Scripture: Matthew 2:1 – “In the time of King Herod, after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem.” (NRSV)
Today is Epiphany, which marks the end of the Christmas season and celebrates the visit of the Magi to Jesus in Bethlehem, bringing gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. In many ways, we are different than these wise men of old. We did not live more than two thousand years ago. We are not members of an elite Zoroastrian priesthood strongly aligned with the Persian government. We are not experts in astronomy and astrology, able to make important political conclusions based on a suddenly appearing star in the sky. We probably lack the resources to bring costly gifts to a stranger.
But the way in which I feel the most unlike the wise men is their ability to travel. Perhaps more than their crowns or treasure chests, the image that most identifies the wise men is their camels. They “traverse afar”, as the famous hymn about them says. The camels suggest that they cross a long road to find the newborn king.
In the time of the coronavirus, our ability to travel is greatly curtailed. I have put off many of my travel plans for the foreseeable future. I have even gotten to the point of planning hypothetic visits to various American cities beyond any to which we might realistically be able to visit in the next few years even in the best of times. That freedom of movement seems as much of a luxury as a chest of gold to many of us.
And yet while we may not be able to make journeys across the roads and skies of our world, we can make journeys of our minds and hearts. The wise men came to King Herod because they assumed that the promised king would be born in the royal household, but men like them did not visit every highborn babe. There was something special about Jesus, something that transcended not only national differences, but religious ones as well. While Zoroastrianism, the monotheistic religion of ancient Iran, is a nearly dead religion today, it was both powerful and influential in Jesus’ time. It impacted the development of both Roman religion and Christianity, even providing a link for Christianity to eventually become the religion of the Roman Empire. To them, a prophet who would bring salvation to the world was worthy of honor, no matter where he came from.
Like the wise men, we should ever be on a journey to seek truth and to honor our God. Our spiritual journeys make take us to unexpected places, finding wisdom outside our own traditions or finding unexpected truths in what we thought we already knew. Epiphany reminds us that light shines on everyone, and as we seek the that light in the coming year, we should be open to both sharing that light and letting the light guide as wherever it may lead.
Prayer: God of wonder and light, brighten our cold and lonely days and kindle hope in our hearts for springs of the land and springs of the soul to come. Bless our journeys wherever they may lead us. This we pray in the name of Jesus, the babe of Bethlehem. Amen.
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