Speaking Our Language--January 6, 2023

Speaking Our Language--January 6, 2023

"In the time of King Herod, after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, Magi from the East came to Jerusalem, asking, 'Where is the child who has been born king of the Jews? For we observed his star at its rising, and have come to pay him homage'." [Matthew 2:1-2]

It is an investment of great love to learn to speak another person's language.

Truly, it's almost like something out of a romantic comedy where the lead falls for someone who speaks another language and stumbles through communicating in the love-interest's native tongue, with hijinks and mix-ups along the way for laughs, of course.  If you find you are so committed to showing love to someone else that you are willing learn to speak their language rather than insisting they learn yours, you've really got something there.  It's a sign you are willing to spend time and energy and effort, and it's a way of honoring the other person, showing that they are worth the work it takes to learn something about their experience, life, and background, rather than making them abandon it.  There is a sort of tenderness about being willing to learn to speak someone else's langauge, too, because it's not something you can show off with like flexing muscles or showing off your wealth.  Learning a language says, "You are important enough to me for me to get outside of my comfort zone in order to get through to you."

[I also can't help but think right now of the classic Beatles' song, "Michelle," which basically takes this set-up as its premise--that Paul McCartney has met a girl named Michelle, but he doesn't speak French. He only knows the phrase, "Sont des mots qui vont très bien ensemble," which means something like, "These are words that go together well." Of course, it also seems like a pretty feeble gesture only to make enough effort to learn one phrase that doesn't seem terribly useful, rather than to learn the basic skills to carry on a conversation.]  

Even when there's not a literal language barrier, it is a powerful thing to learn how to communicate in the terms that someone else will understand.  In pop psychology, they sometimes talk about people having "love languages" to refer to the different ways people express care.  For some people, it's in giving gifts; for others, the way to show you care is to spend time with them, or to do acts of service for the ones you love.  The wrinkle, of course, is that not everyone is wired the way you are--and so sometimes [or maybe rather often] you have to learn what allows the people you care about to feel loved, even if it's different from what you are used to.  Now, that may not look like as much work as becoming fluent in Spanish or Swahili, but it really can be challenging to learn to put yourself in someone else's shoes and think about what they would like, rather than just assuming based on what you like.  It means a whole new mindset, one based on empathy, and that takes a lot of effort and energy.

So what does it mean, then, that when the Christ is born, God doesn't merely tell the news to "in-group" Israelites who were already hoping for a Messiah... but reaches out to outsiders, from faraway nations and foreign cultures, and chooses to communicate in terms they'll understand?  That's really what's going on in the story of the Magi who visit the young Jesus, in the story we call "The Epiphany."  God had gotten through to the shepherds outside of Bethlehem with an angel, sure. But to reach people far away who don't know what they're looking for and who will have to travel for months if not years in order to arrive at their destination, God has to resort to other means.  To get through to people who don't have their own copy of the scroll of the prophets, God must speak a message that doesn't require them to know the Bible already.  To convince people who believed the alignment of the stars in the sky foretold events on earth, God chose to put a light in the sky to guide these Zoroastrian astrologers in the right direction.  That is to say, God was willing to use their language, their way of understanding, in order to bring the news to them.  There is deep kindness and great tenderness in that choice, and it means that God was more interested in reaching the Magi, and with them the whole world beyond "in-group" Israel, than in being efficient.

Not only that, but God was willing to work through the means of astrology and celestial wonders even though The Rules said that astrology was bad.  Seriously, there are commandments in the Torah against trying to foretell the future through the signs in the sky, and there were clear prohibitions in Judaism against divination of any kind.  A more respectable deity would insist that the Magi give up studying astrology before inviting them to meet the Messiah.  A god who is more concerned with projecting a certain reputation would keep out the foreigners who haven't learned the "right" language, perhaps.  But the God whose love is kind does the opposite, choosing the kind of thing the Magi will understand as a way to communicate with them. Setting the "star" in the sky for them to notice is like choosing to use their language, even when there are religious rules against "their kind" being included.  That kind of love has been staring us in the face all along from the pages of the Scriptures.  I wonder--have we been able to recognize it?

If you know what it is like to have someone care about you enough to learn how to communicate that to you, whether learning your "love language" or studying a literal foreign language, then you have a sense of the lengths God's kindness will go to reach us... all.  Rather than insisting we have to learn how to speak on divine terms, God keeps seeking ways to communicate in human terms.  Ultimately, of course, that comes in the very human form of Jesus, the one whom the star led the Magi to see.  Just think--if that's how God's love reached to pagan star-watchers thousands of years ago, surely God loves you no less, and with the same deep commitment to get through to you.

How might we go above and beyond to reach people who are beloved of God, but maybe don't dare believe it yet?  How might God's kind of tenderness become our way of showing kindness?  How might we pull down the things that would otherwise have been barriers keeping people from knowing the goodness of God, and how might we make the effort to express God's love in every language there is?

That's the challenge, and the invitation, for us today.  What do you say--are we ready?

Lord God, we give you thanks for your commitment to find ways to reach us, to speak our language, and to meet us on terms we will understand.  Thank you for your tenacious kindness.