As a man i can identify the wise men - bet each of them believed they knew where they were going to - and of course without a map. Following a star can be easy when you are on the main highway but as you turn off the main route, it is not as simple and anyway a king should be in a palace and not in a dirty stable. One side street can be the same as another but if there is a big palace well it is much easier to find.
The story of the coming of the magi points to the ability that we can all get it rather wrong - no matter how good out intentions are. They set out in good faith. They have done their research and read all the books but it is maybe on the journey that the academia turns to reality and the knowledge of the book is taken over by the faith that they seem to possess which moved them from the dusty books to the dusty road.
The magi are almost however responsible for the destruction of the plan of God as they move away for the leading of the star - well a king must be in a palace and so they put fear into Herod and all Jerusalem and so Herod devises a plan to remove all the children in the Hope to remove any opposition to his throne.
But as the magi leave and set off again on the road, they have to once again trust the leading of God and not their own thinking. Faith takes over intellect and only in full trust of God they come to the place where the Christ is born.
How many of us in our journey of faith go off the road thinking we know where God can be found only to realise that we have to hold onto Him and trust in His guiding and where we thouhgt God was left us empty and alone or even worse in a more dangerous place.
The Epiphany is about Christ being revealed to all - Jew and Gentile, Rich and Poor, Male and Female - none are excluded. Herod too could have come to worship the Christ child had he not been so paranoid and jealous. He too could have humbled himself and bowed the knee to the babe - but for him that was a step too far.
The Epiphany reminds us that many of us seek the Christ Child - but sometimes we look in the wrong places. God is the God of the second chance and is always willing if we look for the signs to set us back on the right track and we can find the Christ when we search with all our hearts.
The stable door is open, but it requires us to forget our pride or the posh shoes we are wearing and to be prepared to get covered in the stuff that is about and to kneel down and worship.
What can I give Him poor as I am, if i were a shepherd, i would bring a lamb. If i were a wise man i would do my part, yet what i can i give him - give my heart.
The Christ awaits with arms open wide to welcome us into the enfolding of the Love of God.
The Journey of the Magi by TS Elliot
"A cold coming we had of it,
Just the worst time of the year
For a journey, and such a long journey:
The was deep and the weather sharp,
The very dead of winter."
And the camels galled, sore-footed, refractory,
Lying down in the melting snow.
There were times we regretted
The summer palaces on slopes, the terraces,
And the silken girls bringing sherbet.
Then the camel men cursing and grumbling
And running away, and wanting their liquor and women,
And the night-fires gong out, and the lack of shelters,
And the cities hostile and the towns unfriendly
And the villages dirty, and charging high prices.:
A hard time we had of it.
At the end we preferred to travel all night,
Sleeping in snatches,
With the voices singing in our ears, saying
That this was all folly.
Then at dawn we came down to a temperate valley,
Wet, below the snow line, smelling of vegetation;
With a running stream and a water-mill beating the darkness,
And three trees on the low sky,
And an old white horse galloped away in the meadow.
Then we came to a tavern with vine-leaves over the lintel,
Six hands at an open door dicing for pieces of silver,
And feet kicking the empty wine-skins.
But there was no information, and so we continued
And arrived at evening, not a moment too soon
Finding the place; it was (you may say) satisfactory.
All this was a long time ago, I remember,
And I would do it again, but set down
This set down
This: were we lead all that way for
Birth or Death? There was a Birth, certainly,
We had evidence and no doubt. I have seen birth and death,
But had thought they were different; this Birth was
Hard and bitter agony for us, like Death, our death.
We returned to our places, these Kingdoms,
But no longer at ease here, in the old dispensation,
With an alien people clutching their gods.
I should be glad of another death.
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