I hate it when Christmas is over. There's so much good music, such tasty foods, so much color and warmth. And presents! I love presents! I wish we celebrated all twelve days of Christmas.

I could be dissuaded from that last enthusiasm if it meant that I would be given all the presents from that funny Christmas carol: 22 turtle doves

30 French hens

36 calling birds

40 gold rings

42 geese a'laying

42 swans a'swimming

40 maids a'milking

36 ladies dancing

30 lords a'leaping

22 pipers piping

12 drummers drumming

and 12 partridges in a pear tree

Giving of presents and the twelve days of Christmas are traditionally tied to the coming of the three wisemen. There are a lot of stories written about them. I've tried my hand at it. Picture, if you will, three learned men, professors, scholars. Don't forget, while most of our European ancestors were still scratching out a living farming or fishing, the Middle East had extensive art, literature, and culture. There were many great universities and libraries.

In my story, Caspar is the eldest, a professor of philosophy from India. Melchior, the youngest, is an astronomer from Arabia. Balthazar is a mathematics teacher from Ethiopia. Tradition has it that these three met at the city of Petra, one hundred miles south of Jerusalem, to share a journey in search of a new Jewish king. The main clue that they had to his existence was an unusual star. Such a search against great odds, reported in only one place (the star), does not exactly excite the intellectual community. In fact, most of us, given a newspaper account rather than a Bible telling, would probably have laughed at them, if we had noticed the article in the first place. But since the story is told in the Bible, we read it and find little reason to doubt it. And so the three Wisemen of the east, immortalized in carol and Christmas pageant, wend their way through our imaginations to the stable the night of the Christ child's birth, or as other traditions say, some twelve days later to the house in Bethlehem where the young family went before their sudden departure for Egypt. The presents brought by these teachers turn out to be necessary for the survival of the family.

There are many ideas and values that we can find in this ancient story, but let me, in my telling, try to discover the nature of their wisdom so that we might become more wise ourselves. The three men were resting that first night after they started their journey. "Did your colleagues give you a bad time?" Caspar asked. "I expected a lot more difficulty than they actually gave me. The worst I got," Balthazar responded, "was that I was going out of my field. My political science colleagues at the university thought it was foolish for a mathematician to embark on a visit with a king." Melchior looked pained. The other two waited for him to speak. "The faculty at my school have barred me from further teaching there. With my life's savings tied up in this trip, I have nothing to which to go back. They couldn't believe I had no interest in measuring movements of the strange star and recording the data in a professional journal. Publish, publish, publish! That's all they think of! Don't take a chance, don't risk anything, don't give up your seniority or security unless you can get ahead. It is frightening to me how they see the intellectual task. No wonder our schools turn out so many students with dead curiosity, with little creativity, with no sense of the wonder and mystery in the world around them."

"You sound almost relieved, my brother," Caspar observed. "Frightened, Caspar," he responded, "frightened. It has been my only position for ten years. Right now I don't feel very wise at all."

"My co-workers were neither unconcerned nor antagonistic. One friend said he would have sent a graduate student to do the research! Another would have taken expensive equipment to study the meteorology. Yet another would have had a dozen team members from different disciplines, like a medical person, a sociologist, even a physical therapist to rub his sore muscles! But none even considered coming. They couldn't imagine anything significant in the very small event of a birth of a king of a non-descript tribe." Thus Caspar described his experience.

"Do you still see any significance, now that you have put your money out for this search and left the comfort of your warm office at the university?" Melchior asked. "Yes, I still do," Caspar replied.

"After a couple more days on these camels you may not," Balthazar joked. The men turned to checking their star charts and maps to be sure that the track they had projected would get them past the dry, waterless terrain ahead before their supplies ran out for that section of their journey. Then they rested.

Several days later they were about six miles south of Jerusalem. "Brothers, according to my calculations, the new king will be found just a little west of here," Balthazar asserted.

"But Jerusalem is the capital city. What king would be born away from there? It has the families bearing the royal blood. It has all the comforts that kings do not seem to be able to do without. In fact, I'd like some of them myself right now," Caspar teased. "Seriously," he went on, "it seems more plausible to go to Jerusalem. Not having your mathematical skills, I cannot check your figures, but all the other signs of the presence of the new king seem to point to the city," he concluded.

Melchior joined in. "I trust your calculations, my friend, but I, too, am confused by their proximity to the city, which would seem a more appropriate site. Since we are so close to the city anyway, Balthazar, perhaps we can learn something to either refine your figures or clear up our objections."

And so the three scholars, experts in the properties of nature, and yet struggling as you or I over the handling of disagreements, headed for Jerusalem.

On the road, a small contingent of soldiers came in their direction from the city. Upon inquiry, the Wisemen not only got directions on how to get to a suitable hospice for the night, they also got a military escort. The young lieutenant explained that there were robbers who mugged anyone who came along those roads, and so the king himself had requested the guard for their protection.

The men felt honored indeed. And they were even more impressed when the soldiers took them directly to the capitol building. After they were given opportunity to clean up and eat, they were invited to talk with the king himself, again quite an honor. "Politicians don't always care to hear from university professors," observed Balthazar. "Neither do other university professors," quipped Caspar. "Does anyone?" wondered Melchior.

"Our mystics tell us that you are on a significant research project," the King opened. "We think so," replied Caspar. "They sense that it has something to do with a king," their host went on. "Is it perhaps ourselves?"

"Sir, according to our best calculations, we will not be in the presence of the king we seek until we get a little beyond the southern suburbs of Jerusalem," Balthazar reported. "Say, how did your mystics know ... " he began.

The king interrupted. "Well, if there is another king, we are most anxious to join you in your quest and to meet him. But if you are correct in your analysis of the figures and he is not here, perhaps our scholars can come up with something. Let us continue our conversations in the morning." With that, the King smiled, and left the room. The three men silently watched him go.

"That was good of him," Balthazar said to the others.

"I'm glad to get the help, too," Caspar said. "But there are some things that don't fit. He was so swift in cutting you off when you wanted to ask him how his mystics function."

"Yes, and did you feel he was sincere about wanting to go? I thought I was scared before about this trip, but I feel some new fear and I don't know for sure why," added Melchior.

His colleagues did not let themselves be bothered by his feelings. While they mostly relaxed, they respected their partner's different reaction to the situation. The next morning, the king called the three scholars before him and shared some good news. "Your mathematician friend has properly calculated. Our historians have researched the holy writings and similarly contend that the village of Bethlehem, just a few miles southwest of here, is the proper place for a new king to be found. King David, our ancestral predecessor, came from there and the mystics of old say another will come from there one day."

"How do you mathematicians do it?" Melchior queried. And the three men laughed heartily.

The king did not quite get the drift of their humor and waited until they composed themselves. "Duties of state require that we stay, but please go, find this new king you say is coming, and let us know where he is so we can go and meet him."

The Wisemen gladly withdrew, still feeling a little strange in the presence of a king, and, in Melchior's case, feeling a little frightened. They left immediately and found their way to Bethlehem. "According to my calculations, the exact spot is near that inn over there," Balthazar told his friends.

It was late afternoon. So the men thought they would try to stay there for the night, especially if they had found the king. "Sorry, fellas, there ain't no room here. Didn't you hear about the census? Oh, you ain't from here. How could you know? Anyway, you're out of luck. The place is full up," the innkeeper told them. "How about your stable?" the men asked. "You're welcome to it. There ain't no other place in town I know of. That's strange. Almost two weeks ago, I sent a couple in there. No one else has even thought to ask for it," he answered.

"This may sound strange, my friend," Caspar asked of the inn-keeper, "but do you know of any king who is staying here at your inn?" They hadn't forgotten their mission at all. But the unlikeliness of there being a king there was so overpowering that the questions seemed almost ridiculous.

"Ridiculous!" the innkeeper said. "You'll find the king in Jerusalem. King Herod. Yeah, you'll find him in Jerusalem, I hope!"

The three men looked at each other and then headed for the stable. Just then, a soldier stepped out from the lengthening shadows and stopped them. It was the young lieutenant. "Did you find the king?" he asked nervously. "Sorry. The innkeeper laughed at us and thought we were pretty stupid not to be in Jerusalem," Caspar replied.

"After all our travel and after all my calculations and all the help of your king ..." Balthazar began.

"My king," the lieutenant groaned. "Yes, my king. I'm relieved you didn't find anyone here. I would have had to report it and the king would have ordered me to kill the baby king. Thank God you university people were on a wild goose chase! I couldn't have looked at myself if I had to do the king's foul play. Well, gentlemen, thank you for your good news. I'm sorry for you that you didn't succeed."

"Young man," Melchior asked, "how did Herod know our purpose? Are his mystics that sensitive?"

"Well, once in a while they are right. But in this case, he had spies in Petra and they followed you all the way to near Jerusalem because they overheard you sought out a newborn king. They knew Herod would be interested. We were sent out to be sure you didn't get away before we had a chance to interrogate you."

"What about muggers?" Melchior asked."Oh, that's the excuse the powers-that-be around here always use to justify what they want to do. There are some, don't get me wrong. But the rumor keeps people afraid so that they don't get out to do anything about the other things wrong around here," he replied candidly. "If you gentlemen will excuse me, I'll take my men and we'll be on our way."

The sun was now set and it was nearly dark as the wisemen got their gear into the stable. "No king! I can't believe it. All the data points to one being here. Why? What did we do wrong? Was it the young lieutenant? Was the innkeeper lying to us? Is the king around here somewhere only we don't know it? Are we overlooking something in our own data that would be a clue now?" Caspar asked the questions all of them were feeling as the fear of failure began to engulf them.

They were wise enough to accept the possibility that they had failed. But they were also wise enough to stick around a little longer to leave no possibility unchecked. They worked well into the night, going back over their original sources. They looked at their calculations again. This time, Balthazar went over the math carefully so that his partners could understand what he had done and so they could correct him if possible.

They took a breather after several hours of concentration, having found no resolution to their frustrating situation. Melchior commented as they went out the door for some air, "You know, when Herod told us that the Jewish scriptures reported that Bethlehem was the place, I remembered how the others at our university would have scoffed. 'Religious writings are pipe dreams, not scholars' materials!' they'd say. Yet, there was a sense of truth that I can't quite describe about the scriptures."

Caspar, the teacher of philosophy, picked up on this. "As one who tries to deal with all things in clear, objective ways, I, too, have dismissed holy writings because they were either subjective or were biased to attempt to prove a point without the needed homework done by the writer. But there are passages of which I could not make sense if I left it at that. Now what I have realized is that those writers were describing their experience. Granted they tried to bias their readers, they still have the right to their perception and to their way of sharing that. And when I find that they describe reality in a way similar to my experience, then I listen. My regard for scriptures is as high as it is for any other serious effort to help me understand life and reality."

Balthazar was not so objective. "When they are true, they're true! When they are not, then I set them aside. When they said 'Bethlehem' this morning, that was all right with me!"

"Astronomer friend, how is your astrology?" Caspar asked Melchior. "I watch the heavens, I don't read them. But I know a thing or two. Why do you ask?"

"Well, I see that star we used in our calculations, and it isn't where I remembered its being. Does that mean anything? It's over that house over there."

"In the wrong place? That's it! No astrology, brother. That's because our calculations are based on the wrong date. I mean, we are here twelve days late. That's why you see the star out of place. Why didn't we think of that before?" Melchior went on to explain how the wrong date would affect their calculations.

Caspar saw the possibility first. "That couple and the stable. I wonder whether there was anything unusual about them." Even before he had finished his sentence, the three men were rushing to the innkeeper's door.

"What happened to that young couple that was here two weeks back?" they asked of the man. He wasn't exactly ready for them. He had had a few too many. "Nuthin'," he said. "Nuthin's happened to 'em." "You mean they are still here in town?" "Yah. They moved over to that house across the way after their baby was born." "Baby? Which house is that again?" they asked excitedly. "That one, under the bright star to the east."

They hurried across the square, stopped, and went back to their gear to get some things out of their packs. Then, composing themselves, they walked over to the house. There was a light visible through the window, so they knocked quietly at the door. The young man who answered was a little surprised to see anyone at all, but he seemed accustomed to welcoming strangers into his home. His experience here in Bethlehem had renewed his commitment to deal respectfully with strangers. The home he and his family were in now was the kindness of a distant relative who opened up an old homestead for them until after the census was taken.

The young woman came over and also welcomed them. "How is it that you are here?" she asked. Caspar responded, "We scholars are accustomed to pursuits that bring life to its highest value. Our curiosity and desire for resolution of data before us draws us to search out that which is true and that which helps all others." Balthazar went on, "Our different fields of study pointed to the grave need for and the unique possibility of a new kind of leader, one who would not need force, fear, or death to stir humankind, one who would bring about a new era of life in which there would be peace, freedom, respect, honor, and all the other great qualities of which humanity is capable."

"My colleagues took my astronomical and cartological data seriously and accepted my invitation to come in honor of the coming new king," Melchior added. "And now we wish to do that honor in a way that is more than mere words." And the three professors presented valuable gifts -- gold, frankincense, and myrrh.

"But why don't you present these to King Herod?" the young man asked. "Why must gifts be given to those who already have enough?" was Caspar's reply. Melchior brought up the subject. "Young friends, we have been warned that King Herod is to be feared. He learned of our research and sent soldiers to follow us. We think he will probably send soldiers back here just in case. If we return as he requested of us, we would jeopardize our lives and be forced either into having to lie about you or endanger you. You must leave the country as quickly as you can. We just happen to be headed south and would welcome your coming with us."

"That might be dangerous for them," Caspar interjected. "They recognize us and would be very suspicious, if in chasing us and finding you with us..."

"We will find our way," the young man said quietly. "Thank you for warning us and for the thoughtful offer. We will be on our way," he said, as he began to gather their belongings.

The young woman looked at the three men. "You are so convinced that our child is a new king. From where does such wisdom come?" Caspar, wishing to hurry the family to leave, yet paused to give a thoughtful answer. "Because we all need one like him."