Imagine that you have been assigned by your school or community or job to visit and interview one of the Wise men who has just returned to India from his journey to Palestine/Israel following a strange new “star” that had arisen in the night sky. He is an eminent scientific scholar, not given to flights of fancy or even deep faith before. You have known him in years past from various professional meetings where you have had occasion to meet him and to hear him lecture. You make contact and then go to his office to visit with him.
You enter the office and discover there a changed person, a man no longer cynical or self-aggrandizing, a man no longer driven by a passion to be the most sought-after scholar, no longer desirous of wealth, fame, recognition, or honors. You visit with him about his journey: What does he tell you about the trip? Why did he make the journey? What signs in the natural world was he following? Was he also following a “hunch”, and inner impulse? How does he express this?
As he tells you the story of meeting Herod, listen closely to his descriptions of the man who manipulated the wise men, who wanted to know what it was they sought only so he could destroy it. How does the scholar express this?
What was his encounter with Jesus in the house of Mary and Joseph like? How did he feel? What affect did it have on him?
You ask him what he was seeking? Why did he make this most dangerous and difficult trip? And more importantly, you ask him what he found? What does it mean to him now?
As you finish the interview you consider what it would be like to be one of the wise men? Imagine yourself in his position? What are you seeking? What do you hope to discover? As you follow him in his description of finding Jesus do you find him also? Why? Why not?
Does something prevent you from finding Jesus? What might that be? If not simply give yourself to being with the newborn King and his family.