December 27: Wise Men Pursue a Lowly Mighty King
♫ Music:
Day 26 - Thursday, December 27
The Wise Men: The First Gentiles to Worship Christ
Scripture: Matthew 2:7-12
Then Herod summoned the wise men secretly and ascertained from them what time the star had appeared. And he sent them to Bethlehem, saying, “Go and search diligently for the child, and when you have found him, bring me word, that I too may come and worship him.” After listening to the king, they went on their way. And behold, the star that they had seen when it rose went before them until it came to rest over the place where the child was. When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy. And going into the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother, and they fell down and worshiped him. Then, opening their treasures, they offered him gifts, gold and frankincense and myrrh. And being warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they departed to their own country by another way.
Poetry:
Praying with George Herbert in Late Winter
by Tom Andrews
1
In fits and starts, Lord,
our words work
the other side of language
where you lie if you can be said
to lie. Mercy upon
the priest who calls on you
to nurture and to terrorize
him, for you oblige.
Mercy upon you, breath's engine
returning what is to what is.
Outside, light swarms
and particularizes the snow;
tree limbs crack with ice
and drop. I can say
there is a larger something
inside me. I can say,
"Gratitude is
a strange country." But what
would I give to live there?
2
Something breaks in us,
and keeps breaking. Charity,
be severe with me.
Mercy, lay on your hands.
White robes on
the cypress tree. Sparrows
clot the fence posts;
they hop once and weave
through the bleached air.
Lord, I drift on the words
I speak to you—
the words take on
and utter me. In what
language are you not
what we say you are?
Surprise me, Lord, as a seed
surprises itself . . .
3
Today the sun has the inward look
of the eye of the Christ child.
Grace falls at odd angles from heaven
to earth: my sins are bright sparks
in the dark of blamelessness . . .
Yes. From my window I watch a boy step
backwards down the snow-covered road,
studying his sudden boot tracks.
The wedding of his look and the world!
And for a moment, Lord, I think
I understand about you and silence . . .
But what a racket I make in telling you.
WISE MEN PURSUE A LOWLY MIGHTY KING
The adoration of the wise men comes as a profound theopolitical act right in the middle of a high-stakes drama concerning “Who really is the ‘king of the Jews’?” Or, to cast it in a more theological light, “Who really is the Good Shepherd to rightly rule the people of God into the fulfillment of Yahweh’s promises?” [cf. vs. 6 prophesy from Micah 5:2].
More starkly put, can you imagine grand wizards surrendering their minds, let alone their reputations, their gravitas, their affluence . . . in pursuit of a child born ‘king of the Jews’?? Enter: the wise men.
Matthew 2:1-6 offers us multiple contrasts between what we might call the ‘mighty mighty’ and the ‘lowly mighty.’ It is a context that does more than introduce the wise men and their quest; it is a way of cultivating the imagination to anticipate – with Advent flare – how God works creatively and patiently among his servants, both the expected and unexpected.
The opening setting: “After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, in the time of King Herod, wise men from ‘the East’ came to Jerusalem . . .” (2:1). Notice that Bethlehem of Judea, which doesn’t have much stature among the tribes of Judah [cf. vs. 6], is from where the Christ child hails [lowly mighty]; whereas, the rule and times of Herod hails directly from Jerusalem, the epicenter of political-cultural-economic-social power in the Jewish world [the mighty mighty].
Even more profoundly audacious, the magi or ‘wise men’ hail from the East – not at all near the metropolis of Herod’s Jerusalem - and it is they that ask the crucial theopolitical question, “Where is the one who is born king of the Jews?” (vs. 2a). That’s mightily disruptive to the status quo in the days of King Herod and Emperor Augustus (Lk. 2:1)
If you are Herod – a glory-seeking ruler, not of Jewish origin, a known maintainer of the Emperor’s ‘peace’ – that very question from those types of inquirers makes you curious, unsettled, even ‘alarmed’! (vs. 3). For the wise men are ‘outsiders’ – rhetorical invaders, if you will – digging into what ‘insiders’ should know. They decipher signs of the times, even tracking royalty indicators and affairs of governments, as evidenced in sky phenomena and in dreams.
If the magi’s question isn’t disruptive enough, they claim that this one born into kingship has ‘his star’ (vs. 2), which they [and likely their entourage] have been pursuing since ‘when it rose.’ Are you starting to see Herod sweat drops of envy? For one thing, no wise men are pursuing him for his kingship pedigree. And even though Herod’s known for his massive building projects - architectural glories throughout Judea designed to evidence the mighty mighty – all that visual extravaganza does not compel wizards from another country. But a star does.
Then comes the cosmic mic drop! These wise men have deliberately come to worship this one born king of the Jews. They are not mere idle speculators or simply playing signs-in-the-sky trivial pursuit. It is not hobby-time for them, or merely an intellectualist game. They literally act as if the sign of their seeking signals facts that are not only true but worth a particular response; worship! Stunning.
In contrast, Herod does what many of us do when our false worth and feigning adoration is contested, or if what we want is thwarted: he schemes with others to defeat threats to self-preservation. Herod assembles “all the chief priests and experts in the law” (vs. 4); he’s scheming to know what the ‘knowers’ know before making a move. Power contests are often epistemological contests. Herod then secretly summons the wise men to ‘inquire’ about the ‘when’ of Messiah’s birth; he wants them [the lowly mighty] to think that what he is interested in is what they seek, even to the point of ‘sending’ them to ‘go and look carefully’ for the Christ child (vs. 8). Is Herod not the consummate politician?
The wise men demonstrate a different kind of worship. It’s a kind of risky abandonment to lay down the smarts of your reputation, travel to another country in order to follow revelation naturally evidenced to you in the form of a sign-in-the-sky – however incomplete, even ambiguous, concerning who or what it points toward. What did they expect when they eventually saw Mary and Jesus, the child? Did they further theorize, did they postulate possible world scenarios of what they could have been experiencing if they had done something different in their quests?
Matthew reports that upon ‘seeing’ the child with Mary his mother, the wise [men] throw themselves to the ground as a sign of devotion, reverence, adoration . . . the kind reserved for beings of high-ranking status, whether divine or human; and in that moment, they commit political heresy relative to Herod and yet now know more than the ‘insider’ establishment ‘knowers.’ Their adoration overflows with “gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh” (vs. 11). So stunning and wondrous. Here in this one verse, we have the climax of ‘general’ and ‘special’ revelation colluding together to summon joyously abounding adoration. Truly amazing. Truly miraculous.
Come ‘wizards,’ near and far – you philosophers, engineers, technologists, mathematicians, and arrays of scientists – yes, you too are welcome to find the ‘end’ of your gifts in search of their ‘beginning’ in Him who is Lord of the Arts and Sciences!
Prayer:
Lord Jesus, may you call forth genuine worship from my innermost being. Use whatever means of revelation to get my attention, to beckon me, to allure me to the truth, goodness, and beauty of who you are. May I surrender my seeking, my question-quests, my longings, my pursuits of truth – with utter abandonment – to your good and holy name.
Amen
Joe Gorra
Founder and Director of Veritas Life Center
Joe Gorra thanks Steven Ferguson for helping to inspire his reflections on this passage.
About the Artwork:
Adoration of the Magi, 1475-76
Sandro Botticelli
Tempera on wood panel
44 in x 53 in
Uffizi Gallery, Florence, Italy
In this altarpiece for Santa Maria Novella in Florence biblical history converges with contemporary Florentine society. Painted when Botticelli was under the protection of the Medici Family, the veritable rulers of Florence, this painting includes portraits of many important Florentine citizens in the company of the Magi who have come to pay homage to the promised Christ. Botticelli includes himself at the far right enveloped in a gold-colored cloak looking directly out at the viewer drawing us into the scene. Cosimo de’ Medici, recently deceased, is depicted as the elderly magi kneeling before the Christ child who leans forward as if to greet him, while his heir, Lorenzo the Magnificent, stands immediately behind him next in line. The elaborate garb and effete swagger of Florence’s aristocratic elite clustered on each side would seem to draw the focus away from the Holy Family were it not for their high and central position in the scene. The contrast of the humble rustic shelter raised up among the ruins of classical buildings with the lavish display of wealth and position of the attendant company indicates where eternal worth and affiliation reside. Having made his fortune as a banker, the painting was commissioned by Gaspare di Zanobi del Lama to atone for his sins and widely believed to be the white-haired man looking in our direction on the right.
About the Artist:
Sandro Botticelli (1445–1510) was a Renaissance Italian painter who belonged to the Florentine School which was under the patronage of statesman and ruler of the Florentine Republic, Lorenzo de’ Medici. Botticelli painted a wide range of religious subjects and a number of portraits. His work was highly sought-after due to the distinctiveness of his style characterized by lyrical patterns and decoration crispy delineated with black contour lines. He and his workshop were especially known for their paintings of the Madonna and Child, many in the round “tondo” shape. His most well-known works are The Birth of Venus and Primavera. The Medici's influence greatly increased Botticelli's reputation and he was asked by the Papacy to paint parts of the Sistine Chapel, an honor only extended to some of the Renaissance's greatest artists, such as Perugino and Michelangelo. Later in his life he came under the influence of the zealous Florentine religious reformer Girolamo Savonarola, which affected his style and the subjects he was inclined to paint.
About the Music:
“Trittico botticelliano, P. 151: II. L'adorazione dei Magi” from the album Respighi: Gli Uccelli / Il Tramonto / Trittico Botticelliano
About the Composer:
Ottorino Respighi (1879 –1936) was an Italian violinist, composer and musicologist, best known for his trilogy of orchestral tone poems: Fountains of Rome (1916), Pines of Rome (1924), and Roman Festivals (1928). His musicological interest in 16th, 17th and 18th-century music led him to compose pieces based on the music of these periods. He also wrote several operas, the most famous being La fiamma. In 1900, Respighi accepted the role of principal violist in the orchestra of the Russian Imperial Theatre in Saint Petersburg. There he met Russian composer Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, whose music influenced his own orchestrations with greater color and drama. Apolitical in nature, Respighi attempted to steer a neutral course once Benito Mussolini came to power in 1922. His established international fame allowed him some level of freedom, but at the same time he encouraged the regime to exploit his music for political purposes.
About the Performers:
Bournemouth Sinfonietta with Tamás Vásáry conducting.
The Bournemouth Sinfonietta was a chamber orchestra founded in 1968 as an offshoot of the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra. It was disbanded in November 1999 after increasing difficulties in obtaining funding. George Hurst and then Nicholas Braithwaite initially conducted the orchestra. Bournemouth Sinfonietta performed a classical repertoire in the small venues in the south and west of England that varied from small church halls and places that would otherwise never hear live professional orchestral music to larger concert halls.
Tamás Vásáry (b. 1933) is a Hungarian concert pianist and conductor. Making his stage debut at the age of 8, he began his musical studies at the Franz Liszt Academy of Music in Budapest. Aged 14, he won first prize in the Franz Liszt Competition at the Academy of Music. He made his professional débuts in the major cities of the West in 1960-61. He has subsequently resided in London. Vásáry made many recordings for Deutsche Grammophon, particularly of the Romantic repertoire, including Frédéric Chopin, Franz Liszt, and Sergei Rachmaninoff. As a conductor, Vásáry served as joint artistic director of the Northern Sinfonia from 1979 to 1982. Vásáry was later Principal Conductor of the Bournemouth Sinfonietta from 1989-97. Between 1993 and 2004, he was also the Principal Conductor of the Hungarian Radio Symphony Orchestra. He has guest conducted many of the principal British orchestras, as well as appearing regularly in the United States and elsewhere as pianist and conductor.
About the Poet:
Tom Andrews (1961–2001) was an American poet and critic. After he had a major accident on an icy sidewalk that put him in the hospital for many weeks, he discovered that he had hemophilia. While he is best known for his poetry, he also wrote criticism and a memoir, Codeine Diary: True Confessions of a Reckless Hemophiliac. Andrews graduated from Hope College in 1984 and in 1987 he graduated from the University of Virginia with an M.F.A. in Creative Writing. Poet and critic Lisa Russ Spaar has called him "One of the great stylists — and one of the best, and under-known, poets — of the past 20 years." His collection, The Hemophiliac's Motorcycle, is available online for free through the University of Iowa Press. Though some scholars have examined his work through the lens of disability, much of his poetry seems concerned with the body as spectacle, in its achievements as well as its limitations. Guy Davenport, a critic, said, "These are not poems about illness. They are about the dominion of the spirit when it is rich in imagination and courage."
About the Devotional Writer:
Joseph E. Gorra
Writer and Educator
Founder of Veritas Life Center
Joe Gorra is founder and director of Veritas Life Center, a California-based 501c3 religious nonprofit aimed at advancing the Christian tradition as a knowledge and wisdom tradition for the flourishing of human life and society. His writings have appeared at ChristianityToday.com, Patheos.com, EPSOCIETY.org, and various publications, including the Journal of Spiritual Formation & Soul Care, the Christian Research Journal, and the Journal of Markets and Morality.