Am I ready for new ways, new paths in life in 2024? Am I ready to be humbly surprised by God in 2024? Or will I be trapped by the pursuit of power, familiarity, arrogance and complacency? These are questions I’m asking today as the Christian calendar celebrates the arrival of the Magi at the Bethlehem stable. They are unexpected visitors, outsiders. They remind us that God always uses outsiders, unexpected people, working in surprising ways to usher in his shalom. And having been attentive and finding Jesus, the Magi head home “a different way”, on a changed route, their lives changed by their encounter with Jesus.

 

As we ponder the year ahead, I’m challenged by the questions asked in today’s Lectio 365, which contrasts the responses of key characters in the nativity story. There is Herod, caught up in the pursuit of power and influence, which fosters jealousy, suspicion and fear. This push for power and position blinds him to the reality of surprising, new possibilities in his life.

 

And there’s the Jewish religious leaders. They are caught up in their own self-importance, religious traditions and familiarity. Their elitism fostered complacency and arrogance. They too were blinded to the surprising reality of God breaking into the world.

The Magi, the outsiders, the unexpected visitors, model a different way. They are attentive, humbly open to the unexpected, ready to be disturbed and surprised and to move to new places and spaces in their lives. There they encounter the hope of the world, and their lives are transformed. 

 

I see some of Herod in me, as I’m seduced with the world’s call to power and self-promotion. This can lead to fear, comparison and jealousy in my life; things I know that weigh me down. I need to keep coming back to these dangers. I need to learn more about what true humility looks like in my life.

 

I see some of the religious leaders in me. It’s too easy to get trapped in religious professionalism, going through the motions, religious arrogance and prejudice. I confess complacency and familiarity and the need for God to rattle my cage and renew my heart and attitudes. 

 

I hope in 2024 I can be more like the Magi, being open to God surprising me in new ways. I hope I can have my eyes and heart open to where God is at work in my world. I hope I can be more humbly attentive and courageously ready to step beyond my comfort zone into new places and spaces. May I be ready to track new paths.

 

And I pray I will learn from the Magi that God continues to use outsiders, unexpected people to usher in hope and light. May I be ready to stand with the least likely and cheer them on and learn from them. And may I as an insider dare embrace more of an outsider’s life, the way of the humble, radical, sacrificial, self-emptying, justice-seeking King.