December 31, 2025

SEVEN days to Bethlehem…

…journeying as magi.

GOD’S WORD FOR TODAY:

“In the beginning, God created the Heavens and the earth…” (Genesis 1.1)

TODAY’S REFLECTION ON GOD’S WORD:

No one really knows for sure where the expression came from, but when a person makes a huge investment of resources (time, energy, thought, finances) into a project or any effort of great importance personally or corporately and it fails or falls woefully short, it is said of them “They laid an egg.” In doing research on the phrase, little more is found than that. There is really no true etymology of the phrase.
Seemingly it rose up out of nothingness. Some sources relate a story that in the British game of “cricket,” the score of zero is called a “duck egg” as it resembles a large oval and thus the shape of a zero. I have no idea of the validity of that story, but I cannot deny the application of the expression “to lay an egg” to the assignment of failure.

Is it because that an egg which is laid that does not become fertilized never becomes the home of an actualized life? In essence the substance of life within an egg continues to exist but never reaches it intended potential. In other words, life is dormant and unrealized. It may become good for consumption. Its inwardness is food to build up and support the life of another just as we eat eggs ourselves for breakfast. Have we ever considered that we are consuming an unrealized and potential life? (The applications and ramifications of this line of reasoning should speak to many who are both pro-choice and pro-life. Enough said for that today.) Now we can see that egg as more than a sign of loss or failure. It is a sign of unrealized potential or the insinuation of the same so that the potential would not be realized. Sometimes the enemy wins by causing another to lose. They build themselves up on the failures of others. They do not so much rise up as the others fall. This was the tactic the Enemy of God and humankind used in the Garden of Eden and every day hence.

You might ask what that has to do with our journey to Bethlehem as magi. Their story is a story of looking into the nothingness around them and seeing a singular potential in the Star of Bethlehem. All their efforts to gain great knowledge and dispense wisdom and advice to their masters led them to recognize the potential of that Star for the whole world. Let’s say the magi put “all their eggs into one basket.” That basket was the cradle of Bethlehem in which the Son of God was born to be “King of the Jews.” The title itself meant more than to be a king of a nation and a certain people. The title itself was one of such potential impact and import to the ways of the entire world. The world would rise and fall according to this “King of kings and Lord of lords.” It would never mean that Israel was better than all nations because of its King. There was that belief in the purpose of the Messiah for some. They put their hopes in a Messiah who would come and wipe all others off the face of the earth leaving them only as the survivors and thereby able to live in peace without challenge. Of course, they would be a challenge to themselves much as Noah was to himself after the waters receded and dry land appeared. He was able to once again grow grapes and make wine and become drunk. This led to all kinds of trouble just within his own family. The “begin” again which God had created turned into a “same as usual” when left in the hands of those who make poor choices.

On the sixth day of Christmas, the song tells us, our true love (God) gave to us “six geese a-laying.” And while we would appreciate the gift of a goose if we were hungry, that is not what the teaching implied in the presentation of that gift means. According to the catechism, or didache, the six geese represent the six days of creation. The flow of the story of creation where God brings life into order out of the chaos and disorder which existed beforehand shows intentionality on God’s part to move step by step to fruition and fulfillment. Where I mentioned that the “duck egg,” or goose egg as some may claim, stood for a zero score or the absence of success, we know that is what existed before God’s Holy Spirit moved at His command to create something out of nothing. The geese do not lay eggs that are unfertile. Each one is ready to present itself from light out of the darkness to the creation of man and woman in the image which God purposed and intended. God is still in the creating business. Those six days show God’s plan for life is productive, awesome, fruitful and forward moving. There is no room for “nothingness” in God’s creation. It is the providence of humanity to be active within creation accomplishing all that God had brought to life within the various elements which separate them from all other parts of creation. There is no one and nothing like humankind. So, it was that the magi who journeyed to Bethlehem were intentional and purposeful. What we know is that their destination, which was to see the One born King of the Jews, was intended to be accomplished in Jerusalem in the palace. That would be like seeing Jerusalem as the “sixth day” or the “sixth egg.” There would be one more step to take. That seventh step would represent what only God could do and that is create “sabbath.” Sabbath’s purpose is for rest for the work weary that culminates in the celebration of true life and service with the worship of the Lord God, Master of all Creation. Six geese was a-plenty but it is not enough unless we go all the way to God in thanksgiving and praise. That is our “epiphany.”

TODAY’S PRAYER IN RESPONSE TO GOD’S WORD:

Father, in these days we are finding the need to believe even more than ever before. We all have known trouble, some in greater ways than others, but You are offering us the assurance that we will not be consumed by it forever. Regardless of the “time” we are in and the “time” we have been given, we ask for Your Holy Spirit which Jesus asked You to share with us, to lead and guide and direct us in the paths we should go. Teach us what we still need to learn. Empower us to put that learning into action. Bless our actions not as a works righteousness but as righteous works of faith, hope and love in Jesus’ name. AMEN.