Many Christmas trees have already been taken down-the real ones picked up from the curb; the artificial ones back in the attic. The Christmas cards and holiday letters might still be stacked on the corner of the table. The cookies that are left are the ones the kids didn't care for. One tiny piece of fruitcake still remains, if there even was one to begin with.

The younger children have returned to school; the college students are already getting antsy to get back to see their friends! A few sweaters have been exchanged; a few of the toys have been broken. The bills will be arriving any day. The excitement and the rushing around is becoming a memory of this Christmas past. We've arrived at this 12th day of Christmas, wondering if there is possibly still anything our true love might bring to us.

Well, we don't have to be held in suspense very long. After the one-line birth narrative in Matthew's Gospel, we now realize there is more to come! Immediately we are given a glimpse of mysterious travelers (I guess there are three!). We hear of the cute, adoring figures, dressed like kings, carrying gifts, and looking for an infant in the manger.

(Doors to worship space open and the three "Kings" enter, somewhat noisily)

Whoa! Look who's here! Did I just say cute and adoring?????

(Gaspar.....Melchior.....Balthazar enter the worship space and begin speaking.)

GASPAR: Well, Melchior, I think we're lost again!

MELCHIOR: I told both of you we should have used MapQuest. Following that star was never reliable. Following a dream is never reliable.

BALTHAZAR: Well, I always use AAA. They are more reliable, especially when planning a journey; but, nooooooooo, you had to follow that star. Is that called "StarQuest"?

GASPAR: Okay! Okay! Let's stop arguing! We've gotten this far, and the star is still there. But it's just not very clear!

MELCHIOR: MapQuest is always clear! It gives the exact mileage and time to travel! And whose idea was it to follow this dream?

BALTHAZAR: AAA would have taken us right to the palace door of this King we're looking for! And that thing called a triptych even gives all the rest stops along the way!

MELCHIOR: Sooooooo, who's going to ask directions?

BALTHAZAR: I didn't know we were lost, and besides, I asked the last time!

GASPAR: Oh, you did not! We were just looking for a place to water the camels. That doesn't count as asking directions!

BALTHAZAR: I think if we just keep riding around for awhile, eventually we will find the right place where this King lives.

GASPAR: I know that's what men do, but we've been riding for a long time. I think we need to find where this King is living.

MELCHIOR: I have an idea! Why don't we go to the palace of King Herod? Maybe he will now where this Messiah King lives. Maybe Herod can give us directions! Balthazar, it's your turn to ask the directions!

Well, we know one of them did ask for directions to find "the child who has been born king of the Jews." And we know that Herod's council directed the travelers to Bethlehem, as was predicted by the prophet Micah. We know StarQuest did get them to the exact place, and they found the child with his mother, Mary. And we know they gave the child gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh.

These guys turned out to be pretty good navigators, after all; however, there were at least two things about which they miscalculated.

1.) Following a dream can be reliable, if it is a vision of God; 2.) the royal palace they were looking for was not the royal palace they found.

There is a lot more in this story than first meets the eye. Very often there are stories included in the Bible as a protest against the way things are at that time. I think this Gospel story is one such example. This story of the three "kings" shows us the contrast between the power of King Herod and the power of this infant in the manger. This narrative undercuts King Herod's power by disclosing the infant King already at work. Thus we are shown another way.

For listeners of Matthew's Gospel, the quote from the prophet Micah in verse 6 takes us to the core of the protest: it questions the type of vision and the kind of King we will find in the next 27 chapters of this Gospel. And if Epiphany is about the manifestation of God's grace and mercy, then it is here where we get our first glimpse of how God's grace and mercy are revealed to the world.

The quote tells of "a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel." The shepherd image is a protest against the oppressive misrule of the earthly king over and against God's life-giving shepherding. As shepherd, God gives the people what rulers like Herod would not: abundant food, strength for the weak, healing for the sick, protection for the vulnerable, deliverance for the oppressed, safety for the tyrannized, justice for the exploited.

Jesus the infant is Jesus the King is also Jesus the Good Shepherd is also Jesus the one who enacts God's just and inclusive way of being in our lives.

The magi, I might suggest, exhibit an important model for discipleship for us today. They are wealthy, but they use it for God's purposes, leaving extravagant gifts for the infant and his family. They are outsiders politically, but in God's purposes they have the inside scoop on what is "really" happening. Their spiritual longing does not focus on maintaining and succeeding so much as directing them to resist and question the "status quo," and in fact, they deceive he who was in power.

They go from the palace of the King to the dwelling of the infant King and his family. And it is when they find this nondescript baby they acknowledge that a new center of power resides with the child. They find God working in a wonderfully nonconventional manner. The birth story, which occupies one verse in Matthew's Gospel, begins to unfold in this story of the magi, giving us an initial glimpse of what to expect (or not to expect!) as the child begins to grow.

This is not simply a quaint tale of "we three kings of Orient are" as cute and adorable as they may seem in person. It is much more a counter-narrative, a protest, reminding us that God's vision is reliable in that when we follow God's vision, we will be led to the powerless margins of society. And it is there where we will be shaped and challenged by this disturbing manifestation of God. For the magi, the star itself became a disturbing presence to seek out God in a most unexpected, unusual, and unlikely place.

On this 12th day of Christmas, what is it our true love brings to us? It is the Christmas story unfolding in our lives; as this happens let's keep following that disturbing star! It just may lead us closer to Christ Jesus! Amen.