Friday, January 9, 2015

The Wise Men: Representation of the Whole Humanity





After the celebration of the nativity of Jesus, the celebration of the Three Kings follows. In this celebration, we honor the three wise men known as the three kings for they read and believed God's word, sought Jesus, recognize the worth of Christ, humble themselves to worship Jesus, and obeyed God rather than man. 

These Kings, as thought by many, were the wise men who studied the stars came from the East. However, Matthew did not specifically wrote that they are three but only wise men. It is assumed that there were three wise men because of the three gifts that were given: gold, incense, and myrrh. Some scholars assumed that there could have been many more of them who visited the new born child Jesus. Tradition says that there were three and that their names were Gaspar, Melchior, and Balthasar, but since the Bible does not say, we have no way of knowing whether the tradition is accurate. Whether the tradition is accurate nor not, it is not anymore significant. What is significant is the act of offering gifts.

It is already planned by God that those wise men coming from the East will visit the child as a representation of the whole humanity. We know that the magi were wise men from "the East," most likely Persia, or modern-day Iran. This means the wise men traveled 800 to 900 miles to see the Christ child. In other words, they traveled a long journey just to see the child. The message brought by their visitation to the child is that Jesus deserves an adoration of the entire humanity. This significant event that happened more that 2000 years ago also encourage us that we have to strive hard, offer something, and adore Him just as the wise men did.  

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