Even though Christmas day has come and gone and we are now in 2011, we are still in Christmas... the 12 days of Christmas. No, this isn't like the song... no this is about the 12 days that followed the birth of Jesus Christ before the wise men showed up.
Just a brief background...
Jesus is born. King Herod freaks out (as do most of the people in Jerusalem) and is threatened by what is being said about this new baby boy and orders that all baby boys in Bethlehem be killed. Meanwhile, Herod meets with the wise men pretending to be as excited and devoted as they are and tells them to find the baby and let him know where he is so he might join them. So the wise men go find baby Jesus but are warned in a dream to not return to Herod so they flee to their own country. Meanwhile, after the wise men leave, an angel comes to Joseph once again and tells him to leave Bethlehem with Mary and Jesus because Herod is on a hunt to kill the baby Jesus.
NOW... the story of the fourth wise man (in a nutshell).
Arteband (the fourth one) has it in his head that he is going to travel with the others to see Jesus, so he collects three gifts to take- a ruby, a sapphire, and pearl. On his way to meet the others, he stops to care for a sick man and misses the other guys so he has to sell his ruby to pay for transportation with a caravan. The night before he is to arrive to see Jesus, Joseph and Mary flee with Jesus after what the angel told them, so Arte stays at an inn. While at the inn, the soldiers come to kill all the baby boys and Arte saves one by paying off the guards with his sapphire. At this point, he has lost Jesus' trail, but he doesn't give up. Arte takes different jobs so that he can have money to live off of, but keep the pearl for when he does find Jesus. Word starts to spread of a crucifixion and Arte rushes to see his Lord. On the way, he runs into a woman who is going to be sold as a slave so he gives up his last gift, the pearl, to save her. All of the sudden, an earthquake comes and causes a wall to fall on Arte. As he lay there, he called up to God "O Lord, how often have I failed you?" to which God replies, "You have not failed me, for you have given to the least of your brothers...".
Now, while I may not be completely accurate in all of that I have written out (give me a year and it will be better!), there is a point to all of this. No where in the Bible does it say that there were only THREE wise men. It only says that Herod went to the religion scholars of the city (i.e. the wise men). The "three" comes from the three gifts (Gold for a king, Frankincense for a priest, and myrrh as an acknowledgment that Jesus was born to die). So even though the story of our friend Arte may not be found in the Bible, it is still very important.
Just like Arte brought himself to the Lord by way of giving his most precious gifts to those he met along the way, the least of his brothers, we can bring our most precious gifts to God. Kind of like I said in my last "real" blog about the mean of Christmas, it isn't about the material gifts. While material gifts are nice and we can all enjoy them for a time, the most precious gift that we have is OURSELF. As we reach out and help others, whether that be giving food to the food bank or listening to our friends problems, we should give OURSELVES. WE can be one of the wise men.
There is no better time to give yourself than now, as you are making your New Year's resolutions. Why not set aside some time each week to reach out to those that we might otherwise ignore. It could be that you spend some time on the phone with your brother or sister that you haven't talked to in a while because you were "just too busy", or you might visit that old lady from church and let her tell you some stories from when she was younger. Maybe you can go to the food bank and help sort food or help build a house with your church at Habitat for Humanity. The monetary gifts help the organizations, but they need help working with what it is they are buying. Remember, we don't have to go abroad to help someone. Help is needed right outside our front door, and sometimes, sitting across from you at the dinner table.
There is no fixed number of how many wise men there can be, so why not make that number as high as possible?
What can I give him, poor as I am?
If I were a shepherd, I would bring a lamb;
if I were a Wise Man, I would do my part;
yet what I can I give him: give my heart.
~In the Bleak Midwinter~
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