Matthew 2:9-11 “After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen in the east went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him.”

            Before the Magi offered Jesus the three gifts that we know so well from this story, they gave him something worth at one and the same time far more and far less than the treasures that follow. They gave their hearts. Why else would they be so filled with joy when they saw the star again? In the Greek, Matthew actually piles up four terms to emphasize how happy they were: they rejoiced with an exceedingly great joy. This trip was not just a matter of duty or a way to satisfy their curiosity. Their hearts were fully invested in this quest.

            How else could they recognize this King when they found him? What did they see when they entered the house? A poor teenage girl holding a baby in an ordinary house in little town off the beaten trail. Nothing about the scene in front of them suggested royalty, much less divinity. Still, they bowed down and worshiped him. Why?

            People often say that “seeing is believing,” and often that’s true. But sometimes, it is the other way around. Sometimes, believing is seeing. Now, there are those who would criticize such an idea as people deceiving themselves. You see what you want to see, whether it is true or not–maybe especially when it is not true. A paper from Yale university reported that scientists make more mathematical errors when the correct math leads to conclusions that conflict with their political views. Like me, you have probably been sent some story by email about a political figure you didn’t particularly like. You were inclined to believe it, maybe even passed it on, because it demonstrated what was so bad about the person. Then you were embarrassed to learn that the story was “fact-free,” no truth to it at all. Believing is seeing.

            But in God’s kingdom, “believing is seeing” doesn’t mean we see what we want to see. It means we see what we otherwise can’t see. Faith allows us to see spiritual truths not visible to our physical eyes. Faith pulls back God’s curtain to let us see what is hiding behind it. Because the Magi trusted God, because he had their hearts, they could see their King, their Savior, and their God in the ordinary looking boy sitting on his mother’s lap.

            So what is this gift that God first desires, the gift of our hearts? On the one hand, can you imagine a gift less appealing? They are naturally so black with sin that there is no real love for God left in them. They don’t offer themselves to God. They are spiritually empty and powerless. Swedish writer Bo Giertz once described the heart as a rusty old tin can God finds on the trash heap–a fine birthday gift to offer the King!

            But a wonderful Lord passes by, has mercy on the tin can, thrusts his walking stick through it, rescues it from the junk pile, and takes it home with him. He works the change that makes our hearts his gift. His own love purifies that heart. His forgiveness shines it up. He knows that once he has the heart, he has our whole selves, and then our whole lives come along to worship the King.