Page 1 of 8 The Gift of the Magi Rev. Bruce Taylor December 5, 2010 Imagine a Nativity scene. As we move into December, they re starting to sprout up everywhere on town commons; in big box drugstores; on front lawns. They are brightly lit, some mysteriously from within, some by spotlights, some by garlands of light emitting diodes. The familiar tableau includes Mary, Joseph and the baby Jesus, with shepherds reverently looking on, and perhaps an angel for good measure. In the more creative displays, you may see Santa next to the shepherds, and a few reindeer flying overhead. Let s scratch that idea, for now. Imagine a crèche in the traditional style: a rough wooden stable strewn with hay. Inside, we find Mary, Joseph, and the Christ child. Around the edges stand the shepherds, a donkey, and other friendly animals. Although we can t see it directly, God is there too, as God always is, in loving spaces and forgotten places. Have we forgotten anyone else? Oh yes: standing alongside the shepherds are three tall gentlemen in splendid robes, holding gifts. A few hours old, and Jesus is already turning conventional values upside down. The Prince of Peace is born, not in a palace, but in a stable. This royal birth is witnessed, not by priests and nobles, but by working men, animals, and a group of foreigners. Who are these foreign visitors, these three wise men, known as the Magi? The word Magus, plural Magi, refers to priests in the tradition of Zarathustra, also known as Zoroaster. To understand why the Magi might have come to pay homage to the Christ child, we need to learn something about their ancient faith, which was already centuries old on the night Jesus was born. The origins of this faith can be traced to the dawn of history. It flourished within the
Page 2 of 8 Persian Empire. It developed over many centuries, and it survives to the present day. At a crucial moment, it made contact with the world view of Israel. And so it influences us to this day. Over 4,000 years ago, nomads moved out the central Asian steppes and into the country we now know as Iran. Some of them stayed, and others moved on to northern India, to Europe, as far west as Spain and Ireland. They spoke a common language that spawned dozens of others, including Sanskrit, German, Greek, Latin, and Gaelic. We use many of their words today fundamental words, for necessary concepts such as numbers and parts of the body; family relationships such as mother, father, and daughter; words from agriculture such as milk, plow, and yoke. These Indo Iranians worshiped many gods. Their pantheon included nature gods of the sun, the earth and the moon. It included lesser divinities, the Daevas or Shining Ones, who represented courage, friendship or charisma. It included ethical gods known as the Ahuras or Lords. The greatest of these was Ahura Mazda, Lord of Wisdom, who later came to be associated with the sun and with fire. Beyond these personal deities lay an abstract principle of order, known as Asha. Because of Asha, the sun remained on its path in the sky, the seasons occurred in their proper sequence, and human relations took place in harmony. Asha was opposed by Druj, a principle of decay and disorder. For these ancient people who tended cattle and depended on the weather, and the patterns of the seasons, religion had a conservative function. They looked to their priests to help the gods maintain the cosmic order, through the proper use of rituals and sacrifices. But as the Indo Iranians moved into other lands, they encountered new
Page 3 of 8 ideas. From the Mesopotamians they learned to domesticate horses, make better tools and weapons, and build war chariots. Alongside the farmers and the priests, a warrior class developed. These warlords espoused a different set of values that had to do with adventure and honor and glory. They disrupted the traditional order with their feuds and their raiding of neighboring families and tribes. Into this unsettled world stepped Zarathustra, one of the world s first prophets. He was trained as a priest according to the ways of his people. But troubled by the violence and lawlessness he saw all around him, Zarathustra sought deeper truths. At the age of 30, he had a vision that would be the turning point of his life. He was brought into the presence of Ahura Mazda and six other radiant beings, who commissioned him to teach men to seek the right. This revelation transformed Zarathustra from a priest into a prophet, a critic of the status quo. Not only did he call his people back to the old ways and the principle of Asha. He moved their religion towards monotheism, and put the focus on its moral dimension. He identified Ahura Mazda as the Supreme Being, the creator of nature and all the gods. Each of the lesser gods had made a fateful choice to follow the path of good, or to follow the path of disorder, decay and lies. The gods who chose the path of lies answer to Ahriman, an evil being who personifies all that destroys harmony. Mazda and Ahriman are locked in an ongoing struggle, aided and abetted by their hosts of lesser spirits. And here is where we come in, as human beings: we are not exempt from this cosmic struggle. As the saying goes, if you re not part of the solution, you re part of the problem. From day to day and from moment to moment, each one of us participates in thought, word and deed. That phrase, thought, word and deed occurs often in the Zoroastrian sacred text.
Page 4 of 8 Through his teachings, Zarathustra gave religion a new purpose beyond keeping the world in good working order. Religious belief and practice were now shot through with moral significance. Zarathustra taught that we would be judged after death and consigned to heaven or hell according to the moral choices we make in life. He predicted a final conflict between Mazda and Ahriman, and all the forces aligned with them. In this battle between good and evil, good would finally prevail. Zarathustra also spoke of a Savior who would come to humanity and play a decisive role in their salvation. This savior would be born of a virgin. He would bring about a resurrection of the dead, a final judgment, and the establishment of paradise on earth. Just a brief sanity check: since many of us come from Judeo Christian background, and it s Christmas time: Is any of this starting to sound familiar? In the time of Jesus, priests of the Zoroastrian faith were indeed looking for signs of a savior. They saw the current age as a time of crisis, possibly the end time. And so we return to the Nativity story. As the story goes, the Magi consulted the stars. They used the best tools at their disposal to search Nature for patterns. Nature conspired with God to provide an answer. And so the Magi found a star, and the star led them to Bethlehem. This Christmas story may not have happened as described. Maybe the three Magi did not lay gold, frankincense and myrrh at the feet of the baby Jesus. But wise men from the East did bring a gift to Israel. This gift came much earlier. It came in the form of teachings that would have a profound influence on Jewish thought and the Christian movement that grew out of it. Scholars don t agree on this Persian influence. But the opportunity was
Page 5 of 8 certainly there. Ancient Israel was dominated by a sequence of empires: Egyptian, Assyrian, Babylonian, Persian, Greek and Roman. The prophets of Israel often described these nations as instruments of God s punishment. But as we ve seen in today s reading, the author of Isaiah treats the Persian emperor as an instrument of liberation, as far as Israel is concerned. In the year 586 (before the Common Era), the Babylonians had destroyed the Jerusalem Temple and exiled the Jewish leaders to Babylon. This was a time of soul searching and sorrow. As the poet sings, in Psalm 137: By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, yea, we wept, when we remembered Zion. Upon the willows we hung up our harps. For they that carried us away captive required of us songs; and they that wasted us required of us mirth, saying, Sing us one of the songs of Zion. But how shall we sing the LORD'S song in a strange land? (Psalm 137:1 4, KJV, adapted) When the Persian ruler, Cyrus II, conquered Babylon in 539, he allowed the Jewish leaders to go home. He decreed that their Temple should be rebuilt. The Persians acted this way not out of altruism, but enlightened self interest. They could be ruthless against people who opposed them, but they preferred not to rule with a heavy hand. They put a premium on stability, cooperation, and a steady stream of tax money. For this reason, they showed respect for the local culture and the local gods, and they made the local priests part of their power structure. Under the rule of Persia for the next two centuries, Israel experienced a time of stability, if not peace. Books and major sections were added to the Hebrew Bible, which achieved something like its final form. And a dialogue surely took place between two faith communities that shared many things in common: a
Page 6 of 8 tendency towards monotheism; an emphasis on moral behavior; and an understanding of history moving towards a final destination, with both God and human beings influencing the outcome. Ideas that were never mentioned before the Exile found their way into the Bible: an afterlife, a final judgment, and a messiah who would save humanity and usher in an era of peace. Perhaps this is just a coincidence. Scholars don t agree on it. But the parallels and the timing are hard to ignore. So far, I ve shown a connection between the story of the Nativity and the story of Zarathustra and brought them into the realm of history. But why am I telling you all of this in a sermon? First, because I like to find connections between us and our ancestors, and widen the scope of people we accept as family. The fact that we still speak a language that shares so much with Sanskrit, and Gaelic, and ancient Greek, brings the ancients right here into the present. We can t directly share the experience of these people long dead, but we can share something almost as immediate: their language. The sense of kinship expands when we consider that we share some of their most fundamental thoughts about the world. For good or for ill, we see the world through their eyes, in categories of good and evil, light and darkness. We share their notion of time as history. We share their hope that humanity has a higher destiny. We share their faith that what each person does, truly matters, not just for him self or her self, but for the future of this world. Second, I want to find ways to reconcile us to our sacred writings. Scripture is an inheritance from which many of us feel dispossessed. As religious liberals, many of us have set this inheritance aside, unprotected, for the use of those we most disagree with. I would like us to engage Scripture with fresh eyes and minds: recover the
Page 7 of 8 positive messages it contains; connect ancient stories to our story; use old sources to provide new perspectives on our lives. One very positive message I find in the Nativity story is its message of universalism the message that God is present to all people, not just to the chosen people of Israel or to their Christian cousins, but to everybody. Much of the Bible narrative has an exclusive focus. Israel often defines herself in contrast to other peoples. The Gospel writers often define Jesus and his followers in contrast to the world. But now and then, the message shines through that God has a positive relationship with other nations and other peoples. Thus the wise men from the East seek out and encounter the Christ child, just as the Jewish exiles had encountered their fellow monotheists, centuries before, in the followers of Zarathustra. Although I d like us to reclaim Scripture, I d like us to do this from a critical perspective. I don t want us to embrace it whole, any more than I would want us to reject it whole. The three wise men brought gifts to Jesus, as the story goes. But these gifts from human hands can be used for good or for ill. (I m not sure about frankincense or myrrh, but gold can certainly be abused: for those who confuse it with the highest good, it can be the worst idol of all). Likewise, the teachings of Zoroaster were gifts to the world, and they were human gifts. Originating in a human encounter with God, they have been filtered through human understanding and passed down to us through human traditions. Although they carry a message of salvation, they may be used for good or for ill. Consider the pitfalls of a world view that divides the cosmos, from the gods on down, into good and evil camps. Such thinking can lead to other divisions: soul versus body; male versus female; us versus them; the world to come, versus this imperfect world. Although these are useful categories, they can be dangerous
Page 8 of 8 when we treat them as stark oppositions. We externalize evil in the form of an evil Other or perhaps, other people. We externalize good in the form of Heaven, or a future life, to the detriment of this world, and this life. It is a continuing challenge to recognize distinctions, and make moral choices, without falling into these traps. We move closer to God when we recognize both good and evil within ourselves. When we acknowledge the grey areas of our moral choices. When we learn to accept ourselves, and one another, as incomplete and imperfect. When we even see the beauty in our imperfections. When we see a glimmer of Heaven in this world and find the courage to seek it out. When we are galvanized into action by the uneasy tension between the world as it is, and the world as we know it can be. In all these ways, we shall fulfill the teachings of our ancestors, as we move closer to God. With these caveats in mind, let us accept the gift of the Magi as divine gift, delivered by human hands. This gift has injected morality into our dealings with the gods, however we understand them. It has shown us that our destiny depends in large part on the choices we make every day and every moment, in thought, word, and deed. It calls us to seek out and to honor Good thoughts, good words, and good deeds, performed here and elsewhere, now and in the past. We revere them, and we remember them. (From the Avesta) So may it be.