Forty-One

For the past several years I have been accused of not liking the wise men (I would like to point out that I am well aware of the fact that they are referred to as Magi in the Bible and not wise men...nor are they kings nor do we know how many of them...but because we call them the wise men at home that's what they'll be called in this post).

The accusation began several Christmases when I came home having just having completed my Synoptic Gospels class and I was ready to take on the world of Christianity legends which had become graven-in-stone truths.  My first attempted conquest...the wise men.  So as my mother set out her nativity scenes (and when I say scenes I am not referring to one or two...the woman has more nativity scenes than I thought humanly possible...we even have a black bear nativity scene - yes, Bear Mary, Bear Joseph, Baby Bear Jesus, etc. - and when I little when had an eskimo manger scene with an igloo as the stable and little seals and polar bears instead of cows and sheep - I know many who complain about blonde hair and blue-eyed Jesus, I one of them, but I'm pretty sure that an eskimo manger scene takes manger scene inaccuracy to a whole new level haha), I matter-of-factly announced that her nativity scenes were wrong and we didn't need to put out the wise men since they did not visit Jesus until He was probably around the age of 2 and by that time He was long out of the manger I'm sure.

My mother told me, "Leave my wise men alone!"

I offered a compromise that the wise men could travel across the room.  She didn't like that idea either.  She gave me the glare of "if you touch these wise men you will die."  (I learned the other day that when I was a very young child baby Jesus would often go missing from the nativity scenes because I would hide Him and say He didn't belong since it wasn't His birthday yet.  And apparently I broke a lot of manger scenes by rearranging them - I'm pretty sure that's what happened to the eskimo manger scene).

This has become a yearly tradition almost.  Mom will display all of her 92 million manger scenes (okay, maybe her 10) and I will say my spill of how the wise men don't belong.  And she'll glare me and say, "Leave my wise men alone!" We usually have this conversation multiple times throughout the Christmas season.

But I have decided that to say I don't like the wise men is quite incorrect.  Because even though I still believe they should "travel" to the nativity scene to at least make it slightly more accurate, I think there is such beauty in fact that God invited them to be a part of the Christmas story.  There is such beauty in each person or group who was chosen to be a part.  Each shows a glimpse of God's heart.  Each reveals His zeal and His love for all people.

I love the wise men because they remind us to bring Christ our best.  They didn't bring inexpensive gifts. They brought valuable items for the King of Kings, the Prince of Peace.  They gave willing.

But I also love the wise men because they represent that God's love and His salvation is truly for all people.  This is also the reason I love the shepherds.

The shepherds reveal to us that God didn't just send Christ for the rich or the great kings, Christ came for all people.  Just as we are.  Those shepherds hung out with sheep and they worked in fields, so I don't imagine they were all that clean or smelled that great.  After the angels announced that this baby would be a great joy to all people and that a Savior had been born who was Christ the Lord, the shepherds went immediately into town to see this baby.  Immediately.  They didn't clean up.  They went just as they were - dirty and smelly.  I imagine they left their sheep and went.  We are invited to Jesus just as we are with all of our mess.  We don't have to make ourselves presentable...He invites us to come and we drop what we're doing and go.  And we're changed forever.  The shepherds told what they had seen.  When we experience Christ, when we see Him...we have to tell, we can't contain it.

 And the wise men also reveal that Christ is a great joy for all people.  You see they were foreigners.  They weren't Jewish.  They weren't apart of the chosen people of Israel.  They traveled probably long and far to see Jesus.  I'm sure their were other wise men in Israel, but these foreigners remind that Christ is for all.  That He came for first the Jew and then the Gentile.  That through Him we all become God's children, His chosen.

Think about all of the people God could have chosen to announce the birth of His Son to.  The Pharisees. King Herod.  The Romans.  The rich.  But God choose instead to announce the Savior of the world to the shepherds.  To invite with a star the wise men from afar to worship the King.

I'm thankful today that when I look at the nativity scene, I behold a baby who came to pay my ransom so that you could live.  But look also to the shepherds and wise men and reminder that His love and His invitation is truly for all people.  He really is a great joy for all people :)

But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”

Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,

“Glory to God in the highest heaven, 

and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”

Luke 2:10-14