“After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in the territory of Judea during the rule of King Herod, magi came from the east to Jerusalem.” – Matthew 2:1 (Common English Bible)

The story of the wise men from the east who come to see Jesus is one in which we might be overly familiar. Over-familiarity is not far from unfamiliarity. We have become used to seeing the wise men in our manger scenes, hearing about them in our Christmas stories, singing about them in our carols. We have become comfortable with the presence of the wise men.

But this is not a story written to make anyone comfortable.

If we begin to look at the story more critically, we realize at first that this is not a Christmas story. The wise men do not show up at the manger scene. The way it reads, they probably do not get to Bethlehem until sometime after Jesus was born (maybe as long as two years). We also do not know how many wise men there were. We picture three of them because there are three gifts. But the text does not tell us their number. We know there were at least two – but some have speculated as many as 12. We just do not know.

Then we get to the matter of who these people actually were. We are not told much. Most translations will either call them “wise men” or “magi”. The Greek word is magoi. Other potential translations could include “magician,” “astrologer,” or “sorcerer”. The Greek word refers to those who practice things like astrology, medicine, and dream interpretation.

Here is what Matthew wants us to see with these so called “wise men”: they are pagans. They are astrologers. They come to Jerusalem – not because they hear a Word from the Lord – but because of something they see in the stars. They come to their conclusion about Jesus’ birth because of astrology. These are the kinds of people who study signs and write horoscopes. They are palm readers, fortune tellers. Rather than “We three kings,” we might as well sing “We three pagans”. It is more accurate to the story, but it does not fill as well in a hymnal.

The scandal of this story is that the first people (in Matthew’s account at least) to worship Jesus are not the God-fearing people in Jerusalem, but pagan astrologers from the east.

This is the “Epiphany”, the great realization that Jesus has come to be the savior of the whole world, of all people: Jew and Gentile, slave and free, male and female, Pharisee and magi. No one is excluded from the opportunity to worship Jesus and become part of Jesus’ family. No matter where you find yourself in life, no matter what path you are on – regardless of your race, sexual orientation, nationality, religion – you are invited and welcome to be part of Jesus’ family.

So does this mean that all beliefs, practices, and lifestyles are created equal? No. Jesus and Jesus alone is Lord and savior.  Not all beliefs, not all religions “lead to the same place”. They are not all equal. But no way of life and no religion excludes you from beginning the journey to Jesus.

While these three pagans begin their journey to Jesus through their practice of astrology, this practice only gets them so far. It gets them to Jerusalem but not to Bethlehem. They only get to Bethlehem because, while they are in Jerusalem, they receive a word from the Lord: 

“You, Bethlehem, land of Judah, 
by no means are you least 
among the rulers of Judah,
because from you will come 
one who governs, 
who will shepherd my people Israel.” 
(Matthew 2:6 CEB, quoting Micah 5:2). 

Different “paths” in life are fine starting points to make our way to Jesus. But they will not all get us there. Buddhism does not, on its own, point us to Jesus. Paganism does not naturally lead us to the one, true God. Astrology will not bring us to worship God in spirit and in truth. Without a Word from the Lord, without the light of revelation, we will not find our way to Jesus.

But here is the good news: God’s Word can speak to us and reach us wherever we find ourselves on the journey. No one is ipso facto excluded from the gospel.

If the magi from the east are welcome to come to Jesus and worship Him, then so can you.