In this passage, the magi follow a star to Bethlehem to pay homage to Jesus and to offer him gifts. This the reading for “Epiphany” which is the day when the church commemorates the magi’s visit to see Jesus. The magi, or “wise men”, were astrologers/ astronomers, probably for the king of Persia. Other Bible passages about kings paying homage to the Messiah are likely the reason that the magi are sometimes referred to as “kings”, but they were more likely advisors to a king. The passage doesn’t tell us how many of them there were, but the tradition of there being three comes from the fact that they bring three gifts: gold, frankincense, and myrrh. 

The wise men are important to Matthew because they are gentiles, likely Zoroastrians in terms of religion, and Iranian in terms of their ethnicity. That they feature so prominently and so early in this story shows how Matthew understands the salvation that comes through Jesus to be for all people, not just Jewish people. The fact that Matthew treats these characters with respect is also a message to his mostly Jewish Christian community to be respectful of their fellow Christians who are gentiles by birth. 

The wise men are brought to Jesus by a “star”. We don’t know if this star was a comet, supernova, or something else, but they understood it to show the way to an important king. How would they know that? Plenty of Jewish people still lived in Persia at this time and Jewish writings would have been around. But maybe they had another sense of the situation from their own religious texts or even from their dreams, as happens later in the passage. Still, they don’t know exactly where to go to see this king, so they stop in Jerusalem since it is the capital of the region. 

Herod, the Roman appointed king of Israel, and the rest of the Jerusalem elite don’t like that the wise men are there to see a different king. They think this might upset things, and Herod in particular doesn’t want a rival for the throne. Herod decides to use the magi as scouts, and so he informs them that they should go to Bethlehem, and indeed, the star continues to lead them there. 

When they get to Jesus, they pay him “homage”, that is they bow down to him. Matthew knows that this term is ambiguous. Are the wise men showing the respect that one shows a king, or are they actually worshipping Jesus? The disciples will later do the same thing to Jesus when he is an adult. The magi also give Jesus gifts. The gold is useful for the holy family to survive on, and the selling of the spices given could also have funded their escape to Egypt after this story. The spices are also symbolic of Jesus’ death in that they are often used on the dead bodies before burial. 

After all this, the magi have dreams of avoiding Herod, so they go home by another route. They show themselves as being very obedient to God even though they aren’t believers in a traditional sense. These wise individuals end up being models of faith for all gentile believers in Jesus who come after them. May we continue to follow in their footsteps!