The True Walking Dead
The Wise Men Part 2 - Mt 2:1-12
After encountering the Christ-child, the magi could have gone back the same way they came.
But they didn’t.
They had met Truth face to face.
And after being warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they literally took another way.
What does “another way” mean metaphorically?
Peter wrote it plainly: “Be sober, be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.” (1 Pt 5:8)
The world is loud and distracting. Herod’s way still exists, and it devours those in its path.
However, when we radically encounter Jesus, that old road just doesn’t make sense anymore.
When we earnestly set out seeking Truth, we’ll find Him.
And when we do - really do - He changes the course of our life. Not just for the better…for good. With a future full of hope.
The magi’s path was changed forever. Ours will be too.
What does that path look like?
I think there’s a hint in the birthday gifts they gave to Jesus.
Gold was fitting, for Christ is King.
Frankincense makes sense because He is our great High Priest.
Myrrh for his death and burial as our sacrificial victim.
The shadow of His cross loomed even over His birth.
If His path becomes our path, we will one day reign with Him as his co-heirs (Rom 8:17), but only if we are “the aroma of Christ” living His life and dying to self (2 Cor 2:15, Rom 12:1).
After encountering Christ, His journey for us to glory - by another way - is to be the true walking dead (Phil 1:21). For it’s only by dying to self that we truly live.
Onward and Upward,
Ted
Here’s What I’m Reading This Week
In The Spirit of Early Christian Thought, Robert Louis Wilken shows that the energy and vitality of early Christianity arose from within the life of the Church. Through the work of figures like St. Augustine, Gregory of Nyssa, and other Church Fathers, Christians weren’t simply crafting abstract ideas but seeking to win hearts and transform lives for a new love, Jesus Christ. Wilken shows how their enduring writings, shaped by the life of the Church, remain vital voices in the modern world.
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