I will be preaching to wise people this coming Sunday.  For sure those in the congregation at Ossian First Presbyterian Church, but also those plaster figures behind me.  Each Advent the church displays a classic nativity scene in the chancel right in front of the communion table.

No Second Commandment comments are planned, but I will tell those wise men – Magi the NIV pew Bibles will say – that they don’t belong.  Yeah, a quick rehearsal of what the text in Matthew does and does not say.  Gifts of three kinds but not three wise men.  No Caspar, Melchior, and Balthasar. Not a stable and a manger bed, but a house with a baby perhaps as many as two years after the night an angel of the Lord appeared to the shepherds who were sore afraid. No angel choir and no friendly beasts.

But after the great debunking, I won’t ask the Magi to leave the chancel.  They’re welcome to stay.  I’ll be talking to them.

I am not going to repeat my sermon here.  You are free to listen on Sunday if you wish.

Advent’s sermon series is taken from Matthew’s account of the Nativity. We looked at Joseph the just last week and the wise men take center stage, chancel, this week. Herod the Hater the following Sunday.

As I have been preparing for the Magi sermon, I have thought of that phrase Christians sometimes use this time of year, mostly to irritate our friends and neighbors, I think.  “Wise men still seek him,” we say.  We might as well say, “Be a Christian, dummy!”

A good case might be made for the wisdom of following Christ and even for the foolishness of atheism. According to David, the sweet psalmist of Israel, “The fool says in his heart, ‘there is no God.’” (Psalm 14:1)  He may have been on to something. But we should not too quickly take the wise men role in the Christmas pageant.

The Wise Men get to Jerusalem by intuition and correctly reading the signs nature posted about her coming King.  They got to Bethlehem by the words of Scripture.  They fell down and worshipped and offered gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. They were given an alternate route home in a dream.

For all the subsequent legends and Hallmark stories, that’s all we know.

We aren’t the magi. We are to do more than seek him. We are to find him, or more correctly said, be found by him.  We are to follow him.  Fortunately, following Christ is not limited to the wise. We fools are welcome to follow him, as well.

At Ossian First Presbyterian Church, the children are dismissed to Sunday School just before the sermon. The wise men will be asked to stay for the sermon.