Merry Christmas Eve! The cold has arrived, but we seem to have escaped the big snow this time. We might even have some cold sunshine today from the look of the sky. You may not be able to tell yet, but the days are getting a bit longer too! Now, with a critical mind, you can see a lot of factual errors in the preceding lines. Days don't actually get longer than 24 hours with the passing of the winter solstice, nor is the sun any colder or warmer than it is in the summer. We do the same thing with our tales of the three wise men visiting Jesus.
The Bible doesn't say how many there were, but it does say they came from eastern lands. The magi, I don't know if the Greek term is open to women or not, may have travelled for as much as two years before arriving in Jerusalem. Herod may have been giving himself a margin for error in killing all the children of less than two years of age also. If the wise men travelled for two years, they might have come from as far as China. This would indeed be interesting, but not as interesting as having them come from Iran. We know that Daniel lived in the area we know as Iran now; what if the wise men were descended from Daniel? The Bible doesn't say whether the wise men were Jews or some other race of people; what if they were the ancestors of those who hate Israel so much now? Interesting to think about, eh?
However many wise men there were, we know they made a great journey to Jerusalem, and then followed a star from Jerusalem to Bethlehem. The Bible says that the star even came to rest over the house where Mary and Jesus were living. The Bible does not say the star guided them all the way from the eastern lands. If it had, they probably wouldn't have missed by several miles and had to stop in Jerusalem to ask directions.
We know from their questions that they also knew the star they had seen pointed to the arrival of the king of the Jews. The question gave Herod enough concern that it caused him to commit a terrible atrocity. Why did Herod fear a baby so? We may never know, but Jesus from his very birth caused people to decide to follow him or try to destroy him. The wise men, showing they weren't called wise for nothing, worshipped the Christ child and presented gifts to him. Tomorrow and tonight, we will worship the child we know as our Lord and Savior. We will also give gifts to each other to celebrate the gift God gave to us on this day so long ago. May God bless you with a worshipful and generous spirit this Christmas holiday.
Bucky
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