss and insisted that his name was to be John, even though no one in his family ancestry had ever been named John. And O yeah, he was told to call him John when he was before the altar of incense. (By the way, a place where one would expect something supernatural to happen.)
6) The star the wise men followed did not behave like a normal star. Many try to explain this phenomenon by claiming that the mergence of three planets created a super star that led them to the house where Jesus was. Now, you could make a case for the star having been positioned directly over Bethlehem but not over a specific house unless there was some sort of divine light pointing to the specific house. Verse 9 indicates that the star moved and then stopped over the house. It’s a mystery as to exactly how the wise men were able to first see and then to follow the star and why they were even motivated to follow it. But, if they embarked on a trip of several hundred miles, the star must have been impressive beyond the natural way stars act. Otherwise, why wouldn’t the wise men just watch another celestial mergence from their Lazy-boys at home? I don’t know about you, but that all sounds pretty supernatural.
7) The incarnation itself is supernatural and hard to wrap one’s head around. Is it seriously easier to believe the virgin birth than the wisemen having obtained supernatural revelation from God that Jesus was divine? Why else would they have been motivated to worship him?
“We have seen his star...and have come to worship him.” Matthew 2:2. For the wisemen, Jesus was clearly much more than just another new earthly king. They were supernaturally compelled to follow the star. The fact that it is maybe doubtful that the wise men knew Jesus was divine doesn’t downplay the authenticity of the event in the least. It simply makes it more miraculous and exceptional. (Certainly Matthew was pointing to Jesus as divine and the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy just like the rest of his gospel). While the wise men could have been ignorant of all the specifics of Christ’s life, death, and resurrection they certainly weren’t ignorant of his significance for the whole world. And isn’t that the point?
One last thing. The significance of the three gifts. The church father, Origen clear back in the mid Third Century, wrote that gold represented royalty or kingship, which Jesus was from the lineage of David. The second gift, frankincense, indicates deity and also was tied to the priestly order in Judaism. And third, myrrh, is typically associated with death or anointing. This is a prophetic voice in regard to Jesus death on the cross and his hasty anointing just before his burial. Though some might think it is a bit of a stretch, I think those three gifts give identification of Jesus’ three roles of prophet, priest, and king – God’s representative to the people, the people’s representative to God, and his eternal role as Servant King. The gifts they brought clearly indicate that they didn’t make the trip out of sheer curiosity. So, here is my point.
We all have been given a “star” to follow that leads us to Jesus. Some choose to ignore it, some just completely reject the possibility, and others find it just too “doubtful” (incredible) to completely believe. I think we need to be careful when we are quick to reject the supernatural and stumble over ourselves looking for a more logical or less mysterious explanation. Furthermore, the most unfortunate thing is that we poo poo supernatural spiritual gifts, and miss miraculous events because we get caught up in, or enamored with, our own intellect.
So, are you going to recognize the supernatural ”star” God has given to you by which to follow his Son? Your “star,” or calling, may look different from mine. (Mine has lead me for 63 years and there are few things that happen in the name of Jesus that I find “too supernatural” anymore.) But our stars all lead to the same place – Jesus Christ, who is the only true Savior of humankind. They all come to rest above the Christ child and invite us to bow down and acknowledge who he truly is. He is the Son of God, Savior of the World, the Prince of Peace, and of his kingdom there will be no end. Isaiah 9:6-7.
Jesus is the Word become flesh (John 1:1-5). The supernatural invasion of the heavenly kingdom on
earth and the incredible gift of the incarnation! The reason? Jesus does for us, what we cannot do for ourselves. He defeats sin and death and invites us into eternity with him. The wise men followed the star because of the promise of God’s presence, of someone worthy of their worship. They found Jesus. The same holds true for you now – if you choose to follow.
Origen - The Contra Celsum.
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