Intro
It’s taken a while, but I’m finally at the end of my Christmas Characters series. For those of you who prefer to keep Christmas in December, I’m sure you’re quite relieved. For the rest of you who don’t mind Christmas in July, you probably wouldn’t mind a few more Christmas-themed posts. But I’ve got other topics I’d like to cover so I’ll stop here and pick up Christmas again later this year.
But now on to the main event! Today I’m talking about takeaways from the groups of people that came to visit Jesus unannounced. Yep, that’s right. I’m talking about the lowly Shepherds and the wealthy Magi (or Wise Men).
The Shepherds
And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”
Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,
“Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”
When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.”
So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.
Luke 2:8-20 (NIV)
We don’t get a whole lot about the shepherds – we don’t even know how many there were. What we do know is that these shepherds lived out in the fields just outside of Bethlehem. And we see that they dutifully watched the sheep – even through the night. Shepherding is a hard job that requires constant attention. It takes a special kind of person to do such a job. Perhaps that’s why – unlike many ancient cultures – the Jewish culture actually respected shepherds to a degree (except for the wealthy, but they tended to look down on everyone). So, the traditional idea of God choosing the lowest-of-the-low to be the first isn’t 100% accurate. Sure, they were still a bit dirty and probably smelled of sheep, but they were fairly respected people.
Not Ordinary Shepherds
And that’s especially true if you believe that these were more than just ordinary shepherds. The fact that they lived in the fields is particularly noteworthy since the Mishnah (a group of traditions that governed the Jewish people after the Maccabean revolt) requires that sheep be kept out in the wilderness – not in homes or fields since they’d eat the crops. Of course it’s also noteworthy that the fact they were able to be in fields indicates the time of year had to be during harvest season and the time when there were no crops left (June/July – September/October).
Back to the requirements found in the Mishnah. The exception to this rule goes to the sheep raised for the Temple sacrifices. Since those sheep needed to be blemish-free, they were raised in the safety of fields and more carefully watched over. In addition, the job of raising these important sheep fell to priests. And lastly, it’s known that the fields around Bethlehem were indeed used for such sheep-raising. So given all this, the first people God chose to announce Jesus’ birth to were actually shepherd-priests. More respected people who would have heard the angel’s message and understood some of the things said more readily than the traditionally imagined uneducated lowly outcast of a shepherd.
Their Response
When the angel declared who Jesus was (Savior, Messiah, Lord), these shepherd-priests would have recognized and understood what each of them meant and their significance – far better than any uneducated shepherd. Couple that with the presence of so many angels, and it’s no wonder that the shepherds jumped up and said “we need to see this baby for ourselves!” And when they got there and saw Jesus in a manger as the angel said, they rejoiced and became the first evangelists for Jesus telling everyone they could about it. And even though Luke records that everyone was “amazed” by what the shepherds said, that amazement probably came in the form of amazed that respected priests were running around like this talking about a baby.
Takeaways
So what takeaways do I have for you? When God tells you to do something, do it. The angels told the shepherds to go to Bethlehem and they did. No questions asked. Second, when God does something in your life, tell people about it. Your story can encourage others and give them hope. The shepherds told anyone and everyone they could about the infant Jesus and what the angels said. And third, don’t be afraid to do something out of pure joy, even if others say you look foolish. The shepherds probably looked a little foolish running around town like that, but they didn’t care.
The Magi
Perhaps the most mysterious of the Christmas characters are the people we call the Magi or Wise Men. We get very little about them from the Bible. Matthew records their story in only a handful of verses. Check them out.
After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem and asked, “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.”
When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him. When he had called together all the people’s chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Messiah was to be born. “In Bethlehem in Judea,” they replied, “for this is what the prophet has written:
“‘But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,
are by no means least among the rulers of Judah;
for out of you will come a ruler
who will shepherd my people Israel.’”Then Herod called the Magi secretly and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared. He sent them to Bethlehem and said, “Go and search carefully for the child. As soon as you find him, report to me, so that I too may go and worship him.”
After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen when it rose went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route.
Matthew 2:1-12 (NIV)
We get almost nothing about who these guys are or where they came from. And like the shepherds, we have no clue how many of them there were. We traditionally use three because of the three gifts they brought. But there very likely were more. What we see is that the Magi came from “the East”. Not real descriptive. Probably was east of the Jordan river, but that’s still a large area. Common beliefs include as close as Jordan or northern Saudi Arabia to as far as Persia (modern day Iran).
A couple of things we can derive from the text is that they were very wealthy. The gifts they brought are a testament to that. After all, not everyone has gold lying around to give as a gift. And same with both frankincense and myrrh – both were very expensive to have around. So we know from their gifts that the Magi were wealthy people. We also see that they paid attention to the heavens and studied the celestial bodies to understand signs and such. Many people in the land of Judea missed the Star of Bethlehem and yet these foreigners come into Jerusalem asking about the king of the Jews.
A couple of other notes is they travelled a great distance to honor a Jewish king. This might suggest that their people had relations with the Jews already. And lastly, I want to point out that they were religious in some form. After all, God warned them not to return to Herod via a dream and they obeyed.
Who Were They?
Persian/Babylonian
I’m going to discuss a couple of the most prominent theories as to just who the Magi were and where they came from. The more traditional theory is that they were of some order of astrologers or priests that served in the ancient Babylonian and Persian courts. Think back to Nebuchadnezzar and his court. He had a bunch of wise men who couldn’t interpret his dream and then Daniel walked and said, “here it is”. Some have speculated that these Magi studied Daniel’s prophecies and recognized the time as when the king of the Jews (the Messiah) was to be born.
While this could be true, the evidence isn’t terribly strong. For instance, we don’t know if those ancient orders were still active during the first centuries BC and AD. After all, those lands were under a totally different empire (Parthian) and we’re not sure if they had anything similar in their courts. To be sure, these people would fulfill the parts we do know about them being from the East and being wealthy enough to have and purchase the gold, frankincense, and myrrh.
Nabatean
Another theory that’s growing in prominence is that they were Nabataean. The Kingdom of Nabataea encompassed parts of Syria, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and the Sinai. So they’d fit the Easterly requirement. In addition, they had great relations with the Jews. Herod the Great’s mother was Nabataean and he maintained political ties with them through his reign. So it could easily make sense that the Nabataean’s would want to honor a new Jewish king – especially since they were renowned traders and would desire to maintain strong relations with any nation they did business with.
Furthermore, Nabataean’s held a virtual monopoly on the trade of Frankincense. In fact, they dealt in Myrrh as well and had gold in abundance. So even if the Magi did not come from here, they probably purchased some of their gifts from the Nabataean traders, who, by the way, would have been very familiar with the stars for navigating the desert at night.
Takeaways
In the end, it doesn’t matter a whole lot who they were. I personally grew up believing they were from the Babylonian/Persian area and adopted the belief that they were familiar with Daniel’s prophecies. But honestly, I’m starting to lean toward the Nabataean theory. Regardless of where they came from, the takeaways are the same. First, they recognized God doing something significant. They likely knew the positions and types of stars and other celestial bodies by heart and would have noticed the craziness of everything going on during those couple of years leading up to Jesus’ birth and beyond (check out my post on what the Star of Bethlehem likely was for more detail). For us, the takeaway is to be so immersed in know the Word of God and His Spirit that you recognize when God is moving and can respond and partner with Him.
Second, is that they showed great honor and worshipped the King of kings – long before He did anything. This is powerful. Today we must do the same and show God honor and give Him worship – even before we see any miracles, any answers to prayer, etc.
Wrapping Up
The biggest takeaways with these groups of people probably have to do with worship and telling people about Jesus. And not just at Christmas. It seems that people are more likely to talk about Jesus at Christmas and Easter, but not in June. We should be open to talking about Him all year round.
By the way, did you notice any major themes that links all the Christmas Characters? Some of the most cross-cutting themes were Obedience, Hope, Devotion to God, and Spreading His messages. And I think if we practice all these things, we’ll find the abundant life that Jesus came to give us (John 10:10).
Outro
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