| December 31, 2006
You are welcome to reflect on this message
The time from Christmas to New Year’s Day always seems like an in-between time to me. The excitement of Christmas is past but we are loath to take down the decorations and put away the gifts just yet. We’re not quite ready to celebrate the New Year and so are in a sort of limbo. As the week progresses, we begin to look ahead. Unfortunately, many of us put away the stories of Christmas and their lessons when we put away the decorations. But the story continues and the lessons are ongoing. I thought today we would consider the stories of events that took place immediately after Jesus’ birth during this in-between time.
Jesus is referred to as God’s beloved son. How might God as a father have felt when Jesus was born? Certainly God felt great love for this vulnerable baby, possibly some apprehension about what might happen to him on earth, perhaps some fatherly pride. I think the events described in our scripture today suggest that, at the very least, God wanted people to know about this special event. Here was the Son of the God of the whole universe, born in a stable and lying in a manger. Since his earthly parents were poor and he was born in a small town where they were strangers, there wasn’t any celebration; there were not even any family members and friends close by. God apparently thought that was just not appropriate and decided to do something about it. So God sent an angel to some shepherds who were nearby in the fields to tell them the good news. Once they recovered from their terror, they were told who Jesus was and where to find him. Then there appeared a backup chorus of ‘a company of heavenly hosts’ singing God’s praises. That certainly got their attention! The shepherds went immediately to find the baby and worship him.
But this wasn’t all. God also placed a new star in the sky. Wise men in a far country saw it and reasoned that it must herald a great event, such as the birth of a new king. They got together gifts and set off, following the star until they too found Jesus and worshiped him. It’s a great story isn’t it? Children can appreciate it – they can imagine the shepherds, perhaps with a couple of lambs, coming to worship Jesus. And every child can appreciate the idea of birthday gifts for baby Jesus. But this story, as all good stories, has many layers of meaning and has more to say about Jesus and perhaps even ourselves.
Who were these people invited to find the baby Jesus? On the one hand are the shepherds. They were poor and uneducated men. According to the Oxford Bible Commentary the work of shepherds was no longer considered valuable at the time of Jesus’ birth and they were despised and marginalized. On the other hand we have the wise men. The Bible doesn’t tell us very much about them. The Greek word that is used is similar to magi, which means sage or wise one. So, we know they were well-educated – the intellectuals and college professors of their day. Our Christian tradition has said that there were three of them, probably because they brought three gifts. We can also assume that they were wealthy men because of the nature of their expensive gifts and because they were able to take off a couple of years to go traipsing over the countryside in search of this unknown king. Because they were wealthy and educated, they were probably powerful men of high position. Later tradition has called these men kings. They were from the East and were therefore not Jewish. Traditionally, one of the wise men is depicted as dark-skinned, suggesting further ethnic diversity. Taken together the men in these two stories represent both ends of the societal spectrum of the day - poor and rich, uneducated and elite, despised and respected. Local yokel and foreign dignitary, if you will. Although these two stories occur in different gospels, they suggest that the message God was trying to get across was that this baby was for everyone – rich and poor, Jew and Gentile. It is interesting that Matthew, the Jew, writes the story of the gentile wise men and Luke the gentile includes the story of the Jewish shepherds in his gospel.
There is a big difference in how these two groups of men were told to find Jesus. The simple, peasant shepherds got express delivery. An angel appeared to them on the night Jesus was born. They were told who he was “the Messiah, the Lord”, his significance “a deliverer”, where he was “in the city of David”, and how to recognize him “wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger.” Their journey was straight forward. They walked into town, found him as directed and worshipped him.
By contrast, the powerful, wealthy intellectuals got… a star! That’s it. No directions, no idea where they were going, no idea how long it would take to get there, not even an indication of what they were looking for. All they were given was a star to follow. What’s worse, they had to travel at night; because, of course, you can only see the stars in the dark! And, when it is cloudy, you can’t see them at all! Yet, they set out. It apparently took them nearly two years. We assume this because Herod asked them when they had first seen the star then had all children under the age of two massacred. (We have typically telescoped and combined the stories to depict the shepherds and wise men together in our manger scenes; but Matthew’s gospel suggests Jesus was older when the wise men arrived.) Despite the difficulties the wise men ultimately found Jesus and presented him with their gifts and, like the shepherds worshipped him.
Already in the description of the events around Jesus’ birth we are getting hints at what his ministry will be about. Think of all those passages in which he extols the poor and simple and berates the rich and powerful. “Blessed are the poor”, “The last shall be first,” “It is harder for the rich to enter the kingdom of heaven than for a camel to pass through the eye of the needle.” Then there is the story of the rich young ruler who turns away when Jesus asked him to sell all he had and give it to the poor. The story of the wise men has a happier ending. These rich men made it to Jesus. But their journey was certainly a lot more arduous than that of the shepherds. Here we have these well-to-do, powerful men, who certainly must have thought they had it made, stumbling through the dark for two years trying to find Jesus. Does this story resonate with you as it does with me? Have you never wondered where you were headed and why? Has your life never seemed like a tunnel with no proverbial light at the end? Have you never wondered “where is God anyway?” Have you never felt you were stumbling around in the dark? These men are such an example of faith for me. They must have been men with authority and control. But they gave it all up to follow a star. I suspect it wasn’t easy for them. Their friends and family must have thought them foolish. I suspect they must have gotten discouraged on the journey for they stopped and asked Herod for directions. Well, just think about it, three men traveling together and they stopped and asked for directions?? They must have been desperate. But they persevered and found Jesus. He must have been a toddler approaching the terrible twos by the time they got there. Can you imagine the delight of a two-year old when these visitors arrived in their fancy clothes and shiny gifts? When these high and mighty men arrived, there was no arrogance. They did not demand the best room and a fine meal to comfort them after their lengthy travels. No – they knelt before the child with the humility of the shepherds and worshiped him. I don’t know if they were proud people to begin with and were humbled by their journey and all that time in the dark; but it seems a reasonable assumption. Or, perhaps they were men of humility in the first place and that is why they were able to recognize the importance of the star and start out on their journey. In any event, they had kept their gifts for him with them for the entire trip and now presented them to Jesus and worshipped him.
What do these stories tell us about our own journeys? I don’t know about you; but I have yet to experience an angel with a chorus line of heavenly hosts appearing in the night sky and giving me advice about my spiritual journey or my relationship with God. However, I have experienced moments of insight in which I suddenly see my way clear in a difficult situation. Or, when struggling to decide between two alternatives, a third option suddenly pops up and I recognize immediately that it is the right path. Sometimes I even stop and am grateful for the insight. Then there are those moments of grace when we are aware of the presence of God: sudden, sometimes overwhelming feelings of awe at a beautiful sunset, or at the joyful sound of a bird singing in the morning. That’s as close as I have come to a shepherd moment. We all have them, we just don’t recognize them as such.
However, like Henri Nouwen, a well-known writer about the spiritual life, I think we sometimes experience the Presence of God but often are challenged to hope in the darkness. There are times when I am drawn to… I’m not quite sure what and trudge along curious but apprehensive, feeling uncertain that I am on the right path. Other times I am suddenly plunged into the darkness by the events in my life. I have no idea how the situation can possibly be resolved and feel that I have no options but to do what I can, to keep on keeping on and to hope that there will be a glimmer of light for me to follow somewhere along the way. I think that with experience, we eventually learn that, if we continue in faith, there will eventually be a light at the end of the tunnel. And we are assured that when the way is the darkest and we feel most abandoned, God is most present. Often we are only able to recognize God’s presence and action in retrospect – when we finally arrive at the stable. Whatever the path, God is always there and the stories always end with worship.
The key to all this, of course is to recognize the invitation to find Jesus in the first place. The ancients generally believed the stars to be animate beings and Jews identified them with angels. The word angel is from the Greek word angelos which means messenger. So both groups of men received an angelic message. For the shepherds the message is clearly presented. It would be hard to miss a bunch of angels singing in the night sky. Their message is a gift of pure grace. But once they hear it, they pay attention and follow. They don’t write it off to imagination or debate whether they should go into town or worry about what to do with their flocks of sheep. They simply go. The wise men’s message is more subtle. But they too pay attention and follow. They are working more on intuition. They must have felt powerfully drawn to start out on such a journey. Since the way was not immediately clear to them, they had to be constantly on the alert, squinting into the night sky to find their way. Both shepherds and wise men were alert and watchful. The shepherds are described as “keeping watch”. The wise men must have been watchful as well since they were able to identify the new star. Both paid attention and followed. Both found Jesus and worshiped him.
I believe that God continues to want us to find and know Jesus. As we prepare today to enter into a new year, may these stories remind us to be alert and watchful for any messages from God, whether they are in the form of angels, stars or something more suited to our time and situation. When we are fortunate enough to have a “shepherd moment,” may we assume their humility and express our gratitude and awe to God. And, when we feel alone, isolated and in the dark, or when our way is not clear, may we remember the wise men. May their story encourage us to continue to trudge on, help us to remember our gifts and talents and that we have something treasured to offer Jesus and remind us of God’s promise that, if we seek with all our hearts, God will let us find him. Finally and most important, may we remember to always keep our eyes searching in the dark night for the guiding light, which is the Christ. Back |
