The visit of the wise men to the infant Jesus is one of those details of the nativity story that we take for granted. But why is it there? What is it meant to teach us?

They were most likely astrologers from Babylon. (And no, we don’t know how many of them there were—just that there were more than one.) Their trip would have been almost 1300 kilometres. When they got close, they came into contact with a murderous Herod, but in the end, found what they sought.

It’s a story that is full of mystery, terror, joy and surprise.

In this sermon on Matthew 2, we take a detailed look and ask what their journey teaches us today as we strive to be wise in every area of our lives. Unlike them, we don’t have a star to follow. So what do we do?