“When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceedingly great joy.” Matthew 2:10
By: Gabriela Yareliz
There are many narratives to the holiday season. There are different focal points, and reminders along the way. I believe those points of focus reveal a lot about those who celebrate and the values they cherish. We internalize these meanings. We hold them close in times of darkness.
We have the season of advent— where the whole buildup to Christmas is about the journey and silence leading up to Christmas. Advent is all about preparation and anticipation. We prepare our hearts. Its main focus is reflection on the promise to be fulfilled. In one word— hope.
Hanukkah is all about the miracle of the burning lights. It reminds us of a God who provides for us, and will orchestrate miracles on our behalf to give us victory over an enemy. A God who is an inextinguishable light in the darkness.
I can’t speak for Kwanzaa. I have lived all over the place and met all kinds of people. Never met or heard of a single person that celebrates Kwanzaa. So, if you celebrate Kwanzaa, pop into the comments. They say it’s about unity, so we will go with that.
Christmas— the world’s main event. The coming of the Savior of the world. A God who loves us so much, He injects Himself into our story to save us from our hopelessness and sin. A long-awaited promise fulfilled. God does not lie, nor does He abandon us in darkness. He comes in the most unexpected ways and defies expectations. A God who comes to us. Emmanuel. God with us.
Then, there is one more. It’s largely ignored by many cultures, but not by mine. The Spanish celebrate the Three Kings hard. It’s called Epiphany on January 6. We make them a focus point of our art. We paint them. We carve them. We remember them. It’s curious to me how much attention we give to the outsider.
Three outsiders (non-Jews in the story) who were mystics. They paid attention to the stars and had dreams. They were seekers. They trusted their gut and followed a star to Bethlehem from very far. Very far, guys. We sometimes overlook the level of conviction they had to arrive to where Jesus was. They were asking questions the whole way through and even stopped by the king to ask him where they could find the true King of the story. (It pissed the king off, and thankfully, the magi were warned in a dream to go another way back home).
They remind us that God is seeking after all of us. He drops signs and guidance, and the one who keeps asking and follows that inner knowing, finds Him. It may be a long journey, but the seeker will find Him.
The magi’s presence in our main story declares early on in the story that the Messiah, even though He came from the Jews, was not just for the Jews but for the world. He came for any person who would accept Him in their heart. The magi are drawn in; their worship, accepted.
And I would dare to say that these men who dared to venture out and ask questions and act on those questions remind us that God honors the seeker.
Do we ever just stop and think about that? I think we live in a time where seeking is demonized. Low effort reigns. You ask a real question and people feel you are out of line. Do we dare ever question a narrative? And I am talking everywhere— within religious structures, with our government, with the information we are given.
Maybe I believe in this to the extreme because I literally studied a profession that seeks to ask questions until you arrive to truth. That is what journalism is. Journalism always seeks to lift the veil and come closer to truth. It crosses lines. It disturbs what is “settled” when there are indications that something just isn’t right. It digs and digs to the point of exhaustion. It clarifies the complicated. It shares truth, which leads to justice.
I was reflecting on the magi after a dance I saw based on that hymn about the Three Kings. The one thing that came to mind as I watched was not just that seekers will find truth if they continue to search— even when the king gets mad and wants you to stop— but that God honors a sincere seeker. He honors the seeker with the gift of Himself. The seekers, in this story— after they asked the king for directions, wandered a bit and kept their focus on the star— they ended up seeing the face of God.
They ended up finding Him. When they found a child in poverty, they didn’t turn away thinking that what they found didn’t match their expectation. No. They prostrated themselves before the King. In their innermost self, they knew the truth in front of them. They blocked out the noise and saw what was real. They came prepared with gifts and gave Him all that they had that was of value. Their gifts were fit for the King.
In this life, where literally the main journey is to seek Him and seek truth (the truth sets us free; He tells us ‘I am the truth and the life’)— may we be the ones who ask and ask and wander following the sign given. May we see the light and be filled with “exceedingly great joy.” May we keep pressing on when nothing looks as it “should.” May we never stop seeking until we have arrived to see Him face-to-face. Until the day we bow to touch His feet— may we keep in our pursuit.
“The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shone. […] For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.” Isaiah 9:2, 6-7
My culture’s focus on this holiday is one that I value deeply. We saw this story of salvation and didn’t forget the outsider. The ones who were deeply convicted, packed gifts for a king and went out to find Him. We didn’t forget the seeker. The one who sees the bright star in darkness. The one who believes even when God shows up in a way that is unexpected. We honor the fact that God honors the one who seeks. Importantly, the one who seeks, finds.
GABRIELA YARELIZ 