“Another Way”
This Wednesday, January 6, is an important day in the church year. It is the day of Epiphany, when we celebrate the 12th and final day of Christmas – the coming of the wise men into the Christmas story. When you think of ‘epiphany’, think of “appearing” in the same way that stars appear in the sky or “of God’s face shinning on us in blessing.” Although we often call the wise men “kings” – as the song goes – they were probably not kings at all, but astrologers who studied the stars – considered wise because of their skills in and knowledge of science and philosophy. When they saw a new star in the sky, they were excited – because someone really important had been born. The thing to note here - the sign came to them where they were. God got their attention in a way that they understood and in the place where they were at, far from God’s people.
In ancient mythology a star would rise to its highest point to reveal the presence of a divine hero. In astrology, this particular rising star (that ‘our’ wise men saw and followed) represented the rising of Capricorn, Judea’s sign in the zodiac – thus signaling the birth of that nation’s new ruler. These wise men (or magi as some called them) traveled from an area believed to be the present day Iraq and Iran to first Jerusalem, and then to the house where Jesus and his family lived. We don’t know, but this trip may have taken as long as two years, which would explain Herod’s order after the wise men tricked him.
They brought gifts with them for this child so important to the world – gold, frankincense and myrrh. The gift of gold honored Jesus as a king. Frankincense was incense used in worship and prayer. Myrrh was a perfume used in embalming, which some believe foretold Jesus’ death. The focus of these gifts is Jesus, the Christ child. The focus of the story of the wise men today is on the one who would change the world. During Epiphany, we celebrate that Jesus, God’s Son, came to bring the light of God’s love and blessing to the whole world.
Matthew's Gospel is the sole record of these “wise men” from the east. So, why does Matthew include this story when the other gospels don’t? Some says Matthew was all about ‘connecting the dots’ for the Jewish people of his day. Thus, his account fulfilled the prophecies made in the Books of Numbers, Isaiah, and the Psalms – that the whole world would pay homage to the God of Israel. The “wise men” from the east represented this whole world idea and symbolized God’s inclusiveness of all people, Jew and Gentile alike – in God’s revelation in the person of Jesus Christ.
These wise men or “star gassers” from the east, were looking for a ‘once in a lifetime’ experience. They hoped to find the one who had been talked about all these years, the one mentioned in all the ancient Hebrew writings. They were searching for the truth. They wanted to know what others could only dream of. And yet, they shouldn’t have been there. They were outsiders who followed stars in the sky, no less – not God. They were the wrong people and the wrong religion. They shouldn’t be there, but they were. If only it had been someone else.
Matthew’s message may have become distorted by our attachment to a song. In our Christmas programs we make these travelers from the east out to be three kings, with crowns on their heads. Yet Matthew says they were wise men, not kings - and there is no mention of how many, only that they brought gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. Sometimes we get it all wrong when our focus is on the wrong things? Perhaps it isn’t the gifts they brought, or where they came from, or how many arrived that matters.
What if the focus IS TO BE the star they followed and what happened when that “Shinning Star” stopped in the sky. Matthew says, “When they saw that the star had stopped, they were over-whelmed with joy.” (2:10) The lesson for us in Matthew then might have little to do with who we are or where we come from, the journey we have made to get here, or the gifts we bring – but a whole lot to do with the joy we feel having arrived when for us the “star stops.” That is when for us – in our great joy – we are wise. It is then we have hope. And it is then, we find ourselves face to face with God.
Discovering God IS WITH US leads to discovering life! And discovering life, we learn what it means to be human, as God created us to be. This is the ultimate quest for people everywhere – to be like the men from the east in Matthew’s story, who were drawn by Bethlehem’s star to a place where they found God ‘right there’ before them. Isn’t that what we want as well – to find a “newborn king” right here in our lives? Isn't that why we continue to follow the One to whom the Bethlehem star has led? But the journey doesn’t end there. Like the wise men, we have to go back.
Ann Weems, in a poem “Holding” from her book Kneeling in Bethlehem, writes:
On our way back from Bethlehem,
sometimes we forget
what we’ve been warned about in a dream:
to return another way.
Advent is about making our way toward Christmas and having Immanuel come into our life. It can be a hectic time, filled with stressful and tiring preparation. But like the wise men, we, all of us, are to return… another way. As we journey now on the other side of Christmas, we have to go back to our lives… another way.
If the lesson for us today is that having experienced the Christ child, God with us, Emmanuel, we are now “to go another way” then what does this say to the church? Paul writes in his letter to the Ephesians that, “through the church the wisdom of God in its rich variety might now be made known…” We, who are the church, have that same responsibility – to go and share what we have found.
God calls us to do what the wise men did - to seek Christ, to follow the star and to be overwhelmed with joy. Meaning is found in pursuing the Messiah. Purpose is discovered in the quest for the Son of God. Stopping to honor the One who has come looking for us is the key to finding true meaning and purpose in life.
As today’s wise men and women – those who have discovered God’s truth, life and love by following Bethlehem's star and the Star Child it welcomed into the world, we (the church) must now “go another way” to “make the gospel known” to those who are yet to be wise; “go another way” to offer a ministry of light and a message of illumination to those in the darkness; “go another way” as we follow our “Shinning Star.”
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