Epiphany 1/8/2023

1/8/2023

Epiphany or 3 Kings Day – Following the Star, I’m Spiritual not Religious

Good morning One River,

Today begins the week where we celebrate the Magi, the three wise men/Kings from the East that came to worship the baby Jesus and shower him with gifts. I want to take a look at these men and talk a bit about the mindset of those that consider themselves Spiritual but not Religious.

I have a very dear friend that describes herself as spiritual, but not religious. The concept, believe it or not, has been around since the ancient Greek philosophers. When a person examining the nuances of their chosen religion came across something they didn’t like, agree with or understand, they would often find a way to cut that particular piece out of their religious beliefs. Choosing to follow their own personal revisions instead.

My friend grew up Catholic, as I did. But, she doesn’t like several parts of Catholicism (which I can understand) and Christianity (Which I understand but disagree with). She has never really traveled anywhere, which is a factor not exclusive, but I find indicatory of one’s ability to grapple with segments of reality that we don’t like or agree with on a personal level.

My friend still believes in things like angels and demons, but also ghosts and spirits, transmography and ancestral worship. She continues to pray almost exclusively to the God of the bible, so she says, but doesn’t read it. Doesn’t go to any form of organized religious service. And really, by her own admission, does nothing to improve her spiritual or religious life. She just thinks about things, often at a very superficial level, and comes to her own conclusions about the way of the Supernatural world.

I tell you this, not to bag on my friend, or to claim some form of religious superiority, but to explain to you guys the nature of the way Spiritual not religious often works. My friend is not alone. I know many other people in similar situations. Many who consider themselves Christian. But Christian Spiritualists Not Religious. She has divined some of the truth but has done nothing to really help herself find “The Truth”.

There are a few factors at play here. The first is the belief in objective truth. Do we as Christians believe in a singular reality governed by objective truth?

As C.S. Lewis shared his grief after the death of his wife, the greatest compliment he paid to her was that she wanted the truth at any price. High praise indeed but not the type we normally hear in funeral eulogies these days or when we come to celebrate the qualities we admire in other people. For Lewis, his wife’s passion for the truth, confirmed and inspired his own conviction of how important it was and is for the future of humanity to seek the truth and conform oneself to it.

In The Abolition of Man, Lewis describes a disturbing development in the evolution of the age in which he lived; namely that instead of conforming ourselves to the truth, we bend the truth to what we want it to say:

“For the wise people of old, the cardinal problem of human life was how to conform the soul to objective reality, and the solution was wisdom, self-discipline, and virtue. For modern humanity, the cardinal problem is how to conform reality to the wishes of humans, and the solution is a technique.” Lewis wrote these words in the middle of the twentieth century. In the light of almost eighty years since then, they can only be described as prophetic as our appreciation for objective truth weakens all the time. In the words of Bishop Barron, young people in particular are vulnerable to what he describes as a “deeply distorting ideology, that is not only distancing them from reality, but also making real argument about most matters of importance, including religion, virtually impossible as reality shifts and drifts according to the wills of individuals.”

If we don’t believe in objective truth. One Truth for all, then we have nowhere to go. Jesus may, or may not be LORD, but it doesn’t matter, because that’s not my truth.

Jesus tells us “I am the way, the Truth and the life. No one comes to the Father but through me.” (John 14:6) We all know this verse. We all love this verse. But it radically reframes the idea of objective truth. Let’s remember, this is the Gospel of John, not Luke or one of Paul’s Epistles. This was likely written to the Jewish population. An ancient middle eastern culture without an inherit understanding of what we would call Objective Truth. This is another one of those radical things Jesus said. Yes, he claimed to be the son of God. Yes, he claimed to be God. But he also claimed for the first time in Jewish history, there’s really only one way.

Orthodox Jews to this day are still not an evangelistic religion. They, in fact, spend no small amount of time trying to talk you out of becoming a practicing Jew. Why do you think that is? If they believed that God, Yahweh was they one and only God and worshiping Him was the only correct path, why would they try and talk you out of it?

Ok, I know this may seem like I’m off and running, but let me see if I can frame this in for everyone.

We’re talking about the Magi.

Matthew 2:1–12 (NIV)

The Magi Visit the Messiah

2 After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem and asked, “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.”

3 When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him. 4 When he had called together all the people’s chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Messiah was to be born. 5 “In Bethlehem in Judea,” they replied, “for this is what the prophet has written:

6 “ ‘But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,

are by no means least among the rulers of Judah;

for out of you will come a ruler

who will shepherd my people Israel.’”

7 Then Herod called the Magi secretly and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared. 8 He sent them to Bethlehem and said, “Go and search carefully for the child. As soon as you find him, report to me, so that I too may go and worship him.”

9 After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen when it rose went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. 10 When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. 11 On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. 12 And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route.

The Feast of the Epiphany celebrates the arrival of the magi to the crib in Bethlehem, having followed the light of the star which led them to Christ. In this episode from Matthew’s Gospel, we are invited to see the fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy that all the peoples of the earth would be led to the God of Israel with a joyful, trusting faith and bow down in worship before him (Isa. 2:3).

For generations of the faithful, these wise men represent the whole of humanity whose thirst for truth propels them forward and is at the beginning of every religious quest. They are symbolic of the pull; the fascination being exerted on them by God’s objective truth and unfolding plan. The magi, like us, have felt something of the magnetism of God and his truth, leading us forward to know not just some of the truth, the whole truth. In the words of Pope Benedict XVI, “These figures are forerunners, preparers of the way, seekers after truth, such as we find in every age. . . . They represent the inner aspiration of the human spirit, the dynamism of religions and human reason toward Christ.”

Who were the Magi? There’s been a lot of ink spilled about who these men were. Scripture gives us very little information, but we do have a few telling clues. The term Magi, anyone know what it means? It actually means Wise Men. They are often referred to as Kings, but that is not explicit in the text. In fact, it’s more likely that they were Zoroastrian Priests.

Anyone familiar with Zoroastrianism? I can forgive you if you’re not. I had to go back and look up some of the details myself. They are all but extinct now, and those that do remain are nothing like the origins of the religion. Zoroastrianism is generally agreed upon to be the first Monotheistic faith. They worshiped the god “Ahura Mazdā, which means “Wise Lord”. They did not have a singular specific name for their God. Wise LORD is more of a title than a name. The worshippers of the early faith were astronomers, not astrologers. They believed that tracking the stars revealed truth. Which, of course it does. Tracking the stars revealed things like seasons, migration patterns, and birth rate patterns in nature.

Zoroastrians were held in high regard by the Jewish population specifically because of their dedication to what we would call objective truth.

We don’t know for certain that the magi were Zoroastrian priests, but “magi” is the word that would have been used for them at the time of Christ. And, if anyone was going to be looking for a savior in the stars, it would have been them. Their faith foretold of 3 coming saviors. Now, the word savior to them did not have the same implications as if does to us, or even to the 1st century Jewish population, but they were on the hunt for a savior by understanding the stars.

We also don’t know specifically where they came from. Most scripture translates the original Greek to something like “they came from the East”. It literally says, “from the direction of the rising Sun.” That verbiage is again in line with Zoroastrian priests.

I know some of you may be thinking about certain passages in Isaiah, particularly 60 where it uses the term kings to describe those that bring Gold, Frankincense and Myrr to the Christ. But I would suggest reading the entire section before attributing it to these men. Things are not that black and white.

We know these magi, astronomers not astrologers, followed what they thought was a star to Jerusalem, most likely because it was Israel’s capital. And then asked the king, said to be Herod at the time, where the savior was born.

I want you to think about that for a minute. You’re a monotheistic faith, like, I don’t know, we are. Not only that you’re a priest of that faith. You see an event in the stars and you decide to follow it, to a foreign land, that worships another god and ask them about a savior. Why? Because they sought out truth!

There’s a recent theory by a guy named Frank Tipler called the Supernova Hypothesis. He found the remnants of a supernova start that are recorded in ancient history on February 23, 4BC. This would have been on, or about the time Jesus was born. It happened in the constellation Aquila, which would have put it in the sky over Israel at the time. The nova was "recorded in China, Korea, and Palestine"

In many ways, these early Zoroastrian priests were the first missionaries. They went out from their homeland to seek truth. Guided only by a star, or a supernova, to take them to the ultimate truth, Jesus.

We live in a time when we change our clothes rather than confront truth. Take that for what it is. Most in our society, and in cultures around the world do not actually seek truth. That title has become a way to be firmly non-committal about many things including faith. In seeking, I’m spiritual, but not religious.

I would ask, are you? Would you travel 1300 miles by foot over the course of 3-6 months to seek truth? If the answer’s no, then are you really seeking it? Or are you just hoping it falls into your lap and is palatable enough to go along with your current values?

These magi crossed a desert to seek the truth of a savior. They came before a king that was known to be incredibly violent and a little crazy, to ask him where the new king was…. Seeking truth, valuing truth above all else.

Guess what they found? Jesus. They found Jesus. Jesus is the Truth. Much like the Jews of the day, they didn’t get the savior they were looking for, but they did get the one they needed.

It’s also of note that the magi are only written of in Matthew’s Gospel. Have you ever noticed that? As I mentioned, the magi were reverse missionaries. They came to find the truth and hear the good news. Now each of the Gospel’s has its own commission account. But by far, the most explicit is the one in Matthew.

I think this is part of Matthew’s literary symmetry. Jesus’ life begins with a missionary call, and it concludes with one, all predicated on truth. Seek truth, the truth of the lord. Proclaim truth, the truth of the LORD.

We’ve gone through this before, but what does it mean to make a disciple? It means to teach and train up someone in your ways. Whose ways? Jesus! Who is Jesus? He’s the Truth and the life, no one comes to the Father but through him.

As we go out today and speak truth, let’s remember that it’s truth in love. We’re going to run into those that identify as Spiritual but not religious. That’s not Truth, but truth does not have to be confrontational or divisive. But it might be. Truth is not subjective or perspectival. Jesus took a lot of these options off the table.

As Christians we should not be going around swinging truth like a club. Jesus was many things, but he was rarely mean, and when he was, it was to the religious cast. He was always kind to those that were legitimately seeking him, whether they knew it or not.

We live in a radically different time than Jesus did. It’s not always easy to find the balance. But truth is not subjective. Jesus is the Truth. He’s not my truth, or your truth, He’s THE truth. We should always strive to help others find the Truth of Jesus. The truth that those wonderful Magi sought so many years ago!

Let’s pray.

O God, by the leading of a star you manifested your only Son to the peoples of the earth: Lead us, who know you now by faith, to your presence, where we may see your glory face to face; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.