The Wise Men
Amongst all
the stories in the scriptures surrounding the Savior’s birth, one of the most
remarkable and inspirational to me is the story of the wise men – the magi
coming from the east. How many there
were, who they were, or where exactly they were from, we are not told. What we do know is that they were wise. And therefore, it behooves us, if we would be
wise men and women, as well, to study the record and learn from, and follow,
their example. Sometimes I think at
Christmastime we just talk about the wise men and tell their well-rehearsed
story without giving it much more thought than that. Perhaps that is the case with many of the
stories surrounding the birth of Jesus. But
with the story of the wise men at least, let’s dig a little deeper this morning
and see what we can find that would help us be a little wiser ourselves.
The first
thing we learn about the wise men in the scriptural account given by Matthew is
related as follows,
Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days of
Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem, saying,
“Where is he that is born King of the Jews? For we have seen his star in the
east, and are come to worship him.” (Matthew
2:1-2)
There are at
least two important things we learn about the wise men in these verses. First,
how did they know in the first place that a new star in the heavens was a sign
about the birth of the Messiah? It is
clear that they were men who studied the scriptures diligently – more so than
just reading a few verses here and there.
These men, like the sons of Mosiah in the Book of Mormon, must surely
have “searched the scriptures diligently that they might know the word of God.” They knew from that study that a new star
would appear on the night of the Savior’s birth in divine annunciation of His arrival.
Secondly,
the wise men arrived in Jerusalem looking for the newborn King because they did
not only understand that the star was a sign that He was born, and rejoice in
that knowledge, but they chose to follow that star as far as it led them, for
as long as it took, until they knelt at the feet of the young Child. Scholars believe the Christ Child was no
longer an infant in the manger by the time the magi found Him, but rather He was
a toddler in His home in Nazareth. These
men must have traveled from their home in the east for months from the time
they first saw that star in the heavens, given as a sign on the night of His
birth, until they finally arrived to meet Him.
Matthew relates this as follows,
And when they were come into the
house, they saw the young child with Mary his mother, and fell down, and worshiped
him: and when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto him gifts;
gold, and frankincense, and myrrh. (Matthew
2:11).
I believe that
inherent in this story of the wise men, there is another great lesson to be
gleaned. The wise men were aware, of
course, from their diligent study of the scriptures, that Jesus was come to
save all mankind from sin and death. He
was their Savior. He came for the sole purpose
of giving them the greatest gift ever given.
But that gift would be given regardless of whether or not the wise men
remained in their hometown somewhere in the east. So why did they come? There is something to be learned from this.
The wise men
did not travel for months, sacrificing everything to find the King of the Jews,
so that they could get something from Him. The record is clear that the wise men
traveled so far for so long for one express purpose: so that they could give
something to Him. They brought gifts –
the most special and rare that they had to offer – and they came to worship
Him. They didn’t ask anything in return
from the young Messiah, though surely they worshiped Him because of the
profound dependance they knew they had on Him for their own salvation.
In April
conference, 2020, Sister Joy D. Jones shared a brief video in which she and
President Russel M. Nelson met with a group of ten young children. One little girl asked President Nelson if it
was hard to be a prophet. His response
has stuck with me over the months since he said it. “Of course it’s hard,” he responded. “Everything to do with becoming more like the
Savior is difficult…. The Lord loves effort,
because effort brings rewards that can’t come without it.” (“An Especially Noble Calling,” Joy D. Jones,
April 2020).
At Christmastime
we celebrate Jesus’ birth. At Easter we remember
His sacrifice, death, and, joyfully, we celebrate His resurrection. At both of these holidays we celebrate new
life and new beginnings. But it is all
that happened in between His birth and His resurrection that we truly celebrate
on these sacred occasions. And what He
did between His birth and His resurrection shows us the example of what our effort
should be like each day. Said succinctly
by the Apostle Luke, Jesus “went about doing good.” (Acts 10:38). And John adds, “…there are also many other
things Jesus did, the which, if they should be written every one, I suppose
that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written”
(John 21:25).
At Christmastime
we always focus on gift-giving – checking our lists for what to give the kids,
the spouse, the neighbors, the coworkers, etc.
And that is important, fun, and even symbolic. But to be wise men and women ourselves the center of our focus at Christmas needs to be
what we will do after the tinsel and lights are taken down, the Christmas tree
is stowed in the basement again, and even after the nativity set, which reminds
us so directly what the true meaning of Christmas is about in the first place,
is safely tucked away in its box until next year. How far will we go, like the wise men, and
for how long – how much will we sacrifice?
Or like President Nelson said, how much effort will we give until we
fall down at the feet of the Savior, finally, at last in person, to worship
Him? Will we remember Him only in singing
carols or sharing the Christmas story for a few weeks of the year up until
December 25th? Or will we do all we can,
starting today – the day AFTER Christmas - to serve as He served and to live as
He lived?
Like the wise
men who traveled so far so that they could give Jesus gifts and worship Him,
what gifts will we plan this year to give Jesus? I know that I have so far to
go, and so much that I need to be ready to give, before I can feel more
comfortable falling at the feet of my Savior in person. But let us all commit to try; to do all that we
can to do better, and to be better; to give all our effort to “seek this Jesus
of whom the prophets and apostles have written” (Ether 12:41).
I testify that He lives; that His birth is significant because of all that happened thereafter. Like the wise men, may we make great efforts to seek Him, for as long as it takes, for as far as we have to go, giving all that we have to give, until we can finally fall down at His feet to worship Him.
