Another Road

“Later they were warned in a dream not to return to Herod, and they went back home by another road.” Matthew 2:12

Thirty-nine years ago, the summer between my junior and senior year in high school, my family took a camping vacation. This wasn’t unusual, we usually camped. Dad was a pastor, we had four kids, and we rarely stayed in motel rooms. Fortunately, living in Southern California, Disneyland, Hollywood and the beach were all day trips. We didn’t lose much by not sleeping at the most convenient C’mon Inn.

But this vacation was a bit different. Instead of a couple of weeks with maybe one change of camp, we would be gone for two full months, camping everywhere, except for a few days stopover with my aunt and uncle in Michigan. So, we set out from Southern California, journeyed east and eventually made our way to the East Coast. It would take pages and pages to share the adventures we had.

We saw the history of Williamsburg, enjoyed the craziness of driving in New York City, saw Niagara Falls for the first time, and stared at the four presidents on Mount Rushmore. We were rained out of our tent in Pennsylvania, soaked with overnight dew when we sleep outside in Minnesota and fell in love with Toronto. My parents, both teachers, had the leisure of two full months during the summer to take us on the trip of a lifetime.

I always wanted to recreate the trip, but with a twist. Because we wanted to see as much as possible, we primarily stayed on the Interstates. I vowed I would do it again some day, but take a different route; I would take the two lane highways, the back roads, the asphalt that took you through the middle of towns you barely see whizzing by on the Interstate. I wanted to see something different this time.

The Wise Men made a road trip too, to see the King they knew was to be born. The Bible tells us the inquired of King Herod, the jealous and paranoid King of Israel at the time, and his scholars told the Magi that the Jewish prophets said this King, or Messiah, was to be born in Bethlehem. The Wise Men thanked them for the information, and hurried off, with the King saying, “Be sure and let me know where this new King is, so I can come worship him too.”

It seems the Wise Men wouldn’t get to take a different road home; they had an errand to fulfill for the King, retracing exact route in reverse. They find Jesus and His family and pay their homage. These three men from well outside the covenant of God’s people, bow in solemn worship while King Herod plots to rid himself of both the boy Jesus and the Men from the East who had the chutzpah to think they knew who the Jewish Messiah was. No one of such humble birth was going to take Herod’s throne, not if he had anything to do with it.

But, it turns out the Wise Men did get a change of scenery. In a dream they are warned of Herod’s plot and they return home a different way. After the Wise Men had gone, an angel also appears to Joseph and tells him to take Mary and Jesus to Egypt until it is safe to return.

It occurs to me that any encounter with Christ out to change our direction. We must not think that we can say we want to follow Jesus on the one hand, but keep traveling the same road as before. When Jesus calls us, he will not allow us to stay on the safe roads. He calls us to leave all our safe routes behind, and follow, even as Abraham did, “not knowing where he was going.”

We must not think that we can simply add “Jesus” to the recipe of our life, and call it changed. We cannot slap an aluminum fish on the back of the car, but still drive the same direction. Many of us might not end up even driving the same car after meeting up with the King of All.

He will not allow us to follow the same old roads and call them by new names. He insists, by faith, that we “take another road” than the one we are at ease with. We may need to rid ourselves of everything we have gathered to make the journey comfortable. We cannot pick and choose, one day taking His road, the next telling Him we are going to decide the direction we should go.

No, an encounter with Jesus changes the entire direction of our life. Granted, we may get distracted along the way, but, having realized our detour, nothing should keep us from finding His road as soon as we can. We should remember, like the Wise Men, the change our route insured their safety and their very lives. So it is every time we say “Yes” to Christ, it is truly a matter of genuine life and death.