“Where You’re Going…”Matt. 2:1-12

Epiphany is my favorite church festival. I’m delighted it falls this year on Sunday! Now, my good wife pointed out to me the other day that most every festival seems to be my “favorite”. What’s up with that? Well, at the time, as each one comes up, I really do think: “Gosh, this is such a cool festival. It’s my favorite!” I have lots of favorites. But I think Epiphany is my most highly favored favorite. Okay?

Because I like the Magi. They are my kind of guys. Maybe they are yours too? They are the outsiders of Holy Scripture. The ones late to the party. Dressed strangely. Not knowing anyone else there. But happy to be there. Maybe most happy of all, truth be told…

We know so little about them. Matthew calls them magoi and since we can’t really come up with a good English word to translate that, we take the lazy translator’s way out and don’t translate at all but just write the Greek letters with their nearest English equivalents and the magoi become “Magi”. Voila! Man, if all translating were that easy, I could have been a whiz myself.

But you really should ask our translator something like: “So, ah, Mr. Greek Guru Translator Guy… um, what is a “Magi” exactly? Can you tell me?” And our Greek Guru Translator Guy hems and hahs (he’s got a Ph.D. in classical languages and with all that money invested in his education it’s impossible for him to simply say “Golly, I don’t know! I have no idea at all!” He can’t go there.) So he must hem and hah, and say, “Um, well, if you look in Herodotus, where the word occurs frequently, you can see that he associates it with the Persian astrologers who often advised the ancient kings in matters literary, astronomical, and political. So this must be what Matthew’s magi were too…”

And if you’re cheeky, you respond, with a totally straight face, and earnest, child-like (not childish expression) “So could they do any magic? I mean “magi” is the first word in magic right? Could they do any tricks?” And the Greek Guru Translator Guy will get this frowny face and you follow up quickly with: “Oh, come on! Someone told you all that stuff about Persians and kings and courts and stuff. You read it in a textbook in grad school (not Herodotus) and you don’t really know if they were even telling you the truth do you?” If you are cheeky enough with your delivery you’ll get a sheepish admission that you are correct, that the Greek Guru Translator Guy really has no idea who the “magi” are or from whence they came…

Which makes me completely happy. I like my Magi cloaked in mystery. Which they are. They appear out of the mists of history—with no genealogy, no country, no visible means of employment. They came from the “East” which is a nice way of saying “Not from around here” which means they could have come from anywhere... Persia. Russia. Africa. India. China. Anywhere. Who knows!?

But they come with a purpose. They are looking for Someone. For One who has been born King of the Jews. They saw His star in the rising and have come to worship Him. Why? They don’t say. For the magi it goes without saying that you would worship the King of the Jews. The star shows that even if you don’t know it. And don’t you keep an eye on the stars? You don’t? Ah, really, you should!

Most of the other people we meet in the pages of Scripture have a long genealogy. They are descended from a long line of God’s promised and promising people, 15, 20 generations of begats. They have land and family and location. The magi have none of that. That’s why I like them. I used to ask my grandpa “Gramps, where did our family come from?” He would say “America”. And I would say “I mean, before that? Where was your father born?” Grandpa would glare at me and say “Doesn’t matter”. “It matters to me” I’d respond. “Shouldn’t,” gramps would say, “We’re Americans. That’s all you need to know. It’s not where you come from anyway—it’s where you’re going that matters…” Sage advice!

So it is with the magi. It really doesn’t matter where they came from, what country, what family, what vocation. All that matters with them is where they are going. They are following the Star. They are going to worship the Christ and in Him find their Lord and King. I really like these guys. Have I mentioned that already?

We get so hung up on where we’ve been. How many generations our family has lived in this place or that. All the glorious things our forebears have accomplished. It’s a natural and easy thing for us all to do. We get stuck in the past. We lose sight of our Star. But the magi show us how it’s done. They don’t care where they’ve come from. They care only for where the King is. Where He is, that’s where they must be. And they will travel as far and wide as necessary to get there. They keep their eyes on the Star. And it guides them to where they need to be.

Israel took their eyes off their Star. They became obsessed with their heritage, their history, their land, their king, their temple. They forgot it was all meant to point to the Christ Child, the Savior. They got caught up in navel gazing, in building an ever greater name for themselves. They lost sight of the Star. They had no idea where the Christ should be or when. It wasn’t about Him anymore. It was all about them.

The magi are astonished the Jews have become so ignorant—that they have no eyes for heaven. They no longer look outward or upward, but only inward. Their day has passed. They’ve lost their bearings. They are blind leading the blind. The magi slip away from them politely, and vow never to return. Soon, they pick up the light of their Star again. The Star will guide them. God will guide them. His Word will guide them. They are not men of the past, but of the future. They belong to the coming Kingdom, the One that shall endure…

At Bethlehem, they find what they seek. The Child. The King. The Christ. They open their treasure to Him, treasures of the old world, gold, incense, myrrh. They lay these at the little Lord Jesus’ feet. They don’t need those treasures anymore. In the Christ, they have a new Treasure. He will last them forever. He will go with them everywhere. They have their Star for keeps. So they depart for their country another way—the way of faith in the Christ Child. It doesn’t matter where they came from. It only matters where they are going…

Where are you going? Do you know? What guides you? Can you see your Star? Does it shine still for you? There is a Kingdom of light, life, eternal joy. It is the Kingdom of Christ. It is for all men, women, children without a past, without a country, without genealogies. It is for all poor sinners who care less for where they’ve been than for where they are going, who have eyes only for the Star, for the Christ, the Savior of sinners, the light and life of the world.

He shines in Gospel Word and Sacrament for you now. He is the Desire of Nations. He is the end of the longing heart. He is all you’ve been seeking—and more. He is the Treasure you’ve sought all your life without knowing it. He is the end of the Road. He is Home. When His Star lights your way, it keeps you going, through all trials and tribulations. It guides you to Him, and in Him you have Peace, that surpasses understanding, that guards heart and mind in Christ the newborn King. Amen.