Three Scruffy Men

Now, normally Herod wouldn’t be caught dead in the company of guys like this, but their talk of a new king fired up his jealous paranoia and so he consented to see them “secretly” and what they said to him rattled him… He quickly called in his advisors –a bunch of priests and scribes who knew where their bread was buttered- and, to his dismay, they suggested that there were some ancient texts that just might add credence to the wild tale told by the three scruffy men… Covering all bases, Herod, somewhat tongue in cheek commanded the three scruffy men to come back and tell him if they really found some kind of new king: or, we might imagine, if they tripped over any pink elephants along the way! Herod really didn’t take the three buffoons seriously. He didn’t even bother to send one of his own hirelings along to keep an eye on them! And, though Bethlehem was just 6 miles away, Herod saw no point launching his own investigation taking the whole story of a new king as a bit of a joke at this point.

So, the three scruffy men went back outside, somewhat intimidated by Herod, but eager to complete their quest so that they could say that they’d uncovered a great king by way of magic. There were lots of stars in the sky so of course there was one over Bethlehem and that was the city the priests had named, so off they went quite pleased with the thought that if they could spin a bit of Jewish prophecy into their ultimate tale it might even market to the Jews back home- increasing the profit margin.

Now, I don’t know how many times you’ve gone outside to look at the stars, but I’m sure you’ve done it often enough to realize two things. First of all, stars don’t move: at least not in the way the Bible story says. Like the sun, our greatest star, all other stars stand still while we on a planet revolve around them. And secondly, for all the Boy Scout stuff about following the north star if you ever get lost in the woods, I’d hate to ever really have to make my way by such a compass. Any given star can be seen from a vantagepoint that at any moment of the night includes thousands of square miles! No way any star acts like a GPS nailing down any kind of pinpoint accurate location!

Whatever! The three scruffy men make their journey to Bethlehem where, lo and behold, they find a baby: actually more of a toddler, but close enough (they were getting a bit impatient by this point). They make a big fuss over the kid and with some fanfare and photo-ops, they present him their gifts and then, without any more howdy-do than that they take off for home to tell and sell their tale… And, that’s the last we hear of them.

I’d love to say that they found Jesus and dedicated their entire lives to serving the King of all Creation, but there’s nothing quite so moving or touching in the actual Bible story, so- no can do. In fact, quite the contrary, if there’s any kind of spiritual story here it must surely be titled “Opportunities Lost!”

And yet, I want to argue vehemently, there is a miracle here! Yes! Really! There is a miracle here.