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Epiphany
Sunday 2008 |
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Epiphany
Sunday 2008 |
As we reflect on the well known story of the Wisemen, that
they are wise, everyone agrees. Tradition
suggests they may also be rich, and that they may even be kings.
But that’s not how they are introduced to us.
The scripture doesn’t say, “The rich kings from the East.”
Instead we read, “In the time of
King Herod, after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, wise men from the East
came to Jerusalem.’”
These travelers are considered wise because they follow their star, their dreams, their visions. They don’t shut that part of themselves down or deny the value of paying attention to insights, hunches and deep senses of what is good and life-giving and urgent. These travelers were called wise because they had learnt to pay attention to where they sensed there was light and life and they went after it – however out of their way it took them – or out of the good graces of those who thought they were only fools.
Sometimes such following can get us into trouble. Perhaps you saw the Ziggy cartoon about The Three Kings. The first frame shows Ziggy hearing a strong knock at his door. The next frame Ziggy opens the door and is shocked to find three kings standing there. The final frame one of the kings tells him, “Mighty big porch light you’ve got there.”
Sometimes we can be led astray by our most sincere efforts. Who hasn’t made wrong guesses, premature turns, taken steps that only had to be backtracked later? But being led astray occasionally is not the worse case scenario. Worse than being led astray, is to have never set out on the journey at all.
But again, to be wise is not the same as to be smart. In today’s Gospel, the journeyers are wise in searching for the Christ Child, but not “street wise” some might say in the first stop they make. The opening line tells us, “In the time of King Herod, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem…”
The first people to ever hear this story as Matthew tells it would have been stopped by that sentence. “In the time of King Herod, they came to Jerusalem? The first hearers would have raised their eyebrows. They would have been alarmed. They would have thought Matthew had made a mistake in telling the story. Wise foreigners wouldn’t go to Jerusalem for help – not during the reign of King Herod.
Matthew is not being anti-Semitic here. Herod is considered one of the cruelest dictators ever in the Middle East. He was so paranoid about someone taking over his seat as king that he did something that frightened all the people in Jerusalem. Out of fear that his sons might prematurely take over his throne, he had every one of his sons executed.
So when Herod was frightened upon hearing the wise men were looking for a baby that has been born to be king, all Jerusalem was frightened with him. Who wouldn’t be frightened when the king kills his own sons! Whose child could be safe?
As we have said, being wise is not the same as being smart, and hindsight could tell them that it was not wise for these travelers to go to Jerusalem to find guidance for where the child was to be born. Their inquiry at Jerusalem led to Herod hearing about the coming birth. In Herod’s fear he eventually orders all baby boys under the age of two to be slaughtered.
The wisemen’s good intentions contributed to that horrific tragedy. If they ever knew about the consequences of their journey – and we don’t know that they did – they could wish they had never started off on their trek to find the Christ Child. But the story leads us deeper than that.
This story is about discipleship. It’s about people discovering that there is something so vital and alive in God coming among us in human flesh that they open their hearts and lives and decisions to that incredible possibility. And they know no more than that – that God comes – rather than being aloof, disinvested or uninterested. And that discovery of God’s unfathomable coming is so powerful that if it is true, it is worth the risk.
And that is what the wise men do. They may not be street wise. Their wisdom is of a deeper type. But their wisdom – and their royalty if indeed they are kings – do not exempt them from needing guidance for the journey. They too, like anyone, need suggestions from other seekers about how to begin the journey of faith and how to sustain it along the way. Even the wisest among us need guidance. Wisdom shows itself in its willingness to ask for help.
These wise men from the East lived in the real world where their innocence could get them into trouble. Their yearning for goodness and truth could cause them to be taken advantage of for some do not pay attention to their hearts. The real world is full of pitfalls – some self-imposed, and others caused by the brokenness called sin. No one, not even kings – or wise people – are immune to self-deception or the consequences of being deceived by others.
The Wise Men could have been crushed by hearing the consequences of their inquiry at Jerusalem, but they are not to blame for what happens to the children. Evil is real and age old. If we hold back from the spiritual journey because we are afraid of running into evil we will have lost before we even take the first step. Worse than being deceived or misused is to have never started the journey at all!
The Good News for the wise men is that God is greater than whatever evil plagued their journey. The wise men could not control what other people did with the information they shared. The only behavior any of us can begin to control is our own. And God weeps but moves forward in love and mercy always restoring life even past death.
But my heart still goes out to the Wise Men. And if life is vulnerable for them, we can bet it will be vulnerable for us. So this good story of Epiphany is important because the journey of faith involves taking steps forward – even though there are risks – even though we may stumble along our way – or be deceived by ourselves or others from time to time. But taking steps forward is still by far the best choice we can make. And how merciful that the wise men had each other! I doubt they would have completed the journey all on their own. We need companions on the journey of faith for it is not risk-free – but risks and all it is exceedingly worth the effort and when they found the child they rejoiced!
God too faced risks 2000 years ago in coming to that little town of Bethlehem. Things weren’t all quiet and peaceful back then. Fear and jealousy was alive and well. And God faces risk today when God comes to join us in the midst of life. But God chooses still to come. And though God must weep over the misuse of or blindness to such goodness, nothing stops God from coming.
The late novelist and poet Madeleine L’Engle (author of A Wrinkle in Time) writes of this in a beloved poem for this season. It tells the good news of Christmas.
This is no time for a child to be born,
With the earth betrayed by war & hate
And a comet slashing the sky to warn
That time runs out & the sun burns late.
That was no time for a child to be born,
In a land in the crushing grip of Tome;
Honour & truth were trampled by scorn –
Yet here did the Saviour make his home.
When is the time for love to be born?
The inn is full on the planet earth,
And by a comet the sky is torn –
Yet Love still takes the risk of birth.
Amen
+Pastor
Peg Schultz-Akerson, to the glory of God
Faith Lutheran Church, Chico, CA