At dusk, with the first stars just visible in the clear sky, Ruth went out as usual to get water. She kept a lookout for Joshua but he didn’t seem to be around this evening. Disappointed, she turned to look for the bright star. It was directly over the town.
When she reached the well she saw a group of people and camels approaching. They were not locals, nor were they the usual sort of people who came to Bethlehem. Several wore richly dyed and embroidered clothing in exotic fashions, though it was creased and stained from long travel. What were they doing here? They didn’t look like merchants, although some of the camels were heavily laden. She hastily dipped water from the well and headed home.
As she reached the courtyard she looked up again. It was as if the star was directly over the house.
Suddenly she heard someone calling.
“Girl! Can you help us?”
She turned and looked back out into the street. The travellers were heading towards her, and one of the richly dressed men on camels was pointing at the star overhead. One of the servants came forward from the group- it was evident that he was the one who had spoken to her before.
“We’re looking for a baby, or small child. A boy, born here sometime in, oh, the last two years.” He turned as one of the men on camels spoke to him, evidently giving instructions, then turned back to Ruth. “They’ve come a long way- months, it’s taken them. They even called on King Herod in Jerusalem, to see if he knew about it. He told them to come to Bethlehem, and sent me with them as guide. They say it’s a special boy- born to be a king, or something. They say they followed that star, that it tells them where the child was to be born.” He pointed upwards.
Ruth stared, first at him, then the star, then at the travellers.
“Ask them to come in,” she said. “I think I know what they’re looking for.”
*****
Joseph was surprised when Ruth told them about the visitors, and kept bowing and stuttering about honour as they came forward. Mary, somehow, seemed calmer as she brought little Jesus forward and sat him on her knee. The boy stared at the strangers, wide-eyed at the rich colours and silken fabrics of their robes, so different to the largely drab plain and well-worn clothes of his family and the townsfolk of Bethlehem.
In strange accents, the visitors asked questions about the date of Jesus’s birth, and Mary calmly told the story. The visitors looked at one another, and one said a few words in a language Ruth could not understand. The others nodded. Then, to Ruth’s surprise, these men, obviously rich and powerful, bowed down before the child on Mary’s lap, and worshiped him.
*****
In the courtyard the servants unloaded the camels, and Ruth and her mother hurried to make ready beds and bring the best food and drink Bethlehem could provide. Word soon got around about the strange visitors and the neighbours soon arrived, peering through the doorway and whispering in the courtyard. And at the centre of it all sat the child, sleepy, staying close to his mother, looking at the visitors as they looked at him.
Ruth pushed past her mother, who was telling the story to Miriam who had turned up with little Rachel, and set wine before the visitors, who were now seated on low stools before the little family. One bowed his head to her in thanks.
Others were opening the bundles that the servants brought in. One of the well-dressed visitors lifted out some small bags which chinked when he lifted them. He held them up as if to offer them to Jesus, then laid them at Mary’s feet. Joseph took one and opened it, and nearly dropped it.
“It’s full of gold, Mary,” he said hoarsely. “More gold than I’ve ever seen in my life.” He held a shiny gold coin out to her. Jesus took it from his hand, gurgled with pleasure, and put it up to his mouth to bite. Mary gently took it from his hand.
Another visitor had brought out more packages. He unwrapped one and he held it up to Jesus, then offered it to Mary. Ruth saw yellow-orange lumps, almost like rocks. She could also smell a fragrance that she recognised as incense. Another visitor was unwrapping more packages that looked similar but gave off a different smell. Ruth heard her mother gasp. “Burial spices,” she whispered. “What a gift for a child!”
One of the visitors who seemed to be a leader of some kind bowed low before the mother and child. “We come to worship and bring gifts. We read in the stars, he is born to be king of his people, so we bring gold: to be priest before the Most High, so we bring incense: and to suffer for his people, so we bring myrrh of bitterness.”
“We thank you,” Mary said, removing a piece of myrrh from Jesus’ little hand before he could put it in his mouth. Joseph was still tongue-tied, staring at the expensive present stretched out before his wife and child. But the visitors, crowding round, didn’t seem to mind. They were full of joy and excitement, and sat up long into the night, admiring the child now sleeping in his mother’s arms.
