Seeking and Returning

Isaiah 60: 1 - 6

Matthew 2: 1 – 12

January 5, 2025

Have you ever wondered what it must have been like to be there when Jesus was born? Angels in the heavens. Shepherds filled with fear and wonder. Shining stars in the heavens - it must have been quite a scene. If I was there, I think I would have been tempted to be so consumed by all of the signs and the wonders, that I might miss the very thing that they were pointing to – the baby in the manger.

The Magi of our Bible text faced no such temptation. Contrary to what most of our nativity sets show, the Magi show up long after the angels and shepherds have gone home. Joseph, Mary, and Jesus have moved out of the birthing space where the animals slept at night and into the regular rooms where the family resided. We don’t even know if it was the same home where Jesus was born. The text simply tells us that the Magi come to the home where the star had stopped.

The Magi have been traveling for months, following that star, from far to the east - perhaps as far as Babylon. Magi was a Persian term and referred to those who were counselors to the Babylonian king, wise advisors trusted to read the signs in the heavens and to then give learned interpretations and counsel to their king.

Contrary to what the beautiful Christmas cards might show, these are not three solitary figures traveling through the night on their camels, following a star. These were important men - members of a royal council - and so they would have been traveling with servants, extra animals, and undoubtedly a large group of soldiers whose task was to protect the Magi.

This is why all of Jerusalem is abuzz about their arrival. Three solitary figures showing up at the gates would have raised no one’s interest. But a large and well protected group, probably numbering in the hundreds, was sure to get folks talking.

We don’t really even know that there were three of them. We only guess at their number by the corresponding number of gifts that they bring. Again, tradition numbers and even names them, but it is only tradition. We only know for sure that there was more than one.

We don’t even know that they were all men. There are historical records showing women serving as Magi in the East during this time. With no mention of Joseph in the story surrounding the actual visit of the Magi, scholars have suggested that cultural customs would have precluded Mary’s acceptance of an all-male Magi group coming into the home no matter how royal they might have been.

We can go on about the traditions that have grown up around the story of the Magi, the wise men, the three kings as the carol tells us, but it probably isn’t that important. What is important is what actually happened.

The Magi arrive in Jerusalem and, reflecting their important status, immediately get an audience with King Herod. They want to know where they can find the newborn king of the Jews.

Herod, by this time, is old, feeble, and nearing death. The older he got, the more paranoid he became. It was said about Herod – a man who killed his wife, his sons, and anyone else he thought might challenge him - that it was safer to be one of Herod’s pigs, since as a nominal Jew he didn’t eat pork, than it was to be one of Herod’s family members. As he neared death, Herod ordered that dozens of the leading citizens of Jerusalem would be killed so that there might be community tears shed at the passing of Herod.

Herod listens to their questions, confers with his own counselors, and then tells them that the baby would be born in Bethlehem, a short 7 miles away to the southwest. He tells them, once they find Jesus, to come and tell Herod so that he might also, “worship him.”

The Magi visit Jesus, and they leave, going home by another way, having been warned to not go back to Herod. Tragedy ensues as Herod – as evil, wicked, and paranoid as ever – orders the death of every male child under the age of two years.

The population of Bethlehem, even with the arrival of distant relatives for the registration ordered by Emperor Augustus, was probably no more than 5,000 with the number of infant males slaughtered listed as few as 3 to 5 up to as many as 15 to 20. While the numbers are smaller than perhaps film and other works of art might suggest, the slaughter of even one child for such an evil reason is a tragedy.

Mary, Joseph, and the baby Jesus have escaped. As with the Magi, they were warned and had fled to Egypt. Their visit there was undoubtedly financed by the gifts the Magi had brought.

There is so much here – certainly enough truth to speak to us over several sermons. But every time I read this text I am struck by what seems to be a simple throw away line; “they left for their own country by another road.” The NIV and ESV translations say it slightly differently, “they departed to their own countries by another way.”

There was something about this encounter with Jesus. Remember, the angels and shepherds have left. They come, looking for the king of the Jews, and all they find is a newborn – no miracles surrounding Him, no royal attendants, no supernatural beings, nothing to suggest that this would be the savior of the world. And yet, there was something. Something that struck them. Something that made them willing to defy Herod and to go home by another way. Something changed them, something in that encounter changed their perspective, and so they went home by another road, by another way. They were so changed that they were willing to risk the wrath of Herod by ignoring his command and so they went home by a different route.

The Magi had been transformed by their encounter with the newly born Jesus.

Friends, we have been on a 5-week journey. We have listened as Gabriel met a faithful young girl and announced that she would be the mother of the savior of the world. We listened as Joseph bravely faced the ridicule and scorn that he would receive as the fiancé of a young woman pregnant out of wedlock. We have lit candles for hope, peace, joy, and love. We have listened to angels in the heavens, watched shepherds come to Bethlehem, and now – now we have seen Jesus visited by wise men from the east.

Those wise men went home transformed by their experience. How about us? Those wise men went home so changed by their encounter with the divine that they were willing to risk the wrath of a ruthless, bloody, and paranoid Herod. All of the players in the story have been transformed by this series of events – Mary, Joseph, Elizabeth, the shepherds, the Magi. How about us? Or it is business as usual, more of the same old, same old – no different than last year, or next year?

How have we been transformed by this Christmas encounter? Have we? If not, why not? Did we just go through the motions? Did we just fulfill family traditions or community expectations? Have we been satisfied with external activities but with no internal change? Did we just play the game…..again, and then dare to wonder why nothing feels different?

Friends, can this year be different? It’s not too late – Christmas was less than 2 weeks ago. Maybe this year we say no to baggage from past years – no matter how lifechanging that baggage might have been. Maybe this year we finally commit to coming into the new year by a different road, a different way, a set of different commitments. Maybe this year we determine – fueled the presence and the power of the Holy Spirit to no longer be satisfied by material things that have a shelf life; and instead commit ourselves to a spirituality that prepares us for eternity.

We have met Jesus – Emmanuel – God with us. How will things be different? What different path are we going to take – a different path that makes all the difference. Maybe this year is the year we commit to Seeing the image of God in every person we meet. Maybe we dare to think there might be spiritual goodness in something that we didn’t think of. Maybe this is the year when we commit to the conviction that every worship service – EVERY worship service - has value and spiritual meaning if we but diligently look for and enter into it. Maybe this year we dare to believe that showing up for worship actually makes a difference. Worship is transformed from a solitary event, to a community one. Maybe this is the year that we dare to believe that spiritual disciplines can actually change our lives if we only commit to one or two. Maybe this year we decide to live into our stewardship responsibilities so that selfcare, family care, and creation care become energized commitments for us. Maybe, just maybe, we decide to commit to meaningful financial support of God’s church instead of forcing leadership into painful and difficult decisions. MAYBE? Maybe.

There is a poem written by the Rev. Howard Thurman, an African-American writer, theologian, preacher, and activist. In that poem entitled, “When the Song of the Angels is Stilled,” he wrote:

When the song of the angels is stilled,

When the star in the sky is gone,

When the kings and the princes are home,

When the shepherds are back with their flocks,

The work of Christmas begins:

To find the lost,

To heal the broken,

To feed the hungry,

To release the prisoner,

To rebuild the nations,

To bring peace among people,

To make music in the heart.

I love this poem – it speaks to my heart every year. These are the things that believers do.

But connecting – with God and one another; being transformed by our relationship with God through Jesus Christ and a new commitment to faith development; choosing to love all God’s people as God has first loved us; and serving in ways that reflects the spiritual gifts that God has given to each of us – these things are a different way of being, a different road for each of us to take.

Friends, we are all looking for different results this year. We can’t keep taking the same old paths, we can’t keep doing the same old things – no matter how wonderful they might be – and expect a different spiritual result. It’s time for a different path.

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,

And sorry I could not travel both

And be one traveler, long I stood

And looked down one as far as I could

To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,

And having perhaps the better claim,

Because it was grassy and wanted wear;

Though as for that the passing there

Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay

In leaves no step had trodden black.

Oh, I kept the first for another day!

Yet knowing how way leads on to way,

I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh

Somewhere ages and ages hence:

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference.

It is time to take that different path – the path of personal spiritual renewal. May it be so in your life, in my life, and in our lives together. Amen.