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The Wise Men’s wisdom

“They returned to their country by another road, since God had warned them in a dream not to go back to Herod” - Matthew 2:12

Our Scripture Lesson is about the story of the Wise Men from the East, who visited the baby Jesus born in Bethlehem (Mt.2:1-12). From the story itself, we could glean at least two kinds of wisdom, which could serve as our points of reflections as we face this new year 2005. On one hand, we have King Herod’s wisdom, and on the other hand, the Wise Men’s wisdom. Wisdom could be defined as lessons learned from experiences in life.

Power Struggle

To begin with, let’s take King Herod’s wisdom, which could also be described in two ways: First and foremost, King Herod’s wisdom is the wisdom of power struggle.

According to Biblical scholars, the Roman Emperor appointed King Herod as King of the Jews, simply because he was the only one left among the possible appointees to the throne. King Herod himself was able to annihilate all the other possible appointees. No wonder, he was very much upset when he heard from the Wise Men that a baby was born to be the King of the Jews. Certainly, King Herod would not allow anyone to take over his throne.

The Scripture says that everyone in Jerusalem was also upset. For the people knew very well the wisdom of King Herod, and they could almost anticipate the shedding of innocent blood. The people were not mistaken. For not too long after that, cries of anguish were already heard in the neighboring towns of Bethlehem. Innocent children were massacred upon King Herod’s order.

Many social analysts are saying that one of the reasons why we are not progressing as a nation is because we have too much politics in our social life. We have too much power struggle. We always put political color to anything that we do. That’s why it is quite difficult for us to unite and work together as a people, even long after elections are over.

In the national and local elections last year, about a hundred people were killed. It seems that we could not choose our leaders without the shedding of innocent blood. That’s why historians tell us that in our country more people are killed during elections than during revolutions. Truly, King Herod’s wisdom is very much alive in our society today.

This reminds us once again about the disciples of Jesus when they were quarreling among themselves as to who among them would be first in God’s Kingdom.

Jesus said to them, “You know that those who are considered rulers of the heathen have power over them, and the leaders have complete authority. This, however, is not the way it is among you. If one of you wants to be great, you must be the servant of the rest; and if one of you wants to be first, you must be the slave of all. For even the Son of Man did not come to be served; he came to serve and to give his life to redeem many people”(Mk.10:42-45).

If we want to discover something new in this new year, we must go beyond King Herod’s wisdom of power struggle. We must have the mind of Christ, who “always had the nature of God, but he did not think that by force he should try to remain equal with God. Instead of this, of his own freewill he gave up all he had, and took the nature of a servant. He became like a human being and appeared in human likeness. He was humble and walked the path of obedience all the way to death – his death on the cross”(Phil.2:6-8).

Deception

Moreover, King Herod’s wisdom is not only the wisdom of power struggle, but also the wisdom of deception. According to the Biblical story, King Herod called the Wise Men to a secret meeting, and gave them instructions, saying: “Go and make a careful search for the child; and when you find him, let me know, so that I, too, may go and worship him”(v.8).

King Herod projected himself to be a very pious, very religious person. “When you find him”, he said, “let me know, so that I, too, may go and worship him.” But deep within he was actually planning on how he would be able to eliminate the child who was supposed to be the object, as well as, the subject of his worship.

This is a particular example of how religion is used to deceive the people, and to satisfy one’s own greed for power.

One of the most recent phenomena in Philippine politics in last year’s national and local elections was the emergence of a group of religious people joining the political arena, running for public office and using religious resources, religious language and symbols for political purposes.

The use of religion for one’s own self-interest and political purposes is not actually new in the experience of the church.

Since the time of Emperor Constantine the Great of the Roman Empire in the Fourth Century, the church had already been collaborating with the powers-that-be. And the leaders of the church had the strategic role as kingmakers, especially in the Holy Roman Germanic Empire.

However, the Protestant Reformation in the 16th Century tried to put a stop to this practice due to the abuses and scandals that it spawned in church’s life and witness. The Protestant reformers came out with the principle of separation of the church and the state.

And this principle is now enshrined in our own constitution, as well as in the constitutions of many democratic countries today.

The principle of separation of church and state is founded on the firm conviction that Jesus Christ our Lord is indeed the Lord of all. The Gospel of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ transcends all kinds of ideologies and politics. Hence, the church as the mystical Body of Christ should not align itself with any ideology or political party. For once the church aligned itself with a particular ideology or political party, it would tend to lose its prophetic voice and could no longer proclaim the Lordship of Christ over all.

This was the sad experience of the German Church during Hitler’s time. The German Church aligned itself with Nazism and Hitler’s political party. And so, the German Christians closed their eyes and ears and could no longer speak any word of protest, while millions of Jews were led to their tragic death in Hitler’s gas chambers and torture machines.

However, this does not mean that Christians should not be involved in politics. Politics is very much part of our life. Power is a gift of God. And our politics defines how responsible we are in our own stewardship of power. But then, our politics must be judged by the Gospel. It should be molded, shaped and transformed by the values and ethics of God’s Kingdom.

And so, if we are looking for something new in this new year, we have to go beyond King Herod’s wisdom of deception. We have to recognize Christ’s Lordship in our lives, and truly worship him not only with our lips, but “with all our hearts, our souls, our strength and our mind” (Lk.10:27).

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