If nothing changes, nothing changes

Social media gets a bad rap for being shallow and filled with pretention. However, every now and then something pops into my social media feed that impacts me at a much deeper level. Such was the case a few days back when I came across this beautiful painting of the wise men looking over Bethlehem by Jeremy Thomas (check him out HERE) in one of my favourite groups.

As I enjoyed the intricate details he had included, something about their stance resonated with me. There was a sense of weariness and longing:

(C) Jeremy Thomas. Used with permission.

“It’s been such a long journey and we still have a way to go…”

But along with this, there was a sense of anticipation:

“We can just about touch our destination – there is a clear light at the end of the tunnel!”

Thinking about the ramifications and depths of this, the realisation there was a reason these men started out on their trek suddenly hit me. I found myself questionning what was it that propelled these people to go on such a long search? At an obvious level, we are told that they were people who looked at the signs in the sky that pointed them towards the birth of a new and important king. However, why were they looking? What started them on that journey?

They didn’t see an advertisement in a newspaper, on a flyer in their mailbox or online. They didn’t get an invitation to a conference, a guest speaker or even a party. There was no job application or even anointing or appointing (that we know of!) from their local church.

What I sensed about these men was that they were watchers and observers. They were watching for something, waiting for something: for a change, for a new season.

And I would guess the reason they were watching and observing was because they were not satisfied with the way things were; they were not satisfied with the status quo. They wanted, desired and hungered for change; for things in the world they lived in to be different. Something was missing from what they knew of life.

While we don’t know anything more about them than the fact they were from the east, we do know that the land east of Jerusalem is all rugged and mountainous desert. Not much lives there.

They came from a barren place and they knew it.

This was not a journey you would undertake unless you were really, deeply seeking something you couldn’t get staying where you were. It was a dangerous and uncertain journey across territory filled with lawlessness. There were no MacDonald’s to eat at, no service (petrol/gas) stations and probably even the wells were few and far between. Death by bandit, starvation or thirst was pretty certain for those who were not wary or well prepared.

But still, they were desperate and hungry enough to take the journey to find the One who was to be King of the Jews. They knew their spiritual need and sought to satisfy it. They also knew how to interpret the spiritual meaning of signs in the natural world.

In our western world of plenty, of satiation even, I sometimes wonder if we even have the capacity to recognise our poverty. It reminds me of a quote from C.S. Lewis,

“We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.”

As I look around me, I see we are still chasing answers from gods made from stone, metal and the words of ideology; gods made by the hands and minds of people; gods without the power to give us any answer, let alone solve our problems or provide for our needs.

These wise men, these magi, they knew they had a lack; they knew something was missing, incomplete. And they were prepared to lay it all on the line, even to death, to find the answer.

Heading into another Christmas - which is all about this Christ-child these men sought - like them, we will only find Him as the answer if we are aware of our lack, if we are aware of our need and prepared to do something about it.

In the middle of a season our world tells us is all about giving (consuming) and family (my comfort and safety) - which all really is just “ad-speak” for “spend obscene amounts of money” - is there space for us to lay it all down, step aside and allow our real needs to speak out? Can we make time to stop and listen to the cry of our hearts, that deep place where we really know that something is missing that only Jesus fills?

Are we prepared to make the sacrifice to take the dangerous journey acknowledging the true wasteland of living without Jesus as King, face the threat of death and destruction (of our society’s ideals/idols) associated with making the shift in our beliefs to what is truly important?

Because we all know:

If nothing changes, nothing changes.

Can you be content with that?

“All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance, admitting that they were foreigners and strangers on earth. People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. Instead, they were longing for a better country—a heavenly one.” (Hebrews 11:13-16)