Camels: $500?

Camels: $500. Gold: $150. Frankincense: $100. Myrrh $200. Finding the Son of God, priceless. There are some things money can’t buy, but for everything else, well you know the rest of the commercial. For the wise men in the Gospel, I don’t know what their true expenses were, but I bet they guessed that following a star to find the Son of God was not going to be inexpensive.

It definitely sounds a little bizarre, follow a star to find the son of God. And what made God choose those wise men to follow a star to find Jesus? Would God ask anybody to follow a star to find Jesus? Was it all a coincidence?

So what made those wise men so special? When reading a commentary about this particular passage, I learned that wise men, were also referred to as Magi, and the word Magi stood for several things. It stood for a Persian priestly caste, it was also short for the word magicians, and finally Magi referred to individuals who were astrologers. And as astrologers they understood the science of reading the stars. This understanding of science was what made them wise. As a part of the science, we can infer that they had the skills to map out a journey simply using the night sky, they could follow a star to find the new born king. This was their God given gift.

Back to the story, now prepared to begin their journey, the wise men were summoned by King Herod. They were summoned because the king was frightened because this was his understanding of the birth of Jesus, “a child has been born king of the Jews”, a king to rule over all kings. This could only mean one thing, he wasn’t going to be King much longer. To prevent this new King from taking his throne, he called together all the scribes and all the chief priests to understand exactly what he was up against.

And from the gospel reading it says that they explained what the prophet had written, “‘[from Bethlehem] shall come a ruler who is to shepherd my people Israel.’” This meant King Herod needed to find that child and do all in his power to prevent him from becoming King. And since those wise men from the East were on a journey to find this new born king, he would use them to find the child and stop him from becoming King. Thus he ordered the wise men to send back the location of the child, and then Herod himself would stop the child from becoming King. Brilliant plan, but what King Herod didn’t realize was that the wise men weren’t going to follow his orders. They were warned by God in a dream not to.

So to answer the initial question, was it simply a coincidence? I don’t think so. The ability to understand the stars was a God given gift. God reached out to the wise men, to use skills particular to them, and to find the son of God. Yes, it was a challenge to use the stars as a map, but the wise men could rely on those skills because God gave those skills. Most importantly, the wise men weren’t following the word of King Herod, they were following God’s word.

What does this look like for us today? How do we listen to God to learn what our gifts are? And most importantly, who are we following? We, like the wise men, are on a journey. A journey to serve God by loving each other using the gifts God gave us to serve others. To understand what are gifts are, I think we must understand how we best serve others. For the wise men it was being able to read the stars, for those that are teachers it’s teaching, for those that are consolers it’s consoling, and for those that are doctors it’s treating illnesses.

Ultimately, this shows us that God meets us where we are. God meets us, where we are. God gives each of us different gifts to serve others, and when we listen and follow God’s word we can perform wondrous ministries. It is the beginning of a new year, and for us, it is the beginning of another journey to live out God’s mission for us. If we listen and serve God through our own God given gifts we can begin to serve others better and love one another more.

It’s won’t always easy, and there will always be expenses along the way, but how bad can they really be? Reading the bible: $0, praying: $0, listening and loving others: $0. And serving God through our gifts: priceless.