And there in front of them was the star they had seen rising; it went forward and halted over the place where the child was.The sight of the star filled them with delight, and going into the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and falling to their knees they did him homage.  Then, opening their treasures, they offered him gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. (Matthew 2.9-13)

Wise men, whom tradition has named Gaspar, Balthasar, and Melchior, were scholarly students of Eastern religions.  Through their knowledge of the Jewish prophets and of their own religious traditions, they believed in the coming of the Savior to all humanity - even to those outside Judaism. Under the direction of the Holy Spirit, they followed a star to search for their King. When they arrived in Jerusalem, they asked King Herod to tell them where this newborn king was.  Then Herod's counsellors said: In Bethlehem in Judaea. (Matthew 2.4)  When they arrived in Bethlehem, they brought their precious gifts: gold as a symbol of royalty, incense as a symbol of hope, and myrrh as a sign of burial and sacrifice. Prophetically, they announced Jesus' own future: his kingship from a cross and the promise of the coming reign of God in our world.

The Eastern and Western Churches always celebrated the Feast of the Epiphany on January 6 as the manifestation of the Incarnate God to all peoples: Jews and non-Jews.  In the mid-fourth century, when the Western Church in Rome began to celebrate Christmas as the Birth of Christ, the Son of Justice, they focused their celebration of the Epiphany upon the arrival and gift-giving of the three wise men.