The Wise Men Who Found Christmas

The true story accounts of the wise men as told by Raymond Arroyo and illustrated by Diane Le Feyer. Were the wise men kings from foreign lands? or could they be magicians? Was the bright light a comet? or did the stars aglign? Join me for an adventure in Bethlehem.

Transcript

Hello and welcome to today's Read Aloud.

I will be reading The Wise Men Who Found Christmas by Raymond Arroyo,

Illustrated by Diane LaFayette.

The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light.

Those who lived in a land of deep darkness,

On them light has shined.

Isaiah 9-2.

There are many tales of the wise men who followed the star to Bethlehem,

But most are untrue.

This is the way I remember it.

And I was there.

In the Arabian kingdom of Nabatea,

Atop a temple in the city of Petra,

Magi spotted a star blazing in the sky.

While they all marveled at the sight,

Only three wise men among them debated what it could mean and what they should do about it.

Melchior,

The oldest of the magi,

Who was very ill,

Had heard Jewish prophecies of a Messiah to be born of a virgin.

Even our own religion foresees a king who will raise the dead and destroy evil.

Melchior gazed up to the heavens.

The stars do not lie.

He is coming and I wish to see him while I can.

We should follow the light.

If royalty is involved,

We should inform our king,

Said Balthazar,

Who had spent years at the royal court.

Let him decide our paths.

Go to the king.

Then Caspar,

The youngest,

Looked to his star charts.

Had you ever seen anything like this?

The stars are aligning.

We must make a case to discover the truth.

They agreed to share their findings with King Aretas.

The king and Nabatea received the magi the following night.

They showed him how Jupiter and Saturn had come together in the constellation of Aries to create one brilliant star.

What does it tell us,

Aretas wondered.

A great king is to be born in Israel,

Melchior said.

King Aretas had ties to old and dangerous King Herod of Israel.

If a new prince were to be born in Israel,

Surely Herod would know.

Go to Herod as my representatives,

King Aretas ordered.

Bring this new king offerings from our land.

To keep the peace,

They would honor the prince with Nabatea's most precious goods,

Gold,

Frankincense,

And myrrh.

We will follow the light,

Melchior promised.

Go to the king,

Balthasar added,

And make haste to discover the truth,

Caspar said.

By the time they gathered their caravan and Melchior mounted his faithful horse,

The star had disappeared from the sky.

Confused and in darkness,

The wise men galloped along trade routes they knew well,

Around the Dead Sea,

Past Bethlehem,

And on to Jerusalem.

But the ride was long,

And old Melchior grew weary.

Though he said nothing,

His old bones plainly ached,

And his side stung with pain.

After several days,

The wise men arrived at the court of Herod the Great.

Balthasar elegantly bowed.

Your highness,

We seek the newborn king of the Jews,

He said.

I am king of the Jews,

Herod snapped.

There is no other.

There must be.

We saw his star at its rising,

And have come to worship him,

Melchior said.

Herod was greatly troubled.

Bring me the priest and scribe,

He shouted to his servants.

If the Messiah were to appear,

Where would he be born?

King Herod demanded.

One priest came forward.

In Bethlehem of Judea,

For so it is written by the prophet.

In you,

O Bethlehem,

In the land of Judah,

From you shall come a ruler,

Who will govern my people Israel.

Then the jealous Herod had an idea.

He whispered to the wise men.

Go and search diligently for the child,

And when you have found him,

Send me word that I,

A cruel look flashed in his eyes,

That I too may go and worship him.

The wise men nervously bowed and thanked the old king.

Outside the palace,

Caspar sighed.

How will we ever find the child?

Perhaps we should go back to Nabatea,

Balthasar suggested.

Melchior felt lost.

He hung his head in silence a hand on his aching side.

That's when Melchior's horse nudged his master's face heavenward.

For in the sky,

The star they had seen in the east rose before them.

The old man yanked at his horse's rein.

The light,

We will follow the light,

He said.

Go to the newborn king,

Balthasar asked.

Yes,

Caspar said,

Dashing ahead of the others,

Made haste to discover the truth.

Once they reached the little town of Bethlehem,

The wise men asked the townsfolk where the newborn king might be.

There is no king here,

Some said.

King,

Another added.

Herod is our only king.

Then a shepherd told them that one night,

As he tended his sheep,

Angels appeared in the sky above him.

They told him that a savior had been born,

A tiny baby wrapped in swaddling clothes,

Who the shepherd later saw with his own eyes.

Take us to the king,

Balthasar begged.

I don't know where he is.

It was months ago,

The shepherd said,

But he is with us.

The child lives.

Melchior focused on the moving star blazing overhead.

The light will show us the way to the child.

It will not fail us.

And though members of the caravan grumbled,

The wise men pressed forward.

The star led them through dark streets and narrow alleys,

Then suddenly stopped.

But before them,

A long tail of starlight touched the top of one small house.

Melchior's heart raced,

Even as his side throbbed with pain.

Had they really found the newborn messiah?

Balthasar frowned in bewilderment.

How could this humble home hold a king?

The casper stomped out an excited little dance,

Grabbing the cask of frankincense from one of the camels.

Then Melchior noticed something odd.

He had assumed that the radiant beam of starlight spilled down from above,

But he now realized that light actually shot up to the star from an opening in the roof of the house.

Follow the light,

Melchior murmured,

Clutching his side and running to the little house.

Inside,

The wise men found the one they sought,

A newborn child in a cradle.

Mary,

The child's mother,

Welcomed them.

You have come from the east.

He has been awaiting your arrival.

For the first time in his long life,

Melchior was speechless.

The glow of the child filled him with awe.

Go to the king,

Balthasar urged him.

Make haste to discover the truth,

Casper whispered.

Each of the wise men knelt down and worshipped the baby Jesus,

Presenting their gifts of gold,

Frankincense,

And myrrh.

Mary then placed the babe in Melchior's arms.

In a hush,

The old man told the child things held deep in his heart.

His desire to see this king whose star he'd witnessed at its rising,

Of their long and confusing journey,

And of the illness that had weakened him.

When he returned the baby to the cradle,

Melchior's face shone.

Are you all right?

Casper asked Melchior as they departed.

Melchior touched his side.

I have no pain.

The child has healed me.

What wonders we have seen this night,

Balthasar marveled.

Should we go tell King Herod?

Not yet,

Melchior said.

We will camp here tonight and then proceed to Jerusalem in the morning.

And as they slept,

Melchior,

Balthasar,

And Casper dreamed the same dream.

A bright star appeared before them and transformed into an angel.

Be not afraid.

I have been with you from the beginning,

It announced.

If you return to Herod,

You will place yourselves and the child Jesus in great danger.

Go home another way.

In the morning,

Each wise man did as he was told and headed home on an entirely new path.

For the rest of his days,

Melchior continued to follow the light and spread it to others.

Balthasar no longer cared about the royal courts of the world,

But never stopped urging those he met to go to the king,

The smallest he had ever worshipped.

And deep into old age,

Casper,

With haste,

Passed the truth he had discovered on to anyone who would listen.

And the light the wise men found in Bethlehem centuries ago,

Shines still for all who seek it.

I should know.

I saw it myself and carried the tale.

And you can't see this,

But it's a picture of the horse.

He's the,

She's the narrator and she's winking at us.

As you can tell in this story,

The wise men are not three kings from Asia or even Persia.

Those were pious fictions added to the Magi story over time.

I wrote this version of the tale to rescue the wise men from the fictional embellishments and to return them to their historical roots.

One traditional aspect I retained were the wise men's names,

Melchior,

Balthasar,

And Casper.

Those names,

Which mean king in various tongues,

Don't appear until the fifth century.

It was the venerable Bedi,

A fifth century scholar,

Who noted the ages of the wise men,

Which I imported into my version of their story.

Who were these Magi?

They were likely Zoroastrian priests,

Mathematicians,

Theologians,

Stargazers,

Magicians,

Interpreters of dreams,

And royal consuls.

Saints and scribes writing in the first and second centuries,

Including Clement of Rome,

Described the Magi as coming from east of Judea or northern Arabia.

Justin Martyr,

Writing less than a hundred years after Jesus' resurrection,

Tells us the Magi came from Judea.

These Magi from Arabia came to Bethlehem.

The idea that the Magi hailed from Persia,

Never mind from even further east,

Did not appear for hundreds of years later.

I was heavily influenced by the research of Father Dwight Longnecker,

Dr.

Margaret Barker,

And John Healy,

All of whom who offer evidence of the existence of the Magi.

Nabatean Magi.

Nabatea was not only east of Israel,

But it controlled gold mines and the trading routes for frankincense and myrrh.

Since Herod controlled the port of Gaza at the end of the trade routes,

It would have been important for the king of Nabatea to maintain good relations with the Magi.

Nabatea's major city,

Petra,

Known to them as Requim,

Also boasted an eclectic mash-up of cultures where Arab,

Greek,

Persian,

And Jewish populations shared ideas and traditions of the Magi.

The Magi were known as the Magi of the Middle Ages.

This would have furnished the Nabatean Magi with an understanding of both the Jewish prophecies as well as the Persian and Greek astral knowledge to interpret the stars.

Just what the Star of Bethlehem actually was is a source of endless speculation.

Was it a series of astral events,

A blazing comet,

Or a comet that was orbiting the star?

Was it a series of astral events,

A blazing comet?

No one really knows,

But the theory I subscribe to is that the wise men saw the conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn in the constellation of Aries.

Astronomer Michael Molnar believes that these ancient astrologers would have interpreted Jupiter as the star of royalty and would have equated Aries with Judea.

Whatever the facts,

These historical clues give us new insight into the determination,

Grit,

And daring of the wise men.

The lengths to which they went to pursue their beliefs and to track this newborn king are impressive.

Herod was no kindly figure.

He even had his own sons killed to protect his power and throne,

Which sheds new understanding on his determination to remove any new king of the Jews.

In the final analysis,

The wise men's journey is not some staid royal procession,

But a high-stakes adventure filled with setbacks,

Dangers,

And miracles.

Perhaps their story holds a lesson for all wise men and women this Christmas.

Follow the light,

Go to the king,

And make haste to discover the truth.

Thank you for joining me tonight.

I hope you enjoyed our story.

Namaste.

Reviews

This is a fascinating story, supported by evidence. Thought-provoking and enjoyable thank you

That was educational and inspiring. Thank you so much . I will make haste to follow the truth. ☺️🤍✨🙏🏼

That was a beautiful story to read. I like the identification of the astronomical event, Jupiter and Saturn coming closer together. Namaste 🙏 🌟❤️