Epiphany
Returning by another way
Matthew 2.12
The idea that we cannot go back the way we have come is an important spiritual metaphor: having encountered the Christ-child, we can never just go back. Even if we return to the same life, we find that it has somehow changed. This is by no means a new idea. Pope Leo the Great wrote that the change of plan in the magi's journey home was not only to baffle Herod’s murderous plan, but also that ‘it behoved them now that they believed in Christ not to walk in the paths of their old line of life, but having entered on a new way to keep away from the errors they had left.’
We never find out any more about the magi; we simply know that, having encountered Jesus they cannot return the same way. He continued to affect their lives after the moment of acknowledgement and worship; their lives changed direction because of this encounter. Similarly with Jesus’ family: they found that this child, small and vulnerable though he was, and so early in his life, compelled them to make urgent and unplanned journeys to ensure their safety.
We see Jesus’ family and the wise men being pushed out into new and unfamiliar surroundings, changed forever by their encounter with this holy child. The nativity story does not have a neatly tied-up ending, but rather a dramatic exit into the unknown, the only certainty being that there will never be a return to business as usual.
Maggi Dawn, adapted
Two thousand years have slipped by
Like freshets in the Ganges
Since St Thomas came to our land.
Here, though the cross is lifted
Amidst the paddy fields and coconut palms
And white-clad Christians flock to the churches
When the bells call them to worship;
our wise men have not yet seen the star
and the manger of Bethlehem
is not yet the cradle of our land.
But Christian hope never dies
and the ends of the strands of destiny
are held safe in the hands of God.
Pass it on to the ends of the earth!
Christ is the answer – Ours! Yours!
Chandran Devanesen, India
Pray that the gospel may spread to the ends of the earth – beginning with us, right here and now.
