“A determination to act in a certain
way.” That is the definition of
“intention”. In the story of the magi
that we heard this morning, we heard a story of intentions . . . in fact, we
heard a story about two very different intentions.
The magi, the wise men from the east,
had seen a great star . . . had heard the rumors and prophecies . . . and,
thus, they followed it until they arrived at the palace of King Herod, the king
of the Jews. Upon their arrival they
began asking questions as to the whereabouts of the one to which this star pointed
to . . . the king of the Jews. They
wanted to know because they wanted to come and worship him. That was their “intentions” . . . they wanted
to worship this new king.
Now Herod, on the other hand, was
disturbed by the news . . . in fact, all of Jerusalem was disturbed by this
news. And why shouldn’t Herod be upset
and disturbed by the news . . . the last time he had looked in the mirror he
was the king of the Jews. This news of a
new king posed a threat to Herod’s monarchy . . . his rule . . . his
power. One thing that a monarch doesn’t
appreciate is competition towards his or her throne. Like the magi, Herod wanted to know where
this supposed new king could be found.
Calling his council, the chief priests, and leading teachers, he wanted
to know where this king . . . this newborn king . . . was supposed to be.
Ask and you shall receive.
Those gathered told Herod that the
king . . . the newborn king . . . would be found in the little town of
Bethlehem in Judea. To back up their location
they shared the scripture . . . the words of the prophets . . . that explained
it all. With this news, I imagine that
Herod hatched his plan . . . a plan to rid himself of competition . . . to rid
himself of this upstart. He called the
magi to the throne, explained where they would find him, and then gave them
explicit instructions . . . “Go and make a careful search for the
child. As soon as you find him, report
to me, so that I too may go and worship him.”
Unlike the magi, Herod’s intentions
had nothing to do with worship. No, his
intentions was to rid himself of his competition . . . his intention was to
kill the child.
So, there you have it . . . a story of
two intentions. One is to worship the
child; the other is to kill the child. And, yet, in our story . . . both proclaim
that worship was the foundation of their intentions. The magi do exactly as they intended to do,
they worship the child . . . shower the child with gifts of gold, incense, and
myrrh. Then, thanks to a dream they had,
they hightail it out of Bethlehem . . . they head home . . . and, wanted
nothing to do with whatever it was that Herod really intended to. They were pretty sure that it was not to
worship the child.
Now, that is where our reading this
morning ends . . . but, there is more to the story. The magi were not the only ones to have a
dream. Joseph, too, has a dream; and, in
the dream that he received he was told to take his small family and head for
Egypt and safety for King Herod’s intentions is to find the child and kill
him. Like the magi, Joseph heads for
safety. The real intentions of Herod
have now be exposed.
When the magi never return, Herod was
furious. They had screwed up his
plans. He has no idea where the child
actually is . . . has no idea which child it is . . . and, he is angry. To solve the problem the people of Israel
would suffer . . . he sets forth a mandate that all the male children—two years
and younger—shall be put to death. In
his mandate the words of the prophet Jeremiah are fulfilled: “A
voice is heard in Ramah, weeping and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her
children and refusing to be comforted, because they are no more.” It was a sad and final climax to the story at
this point . . . Herod fulfilled his real intentions . . . at least, he thought
he had.
Fortunately, we know the rest of the
story. We know that Jesus was tucked
away with his family in Egypt. We know
that eventually King Herod dies . . . Joseph is given the green light to return
home . . . and, well . . . the story continues.
So, what do we learn from this story
about “intentions”? Well, I would
venture to say that “intentions” . . . real “intentions” . . . are betrayed by
action. That is what the definition said
. . . an intention is a determination to act in a certain way . . . those with
the intentions carry them out as they intend them to be. The magi fulfilled their intentions . . .
they found the child and they worshipped the child. Herod, despite his spoken intentions, carried
out his real intentions . . . he wiped out a generation of children in order to
feel secure in his monarchy and power.
In this familiar story we can agree
that the primary characters had conflicting “intentions” . . . they definitely
were not on the same page. In part of
the story we cheer on the magi as they realize that King Herod is attempting to
use them for his own good . . . we cheer as we watch them traipse over the
horizon and head home. We groan and are
filled with sadness when we realize that Herod is not going to be deterred from
following his own intentions . . . if he can’t kill the one he sought, he will
kill them all in hopes of killing the one who threatens him. We shed a tear for the lives so unjustly
taken from their parents and family.
That is where all our focus is in this story . . . and, yet, the story
is bigger than the magi and King Herod.
How quickly we forget.
There is another “intention” in this
story . . . and, it is the “intention” of God.
This is a story of redemption . . . of restoration . . . of grace . . .
of love . . . and, that deep desire of God to return to intimacy with the
family God created. After all, this is
the Christmas story. God will not be deterred in God’s intentions.
As I said, how quickly we forget.
We forget that words often have more
than one meaning . . . that words multiple meanings . . . and, the word
“intention” has other meanings that are pertinent to this story—the Christmas
story.
“Intention” also means . . . “a process
or manner of healing of incised wounds.”
The story of Jesus . . . his life and his words . . . his ministry . . .
are all part of the process of God healing the wounds. The wounds of separation. The wounds of sin. The wounds of lost love. The wounds that split a family and destroy
relationships. That is the “intention”
of God to restore the intimacy between God’s children with God and one another.
“Intention” also means “an object of
prayer or a pious act that is offered.”
Again, the Christmas story . . . the story of Jesus . . . the life of
Jesus, his death, his resurrection . . . that is prayer and hope of God . . .
to restore that which is closest to God’s heart . . . a relationship with God’s
children.
In this story, God’s “intentions”
trumped those of the magi and King Herod.
They always do.
Whenever we hear a story we have a
tendency to identify ourselves with certain characters in the story. In this story we assumed that there were two
characters, but discover that there are three . . . suddenly we move from
having to choose between the magi and King Herod . . . we have another
option. Which of the three are we going
to identify with . . . the magi—who come to worship . . . King Herod who comes
for power and to destroy anything that threatens . . . or, God who is
determined to restore relationship and intimacy based on love and grace? Which one are we going to choose? Which one fits our intentions?
Well, I know which one I hope that
each of us chooses . . . but, it is an individual decision . . . personal to
each of us. Will it be to protect . . .
to worship . . . or to reconcile? I
don’t know. All I do know is that in the
end . . . in the end . . . our actions will betray our intentions. They did for the magi. They did for King Herod. And, well, we know they did for God . . .
they did for God because we have the opportunity to follow the one who will
show us the way to reconciliation.
Reconciliation between us and God . . . reconciliation between us and
one another. The choice is always
ours. May we all choose well. Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment