By Another Route
"They returned to their country by another route."
Matthew 2:12b
I think the Magi are among the most interesting characters in the Bible. Probably some kind of Persian or Babylonian stargazers--"wise men"--they saw something in the heavens so compelling that they left their homes and temples and libraries miles away to the East, and journeyed toward Bethlehem. And when they got there, what did they see?
Whatever it was, it changed them. I love how T.S. Eliot imagines them on their return home:
We returned to our places, these Kingdoms,
But no longer at ease here, in the old dispensation,
With an alien people clutching their gods.from "The Journey of the Magi," by T.S. Eliot
Matthew is more matter-of-fact: "They returned to their country by another route." See, here's the truth: encounters with Jesus are always like that. You can't meet Jesus and continue on as before, unchanged.
What different route or path do you need to take today?
Today's Scripture