Monday 6 January 2025
"Where is the child who has been born king of the Jews? For we observed his star at its rising, and have come to pay him homage.” (v. 2)
Background
On cue, the three kings arrived at the stable during the nativity play at our national (ie primary) school here in Roscrea in Ireland. Melchior (from Nigeria) declared, "I bring you gold because you are a king!" Caspar (from Brazil) announced, "I bring you frankincense because you are God’s son." And, on bended knee, Balthazar (from Lithuania) murmured, "I bring you myrrh because you will give your life to save us all."
The scene said it all – people from the world’s nations meet to worship at the manger, and now, as then, some have come from a distance.
Today is the Feast of the Epiphany, when the Church recalls the coming of the wise men to Bethlehem where Jesus was born, via Jerusalem. They came, via a king to a newborn child, via a seat of power to a manger; via a tyrant to a vulnerable infant. What did they expect to see? Who knows? But their reaction was one of joy and reverence – overwhelmed, they knelt and worshipped. And then they had to return home.
And how was it for those wise men as they returned home, a long journey by a circuitous route so as to avoid King Herod? The poet, TS Eliot, captured something of how it may have been in his poem ‘The Journey of the Magi’. In the poem, now an old man, one of the three, reflects on that long-ago journey to Bethlehem, following the star, and on the longing and yearning for he hardly knows what, as he returned home. I encourage you to Google it!
Meeting, kneeling, returning… Is there something of a pattern of encounter with God here? How is it for you, for me? There is that high moment of wonder, love and praise as we cast our crowns (so to speak) before the infant Jesus – and then there is the return to ‘ordinary life’. The challenge is to maintain the attitude of worship within the mundane.
To Ponder:
- "Where is the child?" How do I answer that question in my everyday life? How might I find him?
- "What can I give him, poor as I am…?" What can you offer Jesus?
Prayer
Open my mind, Lord, that I may know you close by in all that I do. Amen.
Bible notes author: Gillian Kingston
Gillian Kingston is a local preacher on the North Tipperary Circuit of the Methodist Church in Ireland and an ex-Vice President of the World Methodist Council. She was the first lay Leader of the Conference of the Methodist Church in Ireland. Married to Tom, a retired Methodist minister, and with four adult children, she is also the besotted grandmother of seven beautiful granddaughters and one handsome grandson.