"Seeking"	January 3, 2010
Isaiah 60: 1-6, Matthew 2: 1-12	2nd Sunday after Christmas
Colesville Presbyterian Church	Pastoral Associate Aaron D. Frank

This Sunday we welcome the Magi into the warmth of the Christmas celebration.  These obscure travelers possessed knowledge of celestial movements and events, not to mention a reverence for a culture not their own.  The story of those we call the Magi, or Astrologers, or perhaps, early Astronomers, fills only 12 verses in our New Testament.  And yet, our Christmas celebration is incomplete without them.  Children beg to play the role of “wise-person;” and parents are proud to call their own parents and tell them that their child will be playing one of these roles. 

 

These wise people validate the royal nature of this child, born in a barn, lauded by Angels and Shepherds, with their gifts and their erudite understanding of the stars.  They are cosmopolitan in their connections, going directly to the regional legate – King Herod – to learn of the child’s birthplace.  Theologically, we note their status as Gentiles and the universal nature of God's unexpected incarnation; we note the symbolic importance of their gifts; we remember God’s favor in instructing them to depart by another route. We are thankful for their caution, given the fury Herod unleashes in the verses that follow our reading.

 

Yet, as central as they are, their presence remains mostly a mystery.  Professor Paul Achtemeier repeats some of the common critiques of the story—there is no clear statement limiting the Magi to only 3 people, let alone men.  There is no specific reference of kingship-though their gifts are of great value.  Their presumed origin is Arabian (southeast of Jerusalem) and artists depict them in Persian (northeast of Jerusalem) dress – but it is Babylon further (due-) East that is known for academic study and similar to Israel, their local religion that prophesied a child messiah.  These wise men, wise women, these Astrologers, these proto-scientists struck out from their homes in search of something -- understanding or knowledge, perhaps salvation or rescue.  The text doesn't tell us whether they struck out following that star or if they were on some other journey.  Our only evidence is that upon seeing the star, they went, as Matthew twice tells us, "to pay him homage."  Where did they come from?  What were they searching for?  Aside from God's providence, what brought them to this place?

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You know the name, John Stossel. Until recently he was an investigative reporter for ABC news. This morning, I want to imagine that his great, great, great… (You get the idea) grandfather, Joachim Stosselberg, was also a reporter. OK?

 

So, he reported for the Quarterly Babylonian, a reputable papyrus of the region.  I was, let’s imagine, able to procure a portion of his journal as he was embedded, and travelled, with the so-called Magi.  Listen, as we hear excerpts from his account of their planned trip from Babylon to Egypt.   

 

Stosselberg:

With the last of our Eastern colleagues having arrived, our caravan will depart Susa tonight and head toward Ctesiphon.  Our group of travelers includes two astronomers from Tabae, one from Persopolis, one from here in Susa and myself.  In Ctesiphon, we hope to meet up with the sages from Ecbatana.  From there we will travel north following Alexander’s Highway to Hatra, then to Damascus and then southwest towards Egypt.  This will be an arduous journey, even with avoiding the Arabian Desert.  It is June now and the heat makes travel during the day nearly impossible.  But, for these astronomers, and me their companion, that just means more opportunity to study the heavens each night.

 

Our expedition has been more than a year in planning and it will be a triumph to arrive in Memphis, Egypt in time for the Solstice.  My guides have heard great things of these Egyptian astronomers and they are quite enamored with them.  They claim the Egyptian's method of study of the celestial bodies is ingenious.  I'm eager to discuss learn methodology and report whether these Egyptian's are as prodigious as is claimed.

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September.  This road is in ruins.  The gods, I believe, are against us.  We have seen nothing for the sandstorms that have endured these past weeks—even at night they persist.  Our food is caked with sand, our water is like brine.  Day and night we make little progress, and I wonder whether this is a portent that the Egyptians have nothing to offer us.  My friends though press on, even as our servants grumble.

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November.  The weather has broken.  The days are cooler and the sandstorms no longer plague us.  We have made up a good bit of time, but it will be impossible to make it to Memphis by the Solstice.  We are nearly to Damascus and I am eager to sleep somewhere other than on the ground, with a goat to keep me warm.

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It is almost December; we are slowly heading south.  I've learned a great deal studying the stars during this journey.  My Astronomer friends and I have been staying up all night it seems over the last week or more, observing the night sky.  The nights have been clear and we are tracking a star, or a comet, something that they haven't seen before.  There's an energy within the caravan.  The servants are even in better spirits—there is talk among them that this star reminds them of something from the ancient writings.  We will remain encamped here for the coming days, to watch the star and take measurements to present to the Egyptians.

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Tonight the Heavens seem to be upon us.  The sky and its stars seem so close that we could touch them.  The unknown star that we have been watching is moving.  My friends are thrilled with this discovery that they seem to have made and we will go to Jerusalem to consult with leaders there as to the meaning of this sign.

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Stosselberg's account goes on to note their meeting with the Jewish Sanhedrin and Herod.  His noted skepticism was nowhere to be found as the star hovered over the Inn and they visited with the family and paid honor to the child in his humble accommodations.  Nor was his cynicism on display as they chose to abandon the mission to Egypt and brave the Arabian Desert in heading home to Babylon.

 

This expansion and resuscitation of the Magi's story expands, I hope, the way we think about these travelers and their role not simply as characters' in Matthew's story, but as seekers in their own right, attempting to gain knowledge, yet finding something even more important along the way—an appreciation for the hand of God in their lives and a reverence for the Messiah.  Whether it's Matthew's or Stosselberg's account, we can be certain that these Astronomers lives were changed and their faith deepened as they headed home.  For each of us we too are on a journey, seeking various things—happiness, success, spiritual fulfillment, connection with family, friends and our God.

 

After church last Sunday I was reading the paper (Wash. Post 2009-12-27, Style & Arts Section, p. E10) and happened upon this article.  Brent Shoemaker arrived in the parking lot of the Bethesda Methodist Church.  Remaking his life after a recent divorce, he was out church shopping one Sunday in September, 2008, while his kids were with their Mom.  He sat in his car watching the families walk by and lamented to himself, "none these people look like me."  He started his car and left.  He later arrived at St. Mark Presbyterian Church and during worship noticed at least one other single parent in the crowd.  Maybe he wasn't alone.  A few weeks later, he returned with his kids in tow and happened to bump into that other single parent, Sharon Bower, in the parking lot. 

 

You remember the 22 inches of snow we got a couple of weeks ago, Brent & Sharon were to have been married that day, December 19th.  Somehow Brent and Sharon reorganized and were married the next day, despite the snow.  In the article Brent commented on how after his divorce, he had intended to stay single, to "try and put his life back together."  Yet, somehow while he was seeking himself, he and Sharon found each other. 

 

There's a saying that goes, "life is what happens while you're making plans." (John Lennon, song "Beautiful Boy")  For this newly married couple, for Matthew's Magi, and for us too, we may be planning to head to Egypt, or graduate school, or to find ourselves, or any number of laudable goals, but often God has different plans.  Following a road to Egypt, the Magi found themselves worshiping a child-king and were cast as a perpetual symbol of the inclusivity of God's revelation.  You or I may not find ourselves the subject of a biblical narrative or a new article, but notoriety is no guarantee of the authenticity of God's signal to us while we're pursuing that other thing. 

 

As we begin a new year and enter a new decade, as especially as this star alights on the Christ child once again, perhaps we need to look for that word or that star which will truly be an epiphany—a new light—to our path in the coming year.
 

Amen.