A new topic for today.
A few weeks ago, Father Kallio wrote in the Evangel on what we can learn from the parable of the "three wise men" - far away from their homes, "they caught a vision powerful enough to sustain them on a journey... until they discovered its object;" they persisted on this journey to seek the truth; they brought their gifts (our hearts, minds, faith) to the newborn God-in-the-world; and they returned home via "another route," a "metaphor for living a changed life" after encountering God's divinity incarnate in the temporal world.
I'd like to take this one step further.
Surely, we (as suddenly as a new star in the night sky) see a vision of the Truth, distant and small but there nonetheless, and if our hearts are open and willing, we seek that Truth, through a journey of great distances and great spans of time. We may find, at the end of that particular journey, an instance of God in the world - perhaps not "God incarnate," but a tendril of divinity within our ordinarily mundane circumstances - and it is enough to change us fundamentally. We have "found God" - or, more accurately, we have discovered experientially some aspect of God. Out of gratitude we lay our gifts at the babe's bedside: we are thankful for the experience of God, the "mountaintop" experience as Father Bailey puts it, and the best way we know to show this is to change our lives according to that Truth which we have beheld.
But take note here. The next step is that which I would like to emphasize. The wise men leave.
What does this mean for us? I agree that leaving by a different route indicates that our lives have been changed by this experience of God in the world. But does it mean we have reached the end of our journey? Isn't the important thing the fact that, instead of spending the rest of their lives huddled around the child's feet, fawning and worshipping, the wise men continue on a much grander journey?
I think that, if we take the parable all the way through to its end, we learn that we are not supposed to dwell upon these rare instances of incarnate divinity. We are not supposed to reach the end of one journey - Christ, for instance - and then refuse to continue. The wise men leave Jesus. They are changed for what they have seen, of course, but they take this new knowledge and experience with them as they continue on a much larger, more universal quest. They do not return to Herod, but neither do they remain with Mary and Jesus. The star and the divine child were momentous, but they were not the pinnacle of the wise mens' lives.
Similarly, when Jesus asked his disciples to "follow" him, did he not perhaps intend for them to do only that? Follow me for I have something to show you, something which will help you in the grander scheme of things. Do not stay at my feet and worship me, do not fawn over me or defend me by force, just follow me.
Thoughts?
6 comments:
That is a different aproach on the Wise Men. Yes, I did have to leave. Without leaving, I would not arrive at my current place. And sooner or later, I have to leave my current place of life in order to arrive to something bigger. Each stage is a journey. And each journey is part of the bigger journey. The end is not death, but eternal life with God.
"The wise men leave" Go on a journey, (experience something) leave that place for another journey!
This topic is a good one! In my world, the word leave means permission. To go away we would say departure. Some hear the word departure and they think, to deviate from something.
I give you permission to leave that last paragraph, for it is a random departure from the subject at hand.
This may be a stretch, but I think Christ was always trying to teach us about leaving. The climatic or most decisive moment in the life of Christ was his death. (If he had not left, he could not return) The leaving of Christ (thru death) was to show us that LOVE, RESPECT, AND FAITH, need not include physical presence.
I have a life long friend outside the city, a brother in another state, and a father in the Memorial gardens. I don't see any of them (especially Pop) as often as I would like. I still love them. In the 7th grade Mrs. Hudley was my music teacher and in High School Cmdr. R. Coppola was my Sea Ranger ROTC leader. Both of these individuals are with me everyday of my life, yet I have not seen them in 35 years. I still respect them. And GOD...well I ain't never seen him or her, but I do have faith.
Christ's stories, our tools on how to live our life, strangely enough they all seem to end in "leaving". We leave this earth thru death. That's the lesson...preparation for the roads we will travel when we leave one person or one thing or place and move on.
Even in death, maybe we never leave, we just return to the same place via a different road.
For leaving and returning is what our faith is all about.
First off, hello all. I am new to this page, but if you don't mind I'd like to participate from time to time.
Coming Christ (and through him, God) is the beginning of the journey. It is then that we truly begin to experience life as we were meant to. Though, we should not attempt to hide from the world and spend our hours pondering God. He meant for us to be IN the world, just not OF the world. We are meant to take part in society as a representative of Christ and demonstrate God's love through our words and actions. We can not be examples of how to lead a Godly life if we avoid all those who should see such an example. Christ was always in the midst of things, always IN the world, but through his actions and words it was clear that he was not OF the world. Similarly, we are called to follow him in much the same way, by being careful not to let the world change us from our path towards God.
I think I got a little repetitive there. P^)
“It is always surprising how small a part of life is taken up by meaningful moments. Most often they are over before they start although they cast a light on the future and make the person who originated them unforgettable.” – from the movie Anna and the King (1999)
We take those meaningful moments with us through life, through our journeys. But no matter how unforgettable it is – it is still a moment. The remainder of our journey through life is what we do with those moments, how we learn and grow from them.
One of the definitions of the word moment is “the tendency to produce motion especially about a point or axis.”
For me, the most meaningful moments have moved me to action – set me into motion, inspired me and sent me out on a journey – many times a different path then the one that got me there – much like the Wise Men I suppose.
Heather - well said. I think those "meaningful moments" (the mountaintop experiences, as Bailey puts it) are meant to inspire and motivate you into growing (spiritually, emotionally, psychologically, etc).
Welcome Heather! Great to see you on here, and nicely put :-)
Post a Comment