"Going Home Another Way"

Matthew 2:1-12

Epiphany Sunday + January 1, 2012

Reverend Dr. David C. Brown
Pilgrim Congregational United Church of Christ
400 Glenwood Drive, Chattanooga, TN 37404

A wise teacher once told me that one of the marks of a mature Christian is that she or he recognizes the importance of metaphor. What on earth did he mean by that? I believe he meant that a mature Christian, a liberal Christian, knows that truth comes to us in different forms. There can be factual, historical truth. There can also be symbolic, meaningful truth. Both are truthful – full of truth – but they are not the same. We risk missing the truth when we don’t recognize the difference. We can see this, I believe, in the different ways people understand some of the wonderful stories in the Bible. The stories of the Bible are not always historically true but they are always meaningfully true.

Matthew’s story of the visit of the Magi to Bethlehem is a good example of this. Matthew wants us, his readers, to recognize that in this Christmas birth, the whole world – symbolized by the Magi – comes to worship Jesus, the Jewish Messiah and the Gentile Christ. Matthew does this by this wonderful story. Did it really happen? No, but the story is still true. The story challenges us to recognize that what was true 2,000 years ago is still true today.

Moments ago you heard the simple, beloved epiphany narrative that describes the visit of the three kings – most likely Persian astrologers – to the birthplace of Jesus. They have come in response to a star. They are sufficiently wise to know that they should not come empty-handed. They also realize that, before seeing the child, they should pay a courtesy call on the reigning monarch of that region, King Herod. Herod suggests that he, too, might like to visit the child, but asks that the three oriental visitors go first and confirm the facts of the matter. Herod even has a list of questions such as how old the baby actually was, who his family was, the religious speculation about his identity, and the time of the visiting hours in the maternity ward.

So the eastern visitors take their departure, travel to Bethlehem, find the child and his parents, pay their due respects, leave their gifts, and then (being warned in a dream not to return to Herod) “they left for their own country by another road.” In other words, they went home another way.

Why did they do that? I suppose variety could have motivated them. All of us like an occasional change of scenery. Any of you who have made numerous trips to see a child in college or an aged parent “back home,” know how boring it can be to travel the same highway over and over again. So we begin to explore alternate routes. They may not be as safe. But they are different.

More likely it was political expediency that motivated the wise men. A good part of their wisdom was an ability to read human character. It must have been clear to them that King Herod had ulterior motives. Herod had no intention of worshipping this child who was being called “the newborn king.” Herod had the same personality structure as Stalin in our own time. Herod had not hesitated to kill his own wife and sons because he saw them as a threat to his throne. He certainly would not stop at killing a few babies. While the Magi may not have known the full ramifications of the cat-and-mouse game they had stumbled into, something in their minds told them they should take a wide detour around Herod’s Jerusalem on their way home. It was simply a matter of personal safety, their own as well as the Christ child’s.

But their decision to go home a different way may also have been because of what they saw lying in the manger cradle. What they saw made them re-think, not only their mission, but their very lives. It may be when you spend all your life dealing with things of the head and suddenly something touches your heart (in a way your heart hasn’t been touched before), perhaps you are sufficiently moved so as to return home by a way different than you came. I am using symbolic language, of course, to suggest that the different way home the Magi took was symbolic of a deep and profound change in their lives.

I have told you before that the only purpose in reflecting on the Bible is not to ponder what may have been true “back then” but what is true for you and me “here and now.” In that spirit it seems to me that this ancient story of the wise men’s forced detour on their way home could speak to our own contemporary need to find a new and better way for our own lives to go in 2012. I suspect that most of us here this morning would be willing to admit we have our own need for a new, a better direction for our lives.

But how do we find that different way home? What does it take to find the kind of renewal we are seeking? There are three suggestions I would offer this morning. For ease in remembering them, each starts with the letter “R.”

Renewal begins with “repentance.” In a few moments, I will invite you to the Lord’s Table. The traditional and timeless invitation begins, “You that do truly and earnestly repent of your sins. . . “It’s a strange word, this word “repent.” It certainly involves feeling badly about what we have done. But it also involves a determination to change our pattern of living. Repentance means admitting to ourselves that our old road was not always a good road . . . that we did not always travel it well. .. and that going further down that road is likely to make things worse rather than better. We modern Christians tend not to like the word “repentance” because it makes us feel bad. But sometimes it’s good to feel bad. Those who tell us otherwise (or try to sugar-coat reality with religious cotton candy) don’t necessarily help us or befriend us. To face the full reality of what we have been and what we have done that was wrong is a necessary exercise in every human life. Only that kind of reality-check can re-face us . . . about-face-us . . . turn us . . . or at least cause us to veer away from something and toward something else. That’s easier to say than to do, I know. My God, do I know it! It may be too much for most of us to experience a full about-face in our lives. But, for God’s sake, we can veer, can’t we? Even a small angle of change can make a tremendous difference over time.

Repentance leads to “restitution.” God’s grace may come free, but in order to restore human relationships, some specific steps may be required to heal the breach. Our sins spill over onto other people. Others have suffered because of us – what we did or did not do. While we cannot always rectify everything, we can do something. Until we do (something), those we have hurt will neither trust us nor respect us and we will, quite likely, never fully trust or respect ourselves. One of the wonderful spiritual discoveries  has been that folk other than alcoholics can find deep meaning in the 12-step program of A.A. One of the 12 steps involves making a direct approach to those we have hurt, saying to them: “I did this. I ought not to have done it. In the course of doing it, I probably brought pain and suffering into your life. What can I do to make it right?”  No one in A.A. pretends that such an attempt at restitution is easy. Far from it! I can tell you from personal experience that my own attempts at approaching those I have hurt, asking their forgiveness and what I might do to make things “right” between us, were among the most difficult things I have ever done. In perfect candor, those I approached did not always respond well. While I found the courage to ask forgiveness, they could not find the compassion to offer it. I wish they might have but I still came away from the experience feeling better about myself. I believe you will, too, if you make the attempt. Think about it for a moment right now: is there someone you have hurt in the past year or in another year? Can you find the courage to try to restore just one relationship and go home another way in 2012? I hope so.

Repentance! Restitution! Finally, “reconfiguration.” The word  is drawn from the verb “to figure,” meaning “to add up.” I believe that the need to reconfigure our life means a recognition that our lives don’t quite add up the way they ought to . . . or they add up to something that is less than correct. We aren’t in balance.

This Epiphany Sunday, 2012, is also New Year’s Sunday. It’s traditionally a time of resolutions. Perhaps it is also a time of reconfiguration. This could be the moment of beginning for our own personal redemption. Some will begin such a new direction for their lives. Some will fail. The key to finding our way home by a different way is to remember that nothing changes simply because the calendar has changed. Things change because something has changed in us. Perhaps that can happen because of our visit to the manger at Bethlehem this Christmas. Perhaps it can happen because of coming to Communion this morning. The way it happens doesn’t matter. What matters is whether it happens. I pray that it will for all of us.