Searching for Our Common Dawning

Readings: Isaiah 2:1-5, 60:1-6, Matthew 2:1-12, Heaven and Hell #141, Secrets of Heaven #9031 (see below)
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Photo by Jill Wellington: https://www.pexels.com/photo/lady-in-beach-silhouette-during-daytime-photography-40192/
Today we are extending Epiphany a little bit longer. So if you haven’t taken your Christmas tree down yet, don’t worry, I’ve got you. Two weeks ago, we heard about Simeon and Anna, and contemplated what it means for Jesus to have a particularly Jewish identity but also an identity with a larger purpose for the whole world. So too now, does Matthew hint at this broader scope with the visitation of the three wise men, referring back to Israel’s mythology of the last days, and how that involves all people.

The gospel of Matthew is primarily written with the early Jewish-Christian communities in mind, and so it is very concerned with demonstrating that Jesus is a fulfillment of the Torah, the holy Jewish scriptures. This could very easily have translated into a completely insular gospel, an insider account, an inward looking endeavor.  And yet, right here at the beginning, in the middle of very Jewish story, we encounter these foreign figures, these three Magi. We assume there at least three because there are three gifts detailed, but we are not actually told how many there were.  The word describing them, magos, indicated a priestly class (though probably not a royal class) of Persian or Babylonian experts in the occult…meaning things like astrology and dream interpretation, soothsaying.  It’s where we get the modern word “magic.” They were clearly pagan, and just very different from the Jews. Yet, here they are, paying homage to Jesus.  Why would that be important?  If Jesus was to be understood as a fulfillment of Jewish scripture, why should that matter to anyone other than the Jews?

Because the Jewish way of understanding God’s end plan for the world always involved the whole world and not just them. Yes, the story of the Old Testament is the story of one group of people and their particular relationship with God, and their promises to God.  But that doesn’t mean that they believed God was going forsake the rest of the world. We heard in our reading today, in Isaiah chapter 2, the prophet detailing a vision of “the last days,” where “all the nations” will stream towards the high mountain on which the Lord’s temple will be established, where people will beat swords into plowshares and spears into pruning hooks. God’s divine plan for humankind involves peace and acceptance amongst all people, that all should walk in the light of the Lord. 

This vision is reiterated in our other reading, Isaiah 60, a post-exile text, where during a time of searching for and reforming their identity, the Jewish people are reminded that their future is intertwined with the future of all peoples, and that further, their identity is now to, though God, become a blessing and a light to the whole world.  We read:

See, darkness covers the earth and thick darkness is over the people. But the Lord rises upon you and his glory appears over you. Nations will come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your dawn.

What an amazing call to action to receive after years of oppression in exile. One would reasonably imagine that a people newly out of exile would be thirsty for revenge, desperate to reclaim their power in the world, bitter and prejudiced against anyone but their own people. But instead, God calls them to be the complete opposite. God calls them to be a light for the nations, God calls them to be bright and welcoming like the dawn. God calls on them to shine and let the glory of the Lord rise up in them. And it is to these texts, among others, that Matthew is alluding in his story of the Magi. The Magi represented the nations following the light mentioned in Isaiah, following the brightness that would lead them to a new dawn, and a new future for the world. Their presence was not only an indication that Jesus was special, that Jesus was to be worshipped, they represented an important part of the fulfillment of Israel’s destiny, a destiny that would not be complete without them, for it had always included them.  Now granted, the nations in Isaiah’s vision that are to stream into Zion are doing so to pay honor to the one true God - the vision is inclusive but it is not relativistic. Yet, it is also not nationalistic either, but rather, God-centric - the nations are to come because of the greatness of the Lord, not because of the greatness of Israel.

God had always been acting for and speaking to the whole world, and so like Simeon and Anna, the Magi had their eyes open, their minds watchful. When they saw something important rise up, they acted, they stood up, they moved. Verse 2:2 is variously translated “we saw a star in the east,” and “we saw a star when it rose” because the greek word anatole can mean both the east and “a rising,” like the rising of the stars or sun.  These wise men, from the East, from the place of “the rising,” rose up themselves to follow the star to wherever it would lead them.

In Swedenborgian terms as well, the east is a powerful image because “the east” represents the Lord.  And this is because Swedenborg tells us that the Lord appears in heaven as the sun, a manifestation of divine love and divine truth, in the form of warmth and light. The Lord’s love shines like a sun, and everything that comes into being in heaven and on earth is ultimately from this source. To the extent that this warmth and light are accepted by us, to the extent that we allow this warmth and light to manifest itself as love and wisdom in our actions and our lives, then we learn from our reading that the angels say of such people “the Lord has risen among them.” Indeed, the “Lord is said to rise in the heart when a person is being regenerated, when he or she is governed by the good of love and faith.” The Magi embodied this state of being. They were driven by their holy curiosity, their desire to see what God was doing in the world and so they were open to noticing the star rising, open to the new possibilities of a journey, open to seeing beyond themselves.

Herod, however, gives us the opposite case.  Herod could not see the star. He too was a foreigner, an Idumean, from a region south of Judea, but there would be no searching for the light for him, no birthing of new possibility, because to the self-absorbed, all that is not the self is dangerous.  With his eyes glued constantly to his own ascendency, to the consolidation and perpetuation of this own power…of course it was impossible for him to see the star, impossible to be open to a recognizing something good or true apart from his own self-interest.  But that didn’t mean it was impossible for him to recognize the importance of the Magi showing up.  Even in purely worldly terms, it was unusual.  They ask where is the king?  And of course, to Herod’s mind there is only room of one king: himself.  There is no rising within his heart, no dawning of something new, because all newness to him is a threat to his power, to the status quo. To him, the promise of the star is nothing but annihilation and so he acts accordingly.

And this is representative of the conflict within our own hearts, for we all have parts of us that are Herod, and parts of us that are the Magi.  God is always wanting to rise within our hearts, always gently urging us to turn toward the east, to notice the star…but if our hearts only have room for ourselves we will not react with an expansion of spirit, we will not react with curiosity, we will not react by rising up ourselves, we will only contract, and act to shut the light down.  And sometimes, honestly, this feels easier.  The Magi did not know where they were going.  Pilgrimage is scary, movement is scary, especially when we have no guarantees about where we will end up or what we will find.  But Herod’s path is darkness and death, as safe and astute and pragmatic as it may seem.  Herod’s path represents the setting of the sun, not its rising. 

So what does this mean for us? What lessons can we draw from the Magi?

First, We can desire not to be insular. Whatever promises that we think God has made to us, God will always be speaking to all. The light was made for shining, and so salvation is open to all who will have it. God’s vision for our future involves curiosity and open doors. 

Second, We can learn that God constantly endeavors to rise within the human heart. Whether it is a huge bright rising sun, or small shiny star, or a tender gentle burnished dawn… there is always a possibility of a new state of being for us. People, including us, might not always react well towards newness, but God tells us to not to fear. May we believe in God’s perpetual dawning.

Third, We can learn that when we sense something rising, then it is time to act. The Magi trusted the rising, they looked for it, they acted on it. Pilgrimage can be scary, movement can be exhausting, but can we also remember that the rising is a gift, that the end of the journey is always new life, a baby in the manger. Can we inhabit that space, and live into this paradigm?

Fourth, we learn that God has called us to be a blessing and a light to the world.  There will be times when we would rather shut down, times when we would rather lash out, for there is so much suffering in our own lives and in the world at large.  In the midst of that though, God has said, Let there by light, and let it be you. God called forth the light from chaos in the beginning, and God calls it forth even now.  

The Magi were looking for the star, the Jewish people eagerly anticipated the coming of the nations…and that looks to me like we are all a people searching for each other, searching for our common dawning.  So Arise, my friends, and shine, for your light has come.

Amen.


Readings:
Isaiah 2:1-5

1 This is what Isaiah son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem: 2 In the last days the mountain of the LORD’s temple will be established as the highest of the mountains; it will be exalted above the hills, and all nations will stream to it. 3 Many peoples will come and say, “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the temple of the God of Jacob. He will teach us his ways, so that we may walk in his paths.” The law will go out from Zion, the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. 4 He will judge between the nations and will settle disputes for many peoples. They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war anymore. 5 Come, descendants of Jacob, let us walk in the light of the LORD.


Isaiah 60:1-6

1 “Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the LORD rises upon you. 2 See, darkness covers the earth and thick darkness is over the peoples, but the LORD rises upon you and his glory appears over you. 3 Nations will come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your dawn. 4 “Lift up your eyes and look about you: All assemble and come to you; your sons come from afar, and your daughters are carried on the hip. 5 Then you will look and be radiant, your heart will throb and swell with joy; the wealth on the seas will be brought to you, to you the riches of the nations will come. 6 Herds of camels will cover your land, young camels of Midian and Ephah. And all from Sheba will come, bearing gold and incense and proclaiming the praise of the LORD.


Matthew 2:1-12

1 After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem 2 and asked, “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.” 3 When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him. 4 When he had called together all the people’s chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Messiah was to be born. 5 “In Bethlehem in Judea,” they replied, “for this is what the prophet has written: 6 “ ‘But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for out of you will come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel.’ ” 7 Then Herod called the Magi secretly and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared. 8 He sent them to Bethlehem and said, “Go and search carefully for the child. As soon as you find him, report to me, so that I too may go and worship him.” 9 After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen when it rose went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. 10 When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. 11 On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. 12 And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route.


Heaven and Hell 141

The reason they give the name "east" to the direction in which the Lord is seen as the sun is that the whole source of life is from him as the sun. Further, to the extent that warmth and light, or intelligence and wisdom from him, are accepted among angels, they say that the Lord has risen among them. This is also why the Lord is called the east in the Word.1


Secrets of Heaven 9031

…It is similar with the Sun of heaven, which is the Lord; this too is said to rise. But it is said to rise in the heart when a person is being regenerated, and also when he or she is governed by the good of love and faith; and it is said to set when a person is immersed in evil and in falsity arising from it.