The Christmas story is surely one of the greatest stories
ever told. It chronicles a birth from which the world
records time as before or after. Moreover, it is written
in a way that has inflamed the romantic imagination for
2000 years. This hasn't always been for the good. Beyond
spawning every kind of legend imaginable, the story of
Christmas has, in the Christian imagination, too often
taken on a centrality not accorded to it in the Gospels
themselves. This is not surprising, given its richness.
Inside its great narrative there are multiple
mini-narratives, each of which comes laden with its own
archetypal symbols. One of these mini-narratives, rich in
archetypal imagery, is the story King Herod and the wise
men.
We see this in the
Gospel
of Matthew when he tells us how various people reacted to
the announcement of Jesus' birth. Matthew sets up a
powerful archetypal contrast, blessing and curse, between
the reaction of the wise men, who bring their gifts and
place them at the feet of the new king, and King Herod,
who tries to kill him.
We are all familiar with this story since it has been much
celebrated in song, icon, and legend. Jesus is born inside
of a religious tradition, Judaism, and his birth is
announced to that faith-community in a manner that befits
religion, namely, by the angels, by supernatural
revelation. But those outside of that faith-tradition need
another way to get to know of his birth, and so his birth
is announced to them though nature, astrology, through the
stars. The wise men see a special star appear in the sky
and begin to follow it, not knowing exactly to where or to
what it will lead.
While following the star, they meet King Herod who, upon
learning that a new king has supposedly been born, has his
own evil interest in matter. He asks the wise men to find
the child and bring him back information so that he, too,
can go and worship the newborn. We know the rest of story:
The wise men follow the star, find the new king, and, upon
seeing him, place their gifts at his feet. What happens to
them afterwards? We have all kinds of apocryphal stories
about their journey back home, but these, while
interesting, are not helpful. We do not know what happened
to them afterwards and that is exactly the point. Their
slipping away into anonymity is a crucial part of their
gift. The idea is that they now disappear because they can
now disappear. They have placed their gifts at the feet of
the young king and can now leave everything safely in his
hands. His star has eclipsed theirs. Far from fighting for
their former place, they now happily cede it to him. Like
old Simeon, they can happily exit the stage singing: Now,
Lord, you can dismiss your servants! We can die! We're in
safe hands!
And Herod, how much to the contrary! The news that a new
king has been born threatens him at his core since he is
himself a king. The glory and light that will now shine
upon the new king will no longer shine on him. So what is
his reaction? Far from laying his resources at the feet of
the new king, he sets out to kill him. Moreover, to ensure
that his murderers find him, he kills all the male babies
in the entire area. An entire book on anthropology might
be written about this last line. Fish are not the only
species that eats its young! But the real point is the
contrast between the wise men and Herod: The former see
new life as promise and they bless it; the latter sees new
life as threat and he curses it.
This is a rich story with a powerful challenge: What is my
own reaction to new life, especially to life that
threatens me, that will take away some of my own
popularity, sunshine, and adulation? Can I, like the wise
men, lay my gifts at the feet of the young and move
towards anonymity and eventual death, content that the
world is in good hands, even though those hands are not my
hands? Or, like Herod, will I feel that life as a threat
and I try somehow to kill it, lest its star somehow
diminish my own?
To bless another person is to give away some of one's own
life so that the other might be more resourced for his or
her journey, Good parents do that for their children. Good
teachers do that for their students, good mentors do that
for their protégés, good pastors do that for their
parishioners, good politicians do that for their
countries, and good elders do that for the young. They
give away some of their own lives to resource the other.
The wise men did that for Jesus.
How do we react when a young star's rising begins to
eclipse our own light?
Fr. Ron Rolheiser
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