By Alberto Suris
Following tradition, the leadership of the Puerto Rican Movement organized a Three Kings Day in the Lawrence Public Library, where the famous Three Kings distributed toys to the children present there. The Three Kings apologized because due to the snow, they could not show up on January 6 as usual, instead they came on January 14, 2018.
Traditional nativity scenes depict three “Wise Men” visiting the infant Jesus on the night of his birth in a manger accompanied by the shepherds and angels, but this should be understood as an artistic convention allowing the two separate scenes of the Adoration of the Shepherds on the birth night and the latter Adoration of the Magic men to be combined for convenience. The single biblical account in Matthew simply presents an event at an unspecified point after Christ’s birth in which an unnumbered party of unnamed “wise men” visits him in a house, not a stable, with only “his mother” mentioned as being present. The New Revised Standard Version of Matthew 2:1–12 describes the visit of the Magic men in this manner:
In the time of King Herod, after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, asking, “Where is the child who has been born king of the Jews? For we observed his star at its rising, and have come to pay him homage.”
When King Herod heard this, he was frightened and all Jerusalem with him; and calling together all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Messiah was to be born. They told him, “In Bethlehem of Judea; for so it has been written by the prophet: ‘And you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for from you shall come a ruler who is to shepherd my people Israel.'”
Herod secretly called for the wise men and learned from them the exact time when the star had appeared. Then he sent them to Bethlehem, saying, “Go and search diligently for the child; and when you have found him, bring me word so that I may also go and pay him homage.”
When they heard the king, they set out to find him and there, ahead of them, the star that they had seen at its rising guided them until it stopped over the place where the child was. Seeing that the star had stopped, they were overwhelmed with joy. Upon entering the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother; and they knelt down and paid him homage. They opened their treasure chests and offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. Having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they left for their own country following another path.
Pope San Leon established that there were three Magic men who went to adore the baby Jesus guided by a star: Melchor, Gaspar and Baltazar, and that the gifts they were carrying were gold, incense and myrrh, meaning: King and God Man. These Three Kings are “magicians” as their name suggests.
