The men from the east may have been wise in the way of stars
but they were not so smart when dealing with kings. You don’t ask a king where
his replacement has been born, especially if the boy wasn't born to the queen in the
palace. By all accounts Herod had a paranoid personality and the question puts
him in self preservation mode (something he has done very well in the past) and
all of Jerusalem is scared of a frightened Herod. The babes in Bethlehem have
more to fear. They just don’t know it yet. But Rachael's wailing won't happen until the
wise men give their gifts to the baby who escapes and the wise men being warned
in a dream depart by the back door. In many ways it is a very human story, not like
the angels we have heard on high that the shepherds see. Astrologers seeing
planets line up in a new way are driven to investigate and naively ask people
in power questions that should not be asked which almost always leads to bloodshed
for the little and the lowly. It’s not a very merry Christmas story when you
think of it that way but then God chose to enter the life of the world as a
baby with no home and a king with no throne. That the wise men would worship a
poor child in a no account town means they trusted the signs in the heavens and believed someone or something wanted them to follow. Either way the
sign in heaven led them to a place on earth where God could be found. We are signs
on earth that point to a place in heaven that is at its best a vision for all people of
perfect peace and irresistible love that makes angels sing and wise folk
rejoice.
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