What do you do when all hopes die?

What do you do when, despite all your hard work, despite all your faith and prayers, despite everything you could possibly do, all hopes die? When the worst possible thing imaginable happens, it feels as if all helps and comforts flee (Hymns 166, Abide With Me).

All people around the world have moments when all seems in vain. A student fails an important exam, changing their entire future. A father fails to be hired for his dream job. A person decides to abandon their spouse and children. A beloved mother says farewell to a child for the rest of this lifetime. Surely after such devastations, all hope is lost.

What do you do? You carry on.

Long ago, a number of learned men and women saw a sign in the heavens, signifying the birth of a baby boy. So, they packed up their most prized gifts and began the long, long journey to seek the holy child.

Obviously, these men and women had to know who the child was. What was worth such a long journey? What did they hope to see? A man who would one day lead an army or a nation? A boy who would become the most educated in all the land? The son of a skilled carpenter? Surely such a child, though important in their own rights, would not warrant such distinguished visitors. No other king, educated youth, or carpenter had ever received such attention.

So what was it that these learned men and women sought? In all their wisdom, they learned one bit of knowledge more important than the rest: mankind needed a Savior. They needed a God to come suffer for their sins and die so that death and hell could be defeated. They needed a God who would descend below all things so He could lift us up from the depths of despair.

And so, they sought the babe in a manger. They knew the babe would grow to be a wise teacher and prophet. They knew He would help to restore knowledge lost for generations. But they also knew that He would be rejected of men. They knew He would suffer and bleed, which suffering would kill any mortal man. They knew He would be lifted up and crucified. They knew that all hopes for His friends would be lost.

But what did these faithful men and women do? They carried on. They pushed forward to find the babe. Although they knew that everything must be lost, they kept going. They knew that beyond the grief was a hope that surpasses all despair. They knew that out of His death grew life, for Him and for all mankind. They knew that, because of Him, nobody would be left in the depths of despair forever.

And so, they continued on, searching the holy babe and doing what they could to serve Him. Perhaps, because they pushed forward through all despair to find the true Hope, this is why we recall them every Christmas and call them "wise."