Until you’re there, you’re not. This is a truth of journeying we rediscover any time we’re racing to a destination, a reunion, or enduring travel delays. (I was reminded of this last week, stuck in traffic on my way to a Covid-delayed family Christmas gathering.) We can only be where we are at any given moment. Until you’re there, you’re not.
The sages who had come so many miles searching for the new king, whose star they’d seen rising in their night skies, were anxious to get there, even if they weren’t quite sure what “there” would turn out to be. They had invested a great deal in making this trip, trusting the stellar guidance as they read it. Maybe folks at home had called theirs a fool’s errand; maybe they’d read the stars wrong. This Herod fellow certainly hadn’t heard anything about a new king; he just sent them off toward Bethlehem. Until they were “there,” they weren’t.
But they had that star as a beacon: ..they set out; and there, ahead of them, went the star that they had seen at its rising, until it stopped over the place where the child was. When they saw that the star had stopped, they were overwhelmed with joy.
Hard to imagine what these star-followers felt when the guidance held true. Whether real men or mythic figures – or both – these sages from far-off lands were overwhelmed with joy when they were led to a simple house. If they were surprised to find there an ordinary young family, we see no indication in their actions: “On 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.”
What a way to greet a king, even one who looked nothing like a king: in a house, not a palace; attended only by his parents. Our wise travelers were unfazed. They knew they had arrived where they needed to be. They had come with three goals – they wanted to see, they wanted to honor, they wanted to gift. And when they had done what they came to do, they went home, guided by the wisdom that had brought them to Bethlehem, to be ready for the next adventure.
We can find in their goals a guide to our devotion:
To want to see Jesus. Make that a prayer; ask the Spirit to expand your faith vision to see Jesus wherever he might be in your life this week, in prayer, in other people, in the poor, at communion…
To want to honor Jesus. Offer him praises, adoration in your heart, with your voice, in your actions, in song…
To give him precious gifts. What that is precious to you do you want to offer Jesus? Your time? Energy? Relationships? Love? Maybe ask what he would like you to give… you might be surprised at the answer.
This journey of seeing, honoring, giving is one we can make over and over again, arriving “there” only to leave again. Each time we arrive we are strengthened for the next trip, which might be in five minutes, or five weeks. And on each journey we see the sights somewhat differently. And always our destination is the same – Home. Until we’re there, we’re not.
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