What Was the Wisdom of the Wise Men?
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What Was the Wisdom of the Wise Men?
Matthew 2:1-23
We hear the story of the Magi as an after-Christmas event, and with a little understanding of the gifts they
gave, we too may employ a measure of their wisdom to prosper a new year and to help heal a broken world.
The journey of the Magi demonstrates their trustworthy nature in the signs of the Lord. Jesus would say to
a Gentile one day, in surprise of the man's trust in Him, "Never have I seen such faith." To these Magi He might
also be heard to say, as they traveled far, risking life and reputation, "Never have I seen such faith." When they find
Jesus, these royals do not hesitate to bow down and worship the Child. They pay homage to His foretold greatness
by offering some most extravagant gifts to this Child born in poverty.
Finally, the Magi put loyalty over royalty by once more listening to an angel whose counsel warns them of
Herod's evil intentions. They high-tail it out of there by another route and head on home. An angel now seeks out
Joseph, once again, and tells him he has to take his family to Egypt to safeguard their lives as well. This poor guy
has really taken a trip these past few months: from the announcement of his fiancé’s bearing the Messiah, for which
he would have to serve as an earthly father, to that untimely trip to Bethlehem to be counted in a census, of all things
(I can hear him muttering under his breath, "dumb politicians"), to having to be rejected at the inn, only to have his
wife and son the benefactors of a cow's stall, then thereafter to receive some of the richest and most powerful men in
the world, who came to fall down before him and his infant Son, there to deposit three of the most valuable gifts one
could possess in Joseph's day, in honor of his baby. What a ride. Now he has to pick up his family and go some
distance to Egypt, at least a three-week journey, because Herod wants not to worship, but to kill his new born Son.
He rises immediately in obedience, turning from homeland and family and friends and occupation and goes
underground for the sake of his wife and Child. With him he takes three very precious gifts.
The gifts of the Magi now truly become the gifts of "wise" men. First, they are all the family needs to make
the trip; they are valuable and transportable. Frankincense and myrrh, in addition to medicinal qualities, were as
valuable as gold in the market place, so they could pay for their way to Egypt and back. The Magi celebrated the
Christ Child with the most valuable gifts in the ancient world, and after their example the world since then has
exchanged gifts at Christmas in honor of Jesus' birth. What equivalent to gold, frankincense and myrrh could we
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offer to others to demonstrate the enriching, healing and restoring presence Christ's birth brings into the world?
There is a story of a minister who, one evening during Advent, was called by his four young children to
come and be the audience for their living room Christmas play. Typically, the father entered the “set” to find Jesus
played by a flashlight wrapped in a blanket, Joseph defined by his bathrobe and a mop-handled staff, Mary looking
solemn with a sheet-draped head, the Angel of the Lord wore pillow-cased wings tied around a baseball bat, and one
wise king with another pillowcase full of gifts. This king was being played by the youngest child, who felt duty
bound to explain herself and her mission. "I'm all three wise men. I bring precious gifts: gold, circumstance, and
mud!" Holding in his laughter, the minister reflected on just how wise those three gifts truly would be, if we would
lay them before the Christ Child.
Our gold: the most common item of our own preoccupations may also be our enslavement to the wealth we
may or may not have. We spend so much of our time and energy trying to save money, make money, manage
money and spend our money, wisely or not, that it easily can become the focus of our lives. Intentionally handing
over our gold as an offering to God, then, becomes a symbol of our commitment to a different set of values that we
might better have.
Our circumstance: We all live with a host of circumstances that make up our lives. Some of these
circumstances free us, encourage us and make us feel great, alive and wonderful. One of the New Year resolutions
Carol and I made was to set time aside to relax more, take time to smell the roses, do some camping, visit old
friends, and make connections with family more often. Some circumstances are indeed limiting and confining,
others are depressing and grieving, maybe all the above after this last year. Still others challenge us and confront
us, from which we may grow into stronger persons or fall defeated by the circumstance. It is a safe bet that none of
us considers our set of circumstances to be ideal or the satisfaction of our hopes and dreams. But instead of
constantly wishing that our lives had taken shape in a different way, along different paths, consider offering God ―
yourself ― this New Year, whatever the circumstances are surrounding your life.
Our mud: Through some real effort on our own part, we have all gradually added enough dirt and grit to the
clear waters of our lives to muddy them up sometimes into a slippery mess. I expect we have all felt that our lives
at times were little more than spinning our wheels in the mud. By taking our mud to Christ, we do not dirty our
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relationship with God; rather, we obtain fresh water for our lives, living water, to sluice our muddy nature, to purge
our uncleanliness, and to get the flow of pure waters running through our souls again. Give God the greatest of the
wise gifts ― your gold, circumstance, and mud ― that is, your whole life.
Just as the Magi offered their gifts quietly, surreptitiously, secretly, why not consider practicing a kind of
undercover giving this year. Give yourself to God, first of all. Then give yourself to others. How - you might
ask. Well, as you pull into a drive-through eatery, give the attendant a tip or give them ten dollars to help pay for
the car behind you or both, and give them a wave as you drive away. Or come spring, when you go to buy a couple
flats of flowers for your gardens, buy a couple extra and plant them in a homebound person’s yard or windowsill and
go back to visit them and care for the flowers and for them all year through. Or maybe they have a pile of trash
outside that you could haul away or some chores around the house that you could help with. Offer to be at their
service for a day. Or when you go for a walk, take a couple bags with you, one to pick up some trash along the way,
and another with bird seed to feed the birds and squirrels or grass seed in the spring to cover a bare spot along the
pathway. Practicing random kindness and seeking to beautify the world in which you walk is practicing the
wisdom of the wise men; it is giving a gift of honor unto Jesus Christ all the year through.
2020 was an historic year to say the least, a challenge to our tenacity, a test to our charity, and a confirmation
of our patience and perseverance. May 2021 be a year of hope fulfilled, promises renewed, prosperity revived and
the church opened and active as never before. Let us pray for peace in our communities where strife has frayed
nerves and caused relations between the police and populace to be tense and untrusting. Let us pray for the speedy
distribution of life-saving vaccines against this year-long plague of a virus. Let us pray for civil discussion among
government leaders and a willingness to consider the plight of the people suffering the ravages of this past year.
Let us move forward seeing the promise of our lives unfold according to the will of God and be at His disposal in
service and song, in praise and worship, giving God the glory for blessings great and small. Pray that we can take
off the masks and see each other’s face once again and there pause to behold each other’s eyes for a lingering
moment, never taking for granted the treasure of friendship and the comradery of making it through a most difficult
time. God bless us all and Happy New Year.