Star of Wonder

“DITCHING THE MAP”
Matthew 2:1-12
Faith United
January 4, 2009


Seeing the face of God is really a big deal, obviously
I mean, when we think of visions or dreams
we tend to think that that kind of stuff is reserved
for really spiritual people
Religious fanatics
or the professionals
The Bible doesn’t help in raising our expectations in that
I mean, we’ve never seen a sky full of the heavenly host
We’ve never seen a burning bush that wasn’t actually charring
the limbs
We’ve never had a light come down out of the sky
and heard a loud booming voice telling us what to do
When some of women found out we were pregnant
we didn’t found out by having an angel show up in our bedroom
in the middle of the night to make the announcement
So to talk about epiphanies, revelations from God
that shining moment when something becomes very clear to us
it’s kind of hard to relate, really

And so I struggle to talk about the Feast of Epiphany
January 6th, every year, is the Feast of Epiphany
When the Church celebrates the coming of the three wise men
and the season following Epiphany
talks about the manifestation of Jesus as the Messiah
We tell the stories that reveal him to be who he truly is
When God shines that spotlight down on him
and says, “Listen up, folks, this is my Son!!”

Every year we put the wise men out on the lawn with the shepherds
and the baby
we put out the camels in the Nativity set
and there’s always some particularly adorable kids
dressed in bathrobes and sheets
with paper crowns on their heads
at our Christmas program
It just works better to have the wise men
and the shepherds all in the same show
because we don’t know enough about the wise men
to give them their own pageant at Epiphany
The truth is, the shepherds and the wise men
didn’t cross paths
The wise men set out from their individual countries
and scholars estimate that their journey to Jerusalem
took them about two years
They also assume this because when King Herod found out
about Jesus, the baby that some were claiming to be King of the Jews,
he ordered a mass killing of all male babies
ages two and under, in an attempt to kill Jesus
So the wise men came about two years
after the shepherds,
and came not to find a newborn baby
but a king in his terrible twos

We don’t know why they all made this journey
They were three different men from three different countries
all interested in astrology
and looked for direction and truth
in the stars
These days we’re a little suspect of people
who believe in living their lives according to what
the stars tell them,
but back then, these men were considered wise
Well, they were considered great scholars
Really smart
maybe up until they each made their journey

It’s interesting to think about the rest of the story
Something in the stars
made each of them set out from their home
and make a journey to a foreign land
not knowing where exactly they were going
or when they’d get there
or even what they would find when they arrived
And why were these pagan scholars interested in the king of the Jews?
Weren’t there other kings that might interest them
maybe a bit closer to home?
What about that particular star
got them to disrupt their lives
and set out on a journey
that would take them two years to make
ONE WAY
And why did they all set out at the same time?
Three different people in three different countries
all inspired at the same time
so that at some point in the journey
their paths would meet up with the others
Others who were just crazy enough
to be making the same journey
following the same star
looking for the same thing?
A foreign king
What kind of hope got them moving?
What kind of dreams did they have that stirred that kind of passion?
How did they explain it to their intellectual colleagues at home
who probably told them they were being foolish
perhaps suffering some sort of mid-life crisis
an inexplicable need for adventure?
We have no idea
But what a relief it must have been to find someone else
on the journey
‘hey, you too? You saw the star? My wife thinks I’ve lost it
completely, how bout yours?’
Perhaps at night they talked and laughed around the campfire
sharing their dreams
the inexplicable longings in their souls
that drove them day by day

They didn’t have a map
They only had a star
and could they always be sure that that was the same star?
What would happen if it all turned out to be a foolish pipe dream?
How would they go home
and face their colleagues who would laugh at them
for following their guts?
They were scholars, intellectuals, very learned men
that must have realized that there is something more
something more than science
maybe someone behind it all, orchestrating it
creating it
all the mysteries that they kept trying to unravel

Perhaps they hoped that this pilgrimage would reveal more
than just a king
or perhaps that this king would give them something they
didn’t have in all of their scholarly endeavors
Whatever it was, it only grew bigger when it was shared
with the other two
At least if they were crazy,
they wouldn’t be crazy alone anymore

As they got closer to the city of Jerusalem,
perhaps the lights of the city
drowned out the light of the star
it was a very impressive city
and at this point, they could assume
hey, where else would you look for a king
but in the great city?

Sometimes we talk about being in the right at the right time
for great things to happen
or, sometimes when terrible things happen,
we say we were simply in the wrong place
at the wrong time
I sometimes wonder, is there a right and wrong time?

We kind of have a family inside joke
whenever we go to a restaurant
we’ll be sitting there and if a whole crowd of people
come in
making a long line
Larry always says, “Well, we got here at the right time.”
So now, usually Sarah and I say it before him
But I wonder, if we got there at the right time,
does that mean that all those people in line
got there at the wrong time?
Just a thought.

It would seem that the three scholars
got to Jerusalem at a bad time
in fact, they never should have been there
they were nine miles out of their way
They’d wandered off course,
and in their naivete, they caused a horrible tragedy
But how could they know?
They were from a long ways away
They didn’t have internet or CNN
to tell them of the many, dangerous and deadly exploits
of this King Herod
They didn’t get the expose on his paranoid behavior
his willingness to slaughter his own family
to preserve his status as king
They were just looking for directions
And where do you go to find a king
but a palace in the city?

“Where is the child who is born king of the Jews?”
they asked, bowing before this dangerous man
“We have seen his star at its rising
and have come to pay him homage…”
And King Herod was frightened
and as often happens, his fear turned into rage
and so all Jerusalem, too, was afraid
of what he might do now
He called his own scholars
and demanded they tell him what this is all about
And he learned that the prophets had foreseen
the ruler of the people Israel
would come from Bethlehem
a small town where nothing exciting ever happened
So Herod discussed this with the scholars from faraway
and learned when the star appeared
and through his calculations realized
that they were right on time
“Go,” he said, “find the child, come and tell me where he is,
so that I can come and pay him homage as well…”
as he smiled a Grinch-like smile

And so they traveled on,
totally unaware of the catastrophe
they had just set in motion
by making a pit stop in Jerusalem
They saw their star again
shining brilliantly in the heavens,
beckoning them forward
and it led them to a small humble house
When they entered the house,
they found their king, the child
acting like a two year old
and yet something in them felt complete
Because they were scholars
and because they wanted to know all about
who this king was and why he was important
they would have known the poem written by the prophet Isaiah
what is now the 60th chapter of Isaiah in our Bibles
They would have known those words,
repeated them to each other,
as a promise, as a torch that led them on through
the uncertainty
through the seemingly endless journey
far, far away from home
“Arise, shine, for your light has come
and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you…”

They knew enough to know that they were in the midst of dark times
that the Jews needed hope
in the form of a leader, one to shepherd them forward
They knew they set out in dangerous times,
they knew that their journey would draw attention to them
foreigners traveling through all these strange lands
their robes and dress giving them away
as suspect foreigners
possibly dangerous spies
But the poem of Isaiah kept them going forward
the promise of a light in the darkness
of the radiance of God shining forth
and it was Isaiah that told them what gifts they were to bring
for this new shepherd-king
It was written:
“They shall bring gold and frankensense,
and shall proclaim the praise of the Lord…”

It seemed foolish, really
They traveled all that way, a two year journey
and all they did was drop off the gifts and leave
They presented them, kneeling before this toddler
who had slobbery fingers stuck in his mouth
eyeing the strangers with curiosity
They didn’t even stay for coffee
How wonderful it would have been
to share their story with Mary and Joseph
they could have used a story about now
How wonderful it would have been
for them to hear Mary’s story of the shepherds
and the angels and the dark skies lit up at midnight
with glory and music…
They wouldn’t have thought she was crazy
and Mary and Joseph would understand
that these men were driven by something deeper
than their scientific curiosity

Perhaps the wise men thought, what am I going to tell my wife?
That the hope of my journey,
the star of my life, the fulfillment of all my hopes
turned out to be a boy in his terrible twos?
They must have laughed
anticipating their arrival home
But they got up off their knees
and headed out, together
bonded by the a shared dream, a crazy vision
and a powerful, other-worldly experience
that they’d never be able to explain
That first night that they slept
they all had a dream where an angel warned them
to go home a different way
do not go back to Herod,
do not tell him anything
but go home a different way
forget the directions that you know,
and change your plans….

We don’t know whatever happened to them
we don’t know what they told their wives
when they finally got home, about 4 years
after setting out
And yet we know their story
we know their dream, their longing
that in their gifts, that seem very foreign to us
in their gifts, they revealed that toddler to be
the King of the Jews
the Hope of the World

Sometimes being in the right place at the right time
means that others are in the wrong place
and bad things happen
but that doesn’t lessen the good, the miraculous, the mystery
the enduring light that never goes out
We share a vision, we share a hope
that sometimes seems ridiculous to the rational world
It seems crazy that we still believe this stuff
still hope in a Messiah that we never met
That we have a day set apart
to commemorate his baby shower gifts
brought by foreigners who were chasing a star
We live in crazy times
We try to think that if we lived in other times
it would be better somehow
and yet, we are in the right place
at the right time
and like the wise men, the star-chasers,
all we can do is take one step at a time
trusting that God is directing our journey
that we can trust our craziest dreams
as long as we have the ability to dream…
and just because sometimes our hearts get broken
along the way
doesn’t mean that the journey is a waste
sometimes when our hearts are broken
it allows our hearts to take in more light and love

We’re all just a bunch of dreamers
looking for a star
looking for something to believe in, to trust in
You never how God will get to us,
how God will open our hearts or get us moving
for the wise men, God came to them through their love
of astrology
God spoke their language
and set a star in the heavens for them to follow
We don’t always have a map
and sometimes, it turns out that it’s best not to follow
the maps that we’ve used before
because they’ll only take us down roads
where we’ve already been
But in order to get someplace different
maybe we need to ditch the map
and trust God with our journey… every day