The star drew nigh to the Northwest
Over Bethlehem it took its rest
And there it did both stop and stay
Right over the place where Jesus lay.
Noel (4X) Born is the King of Israel.
So I've given the Wise Men a lot of credit in the past few days (and it IS right there in the name...), but I still wonder about this moment. After all "to seek for a king was their intent" even if they were also "follow[ing] the star wherever it went."
What happens when you follow the light of that same star and it takes you somewhere you never thought you'd be? How many of us, truly, are gracious in that first moment?
Perhaps it's natural to be annoyed. Even to piss and moan for awhile. Even saints were angry. Jonah threw an effing FIT over the fact that a whole town of people didn't die. I mean, think about that for a minute. By every possible measure he achieved his goal of saving the town from their righteous destruction by warning them to repent, but he was angry because it didn't happen like he was picturing.
The tree and the worm and the whole thing...I feel like they get disproportionate attention in that story, which to me is ENTIRELY overshadowed by that reaction to lack of mass killing from on high. The absence of a town destroying natural disaster.
I realize that all of my emphasizers are reaching the point of diminishing returns but just think about that for a minute.
At least the Wise Men had the cat-on-the-roof treatment. They see first that it's Bethlehem, a little nothing town in, let's face it, a nothing part of the Roman Empire far from the seat of power and not even worth subduing properly. But it's provided an unexpected king before, if they know their local history.
And they see the barn before the baby. Their initial reaction isn't on display for the physical form of God (which makes it all less embarrassing somehow even though I suppose it shouldn't but who can live being embarrassed by all the nonsense God sees us do?).
I can't help wondering if Jonah had similar moments to warn him. I wonder if every time we are thrown a shocking curveball by life, we really should have seen it coming. What willful denial it would have been, after all, to walk into Bethlehem still expecting a king. What blind stubbornness would have made you look for a lofty, worldly figure in a stable?
The Wise Men were a rare and beautiful trio indeed. They had the courage of their convictions enough to set out on an expedition against a chorus of mockers, no doubt (otherwise there would be more than three). But they were open minded enough not to mind that the journey led them to Bethlehem and an objectively poor newborn. They were strong in their beliefs, but they didn't cling to them in the face of opposing facts and new revelations. They were the right kind of stubborn to upend their lives because they saw a Sign from God blazing in the sky and wanted desperately to be near it -- but open enough to not be thrown off course when the end of the journey was not what they expected.
How many of us can truly say that we have both? That we know when to be certain and when to change our minds and hearts? That we have the courage to do something bold when everyone is telling us how objectively stupid it is to abandon our comfortable lives to tramp across the desert after a meteor; but we also have no anger or rage when the glorious event we were seeking isn't fireworks and angel choirs (at least not for us). When humble shepherds got a more mystical display.
To know that we aren't owed a fantastical show or anything that would "prove the naysayers right" at the end of a journey, even and especially one of great sacrifice. That anything we get is a gift, even shade atop a tree, or a baby in a stable with a bedraggled couple who wouldn't know what to do with the gold, frankincense, or myrrh.
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