The 12 days of Christmas are coming to a close. From Dec. 25 to Jan. 5 we want to extend the holiday, enjoy the feasting and ponder what the incarnation of God is all about. We live in a time when we’ve flipped that so the extension precedes the holiday. But I’m sticking with tradition and reveling in the 12 days after the holiday, but without any French hens, turtle doves or partridges. 

The 13th day after Christmas, Jan. 6, is the traditional day for celebrating the arrival of the Wise Men. They go by many titles — Wise Men, Magi, kings — the scholars aren’t sure who they were. We can surmise they were important (why else would King Herod want to see them), wealthy (the expensive gifts) and gentiles (they came from afar and didn’t know the scriptures).  

There are many ways to consider the meaning of the Magi’s journey (as we’re putting our nativity scenes back in the box until next year). You can look at what they did. They didn’t have all the answers, but they started the journey anyway. They didn’t merely admire the star, they followed it. They obeyed the scripture and went the Bethlehem while the scribes who had memorized the scripture stayed at home. They gave precious gifts to Jesus. 

Perhaps the better way to understand the story is to look at what God is doing. 

Can you see how God took the initiative? Before the Wise Men could follow the star, God made the star and helped them notice it. Before they could obey the scripture, God inspired Micah and Isaiah to write it. Before they could give anything to baby Jesus, God had already given Jesus as the greatest gift. 

This is called grace. This is when God sees the problem and provides the solution ahead of time. Everything the wise men did was in response to what God had done first. I guess it even goes back as early as God’s being the creator of the world the wise men inhabited. 

Grace is what Christmas is all about. The scripture fulfilled by Jesus’ birth was only part of the story. His death and resurrection are also fulfillments of prophecies. 

Grace resolves the greatest problem humanity faces: what to do about death. Death is the only outcome of sin. Our disobedience to God results in severing the relationship with the life-giving God. Yet God intervenes. He becomes one of us — and follow me here — without losing who he is. He is human, but the Creator does not become a creature. He is fully God and fully human. That’s odd, I know, two 100 percent in one life. If anyone can break the rules, it’s God.  

The result is God is born as a human. Like all humans, Jesus will die, but on his terms. And the best news is that his death was temporary. Three days later he’s alive again. There’s no star to follow, no Magi on a journey. 

I know we look at history as the story of what people do. We try to figure out their motivation. We see when their intentions really missed the mark. The story of the wise men also gets us to think about what God is doing. And God is doing it ahead of time. We are simply responding to God’s solutions. 

That is grace. 

— Reflections appears regularly on the religion page. The column features a variety of local writers, coordinated through the Monroe Area Clergy Group. Randy Booth is pastor of Monroe United Methodist Church.