Into the Regions Beyond

The Feast of the Epiphany

Matthew 2:1-12

The Rev. Joshua Rodriguez-Hobbs

Into the regions beyond. That is my seminary motto, and during my time at Berkeley Divinity School at Yale, I saw it prominently displayed on every official publication. Into the regions beyond. It comes from Paul’s second letter to the Corinthians, in which Paul expresses his desire to preach the gospel in the regions beyond Corinth. It was chosen because Berkeley was founded to train missionaries.

Into the regions beyond. I think it’s also a good phrase to describe our reading from Matthew’s Gospel this morning. For the magi, the wise men, coming from the East as they do, Jerusalem was the regions beyond. Matthew isn’t very specific, just naming a direction on the compass, and throughout the years, people have suggested origins as fantastic as China for the magi, but they probably came from Persia, in the regions beyond the borders of the Roman Empire. These strangers in a strange land journey beyond their own region, into another, and when they get there, they have to journey beyond their expectations. They come seeking a king, so they head to the palace in Jerusalem. That seems like a logical choice, doesn’t it? But the king is not there. He is in the little town of Bethlehem, far from the centers of power. The magi don’t find what they expected: two young peasants and their baby. That doesn’t seem very grand, at all. But Mary and Joseph probably weren’t expecting the magi, either. These strange foreigners, more magicians than wise men, bring precious gifts to a baby who they believe is the new king of a foreign country, fulfilling the prophecy given to a people not their own about a messiah they probably didn’t believe in. None of those gathered in that house in that little town could have expected this. And then, gifts given, the magi set out into the regions beyond again, returning to their country by another way.

Mary and Joseph and Jesus head into the regions beyond, too. Our reading this morning ends before Matthew’s story does.            Matthew goes on to tell of how Herod, when the magi failed to returned, ordered his soldiers to slaughter the male children in Bethlehem so that this newborn king  could not challenge him. An angel comes to Joseph in the nick of time, warning him in a dream to take Jesus and Mary and flee to Egypt. The Holy Family live as refugees there until Herod dies. This is a story about going beyond: beyond expectations, beyond religious boundaries, beyond the safe confines of home. And, like all good stories, it is about us too.

Like the magi, like the Holy Family, we too are called to venture out into the regions beyond. It can be scary,  I know. It can be bittersweet and exciting and wonderful too, can’t it? I’m feeling all of those emotions today, as I stand among you for the last time as your Associate Rector. We’re all, in our own ways, going into the regions beyond today, like the magi. This can be an uncomfortable place to be, poised between one thing another, ready for the journey to begin and dreading to leave what we know and love behind. But the call of God to God’s people throughout the story of scripture is: “Go.” Go and make disciples of all people. We cannot do that until we venture into those unknown, uncertain regions beyond the safety and surety of our church buildings, going where people are.

That is, in part, why I am beginning a new ministry as a hospice chaplain. This is my region beyond, the new place to which God is calling me in my life. I would be lying if I told you that it was easy to say yes to that call, because it means leaving all of you, leaving this community where I have learned what it means to be a priest, to be your priest. Following this call to journey into the regions beyond means giving our present relationship up, because I will no longer be your priest. This is bittersweet. We cannot go home by the same way. Our relationships must change.

You are all called to go into the regions beyond too, of course. That call looks different for each of us. It is difficult for all of us, because it often requires us to leave something behind. But we believe that God goes ahead of us, guiding us, just as the star guided the magi to Bethlehem. This community is already going into the regions beyond. This is the reason we send our teenagers on a pilgrimage, on a journey to find God in an unfamiliar place, so that they can better recognize the signs of God’s presence when they return home. You are all already living into that call with courage and faithfulness. Over the past three and a half years, I have watched with wonder and delight as the Outreach Committee has prayerfully discerned what God is calling this community to do for our city, reworking our ministries to bring us more closely into relationship with others. This has not been easy. It has been hard and frightening. But look at where we are today: Good Shepherd is pioneering using our endowment funds for ministry by making microloans lift the people of Baltimore out of poverty; our Habitat for Humanity ministry has expanded to include both Govans and  Sandtown; we are forming relationships with St. Luke’s Church on Carey Street, relationships which are changing us for the better as much as they improve  the lives of the people in Baltimore’s Franklin Square neighborhood. Friends, you are already going into the regions beyond.

Going into the regions beyond is still difficult and frightening, just as Matthew’s story of the magi is difficult and frightening. But God goes with us, just as God went with the magi and the Holy Family, just as God is with us today. The journey may be hard, but God always gives enough grace to get us home by another way, even if it is not the way we expected or wanted.

My prayer for you, as we say goodbye, each of us going our own way into the regions beyond, is that you will make this journey with courage and with faith. I know that you will, because I know that the words St. Paul wrote to the Philippians are true for you, also: I thank my God every time I remember you, constantly praying with joy in every one of my prayers for all of you, because of your sharing in the gospel from the first day until now. I am confident of this, that the one who began a good work among you will bring it to completion by the day of Jesus Christ. (Phil 1:3-6) Amen.