In churches around the world, there will surely be some Christmas pageants today, along with a reading of the Nativity story. When I was a kid, the Christmas pageant was probably my favorite day of the year. We put on the Christmas story and sang all the great carols. Afterward, there was a wonderful old-fashioned church dinner and a visit from Santa Claus.
There was only one perennial problem: The coolest costumes in the pageant were the gaudy flowing robes and jeweled crowns of the Three Kings. Wearing one of those costumes was my heart’s desire. But I was short and there were three very tall brothers who automatically got to be the Three Kings every year. They marched down the church aisle to the very catchy tune of “We Three Kings of Orient Are.” (We always substituted the words: “We Three Kings of Orient are/Smoking on a rubber cigar/It was loaded/It exploded…”)
Of course, in manger scenes around the country, these Three Kings are also very much center stage. So who were they? What were they kings of? And were there really three of them?
The gospel accounts do not mention three kings or three of anybody. It tells the story of “Magi” coming to visit the “child” Jesus, bearing those three famous gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. They first visit King Herod who learns of the birth of Jesus and orders the massacre of the innocents. Warned in a dream, the Magi take a different route home.
They were certainly not, at least in the Bible, “Kings.” And their number is never specified. Translated into Greek as “wise men,” the “Magi” were, in historical terms, hereditary members of a Persian priesthood known for interpreting omens and dreams. They were also known for their astrological skills and for practicing magic (a word that comes from Magi).
This vast knowledge gained them the reputation as the true priests of Zoroastrianism, a religion founded by a Persian prophet. In Zoroastrian tradition, the magi were said to keep watch upon a Mount of the Lord until a great star appeared that would signal the coming of the savior. In other words, centuries before Jesus was born, a middle-eastern religion flourished with one god, a battle between good and evil, a judgment day and resurrection.
According to the Bible, there were three gifts, but nowhere does it say that there were three magi or kings. That was an idea cooked up in Middle Ages church lore, when the kings were given the names of Gaspar, Balthazar and Melchior. Since there were supposedly three of them, one came from each of the known continents: Europe, Asia and Africa– hence one of them was black.
In many parts of the world, the gift giving is done on Epiphany, which is also called “Three Kings Day.” It falls twelve days after Christmas, which is one reason we have that tedious carol about lords, ladies, geese and partridges.(My least favorite). More on the Twelve Days of Christmas in the next post.
