Today is Epiphany. It is the day when the Wise Men – or the Magi – visit Jesus, Mary and Joseph. We’re used to seeing the Wise Men in our Christmas displays, lingering outside the manger with their gifts, but if you haven’t read the 2ndChristmas Story, look at Matthew 1:18 – 2:27. There are no shepherds, no manger, no army of angels singing “Glory to God in the highest,” but there ARE Wise Men visiting Jesus at Joseph and Mary’s house. Joseph and Mary couldn’t find room at the Inn, but perhaps after a few grueling nights in the stable, they found an “Airbnb!” These Magi – not kings, but likely astronomers, searchers of knowledge - utter the first words spoken by a man or woman in Matthew’s gospel: Where is the Child who has been born king of the Jews? In Jerusalem, the home of King Herod and of the religious experts in the Temple, you’d expect the king to be surprised at such a question, maybe troubled or disturbed, as some translations declare it, but the word used in the original language to describe King Herod’s reaction more properly means frightened. King Herod and all of Jerusalem, the whole city, were afraid. Of a baby. The one we know that’s been born in a manger. The little Lord Jesus no crying he makes. How could that be? 2018 concludes and 2019 begins in an unsettled world and nation. Perhaps “disturbed” or “troubled” arereasonable words to describe our reaction to what we hear around us. A look at the News Virginian’s editorial page over the twelve days of Christmas, or any “year in review” article on TV, news feed, or newspaper reveals disturbed and troubled – frightened, even – reactions to the world around us. We live in an Information Age that can paralyze us with the width and breadth of fact and opinion about our own “Jerusalem.” Or it can encourage us to pick and choose what we want to hear, regardless of what political or ideological stripe we prefer, and try, like King Herod, to control and manipulate the result. But the Wise Men chose another way. I read a quote from Soren Kierkegaard, a theologian who lived over 150 years ago, that speaks of the Wise Men following a star; and the scribes, with all their knowledge, following a fearful king: “Who had more truth, [the wise men, or the scribes]? Those who followed a rumor, or those who remained sitting, satisfied with all their knowledge?”[1] The story of Christmas - culminating in the visit of the Magi – is the story of the Light coming into the world. It’s not just the birth of Jesus and the Wise Men guided by a star long ago. It’s the Light of Christ, and the “rumor” of that Light, that wise people still seek today, rather than the vast weight of knowledge that the world offers that keeps us apart, paralyzes us, even leaving us afraid enough to treat those we are troubled by in ways that echo King Herod’s fear (see Matthew 2:16-18). Not to his extreme, perhaps, but in ways that cause us to lash out, rather than respond in the ways the grown-up Jesus calls us to: to love one’s enemies, to care for the widow, the poor, the Samaritan, the alien in our midst, the tax collector, the sinner. It is the scribes, the chief priests, those disturbed and frightened by the Magi’s question, who handed Jesus over to the cross. It’s not hard to follow in their footsteps when one is afraid. But on this Day of Epiphany, there is a light that still shines in the darkness of this world (John 1:5), inviting “Wise” men and women to look up from their desks, their cell phones, their news channels – their newspapers! - to ask “where - and who - is our king?”,and to trust that, beyond our fears, this Child really is “king of kings and Lord of Lords” in this world, our lives, and year 2019. [1]Frank Honeycutt, 95 Prosetheses –Appendages and Musings for the Body of Christ in Transition, 2018,Cascade Books, p. 49.
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AuthorPastor Paul came to Grace to serve as our Pastor in October 2012. After a first career in product and graphic design, he was ordained in 1993, and has served as a parish pastor in Virginia and South Carolina. He is married to Jill and they have two daughters, one at Roanoke College and one at James Madison University. Archives
December 2021
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