I\u2019ve always been fascinated by the story of the Wise Men (Matt 2).\u00a0 Even in my fundamentalist\/evangelical days, I found their story intriguing.\u00a0 Their time in the Gospel accounts is limited, but profound.\u00a0 As we come to this season of Advent, of that first coming, what might we learn from the story of the Wise Men?\u00a0 Here are three reflections we might consider:<\/p>\n
God Acts<\/em> Outside Traditional Frameworks\/Understandings:<\/strong><\/p>\n The Wise Men were from the east\u2014they were gentiles.\u00a0 They were not heirs to the promise or the covenant.\u00a0 They were not given the law or rescued from Egypt.\u00a0 They were not told they were \u201cclean\u201d or chosen.\u00a0 They were outside the framework, the boundaries, the walls, that the Hebrews (Many of them) felt God had placed around Israel\u2014the nation he had chosen out of all the people groups and nations of the world.\u00a0 The Wise Men were outsiders, foreigners, \u201cothers.\u201d<\/p>\n And yet, God chose them to see and understand what those inside the presumed framework would not, or could not, see or understand.<\/em><\/p>\n God Speaks<\/em> to Those Outside Traditional Frameworks\/Understandings:<\/strong><\/p>\n It is commonly understood the Wise Men were, what we would consider today, astrologers.\u00a0 The Magi were probably Persian-Medes, from a priestly class, and associated, again, with what we today would consider the occult.<\/p>\n And yet, God chose to speak, to communicate, to be present to those associated with a world and practices\u2014that were actually condemned in Scripture (For example see Leviticus 19:26; Isaiah 47:13-15).\u00a0 God also chose to speak outside the boundaries of written Scripture to those not necessarily familiar with those writings and chose nature itself (stars and dreams) to communicate, to announce, a King had been born.<\/em><\/p>\n God Protects<\/em> Those Outside Traditional Frameworks\/Understandings:<\/strong><\/p>\n In Matthew\u2019s Gospel, we read that, \u201c\u2026having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route.\u201d\u00a0 Who warned them in a dream?\u00a0 I think we can assume God did.\u00a0 If they had returned to Herod and decided not to tell him anything, or lie, or try to protect the child in some way, they may have found themselves under threat of imprisonment or death.<\/p>\n The traditional framework did not see God as the protector of all people\u2014only the Hebrews\/Jews.<\/p>\n And yet, God protected these, these who were outside the traditional frameworks and understandings.\u00a0 God protected them against the very people who thought they were the protected ones.<\/em><\/p>\n What might we take from this today as Christians?\u00a0 Do we think God is now working in completely different ways and what happened as far as the Wise Men could never be repeated?\u00a0 I would find such an assumption very dangerous.<\/p>\n What is the traditional religious, or philosophical framework we assume is in place?\u00a0 Let\u2019s picture who it is we think is on the inside of that framework, and who is on the outside.\u00a0 Picture whatever it is we might think is the correct and true way that God acts or doesn\u2019t act, communicates, or doesn\u2019t communicate.\u00a0 Picture who it is we might think of as righteous, and on the right side of history and who we see as the opposite.\u00a0 Picture who it is we might think of as \u201csaved\u201d and as \u201clost.\u201d<\/p>\n Now, imagine learning God had acted and communicated outside the frameworks and boundaries contained in those assumptions.\u00a0 Such is always the possibility\u2014the story of the Wise Men at the very least<\/em> testifies to that sobering reality.\u00a0 Does this mean we can\u2019t trust or believe anything very strongly?\u00a0 No.\u00a0 It simply means we could be wrong.\u00a0 It means I could be very sincere, but sincerely wrong.\u00a0 What we believe about the Judeo-Christian story, what we hold dear, we can hold strongly\u2014but we need to hold it very humbly.\u00a0 The story of the Wise Men, to the extent we ever become prideful in our beliefs, should haunt us.<\/p>\n As we come to this season, let us learn from the story of the Wise Men as we too bring our gifts, ourselves, to the Savior of the world.\u00a0 And, because God problematizes and complicates our comfortable perspectives, our settled opinions, our presumptions (religious or otherwise), let us do it humbly, with the mind-set we pray we are more like the Wise Men and not like the Herods\/religious leaders of that day.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I\u2019ve always been fascinated by the story of the Wise Men (Matt 2).\u00a0 Even in my fundamentalist\/evangelical days, I found their story intriguing.\u00a0 Their time in the Gospel accounts is limited, but profound.\u00a0 As we come to this season of Advent, of that first coming, what might we learn from the story of the Wise […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3524,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[56,314,482,500],"class_list":["post-511","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-christmas","tag-others","tag-tradition","tag-wise-men"],"yoast_head":"\n