Choosing the Richest of Fare

Crying against the idolatry of ancient Israel Isaiah said, ““Come, all you who are thirty, come to the waters, and you who have no money, come, buy and eat!  Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy?  Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good, and your soul will delight in the richest of fare.”  (Is 55:1).  In the Biblical story of the Wise Men,  we are asked the very same questions.  

This small story in the Bible has a seriously subversive intent. It completely upends the Darwinian social order of things- where the rich and the powerful control the poor and the weak.   It holds in derision our fascination with celebrities, money, and political power.  It calls idolatrous the time, energy the time and money we spend on our image.  It holds in judgment our pursuit of financial security, and our perennial need to be in control.  It condemns our tepid religious devotion. 

To get some sense of the force of the story imagine three internationally known diplomats arriving in their limos at a roach infested shack, and- paying no mind to dung on the dirt floor- getting on their knees in front of a baby to worship him.   They freely give away their treasures in his honor.  They ask nothing in return.  

Bernard of Clairvaux, 12th Century French abbot, wrote these words of sarcastic irony

“Whatever are you doing, you Magi?  You worship a baby at the breast, in a poor shed, in common swaddling clothes!  Is He then God?  God is in His holy temple, surely; the Lords’ seat is in heaven; yet you are looking for Him in a wretched stable and on His mother’s lap!  What do you mean by offering Him gold?  Is He a King?  If so, where is His palace, where is His throne, and where are the many members of His royal court?  Is the stable His palace?  Is the manger His throne?  Do Joseph and Mary constitute His court?  How have the wise men become such fools as to adore a child, whose age and whose relation to poverty alike deserves contempt? 

Bernard goes on to write the answer to his own question:  

They have become fools, but have become so that they may be wise.  The stable does not seem mean to them. They find no cause of stumbling in the poverty of swaddling clothes, nor does the Savior’s suckling speechlessness offend them.  They fall on their faces, they revere Him as King,  the worship Him as God.  Of a truth, God who has led them has instructed them.  This magi’s faithful act of worship has rendered this a day to be observed with reverence and love. “ 

What does it mean to observe this event with “reverence and love’”? It is to face the story's condemnation of religious indifference.  It is to beg God to warm your heart, giving you that same passionate pursuit that God gave the Magi.  You may not have seen a star rising in the east, but God is inviting you, even calling you to fall on your face, seek His presence and give Him all that you have and all that you are.