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Reflection:

The running theory is that these Magi (more than three!) were a sort of upper-class, wealthy, star-watching celebrity priesthood most likely based in Persia. The Magi would have been familiar with the prophecies of a coming God-as-Man savior from the captivity of Israelite slaves several hundred years earlier in Babylon. So when they saw an unusual star in the west—maybe a supernova, a conjunction of planets, or just a good old-fashioned supernatural manifestation!— they made the long journey to find the king. 

Their identity will most likely always be shrouded in mystery, but at least we get (1) a catchy song out of it and (2) a fantastic model of what it means to pay attention.

They were paying attention. 

To what was around them, yes - the world, the sky, the stars. But they were also paying attention to how those exterior patterns were pointing to the interior patterns inside their hearts and souls. It may not be necessary to figure out the origins of the Magi because the truth of their journey is what is truly transformational for us - that God places patterns inside us that will be revealed in the patterns of the exterior world.

Was the deep desire of the Magi to go on a road trip? I’m not saying the journey wasn’t enjoyable, but remember, they didn’t have AC and cruise control, just desert heat and camel humps. 

The deep desire of the Magi was to connect with the Creator of the world, and they trusted the Creator to reveal the interior journey of the soul in the exterior world around them. 

They wanted to know God, and they were willing to move from observation to participation in the pursuit of knowing. There was no promise that in traveling hundreds of miles in unknown territory they were going to find their way to this prophesied incarnation, but because of their deep desire to know God, they were willing to trust the signs in the sky to go and see.

Is it too fantastical to think that the Giver of your spirit, who is also the Giver of this material world, will use both of those given realities to lead you to a deeper knowing?

May you keep paying attention to what the outside illuminates inside.

…

* this meditation is an excerpt from the book Honest Advent.