The Wise Men


“Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star in the east, and have come to worship him.” Luke 2:2

Have you ever wondered why God had anyone at all show up for the birth of Jesus? First we had the insignificant shepherds, now the “Wise Men” who were not even from the same region. I think the Wise Men played at least two important roles when they came to find the baby.

First, in one short chapter in the New Testament, the Wise Men exposed the selfish and arrogant leader named Herod. He didn’t want to compete with Jesus as a ruler so he ordered all babies under the age of two to be killed. He was willing to sacrifice thousands of children so that he could destroy this newborn called Jesus. How many did he actually kill and still not find who he was looking for? There’s bad and there’s evil. That is evil.

Secondly, we see that the Wise Men are focused. From the time they had a vision from the angel of the Lord until they knelt before the baby. they had a singleness of mind. They worshiped, they presented gifts, and they returned home. They had traveled a great distance using only a star to guide them, and now their “mission” was finished.

Or was it? Of course not. As Wise Men, they were probably influential in their region. They would talk about their experiences because they had a fantastic reason to talk. These men knew that Jesus was special (how else could a dream and a star compel them to travel hundreds of miles?), but I don’t think they quite realized how special He was.

The Wise Men and the shepherds were both playing an important role in history: they were witnesses to the greatest birth of all time. They would never forget the experience.


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