The journey
Matthew 2:1-12
1 January 2017
Rev. Josée Lemoine
May the words of my mouth and the meditation of our hearts be agreeable to you, Lord.
Amen.
My husband Pierre had a dream of taking a sabbatical, probably a year, to travel around the
world. He even got so far as finding a plane ticket which allowed to travel from one country
to another for a whole year, as long as the traveller always go in the same direction, either
East or West. It would have given us time not only to visit interesting places but also to get
to meet and know people and their culture.
We both love to travel, but I think that the best part of it is the planning and the
preparation. The trip I enjoyed the most in my life is the one we made to Japan. That year,
we had saved quite a bit of money and received a huge income tax return. We were
discussing destinations and then one night Pierre told me that there was a bargain on the
price of tickets for Tokyo on Air Canada. This is how it all started. The value of the yen had
devaluated that year so it was a perfect match for our wallet. We purchased the plane
tickets and then went to a bookstore to purchase a few travel guides and many novels
written by Japanese authors, each of us according to our own tastes – Pierre prefers
mystery novels, I prefer historical novels. We started making a list of all the things that are
particular to Japan and which seemed like a must to see: a sumo fight, sleep in a Buddhist
monastery, sleep in a ryokan (Japanese inn), experiment an onsen (hot spring bath), etc. At
the same time, we started to read our novels and we shared stories and details. Novels tell
the readers about customs, history, life style, traditions, feasts, memorable streets and
places, kinds of stores, habits, dressing codes, etc. The literary styles tell us about the sense
of humour of a nation, their values; it is so interesting what one learns by reading novels.
The whole preparation was an amazing journey of discoveries, and then came the climax,
experiencing 2 weeks of life in Japan, among the Japanese, discovering who they are, where
and what and how they live.
Today, we celebrate Epiphany, which is factually January 6 and falls in the middle of the
coming week. The magi, translated in the NRSV version of the Bible as the “wise men”, had
astrological knowledge. They saw something in the sky, we do not know what it was
exactly; was it a supernova (a star that explodes and gives an enormous amount of light for
a few weeks or months), was it a comet, or was it the conjunction of the planets Jupiter and
Saturn aligned in the zodiacal constellation of Pisces? We do not know, but whatever it was
that they saw, it impressed them enough and it was rare enough that it motivated them to
leave on a long journey. I say a long journey, but we do not really know where they came
from; we only know that they came from where the sun rises, from the East.
We do not have all the details. We know from Luke (Luke 2:22) that Jesus was presented to
the temple in Jerusalem 40 days after his birth, and we know, according to Matthew (Matt.
2:13), that after the magi left, Joseph was told by an angel in a dream to flee to Egypt. Based
on this chronology and the fact that Herod had all babies up to age 2 killed, that possibly the
magi did not come the same year Jesus was born but maybe a year or two later. Note that
the magi visited Mary and Jesus in a house, not a stable. We are not even sure of their
number (different traditions talk of different numbers), nor of their names, which also vary
in different traditions.
What we know for sure though is that the magi came to pay homage to Jesus. Because
Matthew uses the word magi, scholars have assumed that they were Persian priests.
Wherever they were from, we understand that they travelled a great distance (the distance
from Persia must have been 1000 to 1500 miles depending where they came from in
Persia), probably over a period of many days. We can imagine that if they came from the
East and were priests, they did not walk to Bethlehem, but probably came by camel,
possibly with a caravan because for sure they were not alone but they came with servants,
acolytes, maybe even some slaves and soldiers. They probably carried a whole lot of clothes,
of food for themselves and the animals, and drinks, tents, bedding, cooking tools, lamps,
tools to study the stars, you name it. One never traveled light in those days, unless they
were poor and had no belongings, but this is not the case because the magi came with very
expensive gifts. So the voyage the magi undertook was a grand one, which required much
planning and preparation.
I can imagine these magi, studying the sky for signs, discovering this incredible bright light
in the night, getting their people and all necessary baggage ready to travel. The sign they
saw in the sky must have been an incredible one to motivate them to travel a great distance,
for a lengthy period of time, at such a great cost. What was going through their mind as they
traveled? Did burglars attack them during their journey? Did they have difficulties to find
water? Did they travel through sand storms? What were they expecting to find exactly?
Were they expecting to find a baby, future king of the Jews, in a very poor house?
Apparently they did not know for sure their final destination because they had to stop in
Jerusalem for precisions. Did their journey prepare them to meet this king, the Son of God?
The climax of the story is that they came to pay homage to this baby – I personally think
that the climax was not the gifts they offered because gifts could have been brought by
messengers – the climax was really the fact that they prostrated themselves in front of
Jesus. Before that climax, they had a long journey, probably filled with obstacles and
dangers (one danger is that Herod could have had them killed because they scared him).
Their journey was probably costly, not just monetarily but also in terms of fatigue,
philosophical and psychological reflections, and spiritual experience. It seems overall that
the journey was meaningful and the climax worth it because they left their expensive gifts
there.
The climax in our life is also to find our Lord and to prostrate ourselves before him. How is
our journey? Is it a meaningful journey? How much do we invest ourselves in our journey?
Do we just watch the traffic passing by or do we make physical, mental and spiritual
sacrifices to journey to our Lord? How much do we study and prepare to meet our Lord?
The end of one year and the beginning of a new one is always a good time to reflect on what
has passed and what is to come. My wish for you as this new year begins is that you take
time to reflect on your journey, accepting the obstacles life places in front of you, never
abandoning but pursuing in your voyage towards our Saviour, preparing yourselves in
many different ways for the climax of your life.