Overcomer for the OUTSIDER: The wise men (magi)
We’re nearly to Christmas and so far this month, we’ve already seen that Jesus, the Overcomer, overcame for the outcasts and the overlooked when He arrived in human form. This helps us understand the weight of the Good News our theme verse proclaims:
Luke 2:10b-11 | I bring you good news that will bring great joy to all people. The Savior—yes, the Messiah, the Lord—has been born today in Bethlehem, the city of David!
Jesus truly brings great joy, a way of rescue, to all people. Even to those we least expect.
When we allow ourselves to be transported back to the culture and society of that Jesus was born into, we can see the strong dividing lines that existed between the Jews and outcasts. We can also see how certain Jews, like the shepherds, were overlooked. But to the Jews, even worse than being a Jewish outcast was being a non-Jew! In fact, they had outlawed associating or visiting with gentiles, or non-Jews, considering them unclean (Acts 10:28). This was a fate far worse than that of the shepherds since the Jewish shepherds could undergo ceremonial cleansing. Gentiles were simply outsiders – people who didn’t belong among God’s chosen people.
Throughout the Old Testament, we see God choose the Jews (the ancestors of Jacob/Israel) as His own, even though they rejected Him over and over again. Through Moses He says about the Jews-
Deuteronomy 7:6 | For you are a holy people, who belong to the Lord your God. Of all the people on earth, the Lord your God has chosen you to be his own special treasure.
He protects, provides for, and pursues the Jews relentlessly, even though they don’t deserve it. But the Jews were wrong to think that this meant that the Promised Savior was only for them. In fact, when the Overcomer arrives, He quickly brings in the outsider. Let’s check it out—
Matthew 2:1-2 | Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the reign of King Herod. About that time some wise men from eastern lands arrived in Jerusalem, asking, “Where is the newborn king of the Jews? We saw his star as it rose, and we have come to worship him.”
It’s believed that these wise men or magi journeyed between 400 and 900 miles to find Jesus. They likely came from the region of the modern-day middle east, a place where racial tensions still wrongfully exist, even among Christ followers. As magi following a star, these wise men were Gentile astrologers, not Jews. Still, their pursuit of Jesus was prophesied in the Old Testament and recorded in detail in the New. Not only do the three wise men find Jesus, present him gifts, and worship Him (Matthew 2:11), God speaks to them through a dream to keep young Jesus safe (Matthew 2:12).
With Jesus’ family, the shepherds, Anna, Simeon, and these wise men the only people mentioned among the Overcomer’s birth account, we can’t overlook their significance. In a culture that hated and excluded outsiders,Jesus clearly overcame for them.
The truth is, even in the Old Testament, God loved and accepted people from other nations who chose to follow Him – remember Rahab and Ruth? The Jews’ hatred of other nations was ungodly and hundreds of years before Jesus’ birth, God used the prophet Isaiah to foretell that the Messiah would Overcome for the outsider—
Isaiah 56:8 | For the Sovereign Lord, who brings back the outcasts of Israel, says: I will bring others, too, besides my people Israel.
In fact, overcoming for the outsider is part of the very purpose God the Father had for God the Son—
Isaiah 49:6 | He says, “You will do more than restore the people of Israel to me. I will make you a light to the Gentiles, and you will bring my salvation to the ends of the earth.”
To God, there are no outsiders. All are welcome in the Kingdom of God as long as they accept Jesus as Lord –
Acts 10:34-35 | Then Peter replied, “I see very clearly that God shows no favoritism. In every nation he accepts those who fear him and do what is right.”
Through His birth, God takes time to show that Jesus is the Overcomer for the outsider. After His resurrection, He reminds us to faithfully pursue the outsider with the same Good News the angel delivered in Luke 2 –
Matthew 28:19 | Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.
Are you treating anyone like they are still an outsider? Are you taking part in God’s global commission, actively supporting the mission of taking the Good News of Jesus to the ends of the earth? This Christmas, remember, Jesus Overcame and He did it for the outsider.
In what ways were the wise men considered outsiders?
How does God include them during the account of Jesus’ birth? Why is this significant or important?
Who are some people that you, your friends, or people around you consider outsiders? Why?
How can you show love or share Jesus with these people today?