Have you ever taken a journey that did not go well? In my younger years, I drove cars that were not very dependable, which meant that I often found myself broken down along the side of the road. In the summer of 1983, I drove from Louisville to Dothan, Alabama, to help Tanya move. I was preparing to enter my final year of seminary and we planned on getting married in May of 1984, so we thought it was a good idea for Tanya to move to Louisville, find a job, and settle into life in the city where we would begin our marriage. I set out from Louisville in my old car and did not get far before experiencing mechanical problems, problems which were complicated by the fact that I did not have much money for repairs. I was only a few hours into my journey when I stopped to take a break, and when I got back into my car it would not start. It did not take long to discover that my battery was dead, and not only was it dead, but needed to be replaced. With my new battery installed, I was soon on my way south once again. When I came to Birmingham it started to rain, so I turned on my wipers and my headlights. As soon as I turned on my headlights I noticed my amperage gauge (remember those?) suddenly went all the way to the left, which meant my new battery was quickly discharging. Finding a repair shop, I discovered that another repair was needed; this time it was my alternator and voltage regulator that had gone bad, which was probably what caused my dead battery earlier. Not only did they alternator and voltage regulator need to be replaced, but my new battery was so damaged that it also needed to be replaced, once again. Finally, I arrived in Dothan, where I drove to the local U-Haul dealer to rent a trailer and hitch. The hitch, of course, did not fit onto my bumper correctly so I spent a long evening getting that problem solved. The next morning, as we prepared to set off on the return trip to Louisville, I discovered I had a flat tire. That was not a difficult repair, but it took long enough that Tanya and I were much later getting on the road than planned. As we passed through Birmingham, I noticed my temperature gauge was beginning to rise, approaching a level that required that I stop to see what was wrong. This time it was a water pump that needed replacing. Finally, we made it back to Louisville, after many stops, many repairs, and a lot of money spent. The next morning, we returned the U-Haul trailer, and as we were driving up the ramp to get back on I65, I remarked to Tanya that I was very relieved the trip was over, and surely nothing else could go wrong. No sooner had those words come out of my mouth than the entire exhaust system came loose on my car and dropped to the pavement. Needless to say, it was quite a loud trip home from there.
Not all journeys are easy. Some journeys seem to be one problem after another. This morning, we begin our Advent series of messages, which are based on the characters of the first Christmas. We will begin with the magi, and as I go through these messages you will note that I am obviously not going to approach the characters in chronological order. In the passage from Matthew the magi are the last arrivals to visit Jesus, but I want to note that while the other events of the first Christmas were taking place, the magi were making their way to Jerusalem, and then on to Bethlehem, so they are on their journey while all the other events are happening.
Follow along as I read our Scripture text for the morning, from Matthew 2:1-12 –
1 After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem
2 and asked, “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.”
3 When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him.
4 When he had called together all the people’s chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Messiah was to be born.
5 “In Bethlehem in Judea,” they replied, “for this is what the prophet has written:
6 “‘But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,
are by no means least among the rulers of Judah;
for out of you will come a ruler
who will shepherd my people Israel.’”
7 Then Herod called the Magi secretly and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared.
8 He sent them to Bethlehem and said, “Go and search carefully for the child. As soon as you find him, report to me, so that I too may go and worship him.”
9 After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen when it rose went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was.
10 When they saw the star, they were overjoyed.
11 On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh.
12 And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route.
I want to ask you three questions this morning that I take from this passage. The first is,
1. What might God be revealing to you?
How many of you find it easy and obvious to understand what God is revealing to you? Anyone? I think it is safe to say that we all find it difficult to discern what God is telling us in terms of his will. I also think we tend to believe things were much easier for the Biblical characters when it came to discerning God’s direction, God’s will, and God’s plan. I think we tend to believe that, for the Biblical characters, those answers were always as obvious as if they were written across the sky or revealed in some miraculous way, but for the most part, I think it was as difficult for them to understand as it is for us. There were a few notable exceptions, of course, but many of the Biblical characters struggled to understand what exactly it was that God was revealing to them. It is not easy to know or understand what God is doing in our lives, what God is leading us to do, or what God is prompting us to do, but we have to consider that question – what might God be revealing to you?
For the magi, they did not have all the answers for their journey, but they had enough information to get started on their journey. They knew a king was to be born – as they had seen his star – and that was about the extent of what they knew. Here is what we learn from the way in which the magi proceeded – while God is always revealing something to us, it might not be as much information as we desire, but it is enough. The magi set out on their journey with only a small amount of information, but they still began their journey. I do not understand the why and the how of the manner in which God works, but I have come to understand that there is always a great deal of mystery involved in the way he works.
I’ve long believed it to be somewhat ironic that the magi are often referred to as wise men, because what they did – setting out on a journey of unknown duration, and with very little idea of where they were going or what the might encounter on the way – seems anything but wise. How much was revealed to the magi? Not very much, but that did not hinder them in their response to God revealing to them that they were to journey to Bethlehem. We so often want every question answered, every i dotted, every t crossed, and every contingency anticipated and planned for before we strike out on a journey. I don’t know what the magi knew when they set out on their journey, but I don’t think it was much. They saw a star, a star that revealed to them an understanding that something very, very significant was about to take place. There has been a great deal of speculation about the star, by the way, but here’s what I think about it – I do not think it was at all obvious. I don’t believe it lit up the night sky or was a comet or anything that was so obvious that no one could possibly miss it. No one but the magi seemed to know anything about the star. Herod and his court obviously knew nothing about it, and I’m sure he employed astrologers to be watching the heavens for signs. Even though I used a picture on the screen with a bright, obvious star, I don’t think it was. A lot of the time, God tends not to be so obvious in his work, but he was obvious enough to the magi that they understood he was revealing something to them.
2. Where might God be leading you?
What God is revealing to you is the overall plan; where he is leading is the specifics of that plan, as it deals with the details of going from Point A to Point B. As if it weren’t difficult enough to be able to come to the realization of what God is revealing, then we have to come to the realization of where God is leading us. Piece of cake, right?
I would really like to know more about the journey of the magi, wouldn’t you? Did they pack as much as I do when I go on a trip? If I travel for a week I feel as though I must take almost everything I own. How many magi were there? (The idea that there were three is pure conjecture, and is based on the three gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. We have no idea how many magi there actually were). Did they have a support team that traveled with them? Where did they begin their journey? What did the star look like? How long did it take them to journey Jerusalem and then on to Bethlehem? Did they tell anyone where they were going? The linguistic economy of the Bible always amazes me. I would like to know so much more of the story, but we know enough.
I think a lot of people assume that, for ministers, the call we receive is obvious. I will tell you that is not true; at least it wasn’t for me. There was no flashing light or writing across the sky that made it clear to me, as much as I wished there had been. God is always leading us somewhere, which is a reality we must never forget or take for granted. God may change our path and our direction at different points in our lives. In fact, it might surprise you to know that I am surprised to still be in ministry. While I eventually came to the realization that God was leading me to ministry, I did not know if it would be a life-long call or not. I assumed I would serve as a vocational minister for some years and then, perhaps, God would call me to do something else. There was, however, nothing that made my calling absolutely obvious. At some point in time, I simply knew that ministry was what I was called to do. Call it a gut feeling, an instinct, or whatever, but it was something of which I eventually became convinced God was leading me to act upon. And when that call did finally become real and true to me, there were still a lot of details I had yet to understand. What do I do about school? Do I go on to seminary? What was I supposed to do after I later dropped out of seminary and things had become very unclear to me? How was I going to get back to seminary and support myself? What would I do about churches to serve? There were a lot of details to work out, I can assure you. And, in some ways, it was much easier then, because I think it’s so much easier to take risks when there is less at stake. What did I put at risk when I was 21 years old and moving to Louisville with no place to live and no idea where I was going to sleep when I arrived? (Two weeks before I was to arrive on campus, I received a letter saying I no longer had a dorm room. The seminary had overbooked the dorms and I was one of the fortunate students who was bumped from their room. In my youthful faith I did not hesitate to go on to campus anyway, even though I had nowhere to stay and really did expect to sleep in my car for a few nights, at least. Fortunately, when I arrived on campus, and went to the housing office, some friends of mine – who had already settled on campus – discovered my plight and left a note for me in the office, inviting me to stay with them until I found a place to live. God does indeed make provision). Really, what was I risking? Not very much. I had little to nothing to lose, but over the years, I became much more risk averse because I stood to lose so much more. We become more risk averse as we have jobs, homes, and families to care for and support. The magi could easily have rationalized staying home by saying you know, that seems like a great adventure, and we should take that journey, but we’re on the tenure track at the university now, and we don’t want to put that in jeopardy. We also have mortgages, and we just signed book deals, so no, we can’t go anywhere, especially when we don’t even know where we’re going or how long it will take us and how we will even know when we’ve arrived at where we’re supposed to be going!
The magi might also have worried about the reaction of other people, who may have counseled them to be more thoughtful, to not do something so rash or foolish. They might have been told to not go overboard with what they believe. Some of the advice that we receive, while well-meaning, is not very conducive to faith. People don’t always know what to do with those who take risks of faith, like the magi. It contradicts the societal narrative that the purpose of life is simply to get a good education, get a good job, make a lot of money, buy a house with a white picket fence, join a few clubs and do your civic duty. All that is well and good, but I would say there is more to life and I think the magi would say so too, because they took the risk of faith. They decided that the risk of faith, the stepping into the unknown, revealed a greater purpose to life than simply landing a good position teaching astronomy at the local university.
3. What might God be asking you to do?
There is something very odd to me about this story and it is this – I find it odd that after traveling so far, after the magi came to Jesus, presented their gifts, worshipped him, they simply returned home. Does that seem a bit strange to you? It seems rather incomplete to me. After traveling what was presumably a lengthy distance, then staying for what seems to be a very brief time, they turn around and return home. It just seems rather incomplete to me. So much went into their trip – the planning, the traveling, the time, the resources, the risk, and the eventual arrival to see the king of all creation, the one upon whom all human history turns – that to pack up and go home seems very anticlimactic to me. Surely there must have been much that they considered as they returned home. What would king Jesus mean to them? It could not be possible, in my opinion, for the magi to leave Bethlehem unchanged. What would Jesus mean to them? After all, the birth of a king is no small matter, because a king lays claim to much – to a kingdom and its people, for starters. What would they do with the entrance of this king into their lives? Whatever plans the magi had for their lives, those plans were interrupted at least for a time. Those plans were interrupted at least long enough to take the trip to Bethlehem and back. We don’t know how long a period of time that was, but it was most likely some number of months. When they returned home, certainly their lives were changed, and who knows what they came to understand in terms of what God wanted to do with their lives.
Each of us has our plan for life, but what might God be asking you to do? That’s a question not just for the magi, or for ministers; it is a question for every person to answer. Peter, Andrew, James, and John might never have considered that question until Jesus called them away from their fishing boats and fishing nets and to follow him. Abraham might not have thought much about that question until God called him to leave his home and to go to a land that he would show him. Abraham was like the magi in that he did not know where his eventual destination would lead him; he simply knew he was to rise up and go. The reality is, we can get very comfortable in our lives, going along each day doing our thing, going to work, watching ball games on TV, working in the yard, and not give much of a thought to the fact that God has something for us to do in life. How often do we consider that? How often do we wonder what it might be that God is calling us to do? Do you think about that question? Do you have any idea of what it is that God wants you to do? That is our task, and we must keep our eyes, ears, hearts, and minds open to the leading of God. God does, after all, often speak in a still small voice. Sometimes God speaks with a star, a star that is not seen by everyone except those who were supposed to see it. What is God revealing to you? Where is God leading you? And what is God asking you to do? Please take those questions to heart this Advent season.
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