Finding Your Way Home by Another Way
There is an old tradition that says the Christmas season begins Christmas Day, not on Halloween or Thanksgiving. It lasts twelve days and ends when the Magi arrive to give their gifts to Jesus on Epiphany, January 6. It’s a classic story. These men follow a star that takes them to Jesus.
As I read and think about the Magi and their journey, it seems to me that they are the ultimate example of seekers. They see a bright star that is burning either in the sky or in their own imagination. They seem wise enough to know that it points to something beyond themselves. It is calling to them, it is tugging them to move into a deeper mystery and a profound journey.
This story is famous, whether you are learning it in Sunday School or singing We Three Kings. It has been covered in T.S. Eliott’s poem The Journey of the Magi as well as by Gian Carlo Menotti in his opera Amahl and the Night Visitors and Monty Python in the movie The Life of Brian. It’s also been sung about by James Taylor in his song Home by Another Way.
We assume there were three Magi because there were three gifts. Their names are Caspar, Melchior, and Balthasar. We don’t really know where they came from. All we are told is that they came from the east. We don’t know much, but history has assumed that they could be magicians, astronomers, priests, or even Zoroastrian prophets. They might have come from the area of Arabia, or Iraq, or Iran.
What is interesting, though, is that the star doesn’t show them everything, and so they go to King Herod to tell them about a royal baby, a child who would be king. Herod knows nothing of this but is told by his scribes and scholars where this is supposed to take place - Bethlehem. The paranoid king tells them to return and tell him what they found.
The story continues with the Wise Men being warned in a dream not to go see Herod again because he plans to kill this child. So, as the story goes, they look at their maps and go home another way. After they give their gifts to the baby Jesus, they realize that he himself is a gift to them.
Today you can easily lay the same story over our contemporary world and see the wonder and the love of the world of children awakening us. This story makes me think about my own grandchildren, who awaken me to the mystery, depth, and meaning of this life in a most unique way.
Yes, the children in this world have so much to contribute, and many of us receive those gifts, whether we are at home with our own children, or being visited by our grandchildren, or seeing the children running around our fellowship hall after Sunday School.
We know, however, that there are many children who are being robbed of their potential, living on the streets in Haiti, the subways of Kyiv, or the rubble of Gaza if they are not among the tens of thousands who were killed. It’s our job to find them a “home by another way”.
James Taylor sings of this story,
…“They tell me that life is a miracle
And I figured that they're right
But Herod's always out there
He's got our cards on file
It's a lead pipe cinch, if we give an inch
Then he realized it'd take a mile
It's best to go home by another way
Home by another way
We got this far through a lucky star
But tomorrow is another day
We can make it another way
Safe home as they used to say”…
So, as the Magi go home by another way, it’s our job - or better, our calling - to help the children of this world find a home by another way. It’s our task to take on the Herods of this world in any way we can to provide a star that will lead children to a safe place and a better life. Somehow the Magi knew that all the gifts they brought couldn’t measure up to the gift of the child in a manger.
We need to be aware of the Herods “always out there”, who rule with cruelty and without regard for human life. We can name a number of contemporary Herods - just fill in the blanks. May we always find ourselves on the side of justice and liberty.
MEH