Who are the wise men mentioned in Matthew 2:1? Are they simply intelligent people? Chinese translations of this passage often use  (savant) or  (doctorate holder). According to World Population Review, there are about 277,000 new doctoral degree holders every year across the globe. The world has no shortage of supposedly intelligent people. Or are the wise men astrologers? The Greek word used is μάγοι (magi). According to one lexicon, a magus is an “expert in astrology, interpretation of dreams and various other occult arts.” This matches the use of “sages” in “Angels from the Realms of Glory.” For either interpretation, it is clear that these “magi” are learned people who study hard in their fields of expertise.

Cultural stereotypes sometimes portray Han Chinese parents as strict people who push their kids to study hard hoping they will become learned people—i.e., doctors or lawyers—as if anything less would bring great shame to the family. This is a stereotype that does not reflect reality. However, there is the sense in which Han Chinese parents do put a lot of weight on their children’s future. These parents contemplate how best to ensure the longevity and honour of the family name. For immigrant parents, this is even more pronounced because their vision is not for themselves but for a thriving second generation. For this reason, they seek opportunities and resources that can secure this future.

Sometimes, Han Chinese parents seek resources from the realm of spirits and deities in folk religion. Chinese folk religion adherents can come from far away to “worship” at a temple. People are willing to travel this distance because of a temple’s reputation for being extra efficacious in granting what they seek. The “worship” involves bowing, beseeching and offering, summed up by the term  (bài). For the bright vision of a successful future, people would bài the best deities. The distance travelled becomes inconsequential.

The Magi also travelled far to “worship” a particular deity. We are not privy to their motivations for wanting to worship Jesus. They could have read the importance of Jesus in the stars and thus wanted to be on the good side of this coming King. They could have been convinced of the Christ’s power and thus wanted to seek His favour for certain desires they had. Whatever the reason, these wise men recognized the Messiah when they came, and they worshiped Him.

James Montgomery, the author of this hymn, suggests that the reason to do so is because there are “brighter visions” offered to those that do. These visions in- volve a God who desires that all the nations come to Him for salvation. The visions show the promised Messiah, born in a manger to eventually fulfil all the laws and prophecies and bring about God’s redemptive purposes. The visions portray a king who will reign justly and rule the world as it was meant to be ruled.

Do we also see the same “brighter visions”? Or are our eyes set on the petty things of this world? Our careers, children and families are all important. The wise, learned people of today should indeed plan their futures properly with clear goals. But when we spend all our time contemplating those kinds of things, we lose our focus on Him, who can “do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine” (Ephesians 3:20).

This exhortation applies to all learned people everywhere. After all, ethnicities other than Han Chinese seek brighter futures, too. Therefore, all supposed wise people ought to heed the call to leave this worldly wisdom and contemplation behind in order to seek the brightest vision of all, Jesus Christ. It is a call to come to Him with simple worship. When we do, our futures and our children’s futures become brighter yet, anticipating the eternal joy of belonging to this newborn King.

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[1] Frederick W. Danker, Walter Bauer, William F. Arndt, and F. Wilbur Gingrich, Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, 3rd ed. (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000).