Journey of Life

Second Sunday after Christmas1/4/2025, based on 2014

Matthew 2:13-15, 19-23

For many of us, Christmas is a time for traveling. Whether we travel to our relatives or they come to us, being together seems to be part of the season. Likewise, the stories we hear this season also involve travels. Mary and Joseph journey to Bethlehem, to be recorded in the census. After the birth of Christ, the shepherds and the Wise Men visited Jesus. And after the Magi's visit, Mary, Joseph, and the toddler Jesus travel to Egypt to escape the wrath of Herod. But there is one more journey we may overlook, a more inward spiritual journey.

Christians often find that the metaphor of journey describes their spiritual life or even their life’s work. This may be because, unlike a trip, it eludes to a travel with some length of time. Sometimes, a journey is more focused on the getting there than the destination. Often, when we think of a journey, we are changed by the experience. If and when we return to the place where we began, we are not the same as when we started. We have learned something about ourselves, about others, and about the world around us.

Life often offers us choices and paths to follow. We do our best to decide which road to take. Sometimes we, like the Wise Men, sense a special impetus to start down a road not knowing exactly where it will end. Others go out of desperation, like Mary, Joseph, and the baby, fleeing to Egypt. The wise men followed a star; a star that led them to an uncertain place in a strange country, far, far from home.

I presume that not many of us have looked into the night sky and found the appearance of a celestial body that caused us to go on such a journey. We don’t know why they decided to follow this star. Legend has it that the Wise men were Astrologers who studied the signs of the night sky. They knew what this star meant, the coming of a great king. And they somehow knew this even though Herod’s scholars at the time didn’t recognize this cosmic sign twinkling above their heads.

When the wise men set out on this journey, they didn’t have a map; they were just guided by the star. And they kept following the start until it stopped. Imagine staring up at the sky one night and looking at the moon. Something happens. You get an inner feeling that compels you to follow it. You’re not sure why, but you know it is what you are supposed to do. How long do you prepare before you go on this journey to follow the moon? How much food do you take? How much will this trip cost? Are you going to be safe? The only one of these questions you can answer is the last. We are rarely safe in life. Just traveling to Nashville is not always safe. In part, this is why, when we make a journey, we do not travel alone. There is safety in numbers. By having companions, we will also have people to help us make wise decisions and make sense of the new encounters that we have. Even before we set off on this journey, there are people we will consult to make sure we are not just moonstruck.

Now you and your friend have decided it’s time to go. You pile into your car or on a camel and set out to follow the moon, winding through city streets and continuing on to roads where few others travel. Houses can no longer be seen for miles around. And yet, the moon keeps moving, and you keep following. You trust that there will be something important, something worth all this time and expense. But how long does it take or how many miles do you have to drive before you begin to wonder, “Is this moon ever going to stop moving?” How many gallons of gas am I willing to keep putting in my car to find out what is at the end? Where will I get my next meal? The only real comfort may be that you are not alone on this journey. Your companions support you and tell you that you are on the correct path, doing the right thing.

This journey, to follow the moon, is like our life journey. Sometimes it takes time to get started. Sometimes we set off feeling like we don’t know where we are going, not knowing if we are doing the right thing or where this will all lead. The truth is that we never know where this journey will lead. The path we must follow is unclear at best. We continue on this journey following our inner sense of faith or call. We continue praying, going to church, and conversing with others, but we are never finished until we reach the ultimate end.

Mary and Joseph never arrived at their destination. They were not finished when they arrived in Bethlehem, and they weren’t finished when they went to Egypt. They eventually went to Nazareth, yet this journey still wasn’t at its end. Mary’s journey continued, even after she knelt down on the ground and witnessed her son’s crucifixion on the cross. Likewise, we travel from place to place, job to job, ideally out of a sense of call to gain a deeper understanding of Christ in our life and who or what God has called us to be, and not out of a sense driven purely by our desire for greater comfort in life.

For the Holy Family in today’s reading, their journey was to escape the dangers foretold to Joseph in a dream.  To flee to Egypt, a 100-mile journey on foot, carrying all they had. We are all travelers on an unknown road. Yet we think that if we have the right map, the right education, or the right income, this journey will lead us to the right place without dangers. But the reality is that financial stability just changes some of the dangers in our lives; they do not go away.

For example, no matter what our income, we can be a victim of crime or sudden illness. We perceive a dichotomy between our spiritual journey and our temporal or worldly journey. But if we are honest and do enough exploration within ourselves, we cannot separate the temporal journey from our spiritual one. They are intimately tied together, enmeshed like our living body and soul.

At first glance, our spiritual journey seems murkier, less certain than our temporal journey. This is primarily because our spiritual journey is less tangible and a part of our life in which we feel we have less control. We know we are supposed to be doing something, attending church, praying, maybe? But we often may not feel like we are getting very far. Or we don’t know the direction we are traveling. We also perceive that there is a cost involved if we want to go further on this journey, usually in the form of time. We fear that following our spiritual journey will take time away from something else in our lives, hobbies, football, or just relaxing with the family. We are afraid of how much this journey might actually cost, so we don’t set off on this journey in earnest. We may just dip our toe in the water, or make short trips, and not set off into the unknown, risking more than we know, and following an obscure inner feeling.

It is into this unknown that Jesus sent seventy followers in pairs. That Mary and Joseph set off to Egypt, and that the Wise Men followed a star. None of them knew exactly where they were going or how their life would turn out. And it is the same for us. No matter how we have mapped out our lives and plotted the points, following this inner sense of call is not rational because it comes from the mystery that surrounds us. It comes from God, Christ, and the Holy Spirit working in our lives.

We have a choice: push the calling aside and continue with our own plan, or listen. Listen and discern what is being said to us. Sometimes this means stepping out into the unknown, but most of the time it doesn’t. Most of the time, it is about learning and seeing how God is working in our lives, in the past and now.

Seeing this connection is powerful. It is helpful in finding the trajectory of our lives. Ultimately, it will humble us and show us how little control we have and how truly dependent we are on God. This discovery is also very liberating, knowing that we are being guided along a path and we do not have to work so hard to clear the murky waters.

We, like the Magi, are wise not to travel this life journey alone. We need people around us to help guide us, to help us discern which path to take, to determine what our motivations are, and to cry with us when life seems too hard to keep going. This is hard for us, we want to go it alone. But going it alone is not the Christian way. We are called to be in community. There are people who have a deep spiritual lives and can help guide you on this journey. There are others who don’t realize they have wisdom to share. This is the importance of living in community.

Grace is foremost, a spiritual community that encourages people to build a prayer life and to find companionship on this journey. A journey to explore how God is working in your life right now and to discern where God is leading you.

In this New Year, I invite you to explore the path you are on, either with the companions that you already have or with new or additional companions that you seek out. This journey is never safe; your heart may break, your emotions may be hurt, but it will be more fruitful than you can ever imagine.