Another Road
“Another Road” by Pastor Rosanna McFadden
Good morning! Welcome to a new year. There are so many things to love about Epiphany Sunday — let me unpack a few of them. Epiphany is the day which Christians celebrate the arrival of the wise men in Bethlehem. January 6 is the feast of Epiphany, which, if you do the math, is twelve days after Christmas: the Twelve Days of Christmas — as in that song with partridges, gold rings and lords a leaping — are the days between Christmas and Epiphany. These were days of activities and festivities outside of ordinary time: twelve days of not doing regular work. Twelve days of college football playoffs is a more recent phenomenon, but is still kind of the vibe of doing special stuff instead of all the regular stuff.
There are also few things which are specific to Creekside which I look forward to each year: setting up this chancel table with the gold, silver and bronze ornaments is one. Special cakes and finding coins baked into them during our fellowship time is another. For years we have enjoyed the gifts of three kings figures, oil paintings from the collection of Doris Walters and the quilt in memory of Fred Walters. This year through the generosity of a Creekside member, we had the opportunity to take home a portion of that collection for our own homes. I doubt if sixty years ago when Doris and her friend Sandy Shrock from Elkhart City Church decided they would each begin a collection so they knew what to get each other for gifts that Doris had any idea where that would lead. All of Doris’ ornaments and plates and figures and three kings sweatshirts are a reminder of friendship and generosity, and they add special meaning to this day for me.
You are probably aware that in some countries, especially Spanish-speaking countries in Europe and south of here in Central and South America, this is the day for gift exchanges for families. This makes it a much-anticipated day for children, and the focus of a lot of effort for adults. For many households, it marks the end of the Christmas season, and time to start taking down the decorations and getting back to a regular schedule of work or school.
What I want to focus on this morning is an idea which is suggested at the end of the wise men’s story, but more fully developed in the rest of the Bible. You’ll recall that the two biblical accounts of the nativity diverge significantly after Jesus’ birth. As we heard last week, in Luke’s gospel Jesus’ parents take him to be dedicated at the Temple in Jerusalem and encounter blessing and prophecy, and then they return home to Nazareth. In Matthew’s gospel we’re told that Jesus was born in Bethlehem, and then we hear immediately about these wise men from the east who have followed a star to find the newborn king. They are wise enough to read the signs in the heavens, but not wise enough to realize that Herod, the current Roman-installed leader of the Jews might not be too happy about a fulfillment of prophecy which would unseat him from his position. Herod learns enough to do some terrible damage to families in Bethlehem, but not enough to thwart God’s plan for Jesus Christ or to stop the wise men before they are able to get out of Israel and return home.
We don’t hear anything more about the wise men — from Matthew or anywhere else in the Bible — after they leave Bethlehem. Matthew dismisses them by saying “they left for their own country by another road.” They went home another way — to avoid another encounter with Herod for sure, but I believe that it was more than that. I hope that these wise men went home as different people than when they left, because the witness of the gospels, of the New Testament, of Christianity is that when people encounter Jesus they are changed. This is the testimony of God’s Word, this is the testimony we hear from Christians of every generation. It’s anybody’s guess what these wise men were expecting when they left home — they were not Jews, so they may not have had the same messianic expectations as the folks in Israel, but they were probably expecting something grander than a modest couple and their young son — I mean, this kid has his own star, for heaven’s sake, would a simple palace be too much to ask for?
I imagine that the very commitment to seek the child who was born king of the Jews is when that transformation began for the wise men. Scholars estimate that trip may have taken them two years; a pilgrimage like that changes people. In fact, that’s the whole point of making a pilgrimage — not just to reach a destination, but for what happens along the way. Whatever happened along that trip, we know what happened when the wise men finally arrived at their destination: they knelt down and worshipped Jesus. And when people acknowledge Jesus as Emmauel, Messiah, Light of the World, God in Flesh, Lord, Savior — whatever name you choose to use — they go back to their homes and their lives another way.
You may know that one of the Church of the Brethren taglines is “Another way of living.” The implication is that believing in and following Jesus Christ changes us. There are some specific things which are distinctive to the way in which Brethren follow Jesus and live in community with each other and practice our faith in the world, but being a follower of Jesus means we go about our lives in another way than we did before we acknowledged Jesus as Lord and Savior. Here is a portion of a Church of the Brethren vision statement from 2011: Ron Nicodemus was part of the committee which implemented this statement:
In a world of anxiety and fear, we trust God’s ability to transform us. Relying
on God rather than our own ability, we pursue another way of living. As we
practice continued openness to God’s activity, we engage the world of mystery
and hope that is the kingdom of God.
There is so much here which is relevant to the story of Epiphany and our text this morning. We may feel like we are living in a world of anxiety and fear, but that is not unique to the 21st century. Jesus was born into a world of anxiety and fear — read the rest of Matthew chapter 2 if you have any doubt about this. Even the wise men, with their education, wealth and privilege had to deal with anxiety and fear. Fear of reprisal from Herod, fear of what disaster they might have inadvertently brought on the infant king Jesus. I also liked the vision statement’s reference to continued openness to God’s presence—an openness these stargazers had, even though they observed a manifestation of God’s activity which was outside of their own faith. These Gentile outsiders saw what all the Jewish insiders had missed: there was a new king of the Jews. There were aware of what others had overlooked or failed to notice.
And finally, I love that last part of the vision statement and I believe it is a great word for us for Epiphany and for 2026. It says, “we engage the world of mystery and hope that is the kingdom of God.” Another way of living is not primarily about how much information we have collected about Jesus Christ. Information about Jesus is not a bad thing, of course, but it is not a substitute for getting up, gathering some like-minded folks and setting off on a pilgrimage to find Jesus. We may not have a clear picture of how we’re going to get there, or be entirely sure what we’re going to find. This, too, is the nature of a pilgrimage: being open to the opportunities, detours, and departures from the itinerary which inevitably happen along the way. We are called to pack up our gifts, saddle up the camels and get out there in faith: the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. The wise men may have left home thinking they were going to find a new earthly king, and instead, the star led them into the kingdom of God. Like the wise men, when we glimpse the kingdom of God, we go home another way.Blessings to you as we step into a new year and travel together. I believe there are amazing things ahead if we remain open to God’s activity, and embrace the mystery and hope of God’s kingdom. Amen.