The Worried Wiseman

Most years I feel like we have plodded through the season after Pentecost only to speed through the sacred stories surrounding Jesus’ birth. Mary’s pregnancy, Elizabeth, Jesus’ birth, the angels, the shepherds, the magi, King Herod – all often are smashed into a Christmas Eve pageant with limited time to unpack and wonder what God is revealing to us within them.

That’s one of the reasons I delight in celebrating the Feast of the Epiphany today, January 6. The Gospel of Matthew tells us this is the day the magi, sometimes called wisemen or kings, arrived in Bethlehem. They were directed by angels and guided by a star, bringing gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh to Jesus.

“The Worried Wiseman” by Susan Eaddy is a beautiful way to enter the story of Epiphany. It invites the reader to wonder about the wisemen. Where were they from? What were they feeling? What was their journey like? How does their story speak to ours? Through Eaddy’s clay creations, the reader notices that Jesus was not an infant when the wisemen arrived in Bethlehem. The shepherds had gone home. The wisemen’s journey was long. In Eaddy’s Melchior, I am struck by the simple and essential message that following the Holy is often uncomfortable, something of which I often need to be reminded.

Epiphany is our invitation, like the magi’s, to follow stars, listen to dreams, and step out of what we have always known. As you dwell with the magi’s story this Epiphany, I wonder what you will notice.

“The Worried Wiseman” by Susan Eaddy. Published by Morehouse Publishing in 2022.