MATTHEW 2: 1-12
Matthew in the Margins…The Epiphany…Revised 2019
Might we best preach the visit of the Magi as illustrating the way to find a meaning-ful God is by finding the One who still reveals Him-Self at ground level today? In unlikely places & among unlikely people? Through Jesus, & en-Spirited Jesus People? Isn’t this a basic meaning of ‘on earth as it is in Heaven’? Can we preach this in today terms & through today experiences?
For instance, let’s try thinking of ourself as a today’s Gaspar setting out to follow the God-Star. At the first frontier we come to, the Border Protection Force wants proof of our identity, complete with photo-ID. They don’t like the colour of our passport; nor some of the stamps already in it! When we tell them we’re following a Star to find God, they can’t let us through fast enough!
What if at the next border, we meet up with a today Balthazar - but, instead, let’s call her Bathsheba - also searching for The One the Star is pointing to. She’s had a hip-replacement, the metal of which sets all the alarm bells ringing! She’s taken aside & strip-searched, but when they find nothing dangerous, & she tells them she’s also following a Star, will they be able to resist letting us both through as quickly as possible to get us off their hands!? At the next frontier, what if the two of us meet up with a Melchior, also following the Star! All three of us are told to put the gifts we’re carrying through X-Ray machines which react to the gold-wrapped chocolate bars Melchior has on him. Then the sniffer dogs go mad scenting Bathsheba’s Chanel No. 5 & my, Gaspar’s Hugo Boss for Men! We all have to do a lot of fast talking about carrying gifts for some King they’re never heard of! In the end, though, they let us through with sighs of disbelief! (After sampling a few of Melchior’s chocolates - just in case!
We hear them muttering about building a great wall to stop people like us. Someone yells out, ‘Turn back the camels!’‘Chase their horses away!’ ‘Drive their donkeys into the bush!’ All this kind of talk is about keeping God in God’s place as much as keep-ing any of us earthlings in ours! And we’ve not yet come face to face with Mr. Evil himself! Not Herod, this time; but do we need to face the fact that many of us are being ruled by someone as dangerous as him? A President, Prime Minister, Monarch, Tsar, or the like? How must we journey on to keep our rendezvous with God?
Brian
Afterthought:
How many kinds of barriers / borders / frontiers do we personally face? Some of them human ones. Like the Magi do, & the Holy Family will soon need to. Once we see that God-Star, though, we’re called to journey on in different ways & in different company as that Star leads us. Step by risky step! Despite any barriers others set up!
