The Magi knelt before Jesus ‘with gladness”, as the song suggests. Matthew obviously believed that one word wasn’t enough to describe what the Magi felt. In the Greek text, the Magi were, “joyful with very great joy.”
What did the magi find when they came before Jesus? What did they see? Just a child and his family.
The child was the fulfilment and vindication of their long journey and search. They had looked to the stars for answers. They had contemplated the words of the Hebrew prophets. They had experienced a miracle and received dreams and visions.
But who would believe the fantastic elements of their story? And who would find the believable parts of their story, simply a child with his parents, to be at all meaningful? In this sense, God was at work through Jesus in a way that was at once obvious and hidden. This seems to be the truth of things.
God’s purpose for us and for all creation is both revealed and hidden in Jesus.
In Ephesians, the apostle Paul puts it this way: Jesus is “the mystery of God, revealed”
From his birth all the way to today, Jesus has left a trail of division. Some who encounter him begin to see in Jesus who God is, how God works, and what creation is all about. Others reject Jesus or fail to see anything more than a child with his parents. This search is always a journey and one we never quite finish.