From: Matthew 2:1-12
The Adoration of the Magi
[7] Then Herod summoned the wise men secretly and ascertained from them
what time the star appeared; [8] 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.” [9] When they had heard the king they
went their way; and lo, the star which they had seen in the East went before
them, till it came to rest over the place where the child was. [10] When they
saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy; [11] and going into the
house they saw the Child with Mary His mother, and they fell down and wor-
shipped Him.
Then, opening their treasures, they offered Him gifts, gold and frankincense and
myrrh. [12] And being warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they departed
to their own country by another way.
*********************************************************************************************
Commentary:
1. “King Herod”: four different Herods are mentioned in the New Testament. The
first is Herod the Great, referred to in this passage and in the next; the second,
his son, Herod Antipas, who had St. John the Baptist beheaded (Matthew 14:1-
12) and who abused our Lord during His passion (Luke 23:7-11); the third, Herod
Agrippa I, a nephew of Herod the Great, who executed the Apostle St. James the
Greater (Acts 12:1-3), imprisoned St. Peter (Acts 12:4-7), and died suddenly and
mysteriously (Acts 12:20-23). The fourth, Herod Agrippa II, was Herod Agrippa’s
son. It was before him that St. Paul answered Jewish accusations when he was
a prisoner in Caesarea (Acts 25:23).
Herod the Great, who appears here, was the son of non-Jewish parents. He
came to power with the aid and as a vassal of the Romans. He was a consum-
mate politician and among other things he rebuilt the temple in Jerusalem on a
lavish scale. Herod the Great had a persecution complex; everywhere he saw ri-
vals to his throne. He was notorious for his cruelty: he killed over half of his ten
wives, some of his children and many people of standing. This information de-
rives largely from the Jewish historian Flavius Josephus, who wrote towards the
end of the first century, and it confirms the cruel picture drawn in the Gospels.
“Wise men”: these were learned men, probably from Persia, who devoted them-
selves to the study of the stars. Since they were not Jews, they can be consi-
dered to be the very first Gentiles to receive the call to salvation in Christ. The
adoration of the wise men forms part of the very earliest documented tradition:
the scene is already depicted at the beginning of the second century in the pain-
tings in the catacombs of St. Priscilla in Rome.
2. The Jews had made known throughout the East their hope of a Messiah. The
wise men knew about this expected Messiah, king of the Jews. According to id-
eas widely accepted at the time, this sort of person, because of his significance
in world history, would have a star connected with his birth. God made use of
these ideas to draw to Christ these representatives of the Gentiles who would
later be converted.
“The star had been hidden from them so that, on finding themselves without their
guide, they would have no alternative but to consult the Jews. In this way the
birth of Jesus would be known to all” (St. John Chrysostom, “Hom. on St. Mat-
thew”, 7).
St. John Chrysostom also points out that “God calls them by means of the
things they are most familiar with; and He shows them a large and extraordi-
nary star so that they would be impressed by its size and beauty” (”Hom. on St.
Matthew”, 6). God called the wise men in the midst of their ordinary occupations,
and He still calls people in that way. He called Moses when he was shepherding
his flock (Exodus 3:1-3), Elisha the prophet ploughing his land with oxen (1 Kings
19:19-20), Amos looking after his herd (Amos 7:15).... “What amazes you seems
natural to me: that God has sought you out in the practice of your profession!
That is how He sought the first, Peter and Andrew, James and John, beside their
nets, and Matthew, sitting in the custom-house. And — wonder of wonders! —
Paul, in his eagerness to destroy the seed of the Christians” (St. J. Escriva,
“The Way”, 799).
“Like the Magi we have discovered a star — a light and a guide in the sky of our
soul. ‘We have seen His star in the East and have come to worship Him.’ We
have had the same experience. We too noticed a new light shining in our soul
and growing increasingly brighter. It was a desire to live a fully Christian life, a
keenness to take God seriously” (St. J. Escriva, “Christ Is Passing By”, 32).
4. In all Jewish circles at the time of Jesus, the hope was widespread that the
Messiah would come soon. The general idea was that he would be a king, like
a new and even greater David. Herod’s worry is therefore all the more understan-
dable: he governed the Jews with the aid of the Romans and cruelly and jealous-
ly guarded his crown. Due to his political ambition and his lack of a religious
sense, Herod saw a potential King-Messiah as a dangerous rival to his own
worldly power.
In the time of our Lord, both Herod’s monarchy and the occupying Romans
(through their procurators) recognized the Sanhedrin as the representative body
of the Jewish people. The Sanhedrin was, therefore, the nation’s supreme coun-
cil which ruled on day-to-day affairs, both religious and civil. The handling of the
more important questions needed the approval of either the king (under Herod’s
monarchy) or the Roman procurator (at the time of the direct Roman occupation
of Palestine). Following Exodus 24:1-9 and Numbers 11:16, the Sanhedrin was
composed of 71 members presided over by the high priest. The members were
elected from three groupings: 1) the chief priests, that is, the leaders of the prin-
cipal priestly families; it was these families who appointed the high priest (the
chief priests also included anybody who had formerly held the high priesthood);
2) the elders, or the leaders of the most important families; 3) the scribes, who
were teachers of the Law or experts on legal and religious matters; the majority
of these scribes belonged to the party or school of the Pharisees.
In this passage of St. Matthew only the first and third of the above groups are
mentioned. This is understandable since the elders would have no authority in
the matter of the birth of the Messiah — a purely religious question.
5-6. The prophecy referred to in this passage is Micah 5:1. It is worth noting
that Jewish tradition interpreted this prophecy as predicting the Messiah’s exact
place of birth and as referring to a particular person. The second text thus tea-
ches us once more that the prophecies of the Old Testament are fulfilled in Je-
sus Christ.
8. Herod tried to find out exactly where the Child was — not, of course, to adore
Him, as he said, but to dispose of Him. Such was Herod’s exclusively political
view of things. Yet neither his shrewdness nor his wickedness could prevent
God’s plans from being fulfilled. Despite Herod’s ambition and his scheming,
God’s wisdom and power were going to bring salvation about.
9. “It might happen at certain moments of our interior life — and we are nearly
always to blame — that the star disappears, just as it did to the wise kings on
their journey.... What should we do if this happens?
Follow the example of those wise men and ask. Herod used knowledge to act
unjustly. The Magi used it to do good. But we Christians have no need to go to
Herod nor to the wise men of this world. Christ has given His Church sureness
of doctrine and a flow of grace in the Sacraments. He has arranged things so
that there will always be people to guide and lead us, to remind us constantly
of our way” (St. J. Escriva, “Christ Is Passing By”, 34).
11. The gifts they offered — gold, frankincense and myrrh — were those most va-
lued in the East. People feel the need to give gifts to God to show their respect
and faith. Since they cannot give themselves as a gift, which is what they would
wish, they give instead what is most valuable and dear to them.
The prophets and the psalmists foretold that the kings of the earth would pay
homage to God at the time of the Messiah (Isaiah 49:23). They would offer Him
their treasures (Isaiah 60:5) and adore Him (Psalm 72:10-15). Through this action
of the wise men and the offering of their gifts to Jesus, these prophecies begin to
be fulfilled.
The Council of Trent expressly quotes this passage when it underlines the vene-
ration that ought to be given to Christ in the Eucharist: “The faithful of Christ vene-
rate this most holy Sacrament with the worship of latria which is due to the true
God.... For in this Sacrament we believe that the same God is present whom the
eternal Father brought into the world, saying of Him, ‘Let all God’s angel worship
Him’ (Hebrews 1:6; cf. Psalm 97:7). It is the same God whom the Magi fell down
and worshipped (cf. Matthew 2:11) and, finally, the same God whom the Apostles
adored in Galilee as Scriptures says (Matthew 28:17)” (Decree, “De SS. Euchari-
sta”, Chapter 5).
St. Gregory of Nazianzen has also commented on this verse, as follows: “Let
us remain in adoration; and to Him, who, in order to save us, humbled Himself
to such a degree of poverty as to receive our body, let us offer not only incense,
gold and myrrh (the first as God, the second as king, and the third as one who
sought death for our sake), but also spiritual gifts, more sublime than those
which can be seen with the eyes” (”Oratio”, 19).
12. The involvement of the wise men in the events at Bethlehem ends with yet
another act of respectful obedience and cooperation with God’s plans. Christians
also should be receptive to the specific grace and mission God has given them.
They should persevere in this even if it means having to change any personal
plans they may have made.
*********************************************************************************************
Source: “The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries”. Biblical text from the
Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries by members of
the Faculty of Theology, University of Navarre, Spain.
Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and
by Scepter Publishers in the United States.
Liturgical Colour: White.
| First reading |
|---|
| Ecclesiasticus 24:1-2,8-12 © |
| Responsorial Psalm |
|---|
| Psalm 147:12-15,19-20 © |
| Second reading |
|---|
| Ephesians 1:3-6,15-18 © |
| Gospel Acclamation | cf.1Tim3:16 |
|---|
| Gospel | John 1:1-18 © |
|---|