After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem and asked, “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.”
Matthew 2:1-2
“Happy Epiphany” y’all. It’s the day when – traditionally – the Magi show up at the manger. And, kind of ironically, everybody else is already on the way out or long gone.
In many households the exodus started early, with the poor tree stripped, clipped, tied up and dumped on the side of the road before even the end of Christmas Day!
Some of the characters in the story hold on for a while, but very few make it to the 12th day and if they do it’s “in the box and up in the attic” before the Magi even round the curve.
How are they going to find Jesus if he’s already boxed up and shipped out?
So (and we learned this one fateful January day when we found a stray angel hanging from the chandelier in our dining room, almost missing his message in our hurry to bag and tag him), each year Rebekah and I look for at least one volunteer from the manger scene to join us for the rest of the year, helping make sure the story stays alive.
This time around it’s the little Viking guy I first met in a Bergen gift store circa 1972. He’s become a regular at the Nativity over the past few years and he makes a compelling witness. He climbed out of the packing box just before Rebekah sealed it, and now he’s perched on a bulb of garlic on my kitchen window. Every time I’m in there cooking you can be sure I will think of the birth of Jesus.
We make pretty good witnesses too. Have we been on our knees in front of Jesus recently? Is it a story we’ve just been looking at from the outside, or is it a story we have chosen to live in?
I have this truth I often share with guys who say they are nervous about the idea of “witnessing” to their faith. “It’s about authenticity,” I say. “All we can do is to share what we know, to tell what we have seen and heard. If we spend enough time with Jesus then the love and the light are going to leak out, and that will call for some kind of an explanation. If all you can manage is, ‘I’m just trying to follow Jesus and he means more to me than I can possibly explain…’ that’s okay; it may well be enough.”
Epiphany. That time the Magi put everything else in their lives aside in order to meet the newborn king. My little Viking guy is reminding me I have that wonderful privilege every day.
It’s Sunday, and I pray that I will see you in church. Peace and light – DEREK
