I hope these considerations are not taken in an iconoclastic sense.
Saint Matthew does not mention the adoration of the Jewish shepherds, but he moves from the genealogy of Christ and His Birth to the coming of the Wise Men. Saint Luke gives us, along with so many other details given to him by Our lady, the Gloria of the angels and the call of the shepherds to the manger where they would find the Infant wrapped in swaddling clothes with Mary and Joseph. How can we not notice the Family of which Saint Joseph was the head? Mary wished to have Saint Joseph included in Luke’s account. This was the Holy Family: Jesus, Mary, and Joseph.
Saint Matthew, however, in order to show that Jesus is the Savior of all men, introduces us to these Gentile wise men from the East. No doubt they were from Persia.
Matthew informs us that with their coming not only Herod was aroused but “the whole city” of Jerusalem was in a commotion. I am inclined to think that the three wise men, being kings of a sort in their local realms, perhaps philosopher-kings, as sages could well have been, came with quite a retinue. Tradition has it that there were three Wise Men, or Magi, but scripture does not give their number. Some fathers suggest more than three.
Now here is where I must be a Biblical literalist at the risk of challenging custom. Normally, we have always placed the Magi at the manger in adoration presenting their gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh to the new-born King. Only, by the time the Magi came to Bethlehem, the Holy Family had found room in the inn. “And entering into the house, they found the child with Mary his mother, and falling down they adored him” (Matt. 2:11).
Is it difficult to imagine Our Lady with the Baby Jesus in a regular room in an inn? It should not be. Because that is how it was for a time. The Birth of Our Savior, however, was providentially in a less auspicious place. Providentially, because it would have been less awesome had Jesus not been born in utter poverty, in a place for animals, sharing what was perhaps a lambs’ feeding trough, a stable. In His very Birth, He who holds the whole universe in His hands, had no pillow upon which to rest His head. How fitting is this, now that we know the facts. God’s way is always the best way. To Him be praise.
I wonder who these innkeepers were who did at last find room for the Holy Family in their house. We do not know. Perhaps they had told Saint Joseph that holy evening to come back in a few days when the census crowd had thinned out. In any event, they ended up having the honor of giving lodging to the King of kings and they also hosted the gentile kings from the East. How blessed they were.
No, I do not want to remove the Magi from the manger. But, it seems to me that that vocation, to be Our Savior’s first and only greeters on Christmas night, ought to have been reserved for the most humble of God’s children, the poor Jewish shepherds. The Magi were directed by an errant star, the shepherds by a heavenly host of angels.
Of both groups of visitors there was great joy. For the shepherds it was in the very tidings, the tidings of great joy, which overflowed when they found the Infant with Mary and Joseph. The shepherds returned to their flock “glorying and praising God” and announcing the “good news” of the Savior’s coming throughout all the countryside, and of the words of peace they heard from the angels.
For the Wise Men, joy began when the star reappeared for them and directed them to Bethlehem. In fact their joy was “exceedingly great” as Saint Matthew relates. And that, just on account of the star! Imagine their joy when they entered this other Bethlehem, this other “house of Bread,” and saw the King of the Jews, of whom they had heard from their own teachers who, in turn, had heard of Him from the faithful Jews who were in the diaspora in Persia five hundred years before. Would the Magi have come from so far just to see another king born to a foreign people? No, this King they knew was the Son of God. That is why they “adored” Him. And they gave Him kingly gifts of gold, and gifts for a God-man of frankincense, and gifts for a Savior, a Victim and Redeemer, of myrrh, to anoint His lifeless Body in anticipation of His Resurrection.
Divine Babe of Bethlehem come and be born in my heart!
