Whose sign is it anyway?

Remember when almost three years ago, we couldn’t find toilet paper anywhere, for love or money?  Or the great sugar shortage of 2023?  Or how people were dumping ice buckets on their heads for charity? Or when people were learning how to make sourdough bread?  We jump on bandwagons at the drop of a hat.  We look for trends like adopting pets we don’t know how to take care of, or washing our floors with laundry detergent, or jumping into icy waters on January 1^st.  And we look for people we can trust, who will tell us what to do and how to do it.

We look for role models, heroes, signs, or coincidences.  We look for people who will do our thinking for us so we can relax and follow along.  We don’t always know how to pick the leaders and heroes that are good for us.  History is full of people who followed cult leaders or elected dangerous individuals into positions of power, like Hitler, Mao Zedong or Mussolini, to name a few.  History is also full of great leaders, like Gandhi who freed India from Colonial Rule, Churchill who inspired resistance to Hitler, Martin Luther King Junior, or here at home people like Terry Fox or Christ Hatfield.  They did courageous things and inspired others to do similar acts of courage and leadership.

Our challenge, as ordinary humans, without superpowers or magical wands or tricks up our sleeves, is to learn if we are following leaders who are leading from their own need for power and control or leading from a passion to do better by the people who need them.  How do we figure out if we should be protesting for carbon taxes or against them, for a provincial pension or against it, for SOGI or against it for Israel or for Palestine or any other hot button topics bound to rise up in 2024?  And what about those of us who don’t get caught up in news stories?  Should we support Aunt Matilda or Anty Becky in the dispute over Great Grandma’s silver teaspoon?  Should we soak our feet in rice to lose weight like that commercial on Facebook?

The ancient Hebrew people were caught up in a similar problem.  They jumped on the bandwagon of wanting to have a king like all the other countries did.  It’s hard to tell from the biblical narrative if this longing for a king was like trying to keep up with the Joneses when they get the latest virtual reality equipment, or if it was more of a political move for survival.  The prophets predicted that the people would stop putting their trust in God and start putting their trust in the men who wore the shiny gold crowns, which was pretty much what happened.  In fact, that’s probably why Psalm 72 was written.  It’s a description of what the prophets and the poets and the priests and the ordinary people like you and me hoped they would get in their kings.  They didn’t have movie stars or Taylor Swift to admire and emulate.  All they had were kings and they had all turned out to be disappointing.  Even beloved David wasn’t perfect, Saul had frightening mood swings were, and Solomon seemed wise enough but his choice in wives caused trouble and his son was not accepted by many as the new king, which led to a divided country.   As a side note for you science fiction fans, the split away group became known as the 10 lost tribes of Battlestar Galactica fame.

So, when the psalmist describes the kind of king they want, that description comes from first-hand experience.  They want a ruler who will promote fairness, protection, and prosperity.  A king that will put the interests of the weak on equal footing with the powerful, and that will be so honorable, so just, so capable and so kind that people will come from around the world with presents to show their respect.

Matthew would have been familiar with this scripture when he wrote his Gospel.  He had no shepherds watching flocks and no census to tell us about.  He looked at psalms like this one, and the story of Moses whose life was in danger because of the ruler of the day, Pharaoh, threatening to kill male babies.  He drew connections between the scriptures and stories his people already knew to the stories of the new Messiah Matthew had met and learned from. Jesus was the kind of leader, who like Moses, grew up to challenge state powers and leaders to account for how they treated the powerless.  Jesus threatened the leadership of people like Herod Matthew did not see Herod or his sons or Caesar as the promised ruler people were seeking.  Matthew wanted to highlight the kind of king he saw Jesus, one so inspiring, so kind, so powerful in his gentleness and his focus on God, that Matthew hoped to inspire his readers to leave everything behind as the Magi did. Unlike our society that loves trends and fads and tictoc videos, Matthew challenged his people to think about what kind of leader they wanted, and encourage them to follow Jesus, the only king who had measured up to the wish list of psalmists and prophets alike.

The magi were bold disciples.  They left their comfortable homes and prosperous lifestyles, banded together for support, and traveled into the unknown future to an unknown place to meet an unheard of king.  Many didn’t jump on their bandwagon, certainly the scholars they got directions from did not offer to join them and show the way to Bethlehem.  But the magi continued on, past many obstacles and temptations, following the star until they found what they were truly looking for.  May we too join the camel caravan of hope, may we consult wisely, follow our stars of inspiration and travel together towards the new year full of fairness, boldness, equality and respect.