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The feast of the Epiphany commemorates the arrival of the magi,
\nand their journey to find Christ can inspire us
\nto reflect on our own journey to encounter Christ in our lives.
\nEach of our journeys is unique,
\nand no one finds Christ in the quite the same way as anyone else.<\/p>\n
The magi in the Gospel of Matthew found Jesus in their own way.
\nThe names and numbers of the magi are not given in Matthew\u2019s gospel,
\nbut we think of them as a group of three,
\nprobably because of the three gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.
\nOur tradition gives them the names Caspar, Balthasar, and Melchior.<\/p>\n
These three magi, or wise men, read and studied the signs,
\nand when they noticed a particular star at its rising,
\nthey traveled far from their own land in the east
\nand they found Jesus in Bethlehem.<\/p>\n
For some of us, our journey might be similar:
\nfollowing clear signs, point A to point B.
\nFor others of us, the path is different,
\na more winding road.<\/p>\n
Such was the case with the other wise man, Artaban.
\nYou won\u2019t find Artaban in the Bible.
\nHis story is told by the author Henry van Dyke.<\/p>\n
It seems that Artaban had studied the stars with his friends
\nCaspar, Balthasar, and Melchior,
\nand he knew that a king was to be born among the Jews,
\na King who would change the world.
\nSo Artaban arranged to meet up with his three friends
\nand travel with them to visit this King,
\nonce they saw his star.
\nIn preparation, Artaban sold his possessions and bought three jewels –
\na sapphire, a ruby, and a pearl – to carry as gifts to the king.<\/p>\n
One night, Artaban looked up and said,
\n\u201cThe star! The King is coming, and I will go to meet him.\u201d
\nHe had ten days to get to the rendezvous
\nand join his friends\u2019 caravan,
\nso Artaban immediately got on his horse
\nand rode across fields of Concabar, past Selucia,
\nacross the Tigris and Euphrates rivers,
\nand finally arrived at Babylon at nightfall on the tenth day,
\nhis horse exhausted,
\njust three hours away from his friends.
\nBut what was this?
\nThere was a man lying across the road, a poor Hebrew exile, almost dead,
\nin the grip of a deadly fever.
\nShould he turn aside, if only for a moment, to help this poor man,
\nand risk missing the caravan?
\nHe couldn\u2019t leave the man to die,
\nso Artaban jumped from his horse, brought the man water
\nand cared for him until the man recovered.
\nBut, alas, he missed the caravan and his three friends.<\/p>\n
Sometimes we think we may have \u201cmissed the boat,\u201d
\nand we look back on the choices we have made,
\nwondering if they were right.<\/p>\n
But Artiban was persistent.<\/p>\n
However, he couldn\u2019t cross the desert with only a horse,
\nso he sold the sapphire
\nto buy the camels and supplies necessary for such a long trip.
\nFortunately, the Hebrew man he had saved
\ntold him that, according to the prophets,
\nthe King of the Jews would not be born in Jerusalem, but in Bethlehem.<\/p>\n
So Artaban set off for Bethlehem, hoping to meet his friends there.
\nHe crossed deserts, mountain ranges,
\nendured the fierce heat of day, and the bitter chill of night.
\nand finally arrived in Bethlehem.
\nAs he walked through the village looking for his friends,
\nArtaban heard a woman\u2019s voice through a doorway,
\nsinging her baby boy to sleep.
\nWhen she noticed his foreign clothing,
\nshe told Artaban of the three strangers from the far East
\nwho had appeared in the village three days ago,
\nand how they said a star had guided them to the place
\nwhere a newborn child lay.
\nBut the young mother also told Artaban
\nthat the strangers had gone,
\nand the child and his family were gone too,
\nrumored to have fled to Egypt.<\/p>\n
Artaban\u2019s spirit was crushed.
\nHe had missed his friends again, and the newborn King!<\/p>\n
Sometimes our spirits are crushed.
\nAnd we feel unlucky or abandoned.<\/p>\n
And then it gets worse.<\/p>\n
For just then, soldiers arrived in the village,
\nand Artaban and the young mother heard shouts:
\n\u201cThe soldiers of Herod are killing our children!\u201d
\nThe young mother hugged her child tightly,
\nand crouched in the darkest corner of the room.
\nArtaban went quickly to the doorway and stood there, looking out.
\nA soldier came hurrying up the street
\nand saw Artaban in his foreign clothing, filling up the doorway.
\nArtaban said, \u201cI\u2019m all alone in this place,
\nand I am waiting to give this jewel to the prudent captain
\nwho will leave me in peace.\u201d
\nArtaban showed the ruby,
\nand the amazed captain pocketed the jewel and said to his men,
\n\u201cMarch on, there is no child here, the house is empty.\u201d<\/p>\n
From Bethlehem Artaban traveled on to Egypt,
\nseeking everywhere and finding nothing.
\nWhen he got to Alexandria a wise Hebrew rabbi told him,
\n\u201cThe Messiah will be despised and rejected by many,
\na man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief.
\nThose who seek him will do well to look among the poor and the lowly,
\nthe sorrowful and the oppressed.\u201d<\/p>\n
And so Artaban traveled from place to place, visiting the oppressed.
\nThough he didn\u2019t find the King, he did find many who needed help.
\nHe fed the hungry, clothed the naked, and comforted the captive,
\nand his years passed swiftly by,
\nthirty-three years to be exact,
\nand still he sought the King of the Jews.
\nArtaban\u2019s hair was now white, his face wrinkled, his body weary.<\/p>\n
He had come for the last time to Jerusalem, still looking for the King.
\nIt was the season of Passover and the city was filled with foreigners.
\nArtaban joined a group of people from his own country
\nand asked them where they were going.
\nThey said, \u201cWe\u2019re going to the place called Golgotha,
\nwhere there is to be an execution of two famous robbers,
\nand another, Jesus of Nazareth, a man who has done wonderful works,
\nbut who has been sent to be crucified
\nbecause he said he was the King of the Jews.\u201d<\/p>\n
Nazareth? The King of the Jews!
\nCould it be?
\nCould it be that he had arisen but had been rejected,
\nand was now about to die?
\nAnd Artaban thought,
\n\u201cMaybe I will at last find the King, in the hands of his enemies,
\nand will come in time to offer my pearl for his ransom before he dies.\u201d<\/p>\n
But just then a troop of Roman soldiers came down the street,
\ndragging a young girl.
\nShe was the daughter of a merchant,
\nbut her father was dead,
\nand she was being sold as a slave to pay his debts.<\/p>\n
Artaban knew what he had to do.
\nHe took the pearl and gave it to the slave.
\n\u201cThis is your ransom, daughter.
\nIt is the last of my treasures which I have kept for the King.\u201d<\/p>\n
Suddenly there was a great earthquake,
\nand the walls of the houses shook to and fro.
\nA heavy tile fell from a nearby roof and struck Artaban on the temple.
\nHe lay breathless and pale, in the lap of the young girl,
\nknowing that his quest was over
\nand that he had failed.<\/p>\n
Sometimes we feel the same way, that we have failed.
\nWe lose hope, we despair.
\nBut we don\u2019t always have the full picture.
\nIn fact, we rarely do.<\/p>\n
You see, then came a voice through the twilight, very small and still.
\nThe young girl turned to see if someone had spoken from the window above them,
\nbut she saw no one.
\nThen the old man\u2019s lips began to move, as if to answer,
\nand she heard him say,
\n\u201cNot so, my Lord, when did I see you hungry and feed you?
\nOr thirsty, and give you drink?
\nWhen did I see you a foreigner and take you in, or naked and clothe you?
\nThirty-three years I have looked for you;
\nbut I have never seen your face, or ministered to you, my King.\u201d<\/p>\n
The sweet voice came again, faint and far away,
\nbut this time the young girl understood the words:
\n\u201cTruly I say to you,
\nwhatsoever you have done to one of the least of these,
\nyou have done it to me.\u201d<\/p>\n
A calm radiance of wonder and joy lighted the face of Artaban
\nand a long breath of relief exhaled gently from his lips.
\nHis journey was ended. His treasures were accepted.
\nThe other wise man had found his King.<\/p>\n
Not one of us travels the same road.
\nSome of us have led fairly straightforward lives of faith,
\nfrom point A to point B,
\nonly to begin questioning in our old age.
\nSome of us were raised in the Faith,
\nand may have drifted away and then returned with new appreciation.
\nSome of us came to the Faith later in life,
\nafter exploring many different paths,
\nor after suffering through difficult challenges.
\nWe may have family or friends
\nwho seem to be moving away from Bethlehem right now.
\nBut even they are still on the journey,
\nand there is hope for them.<\/p>\n
On this feast of the Epiphany,
\neach one of us is asked to reflect on our own search for Jesus.<\/p>\n
What has your journey been like?
\nWhere have you gotten lost or sidetracked?
\nWho has helped guide you back?
\nIn what unexpected places or people have you found Jesus?
\nWhat treasures have you given him?
\nWhat has been your Epiphany?<\/p>\n