Based on Isaiah 60:1-6, Ephesians 3:5-12, Matthew 2:1-12
Our Advent journey comes to a close today as we arrive in Bethlehem by way of Jerusalem with the Wise Men from the East. Ours has been a journey where we have explored how we can find the hope, peace, joy and love of God through prayer and the Bible and use those resources to prepare ourselves to receive what God graciously offers us. Today I want us to spend some time reflecting together on what happens to us once we find Jesus in our lives. For many people who grew up in the Church like I did, we would say that we found Jesus early in our lives. For some, I know this to be a true statement. For many others, me included, it took a much longer journey to actually find and accept Jesus into our lives. I had to leave behind much of my childhood conceptions of who Jesus was and develop a mature understanding of what a deep, abiding and transformative relationship with Jesus could be.
Like all relationships, my yearning to create and maintain such a relationship with Jesus developed slowly and was characterized by many fits and starts. My adult search to find Jesus began in earnest when we were going through the adoption process for our sons. Once we were home with two children, a 3.5-year-old and a 10.5-month-old baby – Lucinda and I realized we needed some additional and ongoing support. We decided to attend a UMC near us with a strong children’s program and we became involved in the life of that congregation. My journey to find Jesus got underway in earnest when I followed a Holy Spirit nudge to become a Stephen Minister and Leader. At that point, I needed a crash course in spiritual leadership and began intentionally working on my relationship with Jesus. After almost 20 years of journeying toward Jesus, I found myself with a relationship with Jesus, a seminary degree and embarking on a life of church pastoring.
I journeyed toward Jesus for far longer than did our Wise Men from the east. They wandered for no more than 2 years – I guess that means they were a lot wiser and more focused than me. I find myself wondering about why they undertook their journey to find Jesus? What was it about the celestial signal that a new king had been born in Israel that motivated them to pack up and come to find Jesus? A clue to their desire comes from our reading from the Gospel according to Matthew.
The Wise Men arrive on King Herod’s doorstep announcing the birth of the king of the Jews, to whom they’ve come to pay homage. Scripture tells us that King Herod’s reaction to hearing this news was that he became “disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him”. The Greek root word that is often rendered as “disturbed” denotes emotional or physical agitation. Use of the term “disturbed” offers a range of emotional possibilities rather than some translations which render it as “frightened”. I think it offers us some options in our range of emotions when we find Jesus in our lives as well – because many find unsettling to encounter Jesus.
Mindy Misener unpacks King Herod’s disturbed or troubled response to the Magi’s proclamation writing, “…Herod might be afraid. But maybe also irritated. And curious. Or furious. Maybe he feels, too, somewhere in the seat of his soul, a sense that his life is profoundly entangled with that which extends far beyond his sight, beyond the reach of his powers. Maybe, for a second or two, he feels something like an invitation, both vast and personal, to participate somehow in what is unfolding. And maybe it is this very confusion of reactions that he hates. Maybe his resulting bloodlust is little more than a cold, iron no to the ripple that went through all reality when Christ was born – and to the uncomfortable and contradictory directions of his own heart.
Perhaps this imagining strains credulity. I’m not naïve about who Herod was. By all accounts, biblical and otherwise, he could be staggeringly cruel. And yet every other time this verbal root appears in the synoptic Gospels, it’s describing an unnerving holy encounter. The disciples are troubled when Jesus walks on water (see Matt 14 or Mark 6). Zechariah is troubled by the appearance of an angel (Luke 1); in Luke’s resurrection narrative, Jesus asks the disciples, ‘Why are you troubled?’ (Luke 24)
I’d argue that the Magi, too, are troubled. The fact that they don’t feel joy until the star stops at Jesus’ home suggests that their journey is something more complicated than an exercise in happy, faithful expectation. Maybe what drives them into a strange land, and into a treacherous political situation, is simply a willingness to be moved by that marvelous ripple, to let it stir the waters of their own souls, to say yes to an unsettling mystery – or, at the very least, not say no quite yet.
Epiphany celebrates the manifestation of Christ to all people – the way that, as the Ephesian reading puts it, ‘the gentiles have become fellow heirs, members of the same body, and sharers in the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel.’ Indeed, the Magi are marvelous figures here; indeed, we should celebrate their holy journey. But maybe we are not celebrating an unblinking and coherent confidence in the purpose of their journey. Maybe the road to what the epistle calls the ‘boundless riches of Christ’ is not so well marked. Maybe what we are celebrating is the unsettled, even uneasy acquiescence to a holy troubling, a disturbance of the spirit that may make a person feel many things….”
Scripture does not tell us what happened to the Wise Men once they found Jesus, except that “they returned to their country by another route”. It makes me wonder about them – did they really travel days, months, years to find Jesus, drop off their tribute and then leave like they had made a trip to the store or to the movies? We’re told in Matthew’s Gospel that “on coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother, Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him”. Hmmm, they worshiped him, left their gifts and then went on their way; they found him and then…what? What difference did it make in their lives - these gentiles who were the first to find Jesus – how did that encounter with the Holy change the rest of their lives?
That is the question for all of us as well as we seek Jesus. Once we find our way to Jesus, what do we do because of that encounter? Jesus taught, healed and interacted with many thousands of people during his brief ministry, yet the Book of Acts tells us that only 120 remained true to him following his death and resurrection. What happened to all the others? Of the millions of people who say that they follow Jesus in our day, how come 51% of all adults in the U.S. now say that religion does not play an important place in their lives?
Jesus knew full well that not everyone would follow him. He knew that his countercultural message of unconditional love for God and neighbor would disturb people. Some would be so troubled by his message that they would immediately dismiss it. Others, like those with worldly power, prestige, wealth, social or religious standing, etc, would hear his message as an attack on their understanding of how to live their lives, and would seek to destroy him, to distort his teachings and his way. The truth is that no one can seriously consider the teachings of Jesus and not be made uncomfortable, disquieted, troubled or disturbed. Most weeks at Bible study the questions that arise have to do with how the teachings of the Bible generally and Jesus specifically, disturb us and our understanding of the world and our place in it.
Finding Jesus, taking what he teaches and living that out into our world will disturb us – because it has the power to change us. Finding and following Jesus is challenging because many believers seem to want Jesus’ teachings to adjust to their lives rather than to adjust their minds, hearts and lives to Jesus’ teachings. Yet, if we are willing to be unsettled by a deep and abiding relationship with Jesus, to let it stir the waters of our lives, to open ourselves to saying yes to a mysterious and often uncomfortable relationship – or, at the very least, not say no to it immediately - then we find that for which we’ve been searching. We discover that Jesus has been with us the whole time we were wandering and just weren’t ready to admit he is God-With-Us. Finding Jesus changes our lives and our world. When you are ready to stop wandering and find Jesus, you’ll find that he’s closer than you might think. Thanks be to God, amen!