I don’t know about you but I was not raised to celebrate Epiphany. When the Christmas rush was over, we packed up the ornaments, put the tree on the curb and rolled into the New Year resolute with new goals and determination. And yet if one goes to church the first week in January, we hear yet another story of the birth of Jesus. It is the story of the wise magi who arrive to visit the holy family and to offer homage to the baby Jesus. Epiphany is a lesser star in the Christmas season, but it is a beautiful gem rich with imagery and meaning. Epiphany is the manifestation of the Christ to the Gentiles, those from the East who have come in search of something sacred. And they find it. It is a holy appearance for those who have been searching and traveling and looking for the divine in our midst.
The three Magi whom we read about in Matthew’s Gospel have captured the imagination of many through the centuries. Artists have rendered them, storytellers have named them, and the legends about them have grown in the absence of details. For some they represent the three areas of the known world at the time – Africa, the East and Europe. For others they represent the first non-Jewish devotees of Jesus. For others they represent the idea that we are to worship Jesus and all that he symbolizes from God.
The beautiful thing about this story of the traveling Magi is that it has a multiplicity of meanings and we can enter the story in whatever place we wish. It also hints of the darkness surrounding the life of Jesus as his very birth threatens the powers that be. Let’s look together at this story as we anticipate the arrival of the Magi to venerate this baby…
The first thing to notice is that human calculation and fear sometimes work in tandem with the divine. King Herod is frightened about anyone threatening his power and so he calls the wise men and sends them off with orders to let him know when they find him so that he too may come and worship the baby. So, the first thing we notice is that human hands may try and thwart the divine journey, but it only means that we must be wise just as these men were. They continued on their journey and then we are told that they went home by another way and did not report anything to King Herod. This reminds us of how many times in history we hear of those trying to thwart the efforts of something beautiful and we are reminded that we must not be afraid of them, nor cower to their threats. We must manage and evade and challenge those who seek to destroy. Every movement in time has had its detractors and enemies and we must stay true to our course if we are to be like our trusted kings. The magi are following a heavenly star and they are not lead astray by anyone, nor do they allow Herod’s evil to snare them.
Another piece of the story that we might notice is that life is a series of journeys that we embark on. They are the part and parcel of life!! Sometimes journeys take us to exotic lands or faraway places. Other times journeys take us to emotional places that we need to explore. Sometimes journeys take place while we are living right in our regular lives. But a journey is a sacred and essential part of our lives. And journeys in the Bible are usually taken in the company of others. Abraham and Sarah journey from the land of Ur to their new land of Canaan. Moses and the Hebrews left Egypt to cross into the wilderness together into their new life. The Israelites journeyed back to Canaan after their Babylonian Exile. Jesus traveled with his disiples around the land of Israel preaching and teaching. When he sent out disciples he sent them out in groups of two. Paul had several companions as he planted churches beyond Israel on his journeys. Time and time again we see journeys taken in the company of others and under the direction of God. God guides our journeys and reveals things to those of us who are willing to take risks. God needs for each of us to be brave and to step out to seek and find and learn.
The story of the magi today reminds us of all of our journeys – and especially the ones that lead us to our epiphanies in our own lives – visiting people at critical times in their lives, going to new jobs or to new adventures to deepen our own lives, journeying back at times to places where we learned significant things about ourselves. And sometimes the journeys do not involve geographical travel so much as exploring some emotional terrain.
I was given a book for my birthday this year – it is entitled Tolstoy and the Purple Chair. It is written by a woman named Nina Sankovitch. It is a memoir, written after her eldest sister died at the age of 46. In her grief, Nina decided to take a year and just read and reflect. She had always loved reading and shared this love with her sister. A book a day she decided. Her husband lovingly suggested a book a week, but she was undeterred. She wanted a mightier challenge. She blogged about her readings on ReadAllDay.org. Not that she didn’t have other things on her plate at the time! She had four sons ranging from elementary through early high school that she was parenting and responsible for hauling around, cooking, cleaning and managing. But through this emotional journey she found solace and comfort and insight in words. She read the classics, she read modern books, she read books that people recommended, and books that she always wanted to read. She read books that she found on the shelves in the local library. It was challenging to find the time to sit every day and consume a book and then reflect on it enough to write a review the next morning, but the journey helped her through her pain and provided healing. She reflects on a line from Nathaniel Hawthorne’s Twice-Told Tales that when we look backward, “such glances always make us wiser.” As Sankovitch writes, “ such glances behind do keep one moving ahead with a bit of wisdom.” (Tolstoy and the Purple Chair. P. 44). Her journey was taken right where she was. She didn’t pack a rucksack, saddle up the camel or leave her home. She traveled in place and found what she needed. She writes at the conclusion of her journey, “My year of reading gave me the space I needed to figure out how to live again after losing my sister. My year in the santorium of books allowed me to redefine what is important for me and what can be left behind. Not all respites from life can be so all-consuming – I will never again read a book a day for one year – but any break taken from the frenetic pace of busy days can restore the balance of a life turned topsy-turvy. For some people it will be an afternoon spent knitting or the weekly yoga class or a long walk with a friend, or a leashed animal. We all need space to just let things be, a place to remember who we are and what is important to us, an interval of time that allows the happiness and joy of living back into our consciousness.” (Ibid, p. 221) Our magi ask us to ponder what is the journey that we are on at this time in our life? Is it a physical change? Is it addressing some aspect of our life that has not been addressed? What do we need to prepare us for this journey? What stars are there to guide us? What friends are there to accompany us?
And finally, we learn from this story that the authentic journey of faith is one that ends in a place that we have not planned out. I think these Magi were as surprised as any one could be when they arrived at this baby. They have traveled for many miles to be greeted by a scene that is unlikely. This couple is not from Bethlehem. They are here because of the government census. They bring gifts for a king and yet they are kneeling in front of a child who is many years away from any ruling that he might do. But they are resilient men and they offer their gifts with great expectation and hope. How many of us make our own journeys and discover along the way that what you thought you were doing was not what the journey was about? You may have gone to see an old friend and yet you discover a new side of yourself. Or you go to visit your parents and you discover a new aspect of relationship to them after all these years. Or you visit a faraway place and you find that you ache for home.
As we stand on the threshold of a new year today, we are invited by this text to take a look back at where we have come before we look forward to new possibilities that God has planned for us in the coming season. We are invited to give thanks for the arrival of where we are today, to offer our gifts to others as the magi did, and then to proceed home by another way that God has provided for us. Thanks be to our God for this new year. Amen.

-Rev. Marlene W. Pomeroy