What the Magi took away

By Phil Lawler ( bio - articles - email ) | Jan 06, 2025

We all know what the Magi brought to Bethlehem: gold, frankincense, and myrrh. But what did they take away from their meeting with the Christ Child?

The Magi are mysterious figures; the Bible tells us very little about them. Were they actually kings, or astronomers, or seekers of wisdom? From Persia, or Arabia, or Babylon? Were there three of them, or more? Where did they find Jesus? (He was not still in the manger, as depicted in the traditional Christmas creche; St. Mathew speaks of them “going into the house” where Jesus was.) How did they know that they should follow a star? The Gospel answers none of these questions.

Pious tradition relates that the Magi became saints, perhaps martyrs—that St. Helena discovered their bones, which are now kept in the cathedral in Cologne. The monks at Mount Athos say that they possess the gifts that were originally offered to Jesus. Skeptics question all these claims.

Somehow these men “from the East” knew that they should follow a star, which led them at first to Jerusalem. There they asked how to find the king of the Jews, and thereby roused the concern of Herod, who thought he was the king of the Jews. Why were these men in town, looking for someone else, he wondered. Yet he, advised by his own wise men, directed them toward Bethlehem, and the star ratified that direction.

So the Magi see the child Jesus, offer him their gifts and their worship. Then they exit the scene. “And being warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they departed to their own country by another way.” We hear no more about them in the Gospel.

Why did these men from another country want to see “he who has been born king of the Jews?” They apparently showed little interest in Herod; why such a longing to meet this king? Evidently they were inspired, by something they had heard or read, to recognize that this was no ordinary king. When they found Him, although He was just a baby, “they fell down and worshipped Him.” This was not a diplomatic mission. This was a pilgrimage: a journey of faith.

Yet then, having found and worshipped the King who is not like any other king, they went home. The apostles would be inspired to leave their nets and their boats and follow Jesus. But the Magi came too soon for that. Simeon and Anna had seen the baby Jesus and recognized Him as the Messiah. We do not know whether the Magi—who were not Jews, and were not waiting for the Messiah—recognized him in exactly the same way. But through some special movement of grace they knew enough to worship Him.

Years would pass before Jesus revealed Himself to the world. Yet somehow the Magi knew. They did not know the message that Jesus would preach. They did not grasp the theological principles that the Church would teach. But they had met Jesus, and worshipped Him, and thus become Christians—long before the world knew what a “Christian” was.

This much seems clear: The Magi brought Him gifts, and Jesus never fails to shower abundant gifts on anyone who gives Him anything. They had placed their faith in Him, and Jesus always rewards the faithful. Thus the tradition that the Magi became saints; that conclusion seems obvious.

What did they do, when they returned to “their own country” (wherever that was), and their friends and neighbors asked them where they had gone on their long journey? No doubt they relayed the Good News—not as it is set forth in the Gospels, which were not yet written, but as it radiated from the face of the child Jesus. They would not have been able to provide details, but they would have planted the seed. So that a few decades later, when the Lord’s disciples reached that country, the people who had heard the Magi’s account would have quickly recognized the story.

We still do not know how the Magi were prompted to follow that star. When the disciples reached that country, quite likely they did not know why the people responded so quickly to the Gospel message. The movements of the Holy Spirit are often unpredictable. Which is Good News for those of us who, prior to the Epiphany, might not have been counted among those awaiting the Messiah.