By Another Road

A sermon for Epiphany Sunday, January 6, 2013 given at the United Church of Acworth, New Hampshire.

Isaiah 60:1-6

Matthew 2:1-12

Barbara Brown Taylor reminds us that Epiphany is not so obscure a holiday in other places in the world.

“In many parts of the world, Epiphany is a bigger holiday than Christmas, with rituals of gift giving tied to treasure-bearing wise men instead of a jolly fat man in a red suit.  In some places, children leave shoes filled with hay outside their homes.  The hay is for the camels of the wise men, who leave gifts for the children in the shoes as thanks before resuming their journey to Bethlehem.” (Feasting on the Word, Year C, Vol. 1, 215)

In Epiphany we recall the journey of the magi to Bethlehem.

We read about their coming to Herod and then to the baby Jesus and his mother Mary.

Herod was not the most stable of characters. 
He did whatever he could to maintain his power and control.  He was loyal to whoever was in power and if that changed as it did when Mark Antony lost to Caesar Augustus, Herod would switch his loyalties.  Herod was a good politician.

Herod was also a bit paranoid.  He was ruthless toward anyone or any group who opposed him.  He built fortresses and used them as prisons and places of execution for his political enemies – which were occasionally family members.  In fact, Herod ended up executing his wife Mariamme, their two sons Alexander and Aristobulus, and his other son Antipater among other family members.

Herod needed to be on top and any threat to his power, his authority, any perceived threat to his security – required drastic action.

But Herod was a politician and knew how to be a crowd-pleaser.  His rule was characterized by impressive civic projects, rebuilding cities, and building theaters and churches.  The crown of this was his rebuilding of the Jerusalem Temple.

So, nothing new right?  A charismatic politician with an underlying paranoid insecurity.

So along come our friends the Wise Men.

In the time of King Herod, after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, asking, ‘Where is the child who has been born king of the Jews? For we observed his star at its rising, and have come to pay him homage.’ 

And we can all imagine Herod.  The wise men come to him – wealthy individuals from the Roman Empire's eastern neighbor.  He puts on his best face – calls all his servants to attend on them.  And as he's playing politics and smiling his politician smile and showing them his palace, he hears the words:  Where is the child who has been born king of the Jews?

Herod's face can't hold the smile as easily – it becomes stiff and forced as his temper begins to rise.

And so when we read, “When King Herod heard this, he was frightened, and all Jerusalem with him,” I get the impression that Herod's fear and the people's fear were not about the same thing.

What's this madman going to do with this news?

He sends the wise men along.  And by this time, he's consulted the religious leaders and made his plan – his politician smile is back in action:

‘Go and search diligently for the child; and when you have found him, bring me word so that I may also go and pay him homage.’

You see, Herod is mostly interested in one thing: and that's maintaining his power, maintaining his present identity as “king of the Jews” as “Herod the Great.”

Whereas the Wise Men – they are the truth-seekers of their time – they set off on a long journey with a hunch that something true and real will be revealed to them.

Herod will without the blink of an eye try to censor, extinguish this new revelation.  The Wise Men worship.

They don't really know where they're going – by a stroke of luck – or providence – they get good directions and good information from the crazy king.

They don't really know where they're going, but they hunger and thirst for truth.  And “blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.”

Some of us are what are called “cradle Christians” – we've been raised in the church and have come to own the truth of this faith for ourselves.  Others of us are seekers still not settled – finding our way in a pluralistic world, hungry for fullness wherever we might find it.  But there is a “universal human quest for reunion with our creator, the author of our lives, and the lover of our souls.  In this we are all alike.” (Bauman, Feasting, C.1, 216)

Paul writes that some willingly suppress truth through injustice.  And we can certainly see this way of being in full bloom in a person like Herod.  Long ago Herod decided that truth was not what was important, rather it was his own identity, his own control, his own agenda.

But the Wise Men, in their wisdom, remain open to the revelation found in this Christ child and the star that rose in the sky at his birth.  The Wise Men have nothing to lose because they've long ago decided that they only value what is true and good.

And they come and the find Jesus the baby, the king in the manger and his mother.  And they offer him gifts, rejoicing at this significant birth.  And their story comes down to us as proof that God revealed in Christ is not the God of the Jews only, but God of all people, the God who is true and just and, most importantly, unbounded love.

This revelation is given to these Persians, these foreigners.  Who are willing to receive and open to wherever God might reveal God's self to them.

And Herod is back in his palace, tapping his fingers, pulling at his beard.  And thinking of all the ways, all the plan Bs, and Cs for keeping the public favor, keeping control.

“And having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they left for their own country by another road.”

And I think there's a good deal of significance in these words:  “they left for their own country by another road.”

These individuals were changed.  Through their experience and through a dream, they realized the true meaning of Herod's words when he said, “when you have found him, bring me word so that I may also go and pay him homage.”

And I think this is what Epiphany is all about.  Letting down our Herod-like fears and allowing God to speak afresh into our hearts and minds.  Learning from people around us, opening our understanding and becoming willing to journey through the deserts – by no means a comfortable place – following the star of that hunger for truth and righteousness.  And trusting God by the light of Christ to lead us forward into new lands, new places of faith and understanding, of love and service.

In the words of the poet Isaiah, “Arise, shine; for your light has come.”

They left for their country by another road.  Another road then the one Herod's fears prescribed. 

May we hunger and thirst for righteousness this Epiphany season.  May we join the Wise Men in the adventure of seeking God's truth.

As my commentary put it:

The determination of the magi to “follow the lead of this heavenly light” expressed a willingness to be “led by the splendor of grace to knowledge of the truth.”  In this way, “they adore the Word in flesh, wisdom in infancy, strength in weakness, and the Lord of majesty in the reality of a man.”  Similarly so should we raise our “hearts” to the “shining beauty of eternal light,” revere the “mysteries devoted to human salvation,” and put our “energy” into all that has been done our behalf.

….That disciples are called to shine is important to remember in the season of Epiphany, for now that Christ has ascended and the Spirit has been given, we are the ones through whom this light shines forth.” (Bauman quoting Leo the Great, Feasting C.1, 214-216)