(Re)Learning To See
As we continue to not only reflect on this Christmas season, but also to extract from and discern the wonkiness that was 2020, it’s imperative that we (re)learn to see the Light through the fog. Rather than ignoring this past year, I want to be an attentive student to the revealing that was laid bare in the midst of all the pain and confusion, the heartbreak and heartache.
The two greatest teachers, Love and Suffering, were flexing mightily for us this past year, which leaves us to ask whether we were attentive students. For many, the disruption to comfort and preference pulled the curtain on a fierce bite which gave birth to a vicious bitterness. But as I recently read in a daily meditation:
”If we stay in the world of preference, we keep ourselves as the reference point.”
Whew. That acts as a physical therapy type of pain, correct? Once again, this raises the question about what kind of student we will be in reflection.
Matthew is the lone gospel that offers us the story of Magi, Eastern astrologers or star people, traveling first to Jerusalem and then Bethlehem to see the infant King. Why did they first go to Jerusalem? The best we can see within the text, the star led them there. This places them before King Herod, who also went by the self appointed title, King of the Jews. After this, they travel to Bethlehem to find a baby born to an outcast, unwed, poor couple.
So which of the Kingly prospects do you think could offer the Magi a more preferred future? Herod is easily one of the wealthiest and most powerful people in the known world. Jesus, as found by the Magi, is a mere infant, poor and wrapped in scandal. This makes him a social misfit, seemingly without any power or influence.
The common categories of power, recognized and promoted in our society, render Jesus the loser. By a landslide. There is absolutely nothing on the surface that says otherwise. Yet, upon arrival the Magi, “bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route.”
Herod had the capacity and capital to offer the Magi anything they could have possibly desired, but they chose to come to Jesus, open their treasures, and give to him. They bow and worship, rather than expect life to bow down to them.
What a teacher.
How did they know what to choose? How did they come to see Jesus as King? Again, the text tells us they are foreigners, so the context would lead us to place them within some other belief system. We have nothing to assume they have even the slightest knowledge of the Hebrew Scriptures, yet their star gazing led them to see through Herod to find Jesus. Fascinating.
They must have been able to see beyond personal preference, to see beyond comfort and convenience, and discover something deeper. Something more.
May the eyes of your heart see the Christ through the chaos, the more beyond the momentary.
