we know very little about them. We don’t know if they were wise; we don’t even know it they were all men. The Scripture above uses the term “wise men,” but the actual word is “magi,” or “magoi” in Greek, which means “Zoroastrian priests.”

Since they brought three gifts we assume there were three of them. However, the Eastern Orthodox Church contends that there were 12 of them! That must have made for a pretty cramped  stable, although Matthew doesn’t mention a stable and instead says they entered a house. I picture them pulling up to a little rent house on the poor side of town.

They were not Hebrew, not Christian, and certainly not Methodists. They were stargazing astrologists fascinated by dreams and signs in the heavens. The words “magic” and “magoi” share the same root. Spooky! They were foreigners in every sense of the word.

We can only imagine what caused them to follow that great light in the sky. Somehow they knew who it would lead them to, but they didn’t know where or how far. Still, they rose up and went. They had hope, and they had joy.

We’ll think together about the magi this Sunday. Who knows? God might use them to lead us closer to the one “born King of the Jews.”