There are several intriguing characters in the Christmas story, but the ones that really capture my imagination are the wise men, these scholars who pack up their treasures and cross the earth because they’ve seen something crazy in the sky.
I imagine them as they travel through the desert, with their servants and retainers, their heavy-laden camel train, wondering what it is they will find at the end of their journey. These are astronomers and mystics who have given their lives to studying the skies, watching the stars, reading the signs. Kings and emperors consult them for their wisdom, asking their most difficult questions, and they search for answers in the patterns of the planets. They know the rhythms of the sky intimately, with years of meticulous notes and observations. No variation or coincidence will go unnoticed, and they will seek out the meaning of each cosmic event.
Imagine them watching the stars one night, and seeing something they have never seen before, something they cannot explain – an infant star, herald of a significant birth, but whose? And where? And a star like this, this is no ordinary person! This is like God himself being born! They put their heads together, but nobody knows what this means. Nobody can understand what the Gods are saying, and nothing in the great libraries of the East can shed any light on the matter. It is a mystery, but one thing they do know: that this star signals something so incredible, so unbelievable and unprecendented, that they must see it for themselves.
We know the whole story, and what lay at the end of their dusty voyage: the baby Jesus, fully human and fully God – a birth so amazing the universe itself could not hold back its praise.
Despite the absence of wisdom (and camels for that matter) I feel a certain affinity with the wise men. Like them, I don’t really know where I’m going or how long it’ll take to get there. I’ve just seen a glimpse of something beautiful, and now I must pack up my treasure and set out in pursuit. The difference is that while they followed his star, I get to follow Christ himself.
[Jeremy Williams]
