Matthew 2:12

This is an example to us of modesty and faith, that once we have come to know and adore Christ as King, we may abandon the path we were traveling before, which was the path of error. We may now proceed by the other path, on which Christ is our guide. We may return to our place, paradise, from which Adam was driven out. This place is mentioned in the psalm as one where we will please the Lord in the land of the living. Thus it was that the magi, having been advised to follow another road, frustrated the tyrant's cruel designs in their return. It was in this manner, through the magi, that the boy who was born a king became known, while at the same time the wiles of the tyrant Herod were overcome. It was predicted that our infant Lord and Savior would be triumphant even at the very beginning of his life in the flesh. This was foretold in advance by Isaiah when he said, "For before the child shall have knowledge to cry 'father' and 'mother,' the riches of Damascus and the spoil of Samaria shall be taken away before the king of Assyria." By "riches of Damascus" is meant the gold that the boy, born the Son of God, received as offered to him by the magi. The "spoils of Samaria" represent the worship of idols, the superstitious error of Samaria from which he diverted those same magi. Those who previously were the prey of the devil because of their false religion became the plunder of God through their knowledge of Christ. The "king of the Assyrians" refers to Herod, or in fact to the devil, to whom the magi themselves became enemies, reverencing as they did the Son of God, our Lord and Savior.

See from this also their faith, how they were not offended, but are docile, and considerate; neither are they troubled, nor reason with themselves, saying, "And yet, if this Child be great, and hath any might, what need of flight, and of a clandestine retreat? and wherefore can it be, that when we have come openly and with boldness, and have stood against so great a people, and against a king's madness, the angel sends us out of the city as runaways and fugitives?" But none of these things did they either say or think. For this most especially belongs to faith, not to seek an account of what is enjoined, but merely to obey the commandments laid upon us.

Verse 2. "Wherefore the king commanded that the soothsayers, the magi, the charmers, and the Chaldeans show the king his dream. And when they came, they stood in the presence of the king." Those whom we have translated as "soothsayers" (harioli) others have rendered as epaoidoi, that is, "enchanters." Well then, it seems to me that enchanters are people who perform a thing by means of words; magi are those who pursue individual lines of philosophic enquiry; charmers are those who employ blood and animal sacrifices and often have contact with corpses. Furthermore the term "astrologers" among the Chaldeans signifies, I believe, what the common people call mathematicians. But common usage and ordinary conversation understands the term magi as wicked enchanters . Yet they were regarded differently among their own nation, inasmuch as they were the philosophers of the Chaldeans, and even the kings and princes of this same nation do all they can to acquire a knowledge of this science. Wherefore also it was they who first at the nativity of our Lord and Savior learned of his birth, and who came to holy Bethlehem and adored the child, under the guidance of the star which shone above them (Matthew 2:1-12).

They had offered gifts to the Lord, and receive a warning corresponding to it. This warning (in the Greek 'having received a response') is given not by an Angel, but by the Lord Himself, to show the high privilege granted to the merit of Joseph.

(non occ.) The wicked Herod, now made cruel by fear, will needs do a deed of horror. But how could he ensnare him who had come to cut off all fraud? His fraud is escaped as it follows, And being warned.

(Hom. in Ev. i. 10. 7.) We may learn much from this return of the Magi another way. Our country is Paradise, to which, after we have come to the knowledge of Christ we are forbidden to return the way we came. We have left this country by pride, disobedience, following things of sight, tasting forbidden food; and we must return to it by repentance, obedience, by contemning things of sight, and overcoming carnal appetite.

The magi hint at something great for us by the fact that they return to their own country by another way. For in doing what they were warned to do, they surely suggest to us what we should do. Our country is paradise, to which, once we have come to know Jesus, we are forbidden to return by the way we came. For we departed from our country by being proud, by being disobedient, by following visible things, by tasting the forbidden food; but we must return to it by weeping, by obeying, by despising visible things, and by restraining the appetite of the flesh. Therefore we go back to our country by another way, because we who departed from the joys of paradise through pleasures are called back to them through lamentations.

Hence it is necessary, dearest brothers, that we, always fearful and always watchful, set before the eyes of our heart on one side the sins of our deeds, on the other the judgment of final severity. Let us consider how severe the judge comes who threatens judgment yet remains hidden; who holds out terrors to sinners and yet still forbears; and therefore delays coming sooner so that he may find fewer to condemn. Let us punish our sins with weeping, and with the voice of the Psalmist let us come before his face in confession. Therefore let no deceit of pleasures deceive us, let no vain joy seduce us. For near is the judge who said: "Woe to you who laugh now, for you shall mourn and weep." For hence Solomon says: "Laughter shall be mingled with sorrow, and mourning takes hold of the end of joy." Hence he says again: "I counted laughter an error, and to joy I said: Why are you vainly deceived?" Hence again he says: "The heart of the wise is where sadness is, and the heart of fools is where gladness is." Let us therefore fear the precepts of God, if we truly celebrate the solemnity of God. For a sacrifice pleasing to God is affliction against sin, as the Psalmist testifies who says: "A sacrifice to God is a contrite spirit." Our past sins were forgiven in the receiving of baptism, and yet after baptism we have committed many sins, but we cannot be washed again by the water of baptism. Since therefore we have defiled our life even after baptism, let us baptize our conscience with tears, so that, seeking our country again by another way, we who departed from it delighted by good things may return to it embittered by evils, through the grace of our Lord.

And being warned by God in a dream not to return to Herod, they departed into their own country another way. Consider the sequence of events. First God guided them to faith by means of the star. Then they came to Jerusalem and He taught them through the prophet Micah that Christ was to be born in Bethlehem. And finally, they were warned by means of the angel. They obeyed the warning, that is, the divine speech. Therefore, having received the warning, that is, having accepted the revelation from God, they deceived Herod. They were not afraid of pursuit, but were bold in the power of Him that had been born. Thus they were true witnesses and confessors.

(12) Then he mentions how they showed reverence in obeying. Hence being warned [answered] in a dream not to return to Herod, they departed to their own country by another way. But how could they have received an answer, if they put no question? The answer is that God sometimes answers a question still in the mind, and they inwardly asked what would be pleasing to God concerning their return: "Why do you cry to me?" (Ex 14:15). But do revelations come directly from God? Denis proves that he does not but uses angels. This is done to indicate the importance of the information: "It was ordained by angels through an intermediary" (Gal 3:19); "This is the Moses who said to the Israelites, 'God will raise up for you a prophet, from your brethren, as he raised me up'" (Acts 7:37).

They returned to their own country by another way. This shows that we return to our own country, paradise, from which we were expelled by sin, through obedience: "Do not swerve to the right or to the left; turn your foot away from evil" (Pr 4:27). Chrysostom says here that those who returned led holy lives and later became helpers of St. Thomas, the apostle; however, nothing is found in Scripture about them after their departure.

Had the Magi sought Christ as an earthly King, they would have remained with Him when they had found Him; but they only worship, and go their way. After their return, they continued in the worship of God more stedfast than before, and taught many by their preaching. And when afterwards Thomas reached their country, they joined themselves to him, and were baptized, and did according to his preachingb.

It was impossible that they, who left Herod to go to Christ, should return to Herod. They who have by sin left Christ and passed to the devil, often return to Christ; for the innocent, who knows not what is evil, is easily deceived, but having once tasted the evil he has taken up, and remembering the good he has left, he returns in penitence to God. He who has forsaken the devil and come to Christ, hardly returns to the devil; for rejoicing in the good he has found, and remembering the evil he has escaped, with difficulty returns to that evil.

(Anselm.) The three men who offer, signify the nations who come from the three quarters of the earth. They open their treasures, i. e. manifest the faith of their hearts by confession. Rightly in the house, teaching that we should not vain-gloriously display the treasure of a good conscience. They bring three (vid. sup. note g, p. 18.) gifts, i. e. the faith in the Holy Trinity. Or opening the stores of Scripture, they offer its threefold sense, historical, moral, and allegorical; or Logic, Physic, and Ethics, making them all serve the faith.

(ord.) This warning is given by the Lord Himself; it is none other that now teaches these Magi the way they should return, but He who said, I am the way. (John 14.) Not that the Infant actually speaks to them, that His divinity may not be revealed before the time, and His human nature may be thought real. But he says, having received an answer, for as Moses prayed silently, so they with pious spirit had asked what the Divine will bade. By another way, for they were not to be mixed up with the unbelieving Jews.