We have a page published in the Together Paper each month. You can always read this article via the Wagga Wagga Diocese website, or read below:
We’re all familiar with the Gospel account of the visit of the Three Wise Men. If we have the
time to delve deeper, however, we might be surprised to learn a thing or two.
It’s a story we know well. These learned men travel in pursuit of knowledge. They have read
the prophecies and signs and have journeyed a long way to follow a star.
They are considered worthy of Herod’s presence and excitedly share their quest with him,
though fail to pick up on his less noble ambitions.
And then, their world spins on its axis. They find the star, and, enveloped in its glow, the
newborn Saviour of the world. They present their gifts and pay him homage.
They receive a divine insight into Herod’s true motives and return home another way.
And that’s the last we hear from them.
Three Wise Men
Early accounts and depictions of the Three Wise Men suggest they are of Persian or
Babylonian origin. The word ‘magi’ is priest in Persian, and they were a caste of priests who
studied the stars for signs of divinity because, unlike the Jews, they did not know divine
revelation.
The earliest image of the wise men, a fresco from the second century, depicts them as three
in number. Later images have varied numbers. Whilst we aren’t sure how many of them
travelled to Bethlehem, tradition has assigned their number as three ( as early Saint Leo the
Great in the fourth century) in keeping with the gifts listed in the Gospel accounts.
Further to this, from the ninth century, the three wise men have been attributed names, age
and ethnicity. Melchior is depicted as an aging European man who brings gold, to
acknowledge the kingship of Christ. Caspar (variants Gaspar or Kasper) is depicted to
represent Asia, is a young man, and brings incense to represent the divinity of Christ.
Balthazar, aged between the other two, is depicted of African origin and brings myrrh which
represents the humanity of Jesus.
In other words, together they represent the diversity of humanity, the entire human race.
They represent you and me.
Another way
Their journey home is not different merely because they travel a different route to avoid
Herod. It is different because they are.
These noble and esteemed men of learning have come face to face with the divine. They
have found more than just the confirmation of their study, but the fulfillment of a divine
prophecy.
Then they just go home. And the world doesn’t hear from them again.
I mean, they’ve just accomplished a phenomenal feat, and they just head home. They don’t
brag about it, maybe they don’t even discuss it outside of themselves. There’s no barrage of
social media, posts, reels and videos, morning tv interviews or Netflix series.
In all seriousness, this was their life’s work! And they stay silent!
They went to Bethlehem in search of a star and found God. All their wisdom and knowledge,
all their earthly accomplishments; they meant nothing compared to what they had
discovered.
Success, acclaim in this life was no longer their aim. They saw it for what it was, fleeting.
They found the infinite, the eternal.
They could never be the same again.
As we prepare for Christmas, let’s travel towards Bethlehem ready for a real, authentic
encounter with Jesus. Hopefully we too will return home another way.
Merry Christmas from all the team at Virtue Ministry.
Written by Emily Shaw
VM Writer and Graphic Designer. Wife of one, mother of 8. Tackling growth in virtue one (baby) step at a time