St Stephen's Lewisham 3 January 1993
EPIPHANY
Wise Men Ask Questions
"After Jesus had been born at Bethlehem ... some wise men from the East
came to Jerusalem. where is the infant king of the Jews?", they asked.
Wise men have always asked questions. Most of the useful things that have been
discovered from the time that man first began to think for himself originated as
questions.
"I wonder what lies on the other side of that hill?"; "Why do
seeds grow better in some soils than others?"; "How can I make sure of
finding my way back home?"; "How can I know which sheep belongs to
me?" It's in answer to questions like these that man, over the years, has
come to learn all the useful skills that he now possesses. Maps and compasses
and landmarks and branding of animals, clock and tools and agriculture,
discovery of new lands and new techniques like boat building and navigation to
make such things possible. All these started as a series of questions: Why? How?
What? Wise men have always asked questions.
But that is not all they've done. True wisdom, as often as not, involves
something more than merely asking questions and being told the answer.
True wisdom means following that answer up and finding out for oneself where it
leads.
St Matthew tells us that is what the Wise men did.
They saw the star. "What's that star", they each asked themselves.
"Has anyone else seen it?" So they got in touch with other Wise men.
"Have you seen that star?" they asked. "Yes, but what does it
mean?" came back the reply.
"Shouldn't we go and follow it?" said the third.
So they did. And much to their excitement the star began to lead them to places
where they'd never been before.
"Should we go and ask permission of the local King?" said one of them
as they reached the frontier post of Judaea. "After all, its his country
and we're visitors; besides, ha might be able to tell us a bit more about the
star. These Jewish folk have a reputation for knowing a great deal about God and
religion.
So they went and asked Herod the Great "Where is the infant king of the
Jews?" they asked. "We saw his star as it rose and have come to do him
homage." Another question, you see, which set them on the path to Bethlehem
1 where their mission was to be fulfilled.
Ever so many questions. However . . . no questions, no progress.
But progress consists in doing more than asking questions. You have to follow
the answers through to discover the truth.
Now God has revealed (or "manifested") himself in many different ways
over the ages. "But in these last times" as the Bible puts it "he
has spoken to us through his Son Jesus Christ" He has appointed him to
inherit everything; through him he made everything that exists; he is the
radiant light of God's glory and the perfect copy of his nature So for us the
search for God begins and ends with Jesus. As indeed it did for the wise men at
the Epiphany.
Don't be misled, therefore, by the current fashion for thinking that you'll find
god by looking inwards at yourself.
If we try and look at ourselves the probability is that we'll discover nothing
except a muddle of confused and confusing feelings. Feelings by themselves lead
nowhere. the things which they prompt us to do need to be constantly checked and
evaluated against the wisdom that men have gained over the ages. Otherwise we
shall simply turn into people who are led every which way by their desires:
which in the end will remain as far from being fulfilled as they were when we
first tried to look at ourselves.
For fulfilment we must look to Jesus "the author and perfecter of our
faith." But the search for Jesus is not just a matter of asking questions,
any more than it was for the Wise Men.
for us, like them, it means going on a journey, the Pilgrimage of Faith you
might call it.
It's a journey on which progress is most important. Without progress people get
bored and they stop asking questions and stop progressing With progress one
thing leads on to another.
The Pilgrim's Progress by no means takes the form of safe and comfortable
options.
Most people find that the search for the truth as revealed in Jesus Christ
starts by taking them away some distance from their families and friends. At the
same time it involves associating and fitting in with a whole new group of
fellow pilgrims and seekers like you and me who may well not be everyone's cup
of tea.
Don't imagine that the Wise Men as they looked for Jesus always got on perfectly
with each other on the way. Wise Men aren't always easy men to get on with,
particularly when they're trying to prove that they're wiser than each other.
anyone who's sat on a committee of so-called Wise men has sooner or later
witnesses some most unwise things being said and done, 2 particularly when those
Wise Men start competing with each other for air-space.
Following the Star of faith is by no means a simple, straightforward process.
Besides those hazards I have just mentioned there are people like Herod the
Great who pretend to be very interested in what we're doing but whose real
interests like quite elsewhere.
And as for security (in the sense of not being assailed by doubts) - well,
that's something of a rare luxury.
And where does it all lead? To Jesus, of course; but what then? Well the short
answer is "to worship him".
There's so much wisdom packed into that short answer, that little word
"worship" that I can't even begin to explain it this morning.
so perhaps the best thing is to end by pointing out that there is one real and
important difference between the sort of questions that most people ask, and the
question "Who is Jesus, where can I find him?" it's a difference of
intention Most questions are asked with a view to gaining knowledge. There's
nothing whatever wrong with that so far as it goes. You can come to know a lot
about people and things by asking the right questions.
But to know about somebody is not the same thing as knowing him. the Pilgrimage
of Faith does not have as its goal knowing about God but knowing god as revealed
in Jesus.
The Wise Man is not simply the man who knows a lot about God. The Bible tells us
that "the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.
So just look at what the Wise Men did.
St Matthew tells us that "Going into the house and falling on their knees
they did him homage" In other words, they worshipped him.