Stretching before each of us is a brand new year to welcome. Normally, I like to talk about the cyclical nature of life, a wheel that keeps turning through the seasons each bringing new delights. Yet, today, right at the beginning of January, for a brief moment, time is thought of as linear. A new year has begun, an old year has ended. This is the beginning of a new journey. No-one yet knows what 2022 will bring — it is unexplored territory. It is a time of both excitement and trepidation as the first steps are taken towards this new journey.
First, as I glance over my shoulder, it is a time of reflection on the previous year — a time to count all the many blessings that 2021 brought. Of course, there have been moments of sadness, sickness, surgery and stress — that is part of humanness. Yet, it is always worth pausing to remember all the good and wonderful things of the past year, even the lessons learnt, so that the blessings don’t go unheeded or forgotten as the new journey begins.
The lectionary reading today (Matthew 2: 1-12) also speaks of a journey — a long journey. It is the journey undertaken by the Magi from the East.
Although tradition now cites three Magi, the Bible makes no such claim, a number is not specified. It is interesting that for Matthew — which is the only gospel that records this story — this is one of the significant events surrounding the nativity. The Gospel of Matthew has no story of an angel appearing to Mary, no stories of the birth of Jesus, no mention of the stable, no shepherds watching their sheep by night. Matthew simply records the prophecy to Joseph that the child Mary is carrying will be the Messiah followed immediately by the Magi, presumably included at this juncture to confirm the specialness of the child.
The Magi (singular Magus) were sages who sought to understand the world through astronomy, astrology and natural sciences. The contemporary words, magic or magician are from the same root. They probably journeyed from Babylon (Iraq), Persia (Iran) or Arabia. They would travel via the old Spice and Silk Routes, a journey of thousands of miles. So, in first century times an arduous undertaking as journey would take months if not years. Therefore, it is generally assumed that the infant, Jesus would be well over a year old by the time of the visit of the Magi.
It is a beautiful story of a journey; a star rising at a special birth, a long and hard year or two of travel, an encounter with a King, arriving at the destination, being overwhelmed with joy, offering of precious gifts, a dream and finally returning home.
I just want to add an aside at this point — especially for those who have joined in the Theology School for the semester on Feminist Theology. We spent several weeks conversing about the story of Abraham, Hagar and Sarah and their resulting offspring, Isaac and Ishmael, who became great nations — our studies were based on books by theologians Phyllis Trible and Delores Williams. The story culminated in Hagar and Ishmael being sent away (Genesis 21: 8-14) later followed details of Ishmael’s line (Genesis 25). Could the Magi be descendants of Ishmael? That is certainly, a valid interpretation. If so, that gives a wealth of additional depth to this story — Mary’s welcome of the Magi, opening her home to strangers from a different culture, humbly receiving gifts from them and in response the Magi honouring the infant Jesus. What a story of inclusion and acceptance! I’ll leave you to ponder the wealth in this passage in that light of our semester long studies.
But, as I read through the passage, as often happens, one phrase really stood out for me. The words were “overwhelmed by joy” (10). What a wonderful end to a journey! I loved that there was nothing passive about this experience. It didn’t just happen out of the blue. It was the result of a long, hard journey and a diligent seeking. I find that a good thought as I journey through 2022 — if I want to have moments where I am overwhelmed by joy, I need to be diligent and unafraid of the journey as I travel through the year.
I end as I begun — Happy New Year to each who reads this.
