Readings for the Day:
Sermon:
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Original Manuscript:
As an undergraduate, I took the unconventional route. I attended St. John's College in Annapolis, Maryland. There are no declared majors at St. John's; instead everyone reads from a list of books from the Western canon of classics.
Now there are different kinds of people with different kinds of reasons who go to St. John's, and I could not possibly tell you everyone's motivations. But there were many, including myself, who we focused primarily with discovering the Truth. We dove into many of the texts we read not just trying to understand them, but to understand what they told us about the world around us. We were trying to figure out how they applied to our lives.
This, I think, was the mindset of the wise men. These are men search, seeking the truth in all things. Like us at St. John's, they would have studied the ancient astronomers, except their particular knowledge and skill set was such that they studied the skies and noticed something. They noticed a sign that the King of the Jews was to be born.
As seekers of the truth, they went to search for more knowledge about Him, knowing He was one the should give homage to. They went to the logical place you would expect to go to find a king; they went to the palace.
But the King of the Jews was not there. "The power Messiah is found in the village, not in the palace", as a wise man once told me.
To find the King of the Jews, the wise men are told to go to Bethlehem. They go to the tiny village where Jesus was born in a cave, as we celebrated 12 days ago. It's been some time at this point, and the Holy Family finally have found shelter.
"The power of Messiah is found in the village, not in the palace." Paul puts it slightly differently. In 2 Corinthians 12:9, God's power "is made perfect in weakness."
When we search for God, where do we seek Him? Do we look for Him in earthly shows of might and power, or do we look in the seemingly more unlikely places?
We are in the season of Epiphany. Contrary to popular belief, this season is not just about the wise men. It is, instead, about what they were seeking: the glory of God made manifest in the world.
If we want to know where God is manifest in the world now, we should pay attention to where God was manifest in Christ Jesus. Pay close attention in this season. When we seek God, when we seek the Truth, we must look at these places we see Jesus. When we seek out the truth of the power of God, we must look not in the palace, but in those places that the world would call weakness.