Readings: Isaiah 60:1-6; Psalm 72; Ephesians 3:2-6; Matthew 2:1-12
When I read the story of the magi and the role of the star in today’s reading I found it a bit scandalous, as did many in early Christianity, because it seems to favor reliance on astrology. It doesn’t seem to help that the magi in the story were associated with interpretation of dreams, Zoroastrianism, astrology, and magic.
When I think of astrology I remember the line from Shakespeare’s play Julius Creaser, “The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, But in ourselves, that we are underlings.” Cassius, a nobleman, is speaking with his friend, Brutus, and trying to persuade him that, in the best interests of the public, Julius Caesar must be stopped from becoming monarch of Rome. It is ironic that it is Herod’s concern about who is to be king that drives the story forward, and the flight of the magi and the Holy Family to flee Herod.
In the end we come to see that Jesus as our ‘guiding star’ who will lead us like those long ago magi, toward meaning and purpose. Jesus is the one who came “so that we all might be one.” (CF John 17:21) Like the magi we must not only see the star, but also recognize it as our guide. As such, Jesus is seen to be for everyone. The “Child of God” who includes all of us in his cosmic sweep. He is the Includer, and we are the included. This will also include those we might be uncomfortable with like the stranger, the enemy, and people of other faiths, even astrologers, because we all can find ourselves in service to the Kingdom of God. Jesus does this so that we too will go to the other, to get us out of our own unquestioned assumptions, our own tribalism. This will also get us out of our xenophobic, ethnocentric, nationalistic, and even our disregard for other world religions. Remember Jesus’ deference towards the pagan Roman solider, and the Samaritans he encountered.
Shane Claiborne writes, “Jesus came to show us what God is like in a way we can touch and follow. Jesus is the lens through which we look at the Bible and the world; everything is fulfilled in Christ. There are plenty of things I still find baffling, . . . but then I look at Christ, and I get a deep assurance that God is good, and gracious, and not so far away.” God is close to every person God has created and has the wellbeing of all his children at heart. As hard as it may seem, this is how God wants us to treat one another as well. This doesn’t happen overnight, or all at once, rather it happens as it did with Jesus as we heard last week in the last line from the Gospel. “And Jesus advanced in wisdom, and age, and favor before God and man.” (Luke 2:52) Jesus never expects us to do anything that he has not done himself. For us it is often three steps forward and two steps back. That’s OK, because even in this we are making progress. Even Jesus fell three times on the way to Golgotha. It is our intent, and our intention not to give up, that is important. God addresses our humanity, even as God respects our freedom.
Despite the lights in our life, there will always be darkness, but do not despair for even the darkness can be a place of vision. Remember that God created everything – “of all that is, seen and unseen.” In fact, 85% of the universe is dark matter, and dark energy is more powerful than gravity and causes the universe to expand at an accelerating rate. St. John found the deepest truths in the darkness of prison and as a result authored the Dark Night of the Soul about a period of spiritual desolation he suffered in which all sense of consolation was removed. In spite of this, this experience led to his mystical union with God.
Therefore, even when we utterly fail there is hope. Always there is hope. As the line in the Lenard Cohen song, Anthem goes… “There is a crack, a crack in everything, that is how the light gets in.” We might also add… that is how our light gets out.
The birds they sang
“Anthem” by Leonard Cohen
At the break of day
Start again
I heard them say
Don’t dwell on what
Has passed away
Or what is yet to be
Yeah the wars they will
Be fought again
The holy dove
She will be caught again
Bought and sold
And bought again
The dove is never free
Ring the bells (ring the bells) that still can ring
Forget your perfect offering
there is a crack in everything (there is a crack in everything)
That’s how the light gets in
We asked for signs
The signs were sent
The birth betrayed
The marriage spent
Yeah the widowhood
Of every government
Signs for all to see
I can’t run no more
With that lawless crowd
While the killers in high places
Say their prayers out loud
But they’ve summoned, they’ve summoned up
A thundercloud
And they’re going to hear from me
Ring the bells that still can ring
Forget your perfect offering
There is a crack, a crack in everything (there is a crack in everything)
That’s how the light gets in
You can add up the parts
You won’t have the sum
You can strike up the march
There is no drum
Every heart, every heart to love will come
But like a refugee
Ring the bells that still can ring
Forget your perfect offering
There is a crack, a crack in everything (there is a crack in everything)
That’s how the light gets in
Ring the bells that still can ring (ring the bells that still can ring)
Forget your perfect offering
There is a crack, a crack in everything (there is a crack in everything)
That’s how the light gets in
That’s how the light gets in
That’s how the light gets in
Anthem lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
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