How the Christmas Story Can Bring the East and the West Together!

January 3rd, 2021 by Jay Tyson

This Christmas Day, I’d like to give a special shout-out to our Persian friends, whose ancestors provided the first three Christmas gifts.  Each year we see the three wise men in the Christmas scenes.  But how often do we think about how their wise and generous action demonstrated an early bond between the East and the West?  In the earliest Bibles, they were called ‘Magi’—a clear acknowledgement that they were from the priestly class of Zoroastrian Persians. And the fact that their own Zoroastrian prophecies guided them to the birth of Jesus demonstrates a unity between distant religions that transcends the political bickering that has plagued East-West relations for over 2500 years.
 
The Wise Men brought gifts and set an example of Christmas gift-giving, which has expanded in recent times to become a central feature of Western economies.  But beyond the gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh, there was the greater gift of their action, showing that the religions of God transcend human political limitations—a example that we would all do well to follow.