Two
Rivers Pastoral Charge
Sunday January 5, 2025 – Celebration of Epiphany
Scripture – Matthew 2:1-12
Today, we read the familiar story of the magi who traveled afar, following a
star, to meet the young child whom they named “King.” I will say though, that at our “Asking the
Big Questions” gathering back in December – the night when we tackled the
question of “Why bother with Christmas?” – we discovered that this story maybe
isn’t as familiar as people think that it is.
I rather suspect that people are more familiar with the story from
either Christmas pageants, or nativity sets, or from the song, “We Three Kings”
than they are from Matthew’s account of it.
For example, did you notice, as _______ was reading the story, that the number of magi isn’t listed? All that it says is that wise men, or magi from the East came to Jerusalem. Tradition has assumed that there were three of them, likely because they present three different gifts, and some traditions have even given the three of them names, but all that Matthew tells us is that they were plural – more than one. There might have been two of them, or there might have been 200 of them. We really don’t know.
There also aren’t any camels mentioned in the story. How the magi travelled from their unnamed home in the East we don’t know.
And finally, who were these wise ones? They are not named as kings, despite what the song says, though they acknowledge Jesus as a king. They did have access to expensive gifts though – gold, frankincense, and myrrh were all precious and valuable items to be giving away.
Instead, they are named as magi, which is a direct transliteration from the Greek word used in the original version of Matthew’s gospel. It’s not a word that we use commonly in English, magi, but it has a couple of close relatives. Magic. Magician. Magical. Mage (if you are a fan of fantasy games and literature). But outside of this story, we don’t normally talk about magi in everyday conversation.
Were they magicians or sorcerers? Were they astrologers, studying the movement of the stars to try and determine the effect of the stars on our human lives. That makes sense, given that they noticed a new star appearing in the sky when nobody else did.
I like to think of them as seekers – spiritual seekers – wisdom seekers. They were curious, they were attuned to the signs, and most importantly, they were willing to put the rubber to the road – well, not literally, because even though we don’t know how they travelled to Jerusalem and on to Bethlehem, it is highly unlikely that it was by motorized vehicle – but they were willing to leave their home, wherever that was, and travel to a foreign land to see more. They arrived, bearing gifts in expectation of encountering a king, and left, having, perhaps, encountered just a little bit more.
I love how Matthew includes their story within the larger story of Jesus, and right here at the very beginning of the story. Right from the very beginning, Jesus is accessible to everyone, to the whole world. Everyone who seeks Jesus, finds him.
What would the world be like, if everyone could be like those magi, those wise ones, those wisdom-seekers? What would the world be like if everyone could set aside their certainty and convictions, and be curious instead? What would the world be like if everyone was both willing and able to follow their curiosity right through to the end?
I truly believe that those magi have so much to teach the world, especially the world today as we become more and more entrenched in us-versus-them thinking and ideology, as we become more and more isolated in our silos (in real life and also online) where we only associate with people who think like us.
Those wise ones didn’t study the heavens, spot a new star, and say to themselves, “Well, a new star. Let’s record it on our star chart and then return to our watching for the next one to appear.” Instead, they packed their bags, gathered up their entourage, and set out from their homes to follow where the star led them.
When they got to the place where the star stopped, they didn’t say to each other, “Look, another child just like any other child.” Instead, they somehow recognized that there was something different about this child – something worthy of their worship and their extravagant gifts.
And then, when the time came for them to turn around and return home, we’re told that they were warned in a dream not to return to Herod, and rather than brushing the dream off as the result of a bad bit of mutton the night before, they paid attention to the dream, they allowed their journey to be re-shaped as a result of that dream, and they returned home by a different path.
And so, I think that my wish for all of us, as we embark on a new year together, is that we all might be more like these magi. That we all might be spiritual seekers or wisdom seekers. That we might be curious about the world, and open to having our path through life changed by what we encounter and by what we experience.
And most of all, that we might be open enough that we can recognize Christ even in the most unexpected circumstances. And then, once we have recognized Christ – whether that be in the face of someone we encounter, in the actions that we witness, in a piece of art of music, in a sunset or a moonrise – once we have recognized that we are in the presence of Christ, that we might open our hearts and our lives and pour out our worship.
Because I honestly think that the world would be a better place if we could all be curious wisdom-seekers, recognizing the presence of God wherever we go, and opening ourselves up to be changed by the encounter. The world would be a better place, and our lives would be more richly lived, and so that is my wish for all of us on this threshold of a new year.
And may it be so. Amen.
“Rising Star, Milky Way”
John Fowler
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