“Home A New Way” Matthew 2:1-12 Jill Boyd

“Home A New Way” Year A, Second Sunday after Christmas Text: Matthew 2:1-12 January 5, 2014 Genesis Presbyterian Church It was Epiphany of last year -- the day we Christians celebrate the revelation of Jesus Christ to the world. It’s the time in our church year when we read about the Magi who follow a star in order to discover and worship the long-awaited Christ child. It’s a time to remember God’s self-revelation through the very human person of Jesus Christ and then marvel once again at how the divine manifests its self. It was Epiphany, and my morning devotional suggested that I read this passage “as if for the first time” and then reflect upon what it would mean to follow the star despite MY fears… what gifts I might bring…and what would it mean FOR ME to go home a new way... I laughed out loud as I read the suggestion and thought to myself, "Isn't that what I've been doing the past three years?!!?" You see, like the magi who set out in search of the Christ child, I too have been on a bit of a journey… When it began, my husband, David, and I were living in the suburbs of St. Louis, Missouri. He’d been working at the same company for more than 20 years, and it was a place where colleagues felt more like family members than coworkers. Throughout his various roles, he walked with others through the rhythms of their work life, and for most of those years he was very content. So was I! We had a nice home, a church family I loved to learn from and worship with, and neighbors around us who provided me with ministry opportunities on a regular basis. We had a safe, somewhat predictable routine, and to be perfectly honest with you -- we liked it that way. But God started tugging at our hearts and hinting that we were to leave our home and journey to a new place – seminary – both of us! David and I discussed the matter with people we trusted, and we prayed and talked about it with one another. We also enrolled in a couple of classes at a local seminary to test our calls, and we applied to the seminary in Austin that we ultimately hoped to attend. When we learned we were not only accepted here, but awarded scholarships to cover the cost of tuition and some of our other expenses, we were faced with the moment of truth… Were we really going to go? Or were we going to stay in our comfortable suburban lives and continue in our usual routine? I think the fact that I am standing before you (preaching!) makes it clear what our decision was, but let me spell it out for you… At the age of 52, my husband quit his job, we sold our house and got rid of many of our possessions, and we moved from St. Louis, Missouri to Austin, Texas to attend seminary full time. Like the Magi in our passage, we followed God’s lead, and in so doing, we embarked upon a journey that changed the course of our lives forever. It’s a journey that’s still in process, and we have as many unknowns connected to it today as we did when it began several years ago. In many ways, we are not unlike the Magi in our passage today, for there are many unknowns related to them and their journey as well. Who are these men? What is it that makes them wise? And where did that star come from? Was it really just some astrological phenomenon we ought to be able to explain away with science and reason? I’m not going to spend time trying to answer such questions. Folks have been trying to do that for centuries, but the bottom line is: We don’t know. It’s ALL speculation. And at the end of the day, we’re left in the dark when these are the kinds of answers we seek. But if we can keep ourselves from becoming distracted by such matters, it’s the darkness itself that enables us to focus our attention on the light. It’s the light that draws us toward it and into it, as we seek what it has to reveal. It’s the star that alerts the wise men of the arrival of the Christ child, and it’s the light that guides them so that they can come to meet him face to face. It’s the same spark that ignites all of our journeys, including those that take us far away from a familiar place, yet in a direction toward something brilliant and life changing… Our text tells us that the wise men are so overwhelmed with joy upon seeing the child that they immediately kneel down to pay homage and offer him the finest gifts they have... They are overwhelmed…they are overjoyed…and they respond immediately, first with reverence and respect, and then by offering the finest gifts they have… I believe their reaction offers us a clue as to why they eventually go home a different way. From the moment they come into Christ’s presence, they are changed -- once they encounter him, they realize nothing can ever be the same again. I think the wise men go home a different way because they themselves are different. They have seen Christ face to face and a “business as usual” approach won’t work anymore because Jesus is anything but usual. Jesus is the fulfillment of the long-awaited promise of a Messiah who has come to change the world. That Messiah has arrived, and when he is encountered, nothing will ever be same. As unlikely as it sounds, this all reminds me of a 1980’s comedy entitled Planes, Trains and Automobiles, starring Steve Martin and the late John Candy. One of its main characters is Neil Page, who is a happily married man just trying to get home to his family. It’s two days before Thanksgiving -- he’s been out-of-town on business -- and his flight home gets delayed. Hours later, he boards another plane, and he winds up sitting next to a jovial but obnoxious salesman by the name of Del Griffith. Del is also on a journey, though his is one we learn about gradually as the movie goes along. Their initial flight is detoured because of bad weather, and the mismatched duo is forced to combine their efforts in order to make their way back home by whatever means necessary. As you can imagine, it is not an uneventful journey! In addition to cancelled flights, trains break down, rental cars are sold out, a “rent-a wreck” burns up on the highway, and the two strangers have to spend the night together in a seedy hotel room that only has one bathroom and one bed. Del seems to take the challenges in stride, but Neil is miserable about it all. He is willing to do whatever it takes, however, if it will get him home to his family by Thanksgiving. For most of their journey, he is so focused on his own situation that he’s not the least bit concerned about Del and his life. And over the course of time, we learn that Del is a very lonely man... He doesn’t have a home to return to… his wife has died… and he hasn’t been successful as a salesman… When Neil finally wakes up to this reality, he responds to Del with compassion, and he invites him to his home to share Thanksgiving with him and his family. The final scene of the movie shows the two men carrying Del’s massive trunk up the sidewalk together, with one of them on each side of it, sharing the burdensome load. When they step into the warm and well-lit house, Neil’s wife and children scurry to greet him, and then he introduces them to his new friend, Del. Neil Page comes home, but he gets there by taking a far different path than he had expected, and when he arrives, he is a changed man. He has a whole new appreciation for the home and family he’s been determined to get to because his journey with Del has touched him in deep and profound ways. What Neil experiences in his journey with Del is not unlike what the wise men experience in their journey and encounter with Christ. And that’s not unlike what we experience in our life journeys, either. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that this passage begins and ends with the wise men traveling. At the onset, they are going in search of the Christ child. When it concludes, they have found him and they are going home a different way. We only know these men as a journeying people, and their journeys are centered in their relationship with Christ. That’s who we are as well. We, too, are foreigners in a strange land, moving in Christ’s direction as we strive to follow God’s lead. Sometimes we sense that presence and heed that call, and sometimes we go about our lives in very different directions. But once we’ve seen the light of Christ, we cannot ignore what it reveals, and a time comes for each of us to respond. But responding to God’s call doesn’t always require leaving our homes or our communities. It doesn’t mean going to seminary or even serving in church leadership. Sometimes it means cooking a casserole for a bereaved family member and then delivering it to him in person along with a hug. Sometimes responding to God’s call means driving a cancer patient to chemotherapy and then tucking a warm blanket around her for the car ride home. Sometimes responding to God’s call means simply staying faithful through a life of prayer and worship. As Christians, responding to God’s call means trusting God to guide us toward something new. One contemporary theologian puts it this way: “it is about Jesus, it’s about being his disciple, it’s about falling in love with God, and having the courage to let that kind of devotion actually change your life...” Choosing to follow the star is a decision to follow God, and when we do that we sometimes find ourselves in new and unchartered territory. That’s where we all are now. We have journeyed together through this Advent and Christmas season, and we have encountered the Christ child. Now that we’ve seen him, we too must choose our road ahead. As we stand at the threshold of another new year, we have the opportunity to commit ourselves for the first time, or to recommit ourselves yet again. We can choose to live in the darkness or we can choose to follow the star and to marvel at where it leads. As we journey forward in to this new year of unknowns, I invite you to read this epiphany passage again. Read it “as if for the first time” and then reflect upon what it means to follow the star despite YOUR fears… what gifts YOU have to offer Christ…and what it means for YOU to go home a new and different way... AMEN.