Well the Magi are at the cradle on the manger. Or to be a little more accurate, they are the home of Joesph and Mary , having followed the star, and dropped off the frankincense, myrrh, and the gold. There is an air of intrigue because Herod wanted to find where this little Jesus was so he could off him, being very stressed that this baby could grow up and off Herod. But the Wise Magi are forewarned in a dream to take a different path home and avoid having to lie to Herod about the whereabouts of Joesph and family. Obviously diplomatic immunity did not play a role in and around Zero BC.
Well what to take away from this little tale ... a tale tightly edited by Matthew to tie in with the prophesy of Isiah. Well, the Magi, or the Wise Men, or the Three Kings came from the east, east of Bethlehem .... East of Bethlehem? Syria? Iraq? Iran? Maybe Afghanistan? India? Didn't Abraham start the whole ball rolling by emigrating from the East in the first place? Interesting that the part of the world that seems to be in the biggest mess today was the topic of reconciliation 2000 years ago. Is that the message for us today?
Three Kings bringing gifts to a baby? isn't that a bit backwards? Aren't the little supposed to bring gifts to the great? Doesn't the waitress, working from five in the morning through to the lunch shift , on her feet the whole time, pay a bigger % of income on taxes than a big corporation? Don't we line up for the big events that the corporate masters tell us about? But here is story telling us that great and powerful men will cross the threshold of a simple abode and pay homage to a small baby on faith alone. Is this not the antithesis of the Corporate West?
What's more the Magi were mystics. They spent time looking at the heavens for signs, and when they saw a sign, they acted on it. They logically must have been the only ones who saw the sign, it clearly was not a historical astronomical event. But something within them, compelled them to act. Is not the message here that we sometimes should listen to the voice that calls us and act, instead of analyzing something until it is starved of oxygen?
I guess the Christian Churches view this day as the moment that God became human but that nuance of that timing is beyond my mollusk brain. But my epiphany is just this: Take time to forgive, Take time to serve, Take time to follow a dream. Thanks for the lesson Matt: A great end to the formal Christmas,but I am very lucky and very blessed, for like Ebenezer Scrooge, it lives in my heart all year and most of the time I am smart enough to know that.