Gospel for the Day: Three Kings

Jesus had two sets of visitors at the manger. One set was composed of shepherds. Another set was composed of the three kings, or more accurately, the magi from the East bearing three gifts.

One thing that these two sets had in common was that they were led to Jesus. The shepherds were led to Jesus by angels. The magi were led to Jesus by the star. This leading to Jesus makes me think of grace, that being led to Jesus is a product of grace. No one comes to knowledge of Jesus as God except through grace.

And yet, there is another side of grace and that is the openness to grace. I think you have to be a little coocoo to be open to receiving (and heeding) messages from angels. And you have to be a little unorthodox to read messages from the stars. But what takes the cake is that you have to be a whole lot of crazy to believe that a baby born beside farm animals is the newborn king of the Jews.