January 6
Isaiah 60:3 (RSV)
Nations shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising.
I often wonder what happened to the gifts of the Magi. After a particularly moving Epiphany service, I like to think about the people those gifts may have touched.How did Mary, Jesus' young mother, view that sudden unexpected wealth? Had she been awestruck? Had she expected it? Had she put it aside, planning some day to use it for Jesus' studies with a rabbi, or for the family she hoped--like any mother--He would have? What of Joseph? Had he been forced to use some of it on the flight to Egypt and, later, on their return to Nazareth? Had the people he'd paid to help them found themselves blessed by some miracle or shining memory?
In the time I spent imagining all the goodness worked through those gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh, my mind opened to other wonderful questions about stories in the Bible. What happened to the little boy who brought Christ the few fishes that fed five thousand? How did he feel when he heard his Miracle Worker had been crucified? After the Samaritan woman at the well brought Jesus to her town, did her life change? Did the villagers still view her as an outcast, or did she win their respect and a chance for a new start?
Usually, I put away my manger on Epiphany, but this year I'll leave it up a little longer. Maybe all year. It makes me think. What did that awestruck young shepherd tell his wife the next morning? Did that wealthy astrologer kneeling before a penniless Child treat his own servants differently when he returned home? And, if he did, did they, in turn, become gentler with their own families?
What wondrous questions come to your mind when considering Christ's life?
Prayer:
Lord, as I imagine how Your every act affected others, help my acts, in their small ways, to do the same.-- Marci Alborghetti
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