For many years I have been captivated by the story of the Magi. As is always the case with scripture, there are those who believe stories like their journey are factual, metaphorical, or just fantasy. True confessions: I don’t need to answer that question. In much of my engagement with scripture I have come to the place that says – I don’t know if the story is true, but I know there is truth in the story. There are so many lessons to be gleaned from these few verses in Matthew. So many ways in which my spiritual life has been expanded by reflecting on this scripture and the writings of theologians, pastors, and poets. I have called this journey Sojourning with the Magi.
To begin, what is it that captured the imagination of the Magi to begin their journey?
In his book, Consolations, poet, philosopher and teacher, David Whyte, takes a deep dive into basic words in our vocabulary, giving us deeper insight into the meaning of these words and application in our life today. The first word that resonates with the Magi’s journey is Longing. “Longing is divine discontent, the unendurable present finding a physical doorway into awe and discovery. It both frightens and emboldens.” We don’t know much about these “wise men” but even the most courageous must have embarked on this journey with some trepidation. And yet, the presence of this star, along with the prophesy of a king spurred them on a harrowing journey.
So, we ask ourselves – what is our Longing? What is our divine discontent? It can be so easy for us to rush through our busy lives and focus on secular daily life desire, but what longing resides deep in our souls? And how often do we ask ourselves that question or recognize the yearning?
So, how do we respond? David Whyte says that longing makes us into “pilgrim souls and sets us on some road that starts in the center of the body and then leads out,” often leading us into some type of peril which we are willing to hazard to respond to the ache. A pilgrim is “one on their way somewhere never sure if the path or the destination is most important; dependent on the help from absolute strangers and those who travel with them; in a world of impending revelation where something is about to happen.” The defining experience is a beckoning, asking us to move from here to there. The final destination is an invitation to vulnerability, not knowing what lies at the destination, yet at that end we find the meaning we seek.
Can you imagine what that must have been like for the Magi, what in their mystical teachings made them make the journey? Experts say that the distance from what is believed to be their place of origin to Bethlehem would have taken months. We know that time and distances aren’t always compatible in scripture, but we can certainly discern that the undertaking was significant. And yet they came.
I like the idea of Sojourning with the Magi. Sojourning, as described in the second Consolations book, captures “the sense of arrival, an intriguing stay, and adventurous departure.” Sojourning for me means being willing to become a pilgrim. The first step is being willing to journey faithfully even in uncertainty and then setting about the tasks which support reaching one’s destination. For some, taking the first step is the hardest because of the unknown. And yet if we can find the courage to embark, we’ve given ourselves the chance to experience a new destination.
The next step is determining how long one will stay, which is necessary to facilitate the change we are experiencing and that we are facilitating. “Staying is to change and deepen what we’re staying with and determines our future departures.” This can be a challenge for those for whom change is daunting. We can’t help but be altered in some way when in a new location, but to benefit from the journey, we must embrace it rather than resist it. We also must understand that we make our own mark before we leave. We must examine what type of mark we wish to leave.
The third step is to take the change which has happened inside us and launch ourselves into the next adventure. By this time, my experience tells me that having positively negotiated the journey and arrival, the departure is easier unless that new destination is particularly perilous.
Author Bruce Epperly, working with Madeline L’Engle’s writings, tells us that “an epiphany is a moment of revelation – an instantaneous new understanding of something otherwise hidden from you.” I have a rhetorical question for you… Have any of you experienced a significant Epiphany? A spiritual Epiphany? If we follow the steps of Sojourning with the Magi, or any other sojourn which changes one’s worldview, Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel believes that radical amazement is at the heart of religious experience. Like the Magi, we begin our wandering in the journey and with that wandering we bring wonder. We are in a season of wandering and wondering – going to those new places we’ve never been and by looking around before we head out again, we can imagine impossible things.
You may be asking yourself at this point why I am spending so much time on the process of the Magi as I have discerned through literature. It is because the world is hurting; people are hurting, and these indeed feel like perilous times. Many times, I hear the question… But what can I do? We can all do something. Sojourning with the Magi could mean speaking with friends and family about areas of your concern, sharing how you view your responsibility to be engaged in bringing your spiritual/moral self to conversations. It could mean showing up at an event you deeply support, being willing to be vulnerable in public and being open to being changed through it. It could mean phone calls, letters, financial contributions, and volunteering.
The critical point is that once a journey has begun, we can’t turn back. We can’t say we didn’t know. We can’t say “it doesn’t affect me.” So, I don’t have to do anything. As citizens of the Commonwealth of Humanity we journey whether we want to or not or recognize it or not. If we open our eyes, we will recognize it.
A final important thought. There were supposedly three Magi, Gaspar, Melchior, and Balthazar. They undertook the journey together. As we prepare for our own Sojourn, we must give ourselves the gift of companionship. It’s imperative to find companions in Gods adventure. And with companions, we are more likely to be open to wisdom from unexpected places. We open each other’s imagination to wonder; and we seek a new future, one based on the peace discovered by the Magi, a baby born to teach us about God and our relationship to God and each other.
The lesson of the Magi is one of openness to longing, courage to undertake the journey of discovery, wisdom to recognize the holy in our encounters, and willingness to be changed and share that change with others.