Matthew 2:1-18 / Isaiah 60:1-6
We spend too much time sitting. Sitting
in cars, sitting in front of the TV, sitting with our electronic devices in
hand. I am especially feeling that
right now as I spent hours and hours sitting in buses and planes to get home on
Friday. We spend too much time sitting. We even sit as we encounter Christ –
through preaching and liturgy – in our private prayer lives – during our Bible
and book studies. We simply spend
too much time sitting.
Isaiah starts this wonderful passage we
just heard in chapter 60 with “Arise, shine; for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has
risen upon you.” As we start 2018, I think it is time to
sit less – it is time to rise up and move. And before you get out of your seats
and start moving, let me tell you why.
Jesus says it most simply. “No one after lighting a lamp
puts it under the bushel basket, but on the lamp stand, and it gives light to
all in the house.” No one after seeing the Christ child just goes back to
business as usual. It is hard for our light to shine if all we do is sit. And we
are called to let that light shine.
The
Magi saw a light shining in the east – a star that was filled with
possibilities. We miss much when we call them Wise Men. They were priests of an
ancient religion called Zoroastrianism; they were known internationally for
their ability to read the stars – a highly regarded science at the time. Our
word “magic” comes from the Greek word for “magi” – in a sense they were
magicians and sorcerers. These Magi could have simply noted the star and
affirmed the sign – “Oh look! Isn’t that interesting!” – and gone on with life.
Instead they got up out of their seats and traveled all the way from Persia –
modern day Iran – to see the child born King of the Jews.
It
is interesting that the star didn’t guide them all the way to Bethlehem.
Instead they went to Jerusalem – to the current King of the Jews – and asked
Herod, “Where is this child who has been born King of the Jews?” We have heard
the story so often that we miss how radical it is. Imagine for a minute that a
group of Jewish Rabbis visited the Iranian Ayatollah today with compelling
evidence about the child who would replace him as ruler. No wonder Herod was
frightened – and rightfully so. He didn’t want a mutiny or an insurrection. It
was hard enough to keep peace in the land. So Herod, who was not a Jew, asked
the chief priests and scribes just where the Messiah was to be born. They knew
their scripture and readily quoted the prophet Micah to him – the child would
be born in Bethlehem.
Now
notice something. Herod and the chief priests and the scribes did nothing with
this information. They sat there while the Magi traveled the 8 miles to
Bethlehem. If you knew someone was threatening your position would you stay
put? If you were a chief priest and heard this news of the Messiah would you
remain seated? Or would you act? I think too often we are like Herod and the
priests – we adopt a “wait and see” approach instead of going ourselves. Of
course we have legitimate excuses – like jobs and children and life that keeps
happening. But they missed seeing Jesus, the light of the world.
The
Magi, on the other hand, traveled to Bethlehem, following that star, until it
stopped and stayed over the place where Jesus lay. And when they saw the Christ
child they were filled with joy. And these foreign priests humbled themselves,
kneeling before the child and his mother, offering gifts to this baby born King
of the Jews. And then, being warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they
went home by another way.
I’m
struck by the fact that God works in so many different ways. God speaks to the
Magi – foreigners from a foreign land – through the signs in the stars. God
speaks through Herod, and through chief priests and scribes. God even speaks through
dreams. And the Magi have this way of listening deeply to God’s voice even as
God speaks in so many different ways. The Magi have this way of responding with
courage and insight. And they went home by another way.
The
word “way” used here is the same word used to describe the first followers of
Jesus. They were called followers of The Way (capital letters). Jesus tells us
in John’s gospel, “I am the way.” John the Baptist was sent to “Prepare the
way.” And Paul, after his conversion, found those who belonged to The Way.
Interestingly, the word means the road traveled. It also means a way of
thinking and feeling and being. The way can be a physical journey; the way can
also be a spiritual journey. And we, who call ourselves Christian, are also
followers of The Way.
After
seeing the Christ child, the Magi went home by another way. And when Herod
realized that they weren’t coming back, he followed his own way – the way of
fear – the way of greed – the way of power – and had all of the children under
the age of two massacred. To this day we can hear the cries of mothers weeping
for their children, refusing to be consoled.
I wonder what way we will travel this
year. Will we take the safe routes, the known routes, the easy routes? Will we
take the routes we’ve always taken? Will we guard our hearts and rely on what
we already know and believe?
Or are we willing to go another way?
Are we receptive to being led on new paths – paths that may require soul
searching, and reading scripture through a different lens, and opening
ourselves to hear new voices? Are we willing to think outside the box as we
seek to bring skeptics and agnostics to Christ? Can we accept that God might
work through people who are spiritual but not religious to show us the way? Are
we willing to see God working in and through people who are part of the LGBTQ
community, people who are immigrants and refugees, people who worship different
gods? Are we willing to listen for God’s voice showing us the way through a stranger?
Do we trust the God revealed in Christ
Jesus enough to follow in his Way?
Jesus leads us in the way of life. And Jesus
calls us to lead others into the way of life. This way is never easy. There is
always risk. There is always the possibility of betrayal and denial. The way of
life inevitably leads to a cross.
As we sit here on this Epiphany Sunday,
we are already looking toward Easter Sunday – that glorious day when the women
came to the tomb early in the morning and found it empty – that astonishing day
when Jesus appeared to the disciples showing them the wounds in his hands and
side – that wondrous day when Jesus broke bread in Emmaus and the disciples saw
the light of resurrection life.
As we anticipate Easter Sunday and
resurrection, I wonder how God might be calling you today. What way will you
travel this year?
