Read: Matthew 2:1-12
Wise men from the East . . . come to pay him homage. (vv. 1-2)
Like Naaman in the last of our Old Testament readings, the Wise Men were outsiders, drawn to God's land and God's people by the news of something worth finding there. Even more were they like the queen of Sheba, coming "from the ends of the earth" to find it, or rather him, God's own chosen King. And as in her case, the Bible (which does not say that they were three or that they were kings) also does not say what their names were.
But they are there in Scripture as representatives of a vast multitude, with neither roots in Israel nor claims on Israel's God, who are nonetheless drawn into Israel's blessings. They have not even been the objects of anyone's deliberate evangelistic efforts. Why have they come?
Though the Wise Men seem such colorful, exotic characters, it was simply in the course of their regular work that something had caught their attention and moved them to seek it out.
It's more than the church deserves to have such people turn up uninvited, asking about Jesus. At least we should be prepared to be caught up in God's own evangelistic plans, even if we have not been involved in making them.
Prayer: Thank you, Lord, that your gospel is constantly at work in ways beyond our imagining.
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