Home by Another Road

On entering the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother, and they knelt down and paid him homage. Then, opening their treasure chests, they offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. And having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they left for their own country by another road. Matthew 2:1-12

They left for their own country by another road.

This the last line of today’s Gospel reading. It’s also the last we hear of the Magi, the wise and learned ones from a foreign land who had come seeking the new king after seeing something in the heavens that caught their attention. That was enough to launch them on a journey – perhaps as long as 800 miles – and to bring gifts that were both costly and full of symbolic meaning. Whatever it was they read in the stars, it seems clear they understood that the child they sought was no ordinary monarch.

Most of us probably have images in mind of the Magi traveling on camels or kneeling at the manger, presenting their gifts to the Christ Child. There are far fewer pictures of these court astronomers calling on Herod in order to find help in locating Jesus. Nor are there many depictions of them being warned in a dream and then returning home by another road.

As far as the Biblical narrative goes, that’s the end of their story. We don’t hear about the Magi again. And yet their role is an important one – for its theological significance, and even more, for what it says about faith in Jesus.

The presence of these foreign dignitaries in Matthew’s telling of Jesus’ birth underscores the importance of Christ as the Savior of all humanity – Gentiles as well as Jews. It’s why the Church marks their arrival in Bethlehem as a day in and of itself: Epiphany, January 6th, the Manifestation of Christ to the Gentiles. And the season that follows (the Sundays after the Epiphany) are filled with different aspects of Jesus’ nature and identity being made visible to those around him – in his baptism, in stories of healings and miracles, culminating with the account of the Transfiguration on the Sunday before Lent.

The presence of the Magi in Jesus’ story also emphasizes his role as Sovereign, as King. They come to pay him homage – honor, respect, and tribute, as one who outranks them. The gifts they present reflect this: gold, frankincense, and myrrh. Whatever the Magi read in the stars, whatever they discussed among themselves on their journey, whatever they heard from Herod or picked up from the troubled atmosphere in Jerusalem, whatever they saw in the face of the Christ Child, led them to understand that the gifts they needed to draw from their treasure boxes should reflect the nature of the One they found – kingship, deity, suffering and death. All three gifts together pointed to Jesus’ identity, an early harbinger of what his life would include.

But then the Magi are warned in a dream not to return to Herod. Matthew has given us enough hints to let us know that this was the wisest course, that Herod’s next move would be brutal and dangerous. The travelers, at least, would not be party to Herod’s destructive plans. So, they didn’t go back they way they had come – through Jerusalem. They went home by a different way, by another road.

Matthew doesn’t tell us, but I wonder if there isn’t something else in that “other road”. I wonder if the experience the Magi had in their long journey and then their encounter with Christ – how ever long or short that may have been – I wonder what sort of effect that had on them. I wonder if they were moved and changed in some way, and so taking another road was also a metaphor for a change of life, for a different way of being, having come face to face with the Savior and Redeemer of the world.

And that’s where the Magi’s story becomes personal to us. When we come face to face with Jesus – in Scripture, in prayer, in the liturgy and sacrament – we can be changed, we can live life in a different way than we did before. For some people, of course, that is a clear and definitive experience that we might think of as a conversion – whether at the end of a long journey of spiritual questioning and questing, or in a more sudden realization that here in Christ is a new and healthy and whole way forward.

I would suspect that for most of here this morning that sort of experience – whether dramatic or gradual – was something we experienced quite some time ago. But conversion of life, coming face to face with Jesus and being changed by him, is an on-going process in the life of Christian faith. It’s not a “one and done”. Far from it. We are always living through a process of growth and renewal, always being invited to become more like Christ. We are always asked to walk a different road than we did before – or at least walk the road differently than if we had not encountered Jesus.

Being a Christian, being a disciple, means being open to following him on a daily basis and being changed in the process. We are asked to leave behind the values and ways of the world that Herod embodies: power, control, riches for their own sake, fear of someone else’s importance, violence, rage, soul-splitting allegiance to the Empire’s claim of ultimate authority rather than God’s authority.

Instead, we are asked to take on the mantle of Christ, to live in Jesus’ way of goodness, truth, humility, generosity, peace, and loving-kindness. It is indeed a different road, another way – one filled with challenge, but even more, one filled with the gifts of life, blessing, and joy in God’s presence.

In the words of the theologian and poet Howard Thurman (The Work of Christmas):
"When the song of the angels is stilled,
When the star in the sky is gone,
When the kings and princes are home,
When the shepherds are back with their flock,
The work of Christmas begins:
To find the lost,
To heal the broken,
To feed the hungry,
To release the prisoner,
To rebuild the nations,
To bring peace among brothers,
To make music in the heart." Amen.

Victoria Geer McGrath
All Saints’ Episcopal Church, Millington, NJ
Second Sunday after Christmas
January 5, 2025