Wise men still seek him. Will you be a wise man, a wise woman today? There is only one thing in all of creation which this Child cannot take for himself, and that is your heart. This is the only thing you can give him which he does not already own. This you alone can give him. What he wants for Christmas is you.

Two hundred years ago, Charles IV was king of Spain.

Napoleon was coming. And so the king directed a servant to hide his priceless collection of antique clocks, and the crown jewels of the Spanish monarchy. The servant was instructed to bury the clocks in the wall of one of the 365 rooms of the royal palace, and the jewels in another room. The servant did as he was told, and cut a piece of cloth from the draperies of these two rooms to mark them, should the Spanish monarchy ever recover the throne.

In 1814, Charles's son, Ferdinand VII, restored the throne to the Spanish royal family. The first thing he wanted to do was to find his crown jewels. But there was a problem. Napoleon had changed the draperies in every one of the rooms of the palace. The only way to find the jewels and the clocks was to tear out the walls of every room of the palace. Ferdinand decided he'd rather live without clocks and jewels than walls.

Everyone thought the story was just a European legend until a plumber working on some pipes in one of the palace rooms discovered the antique clock collection. Now all that remains is to find the only lost crown jewels of Europe. Imagine how exciting it will be one day for someone to discover the crown of a king.

This morning, the crown of the King of Kings is in your hands. You can place on his head, or yours. You can bow before him in worship and make him your King, your Priest, your Sacrifice. You can spend the coming year in his worship and service. The Magi had to leave the stable, but you don't. Wise men still seek him.

How wise are you?

[1] Life of Vespasian 4.5.

[2] Histories 5.13.

[3] Wars of the Jews 6.5,4.