Sermon Title: "By Another Road"
Date: January 4, 2009
Minister: Rev. Charles E. Ensley, Jr.

Lesson:  Matthew 2:1-12

Back in the early eighties, we began to acquire a new nativity set.  It was a collectible series, where new porcelain figures were added each year.  On New Year’s Day, as I packed up our nativity set until next December, I looked at the dates on the bottom of the figurines.  The Holy Family came in 1981.  The wise men arrived the next year in 1982, although in a historical twist, the shepherds didn’t make their appearance until 1983.  Since the donkey and camel did not arrive on the scene until 1984, I have no idea how the Holy Family made that 90 mile journey from Nazareth to Bethlehem without the donkey to carry a very-pregnant Mary.

It is commonplace for the wise men to get such prominent recognition in both religious and secular society.  If you randomly choose 100 different Christmas cards, I wager that the wise men will appear on the front more often than the shepherds.  We have a fascination with these mysterious visitors from unspecified countries in the East, these men with no recorded name, nationality or number who brought spectacular gifts, far more than the shepherds, who brought only themselves.  We picture these men in fanciful robes, maybe even crowns, although they were not really kings. 

There are many things we could ponder about these most regal visitors to see the infant Jesus.  How long had they been following the star?  What was the source of their gifts?  What became of the gifts, for Jesus’ family never acted as if they had gold invested in the market?  Why does only Matthew record their story, and why are they never heard from again?  But we’re never going to know the answer to those questions, for there are no other historical records of their visit we can consult.

What I would like to focus upon today is the last verse of their story:  “And having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they left for their own country by another way.” (Matthew 2:12)

Dreams play an important role in the Bible, both in the Old and New Testament.  People receive visions through their dreams, and sometimes warnings.  Apparently, the wise men were warned in a dream not to return to Herod and tell him of the whereabouts of this holy infant.  Herod was insanely jealous of any opposition to his power.  He had killed one of his wives and two of his sons.  So the wise men were truly wise, and after visiting Jesus, they departed by another road.

In the verses immediately following Matthew’s account of the wise men, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph and warned him not to return to Nazareth, but flee to Egypt, for the ruthless Herod was about to search for the child to kill him.  Later, after Herod died, an angel of the Lord again appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt and said that Herod was dead and it was now safe to return.

The entire birth narrative of Jesus is filled with unusual twists and turns, and none more so than in the different roads people had to travel.  Mary did not plan to be a young, unmarried mother, nor did Joseph expect his betrothed to be pregnant.  They did not envision they would have to travel 90 miles from Nazareth to Bethlehem, nor have the child born in such a meager setting. 

The wise men, having come from afar, went home by another road, for they somehow interpreted their dream to mean the child would be endangered if they returned to Herod.  Joseph and Mary did not get to return to Nazareth from Bethlehem, instead taking another road to Egypt before eventually taking the road home to Nazareth, some scholars say as much as three years later.

Sometimes life takes us down roads we do not expect.  We make plans, but they don’t always turn out the way we anticipate.  You enter college thinking you know your career path, only to graduate and either find no job in that field, or you really don’t have an interest in that field.  You marry someone, thinking you will retire and grow old together, only to find divorce or a premature death destroys those plans.  You have a child, only to find the child is born with a debilitating disease.  And I don’t need to suggest that some people who were planning retirement in the not-too-distant future find they will be working a little longer to build back up their 401Ks.

It’s ironic that the story of the wise men is always told around New Year’s Day.  What did we really celebrate?  We’re another year older.  Time passes on.

I think one reason for celebrating New Year’s is that down deep we hope that the coming year will be just that—new, perhaps taking us down a better road than in 2008.  In the past year, we made some mistakes.  There are things we would do differently if we had the chance.  We’ve come to some dead ends, had some disappointments.

But new isn’t always easy.  Taking another road can be risky, scary, uncertain and unsure.  We love to hear stories of people who have been converted, who were born again after some encounter with Christ.  They were living one way, walking down an unaccustomed road.  Then they were turned around, turned upside down, and began to travel another road.

Just yesterday I read in the newspaper of a man who had been kicked out of the house by his wife in December of 1996 after living an immoral life.  He was in a motel room, intending to commit suicide, when he saw a Gideon Bible on top of the TV.  He threw it down on the floor in anger.  It fell open.  He kicked it under the bed.  It bounced back out, still open.  Finally he picked it up.  It was open to the Gospel of John, and he began to read some teachings of Jesus.  Over the years, he was able to reconcile with his family, and is today a Southern Baptist minister.

There is a powerful line in the 23rd Psalm:  “Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I fear no evil; for you are with me; your rod and your staff—they comfort me.”  (vs. 4)  This is an assurance that whichever road we are on, whether the path seems light and clear, or darkened and perilous, we are not walking alone.  The same God who warned others to travel by another road walks with us, guiding us through, even if it means turning back to the beginning and traveling by yet another road.

Those who traveled to the manger—Mary and Joseph, the shepherds, the wise men—didn’t really know what to expect.  Yet they journeyed on, trusting that a plan would be made known to them, by whatever road they traveled.  As it was for them, so too may it be for us in this New Year.