Only ten days to Christmas!
(Just a side note: the "Twelve Days of Christmas" are actually after Christmas day! And continue to "Three Kings Day" in January!)
What's the one thing you're waiting for this Christmas?
Is it an object, food, or family and friends?
Along with the wonderful fact that I am finally going to be with family this Christmas, I'm also hoping for a little snow. :)
But I have something interesting to mention here.
I was listening to a podcast last week, and it was talking about the Magi that went to visit Jesus as a baby.
Okay so, trivia question.
Let's see how much you really know about Christmas.
How many wise men traveled from the Orient to visit Jesus?
(a) two
(b) a few
(c) three
(d) not specified
Now, you may have guessed (c).
But actually it's (d)!
Here it is from the gospel of Matthew [2].
"After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem and asked, "Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star in the east and have come to worship him."
When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him. When he had called together all the people's chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Christ was to be born. "In Bethlehem in Judea," they replied, "for this is what the prophet has written:" 'But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for out of you will come a ruler who will be the shepherd of my people Israel.'"
Then Herod called the Magi secretly and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared. He sent them to Bethlehem and said, "Go and make a careful search for the child. As soon as you find him, report to me, so that I too may go and worship him."
After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen in the east went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. When they saw the star, they were overjoyed.
On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold and of incense and of myrrh. And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route."
It did say they came from the east. But it didn't say there were three.
We probably assume this from the three gifts [gold, incense, and myrrh] that they gave.
But to me, the most interesting part of all of this is that they knew the King of the Jews was to be born in Palestine, all by a star!
The preacher went on to say that there is a difference between astrology and astronomy, which people get mixed up now-a-days.
Astronomy is defined as "the science that deals with the material universe beyond the earth's atmosphere. "
Astrology is defined as "the study that assumes and attempts to interpret the influence of the heavenly bodies on human affairs."
[And check this out: "Obsolete. the science of astronomy."]
These Magi were smart guys.
The star they saw were three heavenly bodies aligned.
Jupiter, Mars, and the star of Bethelem [or Palestine] were the one "star" they saw in the sky.
Astronomers have traced this back (an event that only happens every several thousand years) to 7 B.C. in winter!
But that's not even the amazing part.
Jupiter represented to those in the Orient the "Top Dog" so to speak. The One, True God.
Mars was Jupiters son, the warrior to save the world.
And the star of Palestine, of course, represented the Middle East, Palestine itself.
So what did these guys interpret the event as?
Jupiter (the One, True God) was sending Mars (His Son) to Palestine to save the world!
