Have you ever got waylaid or diverted or even sidetracked on your intended journey. In spite of all your planning, preparation and purpose, the itinerary of your intended trip has not proceeded the way you thought it would. I remember in times past that if you were taking an unfamiliar journey in the UK, the AA and the RAC had a route planning service for its members. The only problem with this kind of mapping service is it never allowed for unintended interruptions or imposed diversions.
A significant part of the Magi’s travelogue found in Matthews gospel concerns their search for the King of the Jews. At first they seemed to go to the obvious place, the palace in Jerusalem. What is clear, although they took the obvious route and didn’t find what they were looking for, their object never wavered. They still articulated their request, “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.”
The unfolding narrative of the Magi who journey to find the Christ-child and to bring gifts offers an emblematic story of knowing. They are not called wise men for nothing, nor is it a meaningless accident that we use the wording epiphany in referring to a moment of insight. Epiphany is the name of the church season in which we celebrate God's revealing himself to these Gentiles--and to us.
All too often we are like the people John talks about in his prologue. “He was in the world, the world was there through him, and yet the world didn’t even notice. He came to his own people, but they didn’t want him.”
We may well ask in the words of Alan Dickinson, “Where can we find you, Lord Jesus our Master?” The hymn continues to suggest that we look for Christ where the poor, marginalised and needy exists. The hymn continues by asking us to “Go to the hungry, to those who have nothing; Go to the homeless, to those who have nowhere, Go to the outcast, to those who have no-one; and finally in verse 5 asks:-
Where will we find you, Lord Jesus our Master?
We are your servants who answer your call.
You go before us, and there we will follow,
Taking our cross in the service of all.
May the path
that Christ walks
to bring justice
upon the earth,
to bring light
to those who sit
in darkness,
to bring out those
who live in bondage,
to bring new things
to all creation:
may this path
run through our life.
May we be
the road Christ takes. Amen
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