Picture the scene: a room with a large dining table. Three men in flowing robes are watching a fourth man, a servant, laying the table. Through the window, which by its shape tells us that this is a scene from the east, you can see a couple approaching in the distance, pushing a buggy with a child in it. One of the men explains the situation to the servant, who is looking a bit puzzled: ‘You see, last year we went to them, so this year they are coming to us.’
I admire the skills of cartoonists, who with a few strokes of the pen and some well-chosen words can make a comment about our human condition, and at the same time make us think about deeper truths.
Over the last few years, cartoonists have provided some interesting springboards for thought about this Epiphany story. The one I have just described latches on to a yearly anxiety about where parts of the family spend Christmas, and whose turn it is to be the host. With luck, we can laugh about it. But the deep truth about Jesus spending Christmas with us is that he comes every year, and stays with us all the time. So the real question is not about whose turn it is, but how we are going to respond to this amazing generosity of God in giving himself to us.
Familiarity, it is said breeds contempt, and if ever there is a danger of that it must surely be in relation to the Christmas message. We know the story very well – too well – having heard it so many times that we no longer take in sometimes what we are hearing. We listen to the words of scripture and sing well-loved carols, but they wash over us, no longer firing our imagination as they once did.
It is worth reflecting occasionally on those words of Herod, to the Magi as he sent them off to Bethlehem. The situation, of course, is different, in that they were seeking someone they had not yet met, encountering Jesus for the first time, but Herod’s words are nonetheless just as appropriate for those of us today who have known and followed Jesus for as long as we can remember. ‘Go and make a careful search for the child.’ Do that, not just at Christmas but every day, and what we find may still surprise us.
The Wise Men in the story responded by offering gifts to the Christ-child. Another cartoon shows them having a conversation with each other. Two of them are holding the traditional gifts, the third is holding an envelope. In response to their concerned looks, he says, ‘Yes, I know. But a token is much lighter.’ Will our response to God be a token gesture? Or will we offer something precious? And what precious thing have we got anyway? We need to be wary about using this story as if it is a prelude to a stewardship campaign – dig a little deeper into your pocket. It is more profound than that. The most precious thing we have is ourself. That is what God longs for us to give him.
We perhaps don’t always think of ourselves as precious: we are quite good at putting ourselves down. But the gifts the Wise Men brought are our gifts too. Each of us is precious to God – in God’s eyes each of us is pure gold. We may have to dig deep to find it, but that is God’s truth about each one of us. Offer the frankincense of worship, and as we attend prayerfully to God, and learn more about God and ourselves, we recognise God’s truth about us: ‘You are precious in my sight, and honoured, and I love you’ (Isaiah 43:4).
That truth about being precious will be tested with the myrrh of suffering – all around us, and perhaps touching us more personally too. Faithfulness to God’s love is part of our response. As the carol puts it:
What can I give him, poor as I am?
If I were a shepherd, I would bring a lamb;
If I were a wise man I would do my part;
Yet what I can I give him –
Give my heart.
That is a response to God not just for Epiphany, but for every day. Another cartoon takes us into the vestry, where the vicar is holding open a cupboard door. At his feet, the tiny crib figures process past him and the caption reads, ‘So it’s back into the vestry cupboard for another year.’
Then there is the pithy little saying often still displayed around at Christmas time on church notice boards, car windscreens or suchlike. The words? ‘Wise men still seek him.’ And, of course, that is perfectly true, for there are many today, just as there have always been, who still search in vain to find faith. It is not that they don’t want to believe – quite the opposite – but there is so much in the world they cannot make sense of so, much that seems to contradict the God of love preached in the Christian faith. Having been sent by Herod two year previously; It would have been easy for the Wise Men to give up on their search, not least when they arrived in Bethlehem to find that no one had any idea who or what they were taking about. Could there have been some mistake? Had their journey been a waste of time? Yet they kept on searching and trusting until, finally, they came to the place where the child lay.
We, too, will reach our destination if we have the courage to keep on seeking. If we persevere on the journey, we will find our questions answered and the confusion resolved as we glimpse for ourselves the wonder of God revealed in Christ.
For some folk there will have been good intentions this Christmas, they will have come to a church service and listened to the words of scripture and joined in with the singing of the carols. And God will have blessed them and will have be glad to see them. We may well have made New Year Resolutions, one may well be to come to church more often or to pray more regularly and we may well have broken one or two resolutions already but God is asking to be more than a resolution, more than a fleeting thought, we is asking to be part of our lives, to be in relationship with Him and not just for Christmas. Making resolutions without Him is bound to fail. He has already told us we are precious, He has already mapped out His plan for our lives. It is now up to us!
What can I give him, poor as I am?
If I were a shepherd I would bring a lamb;
If I were a wise man I would do my part;
Yet what I can I give him –
Give my heart.
Has the celebration made any difference to us? The commercial world has moved on, Christmas has been put away, the crème eggs and hot cross buns are on sale. But Christmas isn’t over. God is with us every day, the baby grows into adulthood if we let him, and he challenges us to recognise him and respond to him in our daily lives.
As you seek the Christ Child, may your journey will full of surprises and may they spur you on into a deeper relationship with Him. Amen.
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