The Search for Christmas
Most of us have heard about the magi, right? The “ wise-men ” who came from miles away to see the newborn King Jesus. A few things to cover right off the bat here: “We three kings of orient are…” couldn’t be farther from the truth. The magi were not kings, although they were definitely distinguished men. They came from “the east,” not “from orient.” East could mean Babylonia, Persia, Mesopotamia, etc.; lands that were east of Israel. There were probably much more than three of them, possibly even up to 100! We often think of three because of the three gifts they gave (gold, frankincense and myrrh). Now this trip could have taken them up to a year! Jesus was a Child by the time they arrived. Imagine a caravan of up to 100 people traveling up to a year across the desert in Ancient Near Eastern times! Now the word used for “magi” can mean a few different things. These guys were astrologers, meaning they studied the stars and planets and believed what ha