The Message, January 5, 2025: "Making Our Way to the Manger," Matthew 2:1-12

Author: Rev. Scott W. Cousineau
January 07, 2025

 

“Making Our Way to the Manger”
A Message by Rev. Scott W. Cousineau
Matthew 2:1-12

            Have you ever had the experience of reading a book that was so good that you did not know what to do as you approached the end?
            Do you read fast so that you can see how it ends?
            Or … do you read slower to delay the ending as long as possible?

            In some ways that is the scenario that we find ourselves in this morning. We are in the final chapter of our wonderfully magnificent Christmas Story. According to the lectionary calendar … the calendar for the “church” year … the final day of the Christmas season is tomorrow, Epiphany. That is it. Close the book. Put it on the shelf next to those other books that are keepers.

            Last week, members of the Flower and Altar Team asked me about all of the decorations in the sanctuary and the rest of the church. “Should we leave them up?” “Yes, please! Leave them up until after Epiphany.” And Kris asked me, “What about the animals? Can they stay in the sanctuary?” “Yes, please! They are part of the story too.”

            We have had quite a journey through this season of Advent and Christmas. We have worn out our sandals. We travelled with Mary as she made her way from Nazareth to the foothills of Judea to visit her cousin, Elizabeth. As we discussed a couple of Sundays ago, that was a ninety-mile journey each way. Even more, it was a one-hundred-and-eighty-mile journey made by an unmarried, pregnant girl travelling unaccompanied.

            Then, not long after her return to Nazareth, Mary and Joseph embarked on their trip to Bethlehem in order to comply with the edict from Emperor Augustus that all people should be counted. That was another eighty miles on Mary’s travel log, but at least that time she got to ride on the back of one of those super smooth donkeys. (They practically glide over the earth.)

            But the winners of the “Who travelled the farthest to be here?” contest were our visitors today. And what was their prize? An audience with the King of Kings!

            It is a familiar story. It is a story filled with wonder! The magi capture our imagination, and as I have pointed out before … when it comes time for the assignment of parts for the Christmas pageant, EVERYONE wants to be one of the magi. They have the best costumes, they carry the cool props, and in this church, they get to lead our amazing camel down the aisle.

            Of course, the story of the magi is best told by poets, and playwrights, and painters. Because the reality is that, most of what we picture when we read about the magi has come from them! The image on the front of the worship bulletin, the costumes in the closet, their names, their gender, their number have all come from our imaginations and dreams about what the scene must have looked like.

            If you flash back to our scripture reading for this morning, you will notice that we do not have any identifying information about them other than that they were wise men … magi … from the East that followed a star. And as is often the case, modern day scholars and scientists have scoured the historical records and the star charts to determine exactly who they are. The result of all of their studying and scouring is that they have an idea … a best guess … as to who the possibly could have been. Maybe.

            They could have been “Medians,” descendants of the Medes. They might have been the “Magians,” members of the priestly caste, possibly Zoroastrians. They were most likely Persians, most likely Gentiles. But because of that uncertainty, it is hard to determine exactly how far they travelled to get to Bethlehem. The best guesses by the scholars is that the magi were the embodiment of the song, “I’m Gonna Be,” by the Proclaimers. “Well I would walk five hundred miles, and I would walk five hundred more, just to be the man that falls down at your door.” They estimate that the magi travelled anywhere from eight hundred to twelve hundred miles.

            And, as I said, those scholars searched the star charts to determine what event occurred in the heavens so that they can put a time stamp on the event. Halley’s Comet passed by between 12-11 BCE … so that is too early. There was a convergence of Jupiter and Saturn in 7 BCE … so maybe that? And of course, Jupiter is the “royal” or “kingly” planet and Saturn is often associated with the Jewish people … so maybe? Or was there a supernova? Or … or … or …

            Of course, God looks at the labors of all of those experts and says, “Stop trying to rebuild the Tower of Babel. Stop trying to figure me out. You are missing the point!” The point is the WONDER! God does not operate under the confines of our understanding of the workings of the heavens and the earth. God said, “Look at this star! Follow this star! Something wonderful is being born onto the earth!”

            It does not matter WHO the magi, or the magoi, were. It does not matter if they travelled from modern day Iran or Iraq. It does not matter if scholars ever figure out what star event they saw. What does matter is what they did … they followed it. They were curious enough to be compelled to travel eight hundred miles, or a thousand miles, or however many miles that they did travel, to see what that event proclaimed. The magi witnessed something beyond human comprehension, and they followed it wherever it took them.

            What we do know is that in that day, people believed that the stars spoke to the events that were happening on earth. They believed that a person’s destiny was determined by what star they were born under. They believed that astrologers (magi) and others that study the stars could foretell the future by looking at the stars. The magoi would travel the world visiting the courts of kings and other rulers to mark the coming of an event that they foresaw in the stars.

            The magoi travelled to Bethlehem because a wonder-filled event occurred in the heavens that told them that a king was to be born. And when they found the place to which they were led, they bowed down and worshipped, and they offered gifts that were fitting for one who would be king.

            The question for us to consider is, “How far are we willing to travel?”

            One of my enduring memories of my father-in-law, Darrel, was one summer when Renee and I were visiting her parents in West Virginia. We were preparing for a cookout and wanted some of our favorite corn on the cob. However, the favorite corn on the cob was sold by the farmer across town, rather than the one right down the street. It always makes me smile when I think back on Darrel’s protest, “I am not going to drive all the way across town for corn!!” (As if it was an eight hundred mile trip.)

            But again, for us … in our world today, in our busy lives … how far are we willing to “travel” to respond to God’s leading?

            Of course, that presupposes that we can actually see the star.

            When I used to take youth groups down the Allagash Wilderness Waterway, one of my favorite moments in each trip was that first moment when the youth saw the night sky for the first time. They would marvel at stars. “Look how many there are! Look at how bright they are!” Without all of the light pollution, and the clutter, and the distractions around them, they were able to see the brilliance and the beauty of the night sky.

            As we prepare to close the beloved Christmas Story, we consider the magi. They followed God’s “star” to the One who would be the Light to the Nations. Do we see the star? Do we sense God’s leading?

            Then … are we willing to follow it? Are we willing to follow it wherever it leads us?

            Come. Let us make our way to the manger. Let us see where God is calling us to go. And let us also consider what gifts we will bring. Let us go to the manger. Amen.

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