Spiritual Perspectives
Epiphanies on the Journey

Copyright © 2009
Gallup Independent
By Sanjay Choudhrie
Special to the Independent

Many years ago three wise men brought gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh to the baby Jesus in Bethlehem.

They came to visit Joseph and Mary and Jesus after visiting the local king, Herod, because initially they had assumed that a king would be born in a royal house.

They journeyed from far away following a star into a foreign land to a strange people to greet a king. Naturally they went to the king’s house and found that something was not right. I can imagine them looking at each other with disbelief after visiting with Herod and thinking, “Is this why we travelled so far?”

And as they step out into the courtyard to get on their saddles they see the star and hope is rekindled and it leads them to Jesus. The Bible doesn’t explicitly tell us why Joseph and Mary are still in Bethlehem. One would think they would want to head home to friends and family soon after the census. We do not know where the visit took place though it has been assumed that it took place in a residence that was not a stable. And then after the visit, Mary and Joseph go to Egypt because they have reason to fear for their lives and life of their child.

Something any parent would do in their situation. The Bible makes no further mention of these wise men, whom tradition has named Caspar, Melchior and Balthazar.

There is another journey in the Bible that I want to bring to your attention. A story completely at odds with the story above. Unlike the travelers above, Jonah was running from God — heading in the opposite direction from where God wanted him to go. Eventually Jonah does get to Nineveh, after spending three days and nights in the belly of a great fish. The Bible makes no mention of Jonah being the superstar preacher of the day before or after this journey.

But after Jonah is done preaching in Nineveh, the capital of the regional superpower of the time, the entire city from donkeys to the king are clad in sack cloth and ashes repenting. Jonah did not want to go to Nineveh. He was scared. He was angry. And then he got there. And Nineveh repented.

There are no historical records or immigration documents available to us today to track down the wise men who made the journey so that we can understand who they were, what they believed and why they made the journey. I imagine that to make this journey of significant distance they would have had to have believed in what they saw strongly. They made a mistake in going to Herod but looked up, saw the star and continued their journey to meet the Christ child.

All of us here are on a journey. Whether we know it or not. Whether we care or not. In the realm of the spiritual we are on a unique journey that begins in eternity and does not end with death. Only our earthly journey ends with death.

In the course of this journey we go forwards and backwards. We go to the wrong places, we lose sight of our stars, and we run from God but end in Nineveh or Bethlehem doing what we are called to do. Willingly with gifts of adoration like the wise men or truculently like Jonah.

Sometimes, we catch a vision and then during the journey lose sight of it. We lose sight of it because we make assumptions about the meaning of things we see because we each have our own unique individual perspective. But it is not until we let go of our assumptions about how things appear to be that we can see.

Letting go enables us to reengage with the vision that brought us to the places we find ourselves in. And then we can move forward to our meeting with Christ. May this coming year be full of epiphanies for you. And may you encounter the Almighty, the All knowing, the All present on your journey frequently.

Sanjay Choudhrie is the executive director of CARE 66 (Community Area Resource Enterprise) in Gallup. He can be contacted at (505) 722-0066 or sanjay@care66.org.

This column is written by area residents, representing different faith communities, who share their ideas about bringing a spiritual perspective into our daily lives and community issues. For information about contributing a guest column, contact Elizabeth Hardin-Burrola at The Independent: (505) 863-6811 ext. 218 or lizreligion01@yahoo.com.