I have always had a fondness for the story of the Wise Men, since my birthday falls on January 6, Epiphany, the traditional date of their visitation to Jesus birth. This year their presence has taken on new meaning for me. This year, as I pondered the birth story, I began to see them and the story from another perspective.
Who was invited to the birth of Jesus, Son of God, Emanuel, Messiah, Christ? Shepherds were the first witnesses. They were of the lowest social rank, just above beggars and lepers. The were unclean - literally because they spent their days and nights in the fields guarding the sheep, and religiously because they were unable to perform the purification rituals. Then the wise men came - foreigners, outsiders, gentiles. They recognized the Advent of a new age in the birth of a baby in humble circumstances.
Who was invited to bear witness to Jesus birth? Not the wealthy, not the political elite, not the religious leaders of the day. The lowly shepherds and the gentile outsiders were brought in.
I think this is a potent message for what God intended in His incarnation. In the powerlessness of a baby lay the hope for the world. That hope included all people, from the lowliest unclean shepherd to the very foreign outsiders. All are included in the embrace of God's Love.
I started this train of thought with the image of immigrants, refugees, the dispossessed, the least, the last and the lost. They have been scorned, villified and persecuted by the political leaders of the day. But God's Love includes them all. If we are a disciples of the Baby who was born in Bethlehem, our charge is to love them all, too. It is the most subversive of ideas - Love.
