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Money. I think about it more than I intend to. It’s not that I worry about having enough money to live another 30 years in relative comfort. I’m not obsessed about money like Scrooge McDuck.  Living within my means, I don’t try to keep up with anyone. Let’s face it: my Subaru is ten years old.

It’s just that somehow my brain slants toward how money plays a role in stories.

If a character in a book sets fire to a suitcase of hundred dollar bills, well, that bothers me. “Think of all the good that money could have done!” I mentally shout. Or if the hero in a movie turns down a substantial inheritance because she wants to make it on her own, I start to sweat.

The John Grisham novel The Partner? I nearly threw up over the ending of that book which dealt with a principal amount of ninety million dollars.

So it came as no surprise to myself when I ended up thinking about money as I prepared for tomorrow’s Sunday School lesson on Epiphany.

Epiphany, you may recall, is the enlightenment to the Gentile world that there’s a new King in town. The Magi were the recipients and then conveyors of that good news to the non-Jewish world.

Take a moment and envision your version of the Magi. Let me guess: three men with regal bearing in resplendent clothing. They are each carrying a small box containing gold or frankincense or myrrh. Oh, and they are riding camels who each can carry about 900 pounds.

Let’s ponder that for a moment. Bible scholars say the Magi may have been astrologers, scientists, priests, magicians, scholars, or all-around wise men. Educated guesses are that they came from Turkey or Persia which means a trip of 800-1400 miles. A camel can travel 80-120 miles a day. Unless, of course, they were Arabian baggage camels whose average travel speed is just 40 miles a day.

The Magi had a long journey and that’s likely why they were delayed.

So would they travel all that distance and show up with gift boxes small enough to hold in their hands? I don’t think so.

One Biblical writer’s opinion is that those camels were LADEN with gifts. Laden as in weighed down, piled high, overloaded.

And of course, my money brain kicked into gear thinking of ALL THAT GOLD and what it could have meant.

How would Mary and Joseph transport a camel’s load of gold back to Nazareth? I’m pretty sure there were no Uber camels. Did that gold arrive just in the nick of time? Were Mary and Joseph broke and still counting on their relatives’ generosity to house and feed them? Had Joseph been working locally all the time they’ve been away from home? Had he even thought to pack his carpenter tools to take with him? Did they have to pay taxes on that gold or did the amount fall under the Roman gift tax threshold? How would they explain their new-found wealth to their Nazarene friends and neighbors?

See what I mean? My money brain can run wild with imagination.

Hmm…I wonder what 900 pounds of gold was worth back then?