Thought for the Week – week beginning 4^th January 2021

 “A cold coming we had of it”

(from The Journey of the Magi by T S Eliot)

Matthew 2. 1-12

The Epiphany begins and ends with a journey. The Magi, or wise men, came from the east guided by a bright star in the sky seeking… what? When they came to Jerusalem and consulted King Herod they stated that it was a king. After all, what else could such a portentous light signify? However, they probably did not really know what it was they were looking for, other than that it was something, or someone, very important. They were keen to find out – to follow the sign.

The idea of the three kings coming to Bethlehem on their camels to see the infant Jesus is very popular in our culture. The image is the most common religious one on Christmas cards, and there can be few people who do not know that famous carol. This rather romantic picture hides the extraordinary profundity of the story. The significance of their coming from the east is that they were non-Jews, not people of the covenant with whom God had dealt before. The message is that God has come in to the world through his Son, Jesus Christ, for everyone – for all humankind and not just his chosen people. God speaks to all people – God loves and cares for all of us.

Also, these wise men were most probably of noble birth. They were the sort of people who at the time could take an interest in astronomy, and only the wealthy could take the time to set off on such a long journey. Hitherto the visitors to Bethlehem had been very ordinary – shepherds and the like – but these were different. Another sign of the universality and supreme importance of the coming of Christ.

Their arrival in Israel was not universally popular. King Herod clearly saw the coming of Christ as a threat to his power, and he later exacted the most terrible violence on the children of Bethlehem as a result. The whole city of Jerusalem was much disturbed as well. This in contrast to the simple, honest and earnest search which the wise men had undertaken and which was rewarded by their encounter with Jesus Christ. The star to them was a sign of hope, to Herod and his like it was something bad.

The story of the wise men can be seen, then, as a story about faith and of God’s revelation, or manifestation, of himself as a result. They probably knew very little about Yahweh, the God of the Jews, but their spiritual search, their earnest seeking after truth led them to him. It was no doubt a hard journey and they almost certainly were not expecting to find what they did. Nevertheless they were overjoyed on meeting Jesus and, having done so, went back to their homeland “by another route.” What they found changed their lives and the same is true for us. They journeyed, as do we, through difficulty and challenge, but once they appreciated what they had found their journey became a different one. With God our journey is different – one of knowing that he is with us all the time, despite what we have to face, and we have all faced some very hard times recently. The Incarnation shows us how close God is to us, the Epiphany shows us that we can all know and experience that closeness and that it will comfort us and change us.

  Creator of the heavens, who led the Magi by a star to worship the Christ-child: guide and sustain us, that we may find our journey’s end in Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen