Interesting Three

In an unusual moment last Sunday I spoke to the priest after mass. As far as I could remember, the last time I spoke to a priest was seven months ago when I introduced my mother to the priest in Cambridge.

Last Sunday's talk was about the three wise men. The presentation of the sermon was so real I could see the cloud of imagination hovering on top of my head. Anything that's interesting makes me ask questions.

The priest told that the three wise men came from Europe, Africa and Asia. That was news to me.

At that point I could imagine a white, black and Asian men standing in front of a baby and congratulating Mary and Joseph.

But I had questions.

At a time when the internet and phone haven't existed, how did they arrange to meet together to see the baby? When I arrange to meet up with friends in a tube station, we could even end up in different sections or exits of the station! What more, Europe, Africa and Asia are continents apart!

According to the priest, they were astrologers who have calculated the precise time and location of the birth time of Christ. So they may have met on the way since they were heading towards the same direction and location.


There may be more than three since they couldn't be only three astrologers in the world at the time? More than a thousand even? And maybe there were several thousand astrologers who arrived later?

Possibly. But the three were the first.

Were they summoned by their emperors or kings to search for the baby?

No. Astrologers at that time were highly respected in the society. They were also very rich. Like anyone who's good in what they do, they set out to find this unusual star. Since they were rich, they can travel as far as they wanted.

Yes but since you said they were highly respected in the society, can I say they were also influential in the society? So they may have access to the emperors/kings. Am I also right to assume they may have spoken about the baby to the king. Then, they were asked to look for the newborn Christ, as they too wanted to know? After all, if someone intelligent discovered something big, wouldn't they want to tell the king?

Yes you could be right. Not much history has been written about the three of them. And very possibly they went back to tell their kings about what they saw. And being respectable in the society, the people believed the three wise men. This could be the point of time when Christianity actually started in Europe, Africa and Asia; not after the death but birth of Christ.

What about Herod? How did they end up with Herod in the bible, if they didn't serve him?

They were like ambassadors coming from different countries. When they entered the country, they had to call on the emperor as a sign of respect, just like when you enter someone's house. The emperor at the time was Herod. So, they probably spoke over dinner/lunch/breakfast (or golf??) about what they were there after. So when Herod heard about their work, he felt threatened by the fact that a "new king" was born. But he didn't want to let his intentions known. He asked them to tell him the location of the baby so he too could pay homage to the family. Later, the three wise men were told in a dream not to do as told. They fled the country after meeting Jesus and the family.

So the three have already met before meeting Herod. These guys must have been bored to death not understanding each other's language! Oh well, I supposed they could, since they knew each other's work.

The priest laughed and said: Am sure they did! Story had it that they met again in Christmas (I don't think it was 25th December), after the death of Christ to commemorate him. They were 120 years old when they met. To live that long in those days was a miracle. So you can imagine the three were pretty fit and healthy.

I am just amazed they can arrange to meet again. How did they do that?

Well, when today's technologies haven't existed, people will have to find a way. History had it that they met and died in Cologne. There's a cathedral in Cologne with their remains.

Cologne?? That's so strange. What were they doing there?

No one knows.

Were they meant to go somewhere? Christ was ascended into heaven on the third day of his death. Maybe they spotted something new but couldn't make it in time to tell us the story?

Now I wonder what that was.