The Fall and Rise of Jesus

Jesus had entered Jerusalem on a colt, and the people had welcomed Him with loud shouts of “Hosanna!” That was now four days ago. It was Thursday evening, and the Passover meal was all set out. Lamb, bitter herbs, vegetables, unleavened bread, wine, and more. When Jesus and His disciples were almost done eating, He broke the bread and passed it around. Then He passed the wine around. He told His disciples that the bread was like His body that was about to be broken, and the wine was like His blood. They were to remember Him as they ate the bread and drank the wine.

At this time, Jesus had some shocking news for His disciples. He said, “One of you is about to betray me!” They couldn’t believe it! Everyone wanted to know who. Jesus said to His friend Judas, “Go and do what you have to do.” Judas left, but the others thought he was just off on an errand.

As the evening went on, Jesus continued to teach His disciples. Peter promised that he would be willing to do anything for Jesus, even die. Jesus replied, “You sure about that? Before the rooster crows, you’re gonna tell people three times that you don’t even know me!” Peter was shocked. He didn’t think he would ever do that!

When they were done with their meal and their lesson, they left the house and went to the Garden of Gethsemane on the Mount of Olives. Jesus took Peter, James and John and went to another part of the garden. He told them to watch and pray, while he went off to do some praying of His own. He prayed, “Papa, if it’s all the same to You, I’d really love it if You could change what is about to happen. I can’t bear to think about it! But I know that what You want is more important than what I want, so what You say goes.” Jesus prayed some more, and then He got up and went back to the disciples, who were asleep. “What are you doing?!” He asked them. “I told you to watch and pray! You need to pray that you won’t be tempted!”

While He was still talking to them, a crowd arrived with torches and soldiers, led by Judas! So he hadn’t been on an errand! Judas had arranged a signal with the priests and soldiers, and he walked right up to Jesus and gave Him a kiss on the cheek. That was a way friends greeted each other in that culture. “You’ve got to be kidding me, Judas,” Jesus said. “You’re betraying me with a kiss?”

So the crowd led Jesus away, and the rest of the disciples ran away. But Peter doubled back and kept his distance while he followed the crowd. He didn’t want to be caught, but he could tell Jesus was in trouble. So he tracked them to the chief priest’s house. In the chief priest’s courtyard, Peter found a bonfire and sat with the people who were sitting around it keeping warm. A servant girl saw him and said, “Hey, that guy was with Jesus!”

“Who?” Peter said. “Don’t know him.”

A few minutes later, someone else recognized Peter and said, “You’re one of Jesus’ disciples.”

“Nope!” Peter said.

Another hour went by. Someone else commented, “This guy has a Galilean accent. He must have been with Jesus!”

“What are you even talking about?” Peter replied. “That’s ridic—“ And he heard it.  Rr-r-r-r-rrr!!

Jesus looked straight at Peter. Then Peter remembered what Jesus had said: “Before the rooster crows, you’re gonna tell people three times that you don’t even know me!” Peter ran outside and cried. He was so ashamed that he had lied!

By this time, it was Friday morning, and the trial began. After asking Jesus some questions, the priests dragged Him before Pilate, the Roman governor of Judea. Pilate couldn’t find anything to charge Jesus with, but the people insisted He was a public nuisance and was making wild claims of being the Son of God. When he found out that Jesus was from Galilee, he said, “Well, that’s Herod’s territory! Take Him to Herod!” But when Herod asked Jesus questions, Jesus wouldn’t answer. The priests were accusing Jesus of claiming to be the King of the Jews, so Herod started making fun of Him. He put a robe on Jesus and sent Him back to Pilate. But Pilate didn’t want to punish someone who had done nothing wrong! But the crowd kept pressing him. He started to get worried that this would become a riot, and that could really get him in trouble with the Roman authorities. Pilate was really torn on what to do. Should he punish an innocent man to make a bunch of people happy, or should he let Him go, and maybe lose his job because he allowed a riot to happen? “What do you want me to do with him?” Pilate asked the crowd. They replied, “CRUCIFY HIM!” So finally, Pilate gave in and let them do it.

The soldiers forced a guy named Simon to carry Jesus’ cross up the hill. Along with two criminals carrying their own crosses, and a whole crowd following them, Jesus and Simon walked to the top of the hill. Jesus had been beaten pretty bad by this point, and the Romans had made a thorny crown for Him to wear. When they reached the top, the soldiers nailed Jesus and the two criminals to their crosses, and they and the priests said some horrible things to make fun of Him. It was the worst kind of bullying. But Jesus prayed. “Papa, forgive them! They have no idea what they’re doing!”

Now it was about noon on Friday, and it got really dark. As 3 PM came along, Jesus cried out, “It’s done!” Then He prayed, “Father, take my spirit.” And He died.

The centurion who was guarding Jesus’ cross commented, “Wow! This was a good man.”

Jesus’ friends and His mom were watching. While he was on the cross, he had told his disciple John to take care of Mary. Now, His friends took Him down from the cross, and a man named Joseph from the town of Arimathea offered to bury Him. By this time, it was light again, but the sunset was coming soon, and Saturday was the Sabbath. They weren’t allowed to work on Saturday, so they had to work quickly to get Jesus buried before sundown. Several women who were followers of Jesus followed Joseph to the tomb, and then they hurried home to prepare the spices to preserve Jesus’ body. But they had to stop work when the sun set because of the Sabbath.

Early Sunday morning, once the Sabbath was over, the women got up and took the spices they had prepared to the tomb. While they were on their way, they were discussing the biggest challenge to this trip. There was a big heavy stone in front of the tomb! How were they going to get it out of the way?

So they got to the tomb and discovered their first shock. Somebody had already rolled it away! They went into the cave and found their second shock. There were some empty grave clothes, but Jesus wasn’t there! Then suddenly, the cave filled with light, and there were two men wearing brilliant clothes standing with them! The women were so stunned and scared that they bowed down and looked at the ground. What happened next shocked them even more. The men said, “What are you doing looking for the living among the dead? Jesus isn’t here! He has risen!”

The women hurried back to the disciples and told them. This was a lot to take in, and neither the women nor the disciples knew what to think about it. Peter and John went back to the tomb with them. John saw the grave clothes and believed, but Peter left wondering what in the world had happened.

So Mary Magdalene was left standing outside the tomb crying. She had a feeling someone must have moved the body, and this must be some kind of cruel prank. She saw the angels again, and they asked her why she was crying. She replied, “They’ve taken my Lord away, and I don’t know where they’ve put Him!” Then she turned around and saw another man. She didn’t recognize this guy and decided he must be the gardener. This new man asked her, “Why are you crying? Who are you looking for?”

She replied, “Sir, if you took him, can you tell me where you put him so I can go get him?”

Then he replied, “Mary.”

She had been crying so hard she couldn’t see straight through her tears. She looked at Him again and recognized Jesus! “Teacher!” she cried. She was so excited that she ran and told the disciples what she had seen with her own eyes!

Unexpected Guests

The news was getting out. Sometime earlier, God had used angels to announce Jesus’ birth to shepherds. Now He chose another interesting and unusual way of announcing it to someone unexpected. This time no angels appeared. But a group of guys in the east, professional stargazers, were looking into the sky when they saw an unusual star. Where were they from? We don’t know, but it could have been Arabia or Persia. They studied the stars, and they believed that the stars showed signs and announced events. They had also studied many ancient scrolls, and they had read that a King of the Jews would come someday. Somehow they realized that this star had something to do with that King, and they wanted to know more. They were known as magi. We get the words magus, magi and magic from the same word. There was a lot of mystery about them, and some people believed they could do magic. They were also known as wise men because they often gave advice and interpreted dreams and other things for kings. How many of them went on the trip? We don’t know. But we do know that they chose three interesting and expensive gifts to take with them on the journey they were about to take.

Gold was a gift for a King. Frankincense was a gift for the Son of God. Some people burn it when they worship. Myrrh was a gift for the Messiah. It’s a spice that people used when they were burying people. Prophecies told that the King of the Jews would be the Son of God and the promised Messiah, and that one day He would give his life to save us. The gifts that the magi chose showed that they had read the prophecies, and they knew who they were about to meet. They were pretty excited about this, because it isn’t every day you meet someone like that! So as soon as they saw the star, they gathered their gifts, packed up, and left.

It was a long journey. If you’re looking for a King, where do you look first? You go to the capital of the country and find the King’s palace! So they found themselves in Jerusalem at the palace of King Herod. They started to ask around, “Where is the one who has been born King of the Jews? We saw His star when it rose, and we’ve been following it so we can worship Him.”

When Herod got word that these guys were asking around about a new King of the Jews, he was pretty upset. What new King of the Jews? Herod was King of the Jews! Did this mean someone was about to take his place? He liked his job and his life, and he didn’t want to see it end because some kid was gonna come and take his throne!

So Herod called the experts: the priests. They had also studied the prophecies, and so they told him that the prophet Micah had said that the Messiah would be born in the tiny village of Bethlehem.

Then Herod came up with a crafty plan. He talked to the magi and found out exactly when the star had appeared. He told them about the prophecy that the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem. “Go there,” he told them, “and when you’re done, come back here and let me know where he is… because I wanna worship him too!”

So the magi left Jerusalem and followed the star to Bethlehem. It kept going ahead of them until it stopped over a house. They couldn’t contain their excitement! They knocked on the door, and when they went in, they saw him. The boy was probably somewhere around 2 at this point. Mary and Joseph couldn’t believe their eyes as a bunch of richly-dressed foreigners came into the house and knelt down to visit their son! They laid their gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh at his feet.

That night, one of the magi had a dream that included a warning: Herod wasn’t planning to worship the new King of the Jews. So the next morning, instead of returning to Jerusalem, they left, and went home another way.

Joseph also had a dream. An angel appeared to him and said, “Quick! Get up! Take Mary and Jesus and get out of here! Herod is about to come looking for Jesus to kill him! Go to Egypt and stay there until I tell you it’s safe to come back.” Later someone remembered that the prophet Hosea had once foretold, “Out of Egypt I will call My Son.”

Sure enough, Herod’s men came looking for Jesus, but He wasn’t there. Sometime later, the angel appeared to Joseph again and told him, “It’s OK to go back now. Herod has died.” So the young family returned to their hometown of Nazareth, where Jesus grew up.

We Three Kings

We Three Kings is a great song. Like many hymns, people who know it often only know the first verse. It tells the story recorded in the book of Matthew of three wise men who came from the east, following a star to visit the infant Jesus and bring Him kingly gifts. I find it interesting that they use the word "traverse" rather than "travel." The two words are related, but traverse involves crossing, going back and forth. It often implies a search, rather than just a trip. The wise men knew from their studies of ancient prophecies and the heavens what the star meant. But a star is high in the heavens. If one is following a star, it's hard to tell precisely where it is leading. That's probably one reason they visited Herod to find out what he knew about the promised King of the Jews. He didn't know much, so he asked his experts, who told him that the prophet Micah had foretold that the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem (Micah 5:2). After consulting the experts, Herod, terrified about this promised King who might just overthrow him, got back to the wise men and told them to search for the new King in Bethlehem and come back so that he could "worship" [see: kill] Him. The wise men then proceeded to follow the star until it stopped over the house [note it does not say stable...more about that later] where Jesus was. I'm not sure how they knew it was that exact house. Many paintings depict a shaft of light coming from the star like a celestial spotlight, shining on the house/stable. However they figured out which house it was, it seems that it was pretty obvious to them when they got there. They presented their gifts and left by a different route, since they had been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod. When Herod realized that the wise men weren't coming back, he got really mad and ordered all the boys in Bethlehem under the age of 2 killed. The song, of course, doesn't mention most of those details, but that's what happened.

The second, third and fourth verses of the song go into greater detail on the individual gifts that they brought:

Gold was a gift for a King. Prophecies foretold that Jesus would be King of the Jews, and that His reign would last forever. The wise men came to pay homage to the newborn King, who was so great that His birth and reign had been prophesied for hundreds of years.

Frankincense was a gift for God. Prophecies also indicated that Jesus would be no ordinary King, but rather God in human form. Frankincense is basically the hardened sap from a Boswellia tree (see the Wikipedia article for more details). It is often used in incense, and when it is burned, it lets off fragrant smoke that rises into the heavens (provided there aren't walls and a roof in the way). It is used by many traditions in worship. In India, they use it for medicine, and some people use it as a mosquito repellent.

Myrrh was a gift for the Messiah, who would one day, about 30 years later, die a painful death to save us from our sins. Like frankincense, it is a kind of sap, this time from the Commifora variety of trees. In several ancient cultures, it was used as an embalming spice. It was likely one of the spices the ladies brought when they came to put on Jesus' body and instead discovered that His tomb was empty. Myrrh is also used in many cultures (including China and India) for its medicinal qualities.

The final verse is more or less a summary of the gifts and praise to God. It points out that He is "King [thus the gold] and God [frankincense] and sacrifice [myrrh]." It then goes on to say "Alleluia, alleluia! [הללו יה, Hebrew for "Praise the Lord!"] sounds through the earth and skies."

The lyrics are here. The song was written by John Henry Hopkins, Jr. in 1857 for a Christmas pageant featuring his nephews and nieces. It was also featured at another pageant at New York City's General Theological Seminary, where he was the music director at the time. It was published in 1863. (See the Wikipedia articles on the song and Hopkins for more on that.)

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As for the timing and location of the visit of the Magi...they are often portrayed as being at the stable, all ready for the group shot with the shepherds, sheep, goats, cattle, Mary, Joseph, and baby Jesus in the manger. Not so. Matthew specifically states that they came to the house, not the stable, where Jesus was. The census was over, and many people had gone home. Apparently, Mary and Joseph had stayed in Bethlehem and found a house to live in by this point. I'm sure they got out of the stable as soon as possible, and they probably didn't want to make the difficult journey back with a newborn baby in tow. Jesus could have been as old as two years by this point, judging from the fact that Herod ordered all the boys age 2 and younger to be killed (based on information he had gotten from the Magi).

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One thing I find interesting about We Three Kings is that the title is a bit of a misnomer. There were probably more than three of them, and they were not kings. The Bible doesn't actually say how many wise men came, so the traditions draw the number from the number of gifts that they brought. Traditionally, their names were Balthasar, Gaspar and Melchior. According to Spanish tradition, Melchior came from Europe, Gaspar came from Asia, and Balthasar came from Africa...which is interesting, since the Bible states that they came from the East, and Europe and Africa are northwest and southwest, respectively, of Israel. In any case, I don't know how many of them came. I just know that they brought at least three gifts.

So if they weren't kings, who were the wise men? The Bible calls them Magi (or "wise men"; the singular form is magus), an order of advisers to the King of Persia dating back centuries before the birth of Christ, to the days of their founder Zoroaster. They studied the stars and interpreted their meanings. Today we would call them astrologers. It is likely that the advisers of King Nebuchadnezzar, in the prophet Daniel's time, were magi. Some even believe Daniel was a magus. Interestingly, the term is also translated "sorcerer" in the book of Acts. The word magic is related to it.

This tells me a lot about the people to whom God chose to announce His coming. They were the last people anyone would think of announcing the arrival of God in flesh. Shepherds were the lowest of the low in Jewish society. They were regarded as dirty outcasts, only fit for raising sheep to be used in sacrifices. Astrologers have long been regarded as evil occultists in religious circles. (The apostle Paul even struck a magus with blindness, due to his opposition to the Gospel.) When He grew up, Jesus pointed out that "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance" (Luke 5:31-32). The shepherds probably had very little, if any, education, and they likely didn't know much about the prophecies or even the Lord, but one visit from an army of angels, and they became some of the first evangelists. The Magi were highly intelligent individuals who had the ancient texts and the interpretations of the stars at their disposal. They were obviously very rich, considering the gifts that they brought. They believed that the stars foretold the future. As believers in Christ, we often tend to shun people who believe, dress or behave differently from us...but that's exactly who God chose to announce His coming to. Jesus died to save them. Shunning and avoiding them is an insult to His sacrifice. I'm not saying we should do what they do, but we need to show them His love, not scorn. Judging is God's job, not ours.

Oh...one more thing. Why am I posting this now? I meant to post it on January 6, which is Three Kings' Day, also known as Epiphany, the traditional end to the Twelve Days of Christmas (the day the singer received a whopping 78 gifts - 23 birds, 55 people, and 5 rings). In his novel Notre Dame de Paris (which was later translated into English and renamed The Hunchback of Notre Dame), Victor Hugo tells about a counter-celebration that the non-Catholics celebrated on January 6, the Feast of Fools (or, as the Disney version calls it, Topsy Turvy Day). On a related note, I find it interesting that in English, both the French musical Notre Dame de Paris and Disney's version of The Hunchback of Notre Dame involve Quasimodo being crowned "the King of Fools." But Hugo wrote his novel as a criticism of hypocrisy he saw in the Catholic Church, and the French versions of the novel and the French musical have them crowning Quasimodo "the Pope of Fools." Once again, people translating something as "King" where that's an inaccurate translation.