On the Move
Isaiah 60:1-6; Matthew 2:1-15
Amahl and the Night Visitors is a one-act opera by Gian Carlo Menotti about the Magi. Melchior, Kaspar, and Balthazar are three kings on a long journey following a bright star in the sky. Weary and in need of a rest, the kings knock on the door belonging to Amahl and his widowed mother. They are a humble little family. Amahl is a poor, precocious, shepherd boy who walks with difficulty, using a crutch. Amahl has seen the star they speak of. He’s been trying to convince his mother to come outside and witness its grandeur. She believes that Amahl is once again exaggerating the length of the tail on the star, just to get her attention. In a string of curious questions, he learns their exotic visitors are searching for a child born under that star, for whom they have brought extravagant gifts: gold, frankincense and myrrh.
While the guests are asleep, Amahl’s mother, in desperation, takes one piece of gold from the kings’ treasure. When she is caught, the kings respond with compassion rather than punishment, explaining that their gold is meant to help a child whose love will transform the world. Deeply moved, Amahl offers his only possession – his crutch – as a gift for the child.
At that moment, Amahl is miraculously healed and able to walk! Overcome with joy, he asks to join the kings on their journey to meet the Christ child so that he can deliver the crutch himself. The opera ends with Amahl bidding his grateful mother good-bye, leaving with the kings as they follow the star on their way. In 2016, 10-yr old Carter Burton played Amahl in UAB’s presentation of the opera.
From the bishop of Winchester’s Nativity sermon in 1622, to T. S. Eliot’s classic poem, Journey of the Magi, to Menotti’s Amahl and the Night Visitors, the story of the wisemen has been embellished with cultural images and the rich imaginations of those revisiting the story many times over. The famous Nativity sermon (as in the lyrics the starry night was depicted as a cold, dark English winter. But in that telling, his hearers could imagine exotic visitors showing up at their doors, weary and frost-bitten from travel, and earnest in their search for Goodness and Light.[1] This story of the Magi can easily be retold as a happy post-Christmas almost-fairy-tale-adventure and has been many times. But there is truth in the story – that those involved had to be very wary and vigilant in their circumstances, which had little to do with the season or the weather, and much more to do with the political peril in which they lived. The invitation to us today in this familiar story of the magi, and Joseph’s courage in the face of danger is to notice how:
God is present with us and guiding us;
The Holy Spirit is also on the move, shining a light to help us find our way; and that
Small acts of courage are part of how we follow God.[2]
In chapter 2 of Matthew’s gospel, people are on the move. First, it is the magi coming from the east, signaling that something important has happened, someone important has come. Too soon, this is followed by the Holy Family who must flee to Egypt for their own safety and security.
The Magi are on the move. Then, Joseph, Mary, and Jesus are on the move. The Kingpin in the midst of these scenes is the ruthless and jealous Herod. These magi are no sorcerers. Herod is not afraid of them. They are pious Gentiles, who Matthew wants his readers to know have a part to play in the unfolding story of Jesus.
In a not-so-wise move, the wisemen come to Jerusalem, what David Garland calls, “the Jewish nerve-center.” They’re asking, of all things, for more information on the birth of One who will be the King of the Jews because they have seen his star rising. It’s an innocent question that gets under Herod’s skin. Verse three says he was frightened, disturbed, troubled…[3] One might have expected that all Jerusalem would erupt in great rejoicing at news of the birth of a born king, but when your psychopathic king is troubled, then everybody is troubled![4] Herod doesn’t have any love for the Jewish religious leaders, so it’s very unusual for him to call them all together for any purpose. It must cause some alarm then, when he summons them to ask the whereabouts of the messiah’s birth. Can they verify what these visitors have said? While the priests and scribes would believe in the signs of stars, they were not even looking for the star of the messiah. Yet, with their mastery of the law and the prophets, they can confirm Jesus’ messianic credentials by providing the scriptural confirmation that the messiah is to be born in Bethlehem. But it’s the outsiders with their astrology who are the first to search for the baby, not the priests and scribes. The Magi are the ones trusting in something bigger than themselves, not just relying on their knowledge. God provides for them the star that guides them all the way to Jesus. And when they come to the place where he is, all trouble melts away and they are filled with joy! Unlike the priests and scribes, they have let the birth of Christ move them, fill them, stir the waters of their souls; to say yes to an unsettling mystery.
Can you imagine what they felt in the presence of the one for whom they had been searching? It made these kings fall to their knees in worship of him. How the innocence and hope they felt in that little family must have contrasted so starkly to what they felt in the self-aggrandizing, empire-driven presence of Herod. Warned about Herod’s intentions in a dream, Matthew says, the magi return to their homeland another way and avoid Herod’s chaos altogether.
The next few verses give an account of Joseph’s next moves. So, let’s imagine his perspective on what has just taken place. From a long way off, Joseph can see the exotic robes and star-gazing contraptions of gentile travelers coming his way. They point to the brightest star Joseph’s ever seen and explain that light has led them to his stoop. They step inside whatever humble home Joseph has culled together for his young wife and child. They see his boy and are visibly moved - physically and emotionally. They fall to their knees to honor him. Their eyes fill with tears of joy and they present their gifts. Gifts fit for a King! Suddenly God is revealed - on a whole new level - in the unfolding story of their child, God’s child. The portent of their son, his place in the world, that he, the child, is a King is Joseph’s epiphany. He’s watched Mary care for him like she knew he was destined for something beyond Bethlehem and now he could see it too. And he was their protector. Perhaps it was a familiar face that appeared to him in his dream, the same angel as before, a messenger who could be trusted now came with a clear and urgent message: take the child and his mother to Egypt because Herod is looking for them and wants to kill the boy.
Joseph seems to react with haste. In the night, seeking safety and security, Joseph takes his family to a land where their people had once been saved from famine, later enslaved, and ultimately delivered. See this through Joseph’s eyes, they have no choice but to flee to a foreign country. They are asylum seekers. We don’t know how long they remained in Egypt, perhaps 4 or more years. The symbolism in Matthew’s depiction is that God is always at work in the survival stories of his people. God’s mercy is on the side of the oppressed just as God was with Israel through the exodus, the Hebrew midwives under the horrors of Pharoah, now with Joseph and Mary under the bloodlust of Herod.
The story lands a bit differently when you hear it read by one you know, who is both wise man and asylum seeker, doesn’t it? This isn’t some fairy tale, this is a call to remember, to claim the promise that God shows up in unlikely places, that true revelation demands courageous resistance to injustice. And like Joseph, we can say no to what is wrong and follow God through seemingly small acts of courage. Like the magi, we can let ourselves be changed by the birth of Christ in spite of a very troubled world. What about this God-incarnate would make you fall on your knees?
Friends, the Holy Spirit, like the Bethlehem star, is on the move in this world. The Spirit guides, sustains, and reveals the ways that God is constantly, surprisingly working! The Spirit reminds us that borders, threats, and politics are no match for faithfulness. The Spirit of God is on the move no matter how broken this world is with its hate and greed, its daily violence, cruelty, and stupidity at the highest levels. The temptation is to say, No, nevermind. Let better angels remind you, “Do not be afraid to commit to this world, for the Divine is in it!”[5]
The wisemen followed a star, not being quite sure of where they were going or what they would find, we too can say yes, follow in faithfulness, not knowing the ending. God’s revelation shines on the path of protection asking us to be sheltering arms for the vulnerable. For so many of our neighbors need to know that Christ was born for this! Christ was born for them… for all those who feel like immigrants in a foreign land, for all those who move before they know the final destination, for all those who don’t feel safe, or seen, for all those who seek something beyond themselves… Christ was born for this!
Amen.
[1] https://www.christiancentury.org/voices/imagining-magi, Rachel Mann
[2] Illustrated Ministry, The Will to Dream, preaching guide
[3] Misener, Mindy, Christian Century, Epiphany of the Lord, 2025
[4] Garland, David, Reading Matthew
[5] Garnaas-Holmes, Steve, Unfolding Light, Emmanuel