Star of Wonder

Matthew 2:1-12
Gospel Reading for Epiphany (Year B)

There are times when I find myself wishing that the Gospel writers gave us a little more detail. Actually there are many times when I find myself wishing for that. I know that their aim was not to flesh out the stories of all the “side” characters, but it doesn’t stop me from wondering what all these people were thinking when all this weird Jesus stuff was going on. The word gospel, of course, is ancient Greek for “weird Jesus stuff” (that was a joke; it most definitely is not).

Take the magi for example. They were scholars from the east who saw a great star and journeyed a great distance. Traveling a great distance was not something you did on a whim in those days. It looks some time. You would say goodbye to your friends and family and there was a reasonable chance that goodbye could be final. It was a long journey.

The magi finally arrive in Jerusalem after months or even years of travel. They come to the palace ready to pay homage. And this newborn ruler isn’t there. Not only is he not there, but the king has no earthly idea what they’re talking about and has to meet with his advisors to figure the whole thing out. This is the first thing I wonder: Was there a moment in which they thought they had come all that way for nothing? Were they frustrated? Angry? Did they snipe at each other as they waited for Herod’s scholars to figure things out?

Part of me probably wishes that we got a glimpse of that frustration because I think all of us come to those moments where we think we have arrived at an important juncture in our lives and it’s not quite what we expect. I used to think that when I hit a certain age that I would have a lot of life figured out. Yet life is still a mystery even though I have blown well past that age and then some. There are so many times in life where we think we have “arrived.” We have gotten that job or we’ve put in the 10,000 hours or we have dedicated ourselves to a spiritual discipline yet what we find is not what we expect. There is more road to travel.

Then I wonder what the magi thought when they arrived at their actual destination. They find a young girl, her husband, and this newborn ruler living in modest means. The baby is most likely not staying in a manger still, but it is also certainly not a palace. It is far away from important. Did they wonder if they had gotten it wrong? Did they feel strange bringing such extravagant gifts into such humble circumstances? I don’t know. I have a hard time believing that they were immediately like, “Yep, this random shack is the place.” I wonder if they asked for the story. I wonder if their skepticism melted as Mary shared her incredible story. I wonder if she spit a few bars of the Magnificat and the humble surroundings began to make more sense.

Obviously, none of this was the gospel writer’s concern, but I wish those details were in there. The Christmas pageant idea that the magi just walked in and bowed before a random baby in Bethlehem when they were expecting a king in a palace seems off to me. I guess what I wish I could see more of was the journey. Not the physical journey from the east to Bethlehem. Rather I want to see the not-necessarily-linear interior journey from confusion and disappointment to awe and wonder. I think that is the trip that we often take in our encounters with God. How many times have we found the Holy in the places we least expect?

I wonder what it would be like to talk to one of the magi. I would want to ask them what it was like to go on that long, possibly dangerous journey. What did it feel like to think you came all that way for nothing? How did it feel for their ultimate destination to be in such a lowly place? And I hope there eyes would light up as they said, “Let me tell you a story that changed my life…”