When the Magi came to Bethlehem they did not find Christ so much as they were found by him. He brought them joy, he led them to worship, and he made them exceedingly generous. Christ seeks us in the same way. Let this be a reminder for us as we wait for the Lord this Advent.
We might not often think of the Magi as figures of Advent, but I find myself wondering more and more about their journey from the East. I think of them as moving in a kind of Advent towards the Lord. They were headed to a definite place to meet a definite person, though they did not yet know where exactly they would go nor whom exactly they would meet. Thus, their journey was more than a journey––it was a pilgrimage. The holiness of the destination is what makes a journey into a pilgrimage, and that holiness at the end changes the way in which pilgrims journey all along.
The Lord and Savior who comes to us now and who will come to us at the end of time is the same Lord and Savior that awaited the Magi’s arrival in Bethlehem. Their desire to make it to him mattered. Their willingness to seek him and make intentional steps to him mattered. Their openness to being changed mattered. The Child who waited for them at the end of their pilgrimage wanted them to be ready to encounter him when they arrived. The Child was seeking them, which is the only reason they sought him.
Our Advent journeys will become pilgrimages to Christ as we allow ourselves to be changed in via, becoming prepared for the encounter with the Lord and Savior who seeks to find us. He seeks to bring us joy, to lead us to worship, and to make us exceedingly generous. But between who we are and who he desires for us to be when he meets us, we may have to shed quite a lot of our fear, our jealousy, our preference for control, and our grasp on our own terms. I wonder how this shedding happened for those Magi en route, though I am certain that it happened. I am certain that Christ who seeks to encounter us also works on us as we make our way to him, to prepare us to encounter him as he wants us to encounter him.
Over the past couple years, I have learned just how much the questions that Jesus asks in the Gospels prepare us for our encounter with him. Jesus asks question after question to make those who seek him—even those who seek him unknowingly—recognize the ways in which they are actually hiding from him. His questions pierce our disguises, our defenses, and our deflections of his gaze. They make us pause, reconsider our approach, and change our terms. He seeks us through his questions so that we might be prepared to truly encounter him.
In my new book––A God Who Questions–-I ask you to join me on a “scriptural pilgrimage” through the questions Jesus asks. He is the person waiting for us at the end of our journey, and the place he seeks to meet us is the space of genuine encounter. He is asking us to change en route as he prepares us to meet him anew. His questions will make us uncomfortable, and that’s a good thing… but it’s not easy. Together, we will listen to his questions, ponder them, pray with them, and move step by step towards the Child the Magi met, the Christ who seeks us, the Lord and Savior who deigns to find us, to heal us, to love us.
Join me on this Advent pilgrimage on your own, with your family, or with a group from your parish or school. And please feel free to be in touch with me at witnessevangelization@gmail.com.