The Wise Ones

I'm Fr Taylor Wilton-Morgan, Assistant Curate of the Parish of Thorpe St Andrew Episcopi, in the Diocese of Norwich.

My small part in this splendid project is to ask us to consider the 'wise ones', otherwise known as the 'magi', whom St Matthew tells us about at the start of the second chapter of his Gospel. Few figures have inspired the imaginations of countless generations like the magi, who are often thought of as three kings, astrologers, or wise wanderers 'from the east', and sometimes even given names! Yet their true identity - and even their number - is shrouded in mystery.

So, what are we to make of their tale of gift-giving? Why do we remember them as part of the story of Christ's birth? And what might the journey of the magi awaken within us, today?