Merry Christmas Dear Reader,
In truth we know very little concerning the Magi and their
visit to Jesus. It is likely that the
visit was not very close to the birth but we celebrate it today. They were not kings. They were Magi. We do not know their number or their
names. A great deal of myth has sprung
up around them.
What touches my heart is what they did. They traveled from far away to honor the
birth of someone they did not know. They
did it based on the reading of the stars.
In those days there was not distinction between the science of astronomy
and the practice of astrology. A star informed
them of the birth of Christ. The
religious leaders in Jerusalem filled in the birth place.
All of this is told because of story that follows. The Magi came to honor Christ. A mad puppet King rightly saw the birth of
Christ as a threat to his power. In this
small part of the Christmas story is a truth that permeates the journey of
Christ to the cross. Wonder and horror
equally fill the story. Life and death
are at the center of the drama.
It is still this way.
The entire purpose of the Christmas season is the act of God turning
death into a fighting chance to live. As
I turn from Christmas trees to palm branches in my thinking I realize that the
cradle is always the first step toward the grave. We cannot get to the cross or the empty tomb
is we do not have the incarnation.
For this reason if no other my heart must always be fixed on
the celebration of the birth with a tear in my eye for the cross and joy in my
heart for the resurrection. In this we
live and move and have our being.
Wishing you joy in the journey,
Aramis Thorn
Mat 13:52 So Jesus said to them, "That is why every writer
who has become a disciple of Christ’s rule of the universe is like a home
owner. He liberally hands out new and old things from his great treasure
store."
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