And, of course, most Christians think of the wise men as Caspar, Melchior and Balthasar, even though these names were added to the tradition at a much later date. The wise men weren’t three, they weren’t kings and we don’t know their names.

So, what can we take from the Epiphany story? I think there is much, and its inclusion in the pages of Scripture mean that we should reflect on it. When Herod called the chief priests and scribes together, they quoted the words of Micah the prophet: “And, you, Bethlehem in the land of Judah, are by no means the least among the rules of Judah, for from you shall come a ruler who is to shepherd my people Israel.”

How familiar are we with the words of Scripture?

The magi when they found Jesus knelt down before him and paid him homage. The word homage comes, I’ve discovered, from a Middle English word, originating from a feudal ceremony, in which a man acknowledged himself to be the vassal of his lord. It was about making another person lord of one’s life. We don’t know what happened to the magi after they returned home. T. S. Eliot imagined their response in his famous poem, The Journey of the Magi:

“Were we led all that way for
Birth or Death? There was a Birth, certainly,
We had evidence and no doubt. I had seen birth and death,
But had thought they were different; this Birth was
Hard and bitter agony for us, like Death, our death,
We returned to our places, these Kingdoms,
But no longer at ease here, in the old dispensation,
With an alien people clutching their gods.
I should be glad of another death.”

Is our first response to the Christ-child to make him truly Lord of our lives, putting to death those things which belong to our former life? The magi offered gifts - precious and symbolic. What gifts would you bring to a king?

Some examples of presents given to our royal family include the Queen’s receiving 2 tortoises from the Seychelles, an elephant called Jumbo to mark her Silver wedding anniversary, and a canary from Germany. Prince Charles received 2394 gifts between 1999 and 2001, which included 5 animals, 15 sets of arms or armour, 249 CDs, videos and tapes and 12 toiletry items.Not much help for the King of kings, who existed before the foundation of the world. But we too are called to offer gifts. Matthew tells us that the wise men offered treasures.

We may not be rich or well endowed with what we might at first sight call treasure, but treasure can take many different forms. We can give, above all, our hearts, as the carol “In the bleak mid-winter” reminds us:

What can I give him, poor as I am?
If I were a shepherd, I would give a lamb.
If I were a wise man, I would do my part.
Yet what I can I give him, give my heart.

In paying homage to the Christ-child, the wise men were showing that, even if only for a moment, they were giving themselves to Jesus.

Giving our heart, though, can be a cop-out if it is not translated into action. Our gifts to the Christ-child, as the adult Jesus makes very clear, include a care for the poor and outcast, a seeking after justice for those who are oppressed, a speaking up for the voiceless. What gifts do we give the Christ-child?

And, lastly, this morning, I want us to reflect on the fact that the wise men were explorers. They didn’t sit at home once they’d seen the star but followed, trusting themselves to its leading. They didn’t allow Herod to prevent them from going on their way, and they were open to the leading of their dreams to go home another way.

Our faith is a journey of exploration. When we make the decision to follow Christ, important though that is in the first instance, we can’t stop moving there and stand still for the rest of our lives.

Living a life of faith is a journey of discovery and explanation. It’s a journey of growth and development, and usually the only thing hindering that is that we don’t give that exploration the time or attention it deserves.

Familiarity with Scripture, worship of the Christ-child, gifts and exploration - our paths will be different from those of the wise men, but perhaps in this new year, we might consider what they have to teach us, and how our paths might take account of those four important aspects of faith.