Day 28 The Wise-Guys

2 Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the east came to Jerusalem, 2 saying, “Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.” Matthew 2:1-2 ESV

“Wise men from the east…” I enjoy the mystery surrounding the mages from the East. Something about them appeals to my sense of wonder. They appear looking for Jesus. Asking Herod merely alerts him to a supposed threat. Their knowledge incomplete, the scribes narrow their search to Bethlehem and off they go to find this new king. They find Joseph, Mary, and most importantly Jesus, worship him giving gifts, and then depart, taking a different route after a dreamy encounter. We do not know much else. How did they know to look for Jesus? What alerted them to the importance of the star? I suppose that somehow during the Jewish exile, information about the coming Messiah leaked out; but that is pure speculation on my part. We just do not know. It is one of those things that God kept to Himself.

And that is what I like. The arrival of the Magi reminds me that God is up to things. He’s busy working His will in ways that I do not know. In my buttoned-down, well-ordered world, I think I know. But God periodically batters down my prideful assertion that I have things figured out. He reaches out to all His children in a myriad of ways. Somehow, He reached out to the Wise Men, and they responded in worship. We do not know what happened to them or what they did after they returned to their homes…someplace in the nebulous East. But they were changed. They had seen the newborn king, the Messiah, Immanuel, God with us.