The Magi and the Madman

Sermon Transcript

Matthew 2:1-18 is part of the Christmas story, and it opens up right after Jesus was born in Bethlehem. This was one of many events happening before, during and after the birth of Jesus. Our text happened just after Jesus’ birth.

I have two, main divisions of our text: verses 1-15 I titled The Magi, and verses 16-18 I titled The Madman. We are introduced to this contrast in verse 1. “Now after Jesus was born…” we just celebrated His birth “…in Bethlehem of Judea…” we don’t know how long after “…in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem.”

So we have our two, main characters introduced in this verse: “Herod the king” and the group of “wise men,” or in the Greek, it’s “magi.” They are the major players in this true story. And there could not be a greater contrast between Herod and the magi.

We are told that this takes place “in the days of Herod the king,” which were extremely dark days, specifically because of Herod. He was one of many Herods who ruled. When he took over, he completely eliminated the previous ruling family, the Hasmoneans, in order to protect his new position as ruler in that area. He saved one of them, Mariamne, who he married. He did that in order to try to win over some of the Jews, who liked the Hasmoneans. But he murdered her years later, and even murdered their two sons. He did all of this in order to protect his position, and the prominence and power that went along with it.

He also murdered many others. It is told that even as he was nearing his death, he put in his will that a particular group of politicians should be murdered when he died, so that someone would cry at the time of his death. Herod was paranoid, extremely suspicious and cruel. And Herod wanted to introduce the lifestyle of the Romans into the Jewish culture. He heavily taxed the Jews, so they disliked him very much.

In contrast to Herod, we have the wise men, of which we do not have a lot of description. We are told that they came from the East to Jerusalem. We don’t know where in the East they came from. There is a lot of speculation, but we don’t know.

What were they doing in Jerusalem? Verse 2 tells us they came “saying, ‘Where is He who has been born King of the Jews?’” They were looking for Jesus, looking for the Christ child, looking for God in the flesh.

Now how is it that they came to search for this baby? Verse 2 says, “For we have seen His star in the East and have come to worship Him.” This portion of the first section I titled Searching. The wise men were searching for Jesus, and we’ll see that Herod was also searching for Jesus. But here we are told that the wise men followed a star that appeared to them in the East.
This group of men are magi, which is a term used not just for wise men but for anyone who practiced magic or were interested in some kind of science. So over time we have thought that perhaps this group of men were studying the stars and the planets. They saw something there that grabbed their attention. And somehow they decided to follow that star, and it led them to this King of the Jews. And they will learn more along their journey, so they came to worship Jesus.

In verse 3, we learn more about Herod. “When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him.” The word “troubled” does not fully explain what Herod was feeling at that time. “Troubled” here means that Herod was furious and frightened by the thought that there was another king being born, because it threatened his livelihood, position, power and prominence as king. He had killed his own family and many others in order to protect his position as ruler in that area. And we would assume he would do no less regarding Jesus.

Verse 3 says that all Jerusalem was also troubled. Why? The Jews didn’t like Herod, but a small group of young people, called Herodians, welcomed Herod and liked what he wanted to introduce. But generally speaking, Jerusalem knew that if Herod was troubled or angry about something, blood would spill.

Beginning in verse 4, “And when he had gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people together, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born.” So Herod began his search. We’ve already seen that he was disturbed. Now that he was threatened, he decided to go on a search for the Christ child.

And it’s fascinating to us that he knew exactly who to ask. He asked about the prophesies concerning Christ’s birth. “So they said to him, ‘In Bethlehem of Judea, for thus it is written by the prophet: “But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are not the least among the rulers of Judah; for out of you shall come a Ruler who will shepherd My people Israel.”’” So there was a prophecy given concerning the birth and birthplace of Jesus. The prophet had said “Bethlehem, in the land of Judah.”

What’s fascinating about this is that Herod had enough faith to believe the Scriptures would be accurate. He called his religious leaders together—he knew who to call—when there was a Bible question. He believed just enough in the Scriptures to find out that it would indicate where this young King would be born.

Verses 7-8, “Then Herod, when he had secretly called the wise men, determined from them what time the star appeared. And he sent them to Bethlehem and said, ‘Go and search carefully for the young Child, and when you have found Him, bring back word to me, that I may come and worship Him also.’”

From these wise men, Herod determined what time the star appeared to them. And then he must have asked them where they came from, how far they traveled and how long they had been traveling in order to determine the age of the Christ. And not only was he disturbed, but he was deceptive. He claimed to want to go to worship Jesus also.

This is fascinating that Herod, in searching for the Christ child to destroy his life, became a student of the Scriptures for a moment and also became a preacher. He declared the Word of God when he went back to the wise men to tell them the prophecy about where Jesus would be born. It’s fascinating that someone who was paranoid and with so much hatred in his heart would also become a declarer of God’s good news!

And verse 9 goes on to say, “When they heard the king, they departed; and behold, the star which they had seen in the East went before them, till it came and stood over where the young Child was.”

Verse 10 I titled Star Struck. “When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceedingly great joy.” So it would seem to us that on their journey as they grew closer to Jerusalem, the star must have disappeared, because they didn’t know where to go next. And of all people, they went to Herod, looking for some direction in finding the Christ, the Messiah, the Savior, this new-born King of the Jews. And it seems that when they left Herod’s presence and began their journey toward Bethlehem, the star reappeared, because it said in verse 9, “The star which they had seen in the East went before them, till it came and stood over where the young Child was.”

It wasn’t because of the star alone; it was because the star was pointing to the place where the true star, “the Bright and Morning Star,” which Jesus referred to Himself as in Revelation 22:16, was waiting for them there. They saw the star in the sky. And note their reaction, in verse 10. “They rejoiced with exceedingly great joy.” They could not contain themselves, because they were so excited.

Verse 11 continues, “And when they had come into the house, they saw the young Child with Mary His mother, and fell down and worshiped Him. And when they had opened their treasures, they presented gifts to Him: gold, frankincense, and myrrh.”

We read in verse 1, and my New King James version says “after Jesus was born.” Then here in verse 11, it says, “They had come into the house.” This must be inaccurate (smiling), because my manger scene has the wise men at the manger, in the stable. So obviously the Bible has it wrong; right? No. And then it goes on to say, “And when they had opened their treasures, they presented gifts to Him; gold, frankincense, and myrrh.” But it never tells us how many wise men there were. And again, the Bible must be wrong (again smiling), because my manger scene has three wise men. We assume there were three wise men because of the number of gifts that they brought. But those gifts could have been in any amounts, large or small. All we know is that there were “wise men,” plural, so there could have been two or twenty; we don’t know.

So it appears that at this time, Mary and Joseph are no longer at the birthplace of Jesus. In verse 11, it seems that they have procured a home. Verse 11 says, “They had come into the house.” And Mary and Jesus were in the house at this point.

Historians tell us that Herod, the one involved in this story, was in his 70s when he died, and he died the same year that Jesus was born. So this happened sometime soon after the birth of Jesus.

When they came into the house, I wander what that scene must have been like. We have just considered the birth of Jesus at Christmas and that he was not in a palace, not in some well-to-do hospital but in a stable with animals nearby. His first crib was a feeding trough. And I like to imagine what it must have been like. It’s fascinating.

The high-school students know that Christmas is my favorite time of the year. I like Easter but you can’t have the Cross without first having the cradle and the introduction of the God-man, Jesus, into the world. And I like all the decorations, gifts, food, family, friends and songs during the Christmas season.

So I have tried to picture myself here in verse 11. To have been at the birth of Jesus and here with Him would have been the greatest.

Joseph and Mary were not known to be rich. From what we can tell, they were a peasant family. Wealth was not what they possessed, at least not in any monetary sense. So for them to be in this house—I assume it was at night, because the wise men were following a star, but it could have been during the day—I picture myself there in a dark house with Joseph, Mary and this young child, Jesus. He was still a baby.

Then to hear a pounding at the door, opening the door and finding this entourage, these wise men! We may safely assume by the expensive gifts they brought that these wise men were prominent men with finances; they had enough money to travel the distance, enough money to give away freely to Jesus and this family. What it must have been like for this peasant family to open the door and find this group of men with their servants and animals traveling with them! And there would be people in the neighborhood coming out to see what was going on. “Who’s at Joseph and Mary’s house?!”

To be a fly on the wall and witness it all! To see these men crowd into what we assume was a small home with their precious gifts! And to bow down before this little, peasant child and worship Him! This must have been life-impacting and life-changing for Joseph and Mary. What a scene!

We cannot leave this verse without making mention of one, extremely important point. Note that the wise men came in and fell down and worshipped Jesus. They presented their gifts to Him. Bible teachers throughout the ages have done a fantastic job explaining what these gifts must have meant. Besides being expensive gifts, especially for a peasant family, the gold represented His royalty. The herbs, frankincense and myrrh, would represent prayer that might rise to God. And they might represent His burial, the fact He would one day die and pay for the sins of the world.

But before those gifts were ever presented, the first gift they gave was the gift of their allegiance, their obedience. They had humble hearts. When they came in and before their gifts were ever presented, they “fell down and worshipped Him.”

We understand this well. We understand that without worship to God, without a heart that is surrendered to Jesus, gifts mean nothing. That is illustrated for us here in this act of the wise men. And it is such a good reminder for us. We have just passed Christmas day and the giving of gifts, but we understand that the most important thing is Jesus. As we see all over town that “Jesus is the reason for the season.” We know that. Gifts are wonderful, especially as I get older, it brings me more and more joy to give gifts to people. But the most important thing is the surrendering of my heart to Jesus. Without that, gifts mean nothing.

Even on a human level, if I give a gift to someone, but my heart is not open and committed to them, if I do not love them, it means very little.

If you came here today, having just celebrated Christmas, and in your mind, the gifts were the most important thing, maybe you have missed Christmas. But I’ll have great news for you.

We’ll continue with verse 12. “Then, being divinely warned in a dream that they should not return to Herod, they departed for their own country another way.” Because Herod was not only disturbed and deceptive, the wise men were “warned in a dream.” We don’t know what the message was; only that they were warned not to go back to Herod. So they went a different route back to their country.

Verse 13, “Now when they had departed, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream, saying, ‘Arise, take the young Child and His mother, flee to Egypt, and stay there until I bring you word; for Herod will seek the young Child to destroy Him.’” This was horrific news for a young dad to receive. But this was not the first time an angel had appeared to Joseph. When he learned about the birth of Jesus when he was betrothed to Mary, it came by way of a dream.

Verses 14-15, “When he arose, he took the young Child and His mother by night and departed for Egypt, and was there until the death of Herod, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying, ‘Out of Egypt I called My Son.’” It was prophesied that Jesus would move with His parents to Egypt and then return. So that prophecy was completely fulfilled in Jesus.

This takes us to verse 16, which begins our second, main division, which is The Madman. Let’s take a closer look at Herod here and see how he responds to this. We saw that he was disturbed and deceptive, and now we’ll see that he is deadly. “Then Herod, when he saw that he was deceived by the wise men, was exceedingly angry.”

Remember, in verse 10, that when the wise men “saw the star, they rejoiced with exceedingly great joy.” In contrast, when Herod finds out that the wise men had skipped town and he didn’t know where this little child was, he was “exceedingly angry.”

But that’s nothing new. We’re seeing in the news right now that in Christmas markets around the world, when people are worshipping and acknowledging the birth of Christ, they are being attacked. It’s offensive and scary, but it’s nothing new. There have always been three responses to Christmas: adoration, which we see in the Magi; apathy, which we see in the religious leaders, who knew where the Christ child was to be born but didn’t budge; and anger, as we see here in Herod.

“And he sent forth and put to death all the male children who were in Bethlehem and in all its districts, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had determined from the wise men.” He had asked the wise men when they had first seen the star or when the birth of Jesus was announced to them, and how far they had traveled. He must have asked them all those particulars.

So Herod decided, in all of his wisdom and brilliance, that his reaction to Jesus’ birth was a massacre, the murder of the innocents and the helpless. He decided that this child, who had been born King of the Jews, must be two years old or younger. So he decided to have all the male children born in that area two years old and younger murdered, slaughtered, massacred in order to protect his throne.

Again, this is nothing new. Mankind has always sought to eliminate Jesus and His story in order to hold on to their own power, prominence and position due to the poison that fills the heart of mankind in their quest for total dominance and complete control over our lives.

So Herod has done nothing new—or at least nothing out of the ordinary. This is who he was: the madman. He was furious and deadly. He had all these little children killed. But little did he know that Jesus had escaped his anger.

Then we see the massacre turned into mourning, verses 17-18. “Then was fulfilled what was spoken by Jeremiah the prophet…” quoting Jeremiah 31:15 “…saying: ‘A voice was heard in Ramah, lamentation, weeping, and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children, refusing to be comforted, because they are no more.’”

Herod and the religious leaders where five miles from Bethlehem. Yet they would not more an inch to seek out the Christ child. In contrast, the shifty shepherds, who were not considered trustworthy people, left their flocks nearby in the fields to seek out Jesus. The angel had called them to be the first visitors to go to see Jesus. And these wise men traveled for no less than several days over many miles and spent money in order to come to see the Christ child.

Think about this: Herod and the religious leaders came so close to witnessing the first Christmas. But as the saying goes, “They missed it by a mile.” The religious establishment and the ruler at that time missed it. Imagine that! But the wise men and the shepherds didn’t miss it.

In the winter of 1809, all eyes were on Austria as the French leader, Napoleon, led his forces in a victorious march across Austria. The world, being distracted by the geopolitical scene, overlooked a young couple in Hardin County, Kentucky named Thomas and Nancy Lincoln. At the same, exact time, they welcomed the birth of their son, Abraham Lincoln. Except for the family and perhaps a few neighbors nearby, no one noticed the birth. As we know, he would go on to greatly impact no only his family but his country. Many would credit Abraham Lincoln as saving the country and bringing about, through the Civil War, the end of slavery in the United States. Yet very few noticed; “They missed it by a mile.”
Many of us are Christians, and we understand that they were encouraged by the wise men. The main point of Christmas is to recognize Jesus, to surrender our hearts to Him and to continue doing so.

But perhaps you are realizing that you have missed Christmas. But I have great news for you. Christ is Christmas. Therefore you haven’t missed Him—or at least there is still a chance for you to bow yourself before Him, as the wise men did.

Perhaps up to this point you have not understood, or haven’t recognized who He is. But perhaps today you’ve realized that you’ve been missing Christmas. But it’s not too late. Surrender your heart to Him today.

In John 3:17, the apostle John wrote, “God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.” God is not out to get you. He’s not to hunt you down and eliminate you. In fact, He loves you. Though you may not be seeking Him, He is seeking you. He wants your life and your heart, your allegiance and your obedience to Him.

Today you can have your sins forgiven, and you can have the hope of heaven. Hope is not a possibility or a probability; it is a promise.

So why not do that today? Why not recognize that you are a sinner? The Bible tells us how to accomplish this. It tells us that “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). It tells us that “There is none righteous, no, not one” (Romans 3:10). Not a person in the pew nor the preacher in the pulpit is without sin. All of us need a Savior. All of us are sinners in desperate need of saving. And if we will recognize that, then we can be saved.

Paul the apostle told the Philippian jailer, while Paul was in a jail, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved” (Acts 16:31). What did he mean by that?

What the Scriptures teach us is that I first must recognize that I am a sinner in need of a Savior. Then if I “believe on the Lord Jesus Christ”—what does that mean? The Bible tells us that Jesus was born, lived a sinless life and at the age of 33 died on a Roman Cross at the hands of the Romans and the religious establishment at that time. In so dying, Jesus paid the price for our sins—past, present and future. Jesus did that in order to provide righteousness for us, that we might be found right in the eyes of God.

But this doesn’t happen to us automatically; we must surrender ourselves, we must believe in that, we must place our faith in what Jesus did, in the finished work of Jesus on the Cross. And you must understand that if you are going to give your life to Jesus, to surrender yourself to Him, you are doing just that; you are giving your life away to Jesus.

That is what kept Herod so far from Jesus; he did not want to give up his position of power. That is what you must be willing to give up in exchange for “exceedingly great joy,” in exchange for peace with God and the peace of God, in exchange for the forgiveness of sins, in exchange for salvation and in exchange for the promise of heaven. That’s a pretty good trade.
I cannot get myself to heaven. We must start there; we must recognize that. And I can do is lead you in a simple prayer of surrendering your heart to Jesus. It’s a simple prayer; not a magical prayer. Just saying these words is not going to save you; you must talk to God on your own and mean what you pray.

So if you desire to repeat this prayer and surrender your life to Jesus, you may repeat these words out loud or from the quietness of your own heart; that’s between you and God. What matters is that you talk to God and give Him your heart. Just pray this prayer and surrender yourself finally to Jesus and experience Christmas and all that means.