RULERS AND ROUTES
Matthew 2:1-12
Epiphany of Our Lord, Year A
Analysis by Shaun O’Reilly
1In the time of King Herod, after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, magi from the east came to Jerusalem, 12asking, “Where is the child who has been born king of the Jews? For we observed his star in the east and have come to pay him homage.” 3When King Herod heard this, he was frightened, and all Jerusalem with him, 4and calling together all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Messiah was to be born. 5They told him, “In Bethlehem of Judea, for so it has been written by the prophet:
6‘And you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,
are by no means least among the rulers of Judah,
for from you shall come a ruler
who is to shepherd my people Israel.’”
7Then Herod secretly called for the magi and learned from them the exact time when the star had appeared. 8Then he sent them to Bethlehem, saying, “Go and search diligently for the child, and when you have found him, bring me word so that I may also go and pay him homage.” 9When they had heard the king, they set out, and there, ahead of them, went the star that they had seen in the east, until it stopped over the place where the child was. 10When they saw that the star had stopped, they were overwhelmed with joy. 11On entering the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother, and they knelt down and paid him homage. Then, opening their treasure chests, they offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. 12And having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they left for their own country by another road.
From Wikimedia Commons
“Faith is reoriented away from fear and control, toward the joy and the treasure of God’s promise.”
DIAGNOSIS: We are People of Plots and Secrets
Step One: Initial Diagnosis (External Problem) – The time of King Herod
Living in a time where fear reigns, our action (or inaction) can demonstrate that fear. Herod fears the news of “the child who has been born king of the Jews” (vv. 2-3). He will later plot murder (2:16). And Herod is not alone. “All Jerusalem with him” fears the news, and is complicit in their own actions and inactions (v. 3). Religious leaders point to the place of that birth of the new Messiah in “Bethlehem of Judea” (v. 5), but demonstrate their own tenuous fear of the times in taking no resolute action of seeking the child.
Step Two: Advanced Diagnosis (Internal Problem) – The time of Me
What a setting for Christ to be born, when the King of the territory operates out of ego and anxiety that trickles throughout all the people. Our fear has an effect on every one of us. And my fear, too, is that I won’t be able to hold on to what I grasp amidst change; or that I won’t feel as secure as I want to feel; or that I won’t know how to identify myself over/against those who do not have as much power and responsibility as I do. We are all, like Jerusalem, disturbed and defensive. Even some who learn the truth (the chief priests and scribes) seem stuck in their inaction. A new ruler from a small tribe might disrupt our whole facade of stability and security. And then where would we be? We are not mindful of how fear, not faith, rules in our hearts.
Step Three: Final Diagnosis (Ultimate Problem) – Rivals Revealed
But the fundamental issue here is all this fear and faithlessness is in rivalry with God’s anointed plan. Herod, and we with him, want to rule our own lives. When the true King shows up, we experience it as threat rather than gift. We’d rather have a god we can control and manage (like Herod’s religious experts who know about the Messiah) than actually bow before the real one who brings change and the unknown. We really don’t want epiphany – having our eyes opened to the new Messiah’s call on our lives.
PROGNOSIS: A Baby Builds a New Road
Step Four: Initial Prognosis (Ultimate Solution) – Christ Defeats what Defeats Us
The resolution of our God-rivalry problem is that God arrives not as a threatening competitor but as vulnerable child. While we’ve feared a rival king who may overthrow us, Christ comes by a different route, as king to suffer our fearful hostility in the face of death, yet still to love us and choose us. By all accounts he is a powerless dependent, much too vulnerable. Yet this humility of vulnerability is how God resolves our fear – refusing to meet our hostility with hostility, but putting all that to death on a cross. This child in the manger can’t threaten anyone – which is exactly why he can save everyone.
Step Five: Advanced Prognosis (Internal Solution) – Faith is Treasure
Faith is then reoriented away from fear and control, toward the joy and the treasure of God’s promise. Through faith, we cling to the God of hope born in the small child among us. Instead of seeing God’s arrival as threat, we see it as gift worth seeking and worshiping. And our lives overflow! The magi bring treasures, not weapons. We kneel before the child, not to defend territory, but to proclaim our new “great joy” in stark contrast to our great fear.
Step Six: Final Prognosis (External Solution) – Home by Another Road
When we are renewed to trust this promise of God-with-us more than our worldly idols the gifts of our lives are shared, transformed, and outpoured. Truth be told, it is not our gifts that matter, but the Gift that makes our giving promise-sharing. Humility, not power, rules our lives, and the small, vulnerable voice of Love makes all things new, for us and for all. We get to go “home by another road,” living by another “way” now. Just as the magi came from the East following the light and now return East carrying light, their new road (like ours) leads us to homes and worlds and all these places of people with all their fears, together with power and plots and secrets. The new road, however, is a road of power made perfect in weakness. And the Gift of Light through the child is with us all along our life’s travel along his promising new road!
