“HOME BY ANOTHER ROAD”
Text: Matthew 2:1-11
Faith United
January 6, 2008
We like road trips in our family
In fact, often the trip itself is more fun than the arrival
The three of us are alone all day in the car
with no one else to distract us or demand anything from us
We have time to talk, to be silly, to joke
or to listen to music
read a book
We set our own pace, we figure out our own directions
and we stop at interesting places along the way
Traveling removes us from the everyday routine
our comfort zones, our usual home base of reference
You always have to adjust
to road construction, a strange bed, noisy neighbors in hotels
someone else’s food
sometimes getting on the road is a good way to
get some perspective on things
If you don’t ever get out of your comfort zone,
you may end up having very narrow view of the world
We set out, usually, with a planned route
on the map
but often we find things along the way
that force us to change those plans
we have to adjust
and take another road
which always runs the risk of getting us lost
My brother Stan has a nifty new car
that has a built in GPS system
His car tells him where to go
My mother was so impressed by this
that she was telling everyone about this car
that talks to you, gives you step by step instructions
right down to the last few yards to your destination
So when we all decided to go off to a place called Bude, Mississippi
to a catfish house
Mom volunteered Stan to lead the way
because his car would tell us how to get there
Well, we got lost
Several times, the car told us very nonchalantly
“at the next opportunity, take a U turn.”
We took a lot of U turns
Sometimes the car would calmly tell us,
‘”you’re entering into unverified territory.”
We got lost
There were two other cars following us
trusting us in Stan’s car to know the way
because the CAR would know the way
but the thing is, the car had never heard of Bude, Mississippi
much less Michael’s Catfish house
so finally, much to my mother’s disappointment
we had to stop and ask directions
at a gas station
The thing is, with a GPS system, you have to know basically where you’re going
in order for it to get you there
If you don’t have an address to program into it
it can’t tell you where to go
the car doesn’t do all the thinking for you
and when you wander off into unverified territory,
the car basically tells you, you’re on your own
I don’t know why those men took the trip
in the first place
We always say that there were three
and it works for Christmas programs
but the story never says how many there were
We know there were three gifts, so we assume
there were three men
We remember them as wise men
They were some sort of scholars
maybe astrologers, maybe magi
anyway, they were smart people
a learned, very educated group of men from ancient Persia
Why did they make that trip?
When they set out, did they how long they’d be away?
They must have known that it would take a long time
to find this child
by following a star
Did they pack enough for their journey?
Did they find good hospitality on the road?
What made them set out on a journey
willing to face all the inevitable obstacles, frustrations
and tedious details on a long trip
on foot?
Turns out the trip would take them two years to make
Two years of wandering in unverified territory
with only the stars as their guide
They had to trust strangers on the way
They had to be careful, to ensure their safety
They were foreigners, wandering into another country
Traveling is disorienting enough
but to travel to a different country is another whole ball of wax
When I was in college,
I went with my parents to England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland
we had to take adaptors to plug in our appliances
I did actually blow up one curling iron on the trip
I’d somehow contracted poison ivy or oak or something itchy
right before we left on the trip
first time ever that I’d had poison ivy
and the symptoms didn’t pop up
until we were already on our way
So we spent the first few days in London
looking for rubbing alcohol, anything to relieve my itching
They even took me to an emergency room
to get my rashes examined
and the nurses and the doctors had never heard
of poison ivy
We asked where we could get some alcohol
they told us to go to the pub down the street
They didn’t know what rubbing alcohol was,
but we finally figured out that they did have Witch Hazel
at the 10th apothecary that we tried
Fortunately, we had brought along some Benadryl
so I spent most of that trip drugged
and therefore asleep
What was it like for the three magi
to travel out of their own country
did they face hostilities and danger?
Suspicions?
What made them take such a huge risk
not to mention, a huge chunk of their time and energy
to travel, with very little directions
trusting in the stars?
They got off track
They’d traveled so far for so long
one of them must have finally insisted
that they stop and ask for directions
And so they go to Jerusalem
I mean, if you’re looking for a king,
that’d be a great place to start
go to the capital, the center of it all, the power city
There they requested an audience with King Herod
King Herod was at the time, literally, the King of the Jews
but he was absolutely whacko
He was incredibly paranoid and insecure
about his position of power
He didn’t have a lot of power, all of the power belonged to the Romans
so he was more a puppet king
and his actions were usually controlled by the Romans anyway
Herod was known to kill his own wife and children
when he felt that they were a threat
he had no regard for human life, even those close to him
He was crazy
and a crazy person with any amount of power
is very scary
But the magi, wise as they were,
didn’t know just how crazy Herod was
or how dangerous
They were from a different country
and they didn’t have CNN or the New York Times
to give them the low down on other nations’ leaders
So they came to Herod and innocently told him
that they’d been on the road for almost two years
looking, searching, seeking a king
a king to be born to the Jews
If they said why they were so interested in this king
the story doesn’t tell us
They were scholars, people in love with learning and discovering
something about this king whose story was written in the stars
fascinated them, and made their hearts pound
“Where is the child who is to be born king of the Jews?”
they asked Herod,
who was, at the time, the King of the Jews
Herod, understandably, was disturbed
Apparently he didn’t read his Old Testament
he didn’t know anything about his people’s longing for a Messiah
and where this Messiah would appear
But he held it together for the magi
He cleared his throat, exuded his kingly authority
and told them to wait in the waiting room
he’d be right back
So he gathered all his religious advisors
the people who actually KNEW the Scriptures
and lived by them,
loved them and cherished them
and he asked them what this was all about
And they told him, perhaps with some amusement
that this one, in a place of power over his Jewish people
had no clue about their traditions, their beliefs
their longings and dreams
They told him, “It is written, that the king of the Jews
is to be born in Bethlehem of Judea….”
That rinky dink little town over there
So Herod discreetly, which I guess means,
he snuck around the paparazzi,
he called the wise men out of the waiting room
and learned from them, just exactly when
this star had appeared
when they started following it
And he told them to go to the small town of Bethlehem
to search diligently for the child
and when they found him, to tell him
so that he, too, can come get a photo op with him
I mean, come pay him homage
When they got out of the city
they saw the star again
and followed it to a little house
Two years on foot
traveling into all kinds of towns and countries
feeling a bit foolish
because as scholars they were used to following their heads
but something stirred their hearts enough
to gaze into the sky and trust
to look like fools, actually
But when they saw the star bearing down like a spotlight
on a tiny little home,
they could hardly contain themselves
and these were men who were not prone
to outward displays of emotion
but, it says, they were overwhelmed with joy
They knocked, and when the door was opened,
they saw the young woman there, on the floor
playing with a toddler
An ordinary toddler, waddling around the small room,
drooling and giggling and getting his face dirty
Is that what they expected?
Were they perhaps expecting an older child
dressed in fine clothes, sitting on a throne
having servants respond to his every need
Instead, they find a giggly, dirty, slobbering two year old
playing with his mother on the floor
And you have to wonder,
what happened??
Why didn’t anyone know?
What happened in those two years
between the time that the shepherds showed up at the stable
and the magi showed up at the house?
Did no one believe the shepherds?
After all, they were just shepherds
who normally didn’t mix with other people
who lived with sheep 26/7 out in the fields
did the story of the angels singing
ever get out?
I mean, this was a small town,
how did the story stay under wraps all that time?
Did people just think it’s just another crazy rumor?
Just another attention-getting strategy?
Were people in town kind to Mary and Joseph and their baby
as outsiders living among them?
How did that amazing story get lost in between
the shepherds and the magi?
We’ll never know
it’s a blank page in our faith history
But these educated, sophisticated, learned scholars,
weary from a long, long, journey
lay gifts fit for a king at the feet of a drooling toddler
maybe feeling a bit foolish,
and yet awestruck at the wonders of God
We don’t know what was said, how long they stayed
if they explained their very impractical gifts for the child
or if those gifts just remained another picture in Mary’s scrapbook
that she would only understand many years later
after Jesus was grown and revealing himself
to be the Christ, the Savior of the world
That night, the magi all slept better than they had in two years
they’d found what they were looking for
even though they couldn’t quite put it into words
they trusted that someday they would understand
all of this
as if it were all pieces to a great mysterious puzzle
that would take decades, centuries, even
to put together
I wonder if they sensed their part in it all
their role in revealing the Christ Child
not necessarily that day, that year
but as their story got told over the centuries ahead
it made more and more sense
We know what they brought on their journey
Gold, frankincense, and myrrh
but what did they take with them?
They left with fewer possessions,
fewer valuables that they had to protect from thieves
but what did they carry in their hearts
from this incredible journey?
What would they tell others back in their own country?
What did they talk about at their campfires
on the journey home?
That night, they all had the same dream
telling them to not return to Herod
that he was crazy, that he would kill the child
if given the chance,
to run, they were told, go home a different way
go nowhere near Jerusalem and the crazy king
They were outsiders, they weren’t Jews
They weren’t ones who practiced the Jewish faith
or believed in the Jewish God
They were foreigners, outsiders
who were interested in where the star led them
interested in what it meant not only for them
but for the world, both now and in the future
The Jewish king himself
had no idea of the Messiah
He claimed to be a Jew, to love what the Jews loved
and yet he knew nothing about what they cared about the most
Who knows?
Maybe it was Herod that squashed the credibility of those shepherds
two years ago
maybe Herod threatened anyone who believed their story
maybe he was able to discredit them
and therefore the story of the angels
singing over a stable
of an overcrowded inn
during the time of the census
maybe it became a joke, dismissed as another urban legend
to protect the power of the king
But it was people who didn’t normally follow the Jewish traditions
the religious traditions of the common people
it was outsiders, foreigners,
who came and shed light on the gift
who gave the insiders the perspective and the vision they needed
to dream again, to hope again,
to LOOK AGAIN at what was right in front of their eyes
and see it all differently
It was the ones who didn’t take Jesus for granted
who struggled against the obstacles and demanding journey
of finding the one under the stars
As we learned from my brother’s GPS system
you have to have a clear idea of where you’re going
in order for it to work
Expectations tend to cloud our sense of direction
We expected the car to know where to go
and so we got lost
and ending up making U turns
in unverified territory
When the magi left Bethlehem
they discovered that their old maps didn’t work anymore
that their old maps wouldn’t get them home
but instead, they had to take a different road
a road perhaps, that they’d not taken before
and trust the stars to lead them home
They brought their best to Jesus, not their leftovers
or hand-me-downs
and so I wonder, as we begin this new year,
what do we hope to find?
What do we bring?
Are we tired out from the journey already?
Or are we willing to hope again
to trust in the stars and the light of God
to lead us into places we may not have been before?
Do we bring God our best when we come
or do we just bring what’s left of us
after we’ve given our best away?
Are we willing to trust new maps?
Take roads we’ve never taken
and trust that God will never leave us
or lose sight of us,
but will guide our steps all the way….?
You have to know where you want to go
or at least what direction you want to move toward
before you can truly find your way
Let us be on our way, trusting in the light of the stars
to provide light in the darkness
as we stumble and search
as we make wrong turns
and have to turn around
as we come to dead ends
as we sometimes give up and cry
Let yourself bathe in the joy of starlight
even for a moment
and remember those moments
when you feel you’ve lost your way….
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