Here is an excerpt from a sermon by St. Augustine, Bishop of Hippo in North Africa (354-430) on the the Magi, the shepherds and the Nativity of the Lord.
The Redeemer of all nations was manifested, and so he has made a feast day for all nations. As this is the day on which he is believed to have been worshipped by the Magi, it seemed only right, was indeed right and just, that the nations should dedicate it to Christ the Lord with a solemn service of thanksgiving. Those Magi, the first Gentiles to recognize Christ the Lord, had not yet been moved by any word of his, but they followed the star that appeared to them and that spoke visibly, like a heavenly tongue, on behalf of the infant inarticulate Word.
The shepherds, of course, were the first fruits of the Jews as regards faith in Christ and his revelation. Coming from close at hand, they saw him on the very day of his birth. They received the news from angels, whereas the Magi received it from a star. The shepherds heard the words: Glory to God in the highest; for the Magi, the prophecy: The heavens declare the glory of God, was fulfilled. The two of them were like the beginnings of two walls coming from opposite directions, one of the circumcision, the other of the uncircumcision, and running toward the cornerstone so that he might be their peace, and make the two one.
The shepherds, then, came from nearby to see, and the Magi came from a great distance to worship. This is the humility for which the wild olive deserved to be grafted into the cultivated one and to produce olives contrary to its nature, since grace enabled it to change its nature. For like the wild olive the whole world had grown wild and bitter, but by the grace of ingrafting it became fertile. People come from the ends of the earth saying in the words of Jeremiah: Truly our ancestors worshiped lies. And they come not just from one part of the world but, as the Gospel according to Luke says, from east and west, north and south to sit at table with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven.
The Magi, the first fruits of the Gentiles, came to see and worship Christ, and were found worthy not only to receive their own salvation but also to be a sign of the salvation of all nations. Let us then celebrate this day with the greatest devotion, worshipping the Lord Jesus in his heavenly dwelling, who was worshiped by those first fruits of ours as he lay in an inn. They venerated in him what was still to come; we venerate its fulfillment. The first fruits of the nations worshipped him at his mother’s breast; now the nations worship him seated at the right hand of God the Father.
Nordic Mountain Reflections 