The Means of God

I thought I had arrived at church early yesterday, but as I was approaching the sanctuary door, I saw that I was not as early as the three wise men.  They had already arrived in the church nativity scene.  Tradition tells us they got to the manger sometime after the birth event.  The shepherds who watched their flocks in the field by night arrived shortly after the birth of Jesus.  Their story is told by Luke and is in that beloved Christmas story read from Luke's gospel.  Matthew tells us that the men from the east arrived after the birth of Jesus. Matthew even speaks of them coming to a house and not a manger so the implication is that they arrived after the Bethlehem event.    

Alongside of this bit of Biblical trivia is the church tradition which celebrates the arrival of the men from the east on a day known as Epiphany.  Epiphany shows up on the church calendar twelve days after Christmas.  The point of all of this is that the men from the east are a bit out of place in the manger scene since they did not really make it in time.  Some traditions even go a bit farther in trying to be historically accurate by not only omitting the wise men from the nativity scene, but also keeping the baby Jesus out of it until Christmas Eve.    

So, forgive me for laughing as I noted the early arrival of the men from the east.  I mean no disrespect.  They are welcome anytime.  They were certainly welcomed by Mary and Joseph.  They brought expensive gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.  The nativity couple must have been overwhelmed by such lavish gifts.  They were poor and had very little, but they had a trip to Egypt still to take and a time of living as refugees in that faraway place.  The gifts of the men from the east provided the means for the journey as well as for the life to be lived in Egypt.   The men from the east must surely be seen as a part of God's plan for caring for the holy family in the difficult years of exile.