Matthew 2:1‑12 – The Magi come to the manger, then return home by a different way
Maybe you’ve seen this too: life takes you on a roller coaster ride with ups and downs that can take your breath away. Our deepest instinct seems to be getting back to normal – adding a nice fresh coat of paint to cover the bruises, and pushing on.
In 1985, my world was turned upside down by the end of my first marriage. After seventeen years, I was rather suddenly a single dad with two teen-aged boys. I was still senior minister of a busy church, but also a wounded pastor who questioned how I could dare to preach to others when my life had fallen apart. By the grace of God and with the encouragement of that congregation I healed. Then I met Andrea and healed a lot more. As our relationship unfolded and we knew we were going to marry, we agreed we’d go as a couple to two therapists – the man who had helped me sort things out, and the woman who had helped her do the same several years earlier.
Andrea’s counselor was named Fran who quickly saw that Andrea and I would be able to build a good life together. She wisely saw something else. She knew I had a strong investment in having my life be “just so,” normal. Fran saw that I was acting as though I could patch up my life and get it back to where it used to be, almost like unplugging this person and plugging in that person. Real pastors, after all, don’t have personal needs or problems or failures.
At one point Fran looked at me and said with blunt kindness: “when you and Andrea have been married three years you won’t celebrate a 20th anniversary.”
Yet isn’t that our temptation? Here is life. Here is something that dramatically impacts life and turns it upside down. And our response? Let’s pretend it’s not happening. Let’s patch is up and put a fresh coat of paint on it and reclaim life as it used to be. Our nation’s leaders did that after the near-collapse of our banking system because of profit-mongers who couldn’t care less about the little guys their clients and the common well-being of the nation.
Maybe you heard the reports of how school officials in Newtown, Connecticut, have tried to re-create a sense of normalcy for the Sandy Hook students who headed back to classes this week, two weeks after the horror of a deeply-troubled young man with several weapons. An unused building in nearby Monroe was redone – and even renamed – to make it feel like the old space, offering the stability of the familiar.
Can we ever go “back to normal?” The Gospel of Luke tells us (2:20) that the shepherds first went to the manger, then glorified God, and then went home to the fields, to sheep, the noise, the smell. Back to normal. Maybe they were different. I can’t be sure.
Now, in the aftermath of Christmas, we might well ask whether we’ve paused long enough at the manger and now itch to get “back to normal.” That’s at the heart of the Festival of Epiphany which is today – the twelfth day of Christmas, if you will. Across the centuries the church has woven together three separate events – each an appearance or manifestation of God – which is the literal meaning of the word “Epiphany” in the Greek.
One is the arrival of the wise men from a foreign land, seeking the Messiah whom prophets had foretold. Another event appears in all four Gospels as John baptized Jesus, and the voice of God declared: “this is my beloved son.” And the third epiphany was Jesus’ first public miracle at Cana in Galilee, when he turned water into wine at a wedding feast, recorded in John, chapter 2.
Each of these three appearances bore witness that the baby born in a manger was confirmed as Messiah by outside witnesses – by the wise men, by John the Baptist, and by the guests at the wedding. Each states that the baby Jesus grew into the adult Christ, the anointed one.
Let’s return to the story of the Magi as recorded in Matthew 2. They appeared as if from nowhere, just as the shepherds headed back to work. As one poet said: “exit shepherds, enter wise men; exit stables, enter palace; exit poverty, enter wealth; exit angels, enter dreams.”
We don’t know much about these astrologers: their names, or even their number. They came from the East, quite possibly Babylonia, because they had seen the star and knew the prophecies and wanted to be in on the excitement.
But, at its root the story reminds us they sought a very different kind of king from the one they found. Their gifts were costly and rare, while the recipient was a baby of humble birth. Matthew tells us Herod summoned the wise men and pretended he wanted to worship the new king as well. In reality, this one who symbolized the whole religious/political establishment wanted the baby killed and ordered every male child under two be murdered by his armies.
But something happened in the hearts of these learned astrologers, strangers, non-Jews, who came and found Jesus. Matthew tells us they bowed down and worshiped the child. And then they returned to their homeland, but didn’t go back to Jerusalem to tell Herod. They returned home by another way. There was no “going back to normal,” for them, either.
True – after we’ve been to the manger of the Christ child we head home. The shepherds praised God and went back to their flocks and families and familiar routines. The magi had a vision telling them to return home by a different way.
Epiphany invites us to leave Bethlehem behind and follow Christ on his journey. Lent is just around the corner. The cross rises on the horizon, reminding is that Christmas wasn’t just God’s brief visit as a baby. It was God’s total immersion in our human sphere, the world of blood, sweat and tears; the world of insanity and of redemption.
Looking at our lives together as the church, we know the feeling of “home” and “family.” My retirement in five months will bring many changes. This home will feel unfamiliar for a while. Because we love each other we’ll feel keenly the separation that is coming. The Pastoral Search Committee is hard at work and will one day propose another person to become senior minister. That person will listen to you and serve with you and will come to love you (it’s not that hard!)
But that person will not be a John McCall clone. Don’t deprive yourselves of the potential for great joy that comes in this time of transition. Please, remain open to the wonders that God will continue to write in your hearts and lives… and in mine… even when we can’t return to “normal” as it used to be.
W. H. Auden, the British-born poet, asked the question of whether we’ve really been transformed by our trip to the side of the manger. He entitled his Christmas oratorio, “For the Time Being.” The Narrator says:
Well, so that is that. Now we must dismantle the tree,
Putting the decorations back into their cardboard boxes—
Some have got broken – and carrying them up into the attic.
The holly and the mistletoe must be taken down and burnt,
And the children got ready for school. There are enough
Left-overs to do, warmed-up, for the rest of the week—
Not that we have much appetite, having drunk such a lot,
Stayed up so late, attempted – quite unsuccessfully –
To love all of our relatives, and in general
Grossly overestimated our powers. Once again
As in previous years we have seen the actual Vision and failed
To do more than entertain it as an agreeable
Possibility, once again we have sent Him away,
Begging though to remain His disobedient servant,
The promising child who cannot keep His word for long.
The Christmas Feast is already a fading memory,
And already the mind begins to be vaguely aware
Of an unpleasant whiff of apprehension at the thought
Of Lent and Good Friday which cannot, after all, now
Be very far off. But, for the time being, here we all are…
In the meantime
There are bills to be paid, machines to keep in repair,
Irregular verbs to learn, the Time Being to redeem
From insignificance. The happy morning is over,
The night of agony still to come; the time is noon:
When the Spirit must practice his scales of rejoicing
Without even a hostile audience, and the Soul endure
A silence that is neither for nor against her faith
That God’s Will will be done, that, in spite of her prayers,
God will cheat no one, not even the world of its triumph.
Then Auden adds a whole Chorus saying together:
He is the Way.
Follow Him through the Land of Unlikeness;
You will see rare beasts, and have unique adventures.
He is the Truth.
Seek Him in the Kingdom of Anxiety;
You will come to a great city that has expected your return for years.
He is the Life.
Love Him in the World of the Flesh;
And at your marriage all its occasions shall dance for joy.