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The Wise Men’s wisdom (part 2)

“They returned to their country by another road, since God had warned them in a dream not to go back to Herod” - Matthew 2:12

Truth

Now, let us also turn to the Wise Men’s wisdom. Their wisdom could also be described in two ways: First of all, it is the wisdom of truth.

There is no doubt that the Wise Men were seekers, as well as bearers of truth. They had come all the way from the East in order to discover, to prove, and to see for themselves the truth, that a child was born indeed, to be the King of the Jews, as shown by the bright star in the East. This is probably the reason why they were called Wise Men. For to be wise in the Wisdom Tradition is to know the truth, and to uphold the truth. This, I believe, is the best antidote to the way of life of the likes of King Herod.

Last year was considered a “year of living dangerously” for mass media practitioners in our country. A great number of people from the mass media were killed in cold blood for exposing the truth and standing for the truth. People from the mass media would approximate the prophets of Yahweh in the Old Testament. They are really the prophets of our time. For like the prophets of old, they have the courage to confront the powers-that-be with the truth that they proclaim by the power of their word or by the power of their pen. For they truly believe in what Jesus said, “You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free” (Jn.8:32).

Truly, we really need the Wise Men’s wisdom of truth if we are to realize genuine freedom in our land. It is quite significant to note that we celebrated the one hundred eighth death anniversary of our national hero, Dr. Jose Rizal, a day before we started this new year. If there is any enduring legacy that our national hero left to us, it is none other than the love for truth that would lead us to genuine freedom. His two novels, Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo are actually exposes on the abuses of the Spanish colonial government somehow opened the eyes of our masses of people, and led them to struggle for freedom.

Self-Giving

Moreover, the Wise Men’s wisdom is not only the wisdom of truth, but also the wisdom of self-giving. The Wise Men went to Bethlehem, not to get something for themselves, but to give something to others. They really went there to worship the child born to be the King of the Jews, and to offer him their gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. And so the tradition of gift-giving as part of the celebration of Christmas began and continues up to this day.

Someone said that the Wise Men were not really wise, because they gave gifts that a child could not use; they should have given the baby Jesus something like a bottle of milk, a pack of diapers, or a cradle. Of course, theologians try to speculate and say that the gifts of the Wise Men actually symbolize the kind of life that the baby Jesus would live out later on. The gold symbolizes kingship, frankincense symbolizes priesthood, and myrrh symbolizes servanthood.

What really matters in gift-giving is not so much the gift, but the heart of the giver. “The gift is only as good as the heart of the giver”. I would like to believe that the Wise Men offered their gifts to the baby Jesus as an expression of worship and thanksgiving to God, for the hope that has come with the birth of the child. The giving of the gift is a symbol of the giving of the self. Self-giving is an attitude of the heart that transcends all forms of materialism and greed.

Last year was marked by a deepening economic crisis in our country. According to the Asian Development Bank, about 12 million Filipinos are trapped in extreme poverty, and surviving only on less than one dollar a day. No wonder, many of us had to postpone the celebration of Christmas. But it was also a year when graft and corruption in the military and other branches of the government were exposed. I don’t think there was no connection between graft and corruption, and poverty. I do believe that it is a case of one causing the other.

Of course, there are various causes of poverty in our country, but at the bottom of all these is the self - the self that is full of greed and selfishness, causing a few to have too much, while many have nothing at all. The self needs to be transformed to become more and more self-giving.

We really need the Wise Men’s wisdom of self-giving, if we are to have something new in this new year. The same kind of self-giving that we have seen in the lives of those who shared what they have and what they are, to rescue, to give relief, and to rehabilitate those countless victims of calamities in our country and in other parts of Asia.

The story of the Wise Men ended up with the statement saying that the Wise Men “returned to their own country by another road, since God had warned them in a dream not to go back to Herod”(v.12). Indeed, as long as King Herod’s wisdom continues to dominate us, years may come and go, but things would remain the same. To make this new year really new, let us not go back again to King Herod’s wisdom. Like the Wise Men from the East, let us also “return by another road”.

Our hope for this new year lies in the Wise Men’s wisdom. For it was the same kind of wisdom that Jesus Christ our Lord lived. Let us, therefore, learn from the Wise Men’s wisdom. Happy New Year! #

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