“Home By Another Way”
Matthew 2:1-12
I pondered the story of the wise men’s visit this week for the umpteenth time. I’ve said this before, but the wonder of Bible reading is that you can read a passage umpteen times and receive a fresh insight the umpteen and first time. Which is what happened when I read this passage and noted the final verse, “They left for their own country by another road.” Or, as I put it in my notes: They worshipped and then went home by another way. We worship and often go home different than we came.
More on that later, but first, the opening words Eric read are chilling: “In the time of King Herod” (Matthew 2:1). Make no mistake about it: Herod was bad news. Loathsome. Bloodthirsty. Power-hungry. Whatever of today’s bad news makes you shake your head and sigh, it was worse “in the time of King Herod.” But the good news of the gospel according to this scripture is that God chooses to enter human history right under the noses of awful leaders in order to raise up a capital L Leader, Jesus Christ, who will make right all that earthly leaders get wrong and do wrong. Be assured that whatever and whoever scars the headlines in 2024, we can stand firm and hold fast to the belief that in God’s time all of history’s Herods will be dethroned. Defeated. Which is precisely the bold claim made in the hymn “This is My Father’s World” that goes, “O, let me ne’er forget, that though the wrong seems oft so strong, God is the ruler yet.” King Jesus dethrones King Herod. That’s good news!
Here’s more good news: Matthew tells us that from Day One – from his birth – Jesus reached out to all people, even magi from the East. I say even for a reason. Take out a map sometime and see what’s east of Israel. I’ll help you if you’re geographically challenged: Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Iran. Those nations aren’t exactly friends on Israel’s Facebook page! But lest we make the age-old mistake many do that believes those who aren’t our friends can’t be befriended by God, think again: among the first invitations God sent to Jesus’ birthday was to magi – astrologers – old-time New Agers from Iran. What child is this who laid to rest on Mary’s lap is sleeping? This, this is Christ the King who disregards our human made borders, our age-old animosities, and our mindsets of Who’s In /Who’s Out, Who’s Saved/ Who’s Not so as to open the everlasting arms to all… even Iranian astrologers – magi from the East.
Matthew tells us they saw his star “and came to pay him homage”(vs 2). Notice a few things about their worship:
For instance, how it required some doing on their part. Ancient Persia, present-day Iran, is 1,200 miles from Israel by camel. Translate that into 1st century travel conditions and that adds up to Effort, Energy, and Expense with a Capital E for them to get to worship. Which got me to recognizing how much effort, energy, and expense goes into our getting to worship.
I’m speaking of the hours put into preparing this place for worship. Jay cleaning and vacuuming. Ingrid opening things up, lights on, welcome mat out.
The hours our Music Team of Terry, Nollie, Kristi and Nancy spend each week combing through music for lyrics and melodies to complement the day’s theme.
The time our Collective spends rehearsing.
The time our Décor Team spent adorning the sanctuary.
The effort and energy Eric spent preparing his Elder’s prayer for the Table.
The time given by the deacons who get here early to prepare communion and then organize themselves to distribute it and receive the offering.
The time Larry spends typing, formatting, printing, folding the worship guides.
The time Terry and John put into their communion meditations, offering invitations, prayers, and children’s moments. Those don't come out of a can!
Welcomers and Ushers taking their stations: “Welcome to Broadway!”
My preaching professor told us we ought to plan on spending an hour in preparation for every minute we preach.
The time spent creating the slides that guide our singing and speaking.
Ingrid counting the offering, recording it, and making a deposit.
The Fellowship Team setting out goodies and turning on the coffee.
I did a quick estimate of the number of hours that go into one hour of worship by adding up all the above and came up with a conservative estimate of 100 people hours. 6,000 minutes of preparation for 60 minutes of worship. And that doesn’t include the energy, effort, and expense you incurred to get up, get dressed, get children ready, and make the drive 5 minutes, 15 minutes, 30 minutes. Bottom line: it took some doing for the wise men and for us to get to worship.
And this: when they worshipped, they gave it their all. Matthew tells us, “They fell down and worshipped him. Then opening their treasures, they offered him gold, frankincense and myrrh.” Think about that: the wise men didn’t go to worship just to “get something out of it,” but to give something to it, namely, themselves and their treasure.
The word translated worship (vss. 2, 8, 11) is proskuneo. Literally: prostrated. Flat out on the floor. Completely surrendered. They were ‘all in’ in their worship.
They held nothing back, culminating in their offerings, described as treasures. It’s a word sometimes translated gifts, but since gifts can run the range from “I need something for $5 for a white elephant gift for the office party” to “Love so amazing so divine demands my soul, my life, my all” I prefer the word treasure. Opening their treasures, they offered him gold, frankincense, and myrhh. Witnessing the wise men’s worship I asked myself, David, is your worship each and every Sunday “all out” and is your offering a treasure?
Their worship involved some doing on their part, they worshipped with all they had, and as a result, Matthew says, “They were overwhelmed with joy”(vs. 10). Christian worship is joyful. If it isn’t joyful, it isn’t Christian worship:
If it’s marked by fearmongering.
If it’s an hour filled with a barrage of finger-pointed shoulds, musts and have tos.
If it’s marked by strait-laced, button-lipped, blank-faced stares.
If it’s marked by boredom.
If it’s lecture footnoted with 50 cent words but offering no testimony to the Word.
If it’s any of those things, it’s not Christian worship because Christian worship is all about gathering in the presence of none other than the Creator of Heaven and Earth to bask in the Light and Life of Jesus Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit which adds up to good news of great joy. C.S. Lewis called joy “the serious business of heaven.”
Now note this: having worshipped, “They left for their own country by another road” (2:12). I don’t know about you, but I often go home on Sunday in a different way than the way I arrived. As a result of worship, our minds are changed, our horizons are expanded, our outlook is altered, and we go home different than we arrived. Thanks be to God for transforming worship! Mark my words: once you meet Jesus Christ – not as a historical figure, but as a risen presence – your old maps are obsolete. The perspectives and worldview and ideology by which you travelled before you met him no longer work. After you worship him, after you confess your “all-in” allegiance to him, you’ll leave on a journey that’ll lead you down paths you’ve not travelled before.
Which is what happened to the wise men. Warned in a dream not to go back the way they came, they went home “by another way” (Matthew 2:12). To put it a different way, they were led on a detour … for their own good. I made a note to self this week: Self, the Bible teaches that sometimes God sends us on a detour for our own good. I’m not going to ask you one-by-one to recount the detours your life has taken (or the one you’re on right now), but I want to suggest that God is in the detours of our lives taking us places we never would have gone had we stayed on our same, same old paths.
My wife Jennie got detoured 42 years ago. She left the Commonwealth of Virginia in 1982. Told her parents she was going to Nashville for a law degree and be right back. Her father said, “Oh no! You’re going to go off and meet some Yankee!” Sure ‘nuff. She did and has been on a 42 year detour ever since. For which I say, “Thank you, Lord!”
Yours truly was happily retired for all of 9 months when I got a call from a 573 area code. Caller ID said: Cunningham, Mary. “David Shirey, would you be willing to be a candidate for our position of Interim Lead Pastor at Broadway Christian Church in Columbia MO, 460 miles away?” M-I-Z Z-Oh-You are something, Lord, leading me on this detour! I never planned on this.
How about you, Broadway? Did last year proceed just like you planned? Did you set the cruise control at 72 last January 1 and drive straight ahead through 2023, smooth sailing, upward and onward for 365 days? Or did you get detoured? Are you lost or could God be directing you on a detour for your own good?
As we enter this new year, hold a few truths close to your heart:
1) No one and nothing can thwart God’s plans and purposes.
2) Worship with all you’ve got. Savor moments of joy.
3) Don’t fear life’s detours. When on one, wise men and women don’t go back, nor do they stop. Rather, they go out of their way to walk in God’s way trusting that God is leading them home.
If you or your church is on a detour, that’s wonderful! Thanks be to God.
Lord, lead on!
Let all wise men, women, youth and children say AMEN.
