Sages, Leave your Contemplations

It always catches me off-guard when I think about the “wise men” coming to see the Christ Child. I guess because these were “sages” or what the Greeks would call “sophists,” I relate. Their academic discipline eventually developed into mine.

Matthew tells us that these wise men naively submitted to the political hierarchy to discover this new King of the Jews. Matthew includes them, of course, because his purpose is to prove Christ’s royal heritage, and every royal birth should have a royal welcome. They brought the fancier gifts, fit for a King — the Martha Stewarts of their time. John of Hildesheim adds their names and their number to tradition while elevating their ranks to “king.” Eastern tradition says there were twelve, but Western tradition describes three. Tradition also identifies them as Zoroastrians or Persian monotheists. Their theology reads like a proto-Judaism, some claim.

They were also the last to come, since by the time they got there Jesus was a “young child” and no longer a newborn. Leave it to the scholars to, like Hamlet, over-think their actions. Sometimes the mortarboard blocks our view while we’re adjusting our velvet hoods.

But eventually, they did come. Even human wisdom points to Christ. This God Incarnate, fully human and fully divine, was plain to those contemplative sorts. Christ is Savior to the Joe-Shepherd and the Intellectual. Neither can resist the birthday party. Being poor is honorable and being wise is honorable. Both are fully human, and Christ Himself proves that its no sin to be human.

Angels from the Realms of Glory urges us to leave our contemplations. I’m just not sure we need to leave them per se. I think God can speak through them. I think that’s what their inclusion in the Christmas story proves. The head need not be removed from the heart, and the academic need not be only academic.