(based on the visit of the magi in Matthew 2: 1-12)
You’ve likely heard about how church tradition has named the magi in today’s text as the three wise men, Belshazar, Melchior and Caspar, even though the Gospel account doesn’t give their names nor tell how many there were. Maybe you’ve also heard or read The Story of the Other Wise Man, by Henry Van Dyke. It’s about how four magi, not three, started out from the East to visit the Christ child. But one of them, a truly wise man with medical skill, stayed behind to save someone’s life. When he arrived later in Bethlehem, he found his companions gone, and the Christ child and his family already on the way to Egypt. Over the many years he kept looking for Jesus, the fourth wise man gave away the treasures he had brought to help desperate people in great danger and need. When he lay dying, Jesus came to him, and told him, “Inasmuch as you have done such things for the least of these, my brethren, you have done it for me.” He had given his treasure to Jesus all along, by giving it to those in need.
But you probably never heard about the fifth magi, because I made his story up just this week. He left with the other magi to follow the star. He was hoping that the newborn King of the Jews might have some lucky lottery numbers for him in exchange for the treasure he brought. One night in a tavern near the border between the Roman and Persian empires, liquor loosened his tongue and he started bragging to everyone about all the treasure they were carrying. Those who thought he was lying said, “What a wise guy!” And that’s how he became known as “The Fifth Wise Guy.”
There were, however, some people who paid attention, and who took his boasting seriously. The wrong people, for that tavern was a known gathering place for bandits, contraband runners, spies and informants. The magi then started traveling at night, to keep their Fifth Wise Guy out of such unsavory places, and away from the temptation of such unsavory conduct.
But just a few days east of Jerusalem, The Fifth Wise Guy confessed to his fellow magi that he had blown all his treasure on gambling at the camel races. In fact, he was so deep into debt, he would have to stay and pay it off by working at the camel track. The three remaining Wise Men went on without him.
Months later, when The Fifth Wise Guy had worked off his gambling debts and even had a little pocket change, he set out west to see the Christ child, hoping still to get those lucky lottery numbers. But in a fleabag flophouse just a day east of Bethlehem, he awoke one morning to find that someone had stolen the little bit of money he had. And when he asked around about the Three Wise Men, people said, “Oh, they already went back home, by another route. And the family they came to see? They were last seen heading south, probably to Egypt. But we don’t know if they got there, because some nasty-looking soldiers came looking for them and weren’t above killing a few baby boys in the search. There’s no telling if Herod’s goons caught up with them or not.”
And so ended the Fifth Wise Guy’s journey. To get back home, he signed on as a driver for a camel caravan heading east. He was, after all, an expert now on camels and their care. And that’s why we sing “We Three Kings of Orient Are,” instead of “We Five Kings.” It’s shorter that way, too.
Whenever he would remember that journey west, The Fifth Wise Guy would curse his bad luck and his stupidity for having undertaken such a total waste of time and treasure. He never did admit that he had made some very foolish, wasteful choices with the treasure that he carried. So might we all, who are carrying treasures of our own through this dark and dangerous desert of a society. We have all been entrusted with treasure from God, and treasure for God, which we must carry back to God as tribute, as the magi did. These treasures consist of our very selves, our lives and our existence, our bodies, the time, talents, resources and the relationships God gives us, the virtues God cultivates in us, the gifts and the fruits of God’s Spirit dwelling within and among us, and, of course, the treasures of our faith. We can waste these treasures, or lose them to liars, thieves and con artists, human or hellish, as the Fifth Wise Guy did. Or we can safeguard them, nurture them, even invest in them and grow them, like Jana Gingerich will be doing during her sabbatical studies and retreats. We can present this treasure to Christ even now when we give them away, to Christ’s mission on earth, to the poor, the needy and the desperate, like the Fourth Wise Man did, and as we have done in the relief kits we just collected and offered today. When we come to the communion table in a moment, let us bring to Christ the treasures that we are, to receive grace from the treasury of grace that he is.