Epiphany

Epiphany 2012 (Matthew 2:1-12)
“They saw the young child with his Mary his mother and they fell down and worshipped him.”

Where is God?

Who or what is God?

People sometimes assert that if God is real He is distant and silent. The people who wrote the Bible had a very different perspective. They summarize the “mystery” of God by observing that God is constantly revealing himself to us in a myriad of ways.
The problem is not that God isn’t speaking to us. The problem is that we are not listening.

One of the most highly educated Biblical writers is St. Paul. He told the people of his day that in every generation and in every nation God provides a witness to his reality and his identity.

The wise men, the three kings, were Chaldeans. They were not descendants of Abraham. They were not even descendants of Judah. They were pagan astronomers and mathematicians. They used math to understand the movements of the sun, moon, planets and stars. And, they used their understanding of celestial mechanics to form calendars, clocks, engineering and philosophy.

They practiced science and applied science through the very ancient principle: “as above so below.”

Ancient peoples believed the reality of the divine manifested meaning and purpose to the realm of humanity through the movement of planets and stars. This belief found expression in four ways: science, philosophy, religion and superstition.

The science of ancient astronomy helped farmers understand the seasons and helped engineers create massive public buildings.

The philosophy formed an explanation for the mathematical order of nature in the concept of the logos. The logos is the pattern, plan and purpose that gives form to the order in the universe.

The religion attempted to regulate and restrain the tendency in human nature to ignore and rebel against this fundamental order that is infused in the natural world.
The superstition is the active rebellion against reason that seeks a hidden and secret meaning through knowledge and power. At the risk of offending anyone, astrology is a blend of polytheism, mysticism and occult speculation that re works the math and science of astronomy into a fanciful system by which people seek to acquire power through so called secret knowledge.

The Chaldeans were both astronomers and astrologers. They held reason, faith and superstition in a delicate balance. God spoke to them where they were and invited them to make a journey to a more complete understanding of who God is.

God initiated the journey for the wise men. He got their attention as they stood in their observatory in Babylon and pondered the appearance of a bright star.

In that star they recognized the pattern, plan and purpose of the logos, the very word of God. They traveled west to the place of the prophets. As with most educated people of that time and place they were familiar with the Old Testament observations of human behavior and human belief. They did not follow the star in total ignorance. They did follow the star with a mix of reason, faith and superstition.

They perceived the word of God. They paid heed to the word of God. They sought the advice of religious scholars in Jerusalem. Those scholars told them exactly what they needed know to complete their journey.

The scholars gave them the missing piece to the puzzle. From the revealed word of God in the Bible the scholars in Jerusalem directed the Chaldeans to travel to Bethlehem. It was in Bethlehem that they found what they were seeking. They found Mary. They found Jesus. They found and were found by God.

God does not leave himself without a witness. In every age and in every culture and for every person the Logos continually and consistently reveals himself. Some times he reveals himself in the beauty and order of the natural world. Sometimes he reveals himself in the patterns of math and science.

For the Chaledeans, he attracted their attention in a star. Then he directed them to Jerusalem to consult the scriptures. Finally, he spoke to them through the religious scholars to complete the journey of faith to meet Mary and Jesus in Bethlehem.
God speaks to all people everywhere in a myriad of ways to lead us to faith, hope and love in Jesus Christ. Jesus is the word of God, the logos, in human flesh. Jesus is the pattern, plan and purpose of life. God speaks to us where we are and always leads us to his Son, Jesus.

The reality is not the science, the philosophy or the religion. Those are the instruments God employs to help us in our journey to the reality. The reality is a personal relationship with the living God in the living Lord Jesus Christ.
Jesus finds a lost and rebellious humanity in his own person. He gives us the gift of eternal life through reunification with God. He meets us where we are, loves us as we are, and offers to transform us by his own infinite love to be more fully and completely who God created us to be.

That is why the Chaldean wise men, the three kings, honored Mary and worshipped Jesus. All who seek the truth find the truth and they find the truth in Jesus Christ.