By JOHN YOUNG
It is now some weeks since my companions and I returned from Bethlehem, and we still don’t understand fully the wonderful events that we experienced. No doubt the meaning will become clearer with the passing of the years and the fulfilling of the prophecies.
It all started with the appearance of the miraculous star. Clearly this portended some major event in the history of the world, and we received a revelation from God that the star marked the birth of a great King of the Jews who, in some mysterious way, would save the world.
We were not surprised that we were inspired to bring Him gifts of gold and frankincense: gold for a king and frankincense because He would have a priestly office. But we were inspired also to bring myrrh, which is associated with burial. Doubtless the meaning of this will become clear at some time in the future.
On arriving in Jerusalem we made inquiries and were gratified at the keen interest taken by King Herod in our mission. Having made inquiries from the learned men he was able to tell us that the King whom the Jewish people were longing for would be born in Bethlehem, a small town only about six miles from Jerusalem.
We arrived there, uncertain how to find the Child, when the star appeared again, right over the house. I find it hard to describe our feelings when we saw the Child with His Mother and talked to her and her husband Joseph. They were simple people, yet there was a greatness about them, a depth that we could not plumb.
As we gazed at their infant Son we sensed something divine about Him. It had been revealed to us that He would be King of the Jews, but now we sensed that He was something more than a king.
That feeling was borne out by comments that His Mother and Joseph made in answer to our questions, although it was clear that they knew more of His destiny than they expressed. And together with the peace and joy that He would bring to the world there was an undercurrent of foreboding, an awareness of coming sorrow and opposition.
Indeed there was anxiety associated with His birth: His Mother and Joseph told us that He had been born in a cave, because Bethlehem had been overcrowded on account of a census.
We gathered also that they had received a disturbing prophecy forty days after His birth, when they presented Him in the Temple at Jerusalem.
The feeling of opposition to come was confirmed for us in a dream, where we were warned not to return to Herod, for he intended to have the Child assassinated. Doubtless we should have been suspicious when he told us he wanted to worship the Child.
Had we been kings we wouldn’t have been so naive; but we are scholars, not closely acquainted with the power struggles in royal courts. Nor did we know till later that Herod murdered even his own sons when it benefited him, as well as his father-in-law, his mother-in-law, and his first wife. No doubt he was well practiced in the art of deception; he certainly deceived us by an apparently sincere desire to honor the great King for whom the Jews had so long waited.
But now we are safely home, and pray for the safety of that Holy Family. From the prophecies we know that the Child will live, but it seems clear that He will meet fierce opposition.
In my travels I have detected a feeling among many people that great events are imminent, involving a Savior of the world. For my companions and me, this has now been verified. How it will work out remains to be seen.
There is a widespread feeling of dissatisfaction with the various religions and philosophies throughout the world, and a yearning for something better: for the fullness of truth instead of the mixture of truth and error prevalent everywhere. There is a yearning, too, for divine help in living up to the ideals we aspire to, but which prove to be beyond our unaided strength.
My companions and I are students of the stars, seeking there for omens of the future; and we are overcome by the realization that the God of the universe has condescended to use this interest of ours to reveal the coming Savior, and even to let us see Him in person.
I feel that some time in the future we will be visited by followers of the great King of the Jews — and of the Gentiles too — who will explain His wisdom to us and show us clearly the way of life that we should follow. Until then my fellow Magi and I are resolved to use well the wisdom we have been granted and follow the moral law written in the hearts of all men.
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