Having Been Warned In a Dream
Today is Epiphany and I am writing this from a place of raw hurt as I watch the events in the Capitol of the United States of America.
Today is Epiphany. A season of the church that calls us to hear the story of a group of magi - astrologers - who are asked by a fearful king Herod to find this supposed new king so that he too can worship the child.
It has bugged me for years that when we tell this story through the voices of little children, dressed and carrying boxes wrapped in shiny paper, that we miss the danger. We miss that what Herod really wants is not to worship the child, but to murder him. He uses the Magi in an effort to find the child. When we only talk about the sharing of the three gifts, we miss the reality that masses of children are about to die because the leader of the country doesn’t want to lose his position.
Today is Epiphany. A season of following the light. My favorite part of this story has always and forever been the reality that kneeling before the King of Kings changes our direction.
After an encounter with the Christ child, God warns the Magi to return home by a different road. Not only do they take a different path home, they do not return to Herod. They understand the danger.
Today is Epiphany friends. God is calling us to the light, the place where the Christ child comes for each of us. In the midst of fear, anxiety, bewilderment, and anger, God shines the light.
The Magi Visit the Messiah
2 After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi[a] 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.’[b]”
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.