Today we celebrate a moment when God’s promises to deliver all people from darkness, whatever human categories they fall into, is made known. The wise men, as Gentiles from the East, represented everything that was ‘other’ to the Jewish people. That the wise men could be part of God’s plan of salvation would have been nothing short of scandalous for some of the earliest readers of Matthew’s gospel.
Today we have a rather different perspective on the wise men. After all, they could be seen as our representatives; they, like us, are late-comers to the scene of Jesus’ birth. Unlike the shepherds who are presented with a vision of glorious angels the magi don’t know exactly what they are seeking, or how they will find it- a common experience for many of us I imagine. But although the wise men may help us find our place in the story of Jesus’ birth they are still the subject of controversy and criticism. Last week Fr Jim ended his sermon by describing the wise men as naive about power and bad at theology and he wondered whether this week’s preacher would give them a better press. I wonder…
And shortly before Christmas Archbishop Rowan Williams was interviewed on Radio 5 live by Simon Mayo. He was asked about the wise men and their background as astrologers. Surely, suggested Simon Mayo
“There’d be many people in your church who would think … astrology is bunk and should be exposed as bunk and the idea of saying that they are wise is somewhat farcical?”
In his response Rowan Williams argues whilst astrology might be bunk this was the way people understood what was going on in the universe in Jesus’ time. The wise men’s professional skill in the field of astrology, whatever we might think about it, led them to Jesus. He says:
“it’s not about fortune telling… it’s about a skill of watching the universe which leads them inexorably towards this event”.
Here wisdom is contrasted with skill- for Rowan Williams the skill of the magi lies in ‘watching the universe’; making a connection between what is going on in the cosmos and what is going on here on earth. We may see this as a dubious sort of connection to make but it seems that God worked through their system of watching the universe to bring them to where Jesus had been born. A connection was made which transformed the lives of the wise men and shows us something of God’s radical inclusivity.
We are told the wise men were ‘overwhelmed with joy’ when the star stopped. They had reached the point of connection between themselves and the source of the world- Jesus Christ, the Son of God. When we experience a connection with someone else, with the world around us or with God, we also might have that instinctive sense of joy – the barrier between ourselves and the other evaporates. With this joy comes a sense of fulfilment and completion. Contrast this joy with the fear King Herod experiences in his disconnected world.
So the theme of connecting is an important one in this story, but also in the bible generally. It is potentially an important theme for us when we stand at the beginning of a New Year when we may find ourselves struck much more by the fragmentation of the world around us, than by its connectedness.
Our culture now is one where fragmentation seems to be always increasing; between rich and poor, between ethnic groups, within families and potentially within our very selves. Our society is one where rivalry and competition are seen to be vital as a means of encouraging excellence and ensuring choice. Whether we think it does help us achieve these things or not, living in such a competitive culture is likely to mean that we fail to see how exercising our choices may limit those of other people.
A very trivial example of this might be seen in all the articles which encourage us to see New Year’s resolutions in solely individual terms. In devoting energy to improving my personal situation, rather than the lives of those who have no real freedom or choice, I am in danger of becoming disconnected from the plight of others. Disconnected also from our common Christian vocation to ‘bind up the broken-hearted, proclaim good news, build up the ruins’, things that in themselves have connection at their core.
It is disconnection, taken to extremes, which dominates the worldview of King Herod. In his fragmented world he sees in the birth of a baby born to impoverished parents a very real threat to his power. In such a climate of rivalry and competition we are told ‘he was frightened and all Jerusalem with him’. Fear is never far away when we feel we have to guard our power, our sense of self, from others who we can only see as rivals.
So it seems Jesus was born in to a world not so different from our own. Rivalry and wars between different religious and ethnic groups were a feature of the ancient world just as they are, sadly, a feature of our own.
One of these sources of fragmentation was the ongoing conflict between Gentile and Jew. The relationship between these two groups was a well-rehearsed one by the time of Jesus. There are many voices within the bible that speak of this relationship. In the Old Testament there are voices of triumph- looking forward to a time when the Jews would dominate the Gentiles, but we also hear a prophetic call for inclusion-the prophet Isaiah looks forward to a time when all would come and proclaim the praise of the Lord. In worship we are connected both to the one who we praise and to one another. Jew and Gentile are brought together in their common praise of the one Lord.
Of course, the connection that was made when the magi visited Jesus is immediately followed by further fragmentation when Herod orders the massacre of the holy innocents and Jesus and his parents are forced to flee to Egypt. But in terms of the disconnection between Jew and Gentile we come full-circle in Jesus’ flight to Egypt; Egypt had represented the place of oppression and slavery for the Jews- for Jesus it becomes the place of asylum and safety. It is as if, in the story of Jesus’ life all the things that in a chaotic, disordered world the Jews had tried to escape, to subjugate or to avoid, are transformed to become part of the narrative. Connections that could never have been envisaged before are being made. It might be worth thinking what connections need to be made in our lives; where are the points of disconnection? Who represents the ‘other’ to us and how might God be speaking to create connections between ourselves and those we fear most? What connections need to be made within us for us to relate better to those we find difficult?
In this months’ parish magazine Fr Stephen challenges and encourages us to consider how we might “grow and develop as a community and above all to deepen our faith through making connections- connecting with one another, with the clergy, making connections between the money you give and the work you see going on through the church and through faith connecting with the Spirit of God in Jesus Christ who alone makes all this possible.”
So let us pray this Epiphany-tide that we may watch the universe with the patience of the wise men, that we may be open to God’s connecting voice and perhaps after a long and arduous journey, find ourselves overwhelmed with joy.
Amen