Out Our Way: We Three Trucks

Mathew 2:1-12

Out our way, Epiphany isn't as big a celebration as Christmas, but it is still important. It is the celebration of the coming of the "Magi" as commemorated in the hymn, "We Three Kings." Sadly, many people don't understand the significance.

Briefly, most scholars attribute the title to a class of priests that were common in the Persian Empire. They were often used as advisors to the kings of that time due to their reputation of great knowledge of nature, astronomy - and yes, astrology as well - medicine, history, cultures and ancient texts and the sciences of the day. But most of all, they were noted for their incredible wisdom, hence the title "The Wise Men." If you were a king or anyone with a great deal of political and cultural clout, you wanted to have some "Wise Men" around to help guide you into making wise decisions.

We don't know how many wise men made the journey to Judah, but as three categories of gifts are mentioned in the Gospel account, we traditionally say there were three. The gifts they brought were royal gifts - Gold. the metal associated with royalty; frankincense, a valuable incense associated with worship, and myrrh, a resin used in medicine and used to help heal wounds, reduce pain, and also to preserve the bodies of the dead.

These Wise Men saw the great light in the heavens, which modern astronomers now suggest was not a star, but the conjunction of several planets' orbits that crossed each others' orbits at the same time and commingled their reflective lights into a temporary larger-than-life "light show." The Maji saw it as a sign of a great king's birth, and, as the trajectory of the light seemed to be moving West, and as ancient scholars they were familiar with Jewish prophecies of "the great light" (Isaiah 9:2) and the coming of the Messiah, the "King of the Jews." Hence they saddled up for Jerusalem and the palace of Herod the King, heard from Jewish scholars that Bethlehem and not Jerusalem was where they needed to go ... and, well, you know the rest.

So here we are. Christmas and New Year's are over. But the celebration continues for those for whom Santa and Rudolph and Frosty are not really the point. The Magi remind us what the season is really all about.

Think of the song "Drummer Boy." In truth, "I have no gift to bring that's fit to lay before our King." Yet he did. He could play his drum. And he did. This Epiphany season reminds us that all are called. Instead of three wisemen on camels with gold, frankincense and myrrh, maybe it will be three pickups doing Meals on Wheels, helping a neighbor out during calving season, or plowing out an elderly person's or someone else's driveway. What gifts do you bring?

Be blessed and be a blessing!

Brother John

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The Rev. John Bruington is the retired pastor of First Presbyterian Church of Havre. He now lives in Colorado, but continues to write "Out Our Way." He can be reached for comment or dialogue at [email protected].