Meditation: The Wise Men
When the wise men learned of the plot of King Herod to kill the Christ Child, they did not come back to Jerusalem, but “went another way,” according to St. Matthew.
What did Matthew mean when he wrote that the Wise Men “went back another way?” No doubt he meant that they took another route so as to frustrate Herod’s murderous intentions. But is there not more to the words than that? Can’t it be true that they took another way home in the spiritual sense, too? What they had seen in the manger had changed their lives, No one who ever meets Christ with a good will returns the same way he came. Our motives, our values, our attitudes are no longer the same. The old way of life is no longer satisfying. At Bethlehem, we find a new and better way to live.
The New Year, coming as it does just a few days after Christmas, is a modern revision. The ancient world had other times to mark the beginning of the year. But there is much to justify the choice of this time. How appropriate it is that we should begin the New Year a week after Christmas! Like the Wise Men, we have seen the star. Like them we have followed it to the Babe or Bethlehem. Like them, we have worshiped the Christ Child, brought Him our gifts, and received Him in the manger of our souls through Holy Communion. Now let us go another way, God’s way, leaving behind the old fears, the old grudges, the old sins, the old sorrows. Let us walk into the future with Christ, kinder, more loving, more conscious of the needs of others and ever conscious of the presence of Christ our Savior, born to be Emmanuel, God with us.
Meditation: “Where is God?”
The One who came humbly at Christmas to be our Savior continues to come to us today just as humbly, knocking on the door, calling, waiting for us to let Him in.
He who is the Host seeks to come in to be our Guest.
Shall we not be hospitable to Him from whom we draw every breath we breathe?
Shall we leave Him standing just outside the door of our souls when for our salvation He came down to us all the way from heaven?
Shall we continue to live in darkness when just outside our door stands the Light of the world, the Sun of Righteousness, knocking, calling, pleading, seeking to come into the ugly stable of our hearts to transform them into the palace of His presence?
“Where is God?” someone asked.
The answer he received was, “Wherever they let Him in.”
“Don’t shut the door, for the One you leave standing outside is Christ” said St. John Chrysostom.
Heaven is standing on your very doorstep!
It is repentance that brings back the light—God’s light of love, joy, hope, and peace.
~ Presbytera Emily Harakas & Fr. Anthony Coniaris, DAILY MEDITATIONS and Prayers for the CHRISTMAS ADVENT Fast and Epiphany: Living the Days of Advent and Epiphany according to the Orthodox Church Calendar
