Post Epiphany

                                                       Matthew 2:12 

          

          And 

          having 

          been 

          warned 

          in a 

          dream 

          not to 

          return 

          to Herod, 

          they left 

          for their own 

          country by another road. 

This single line says so much in such a little space! It’s one of my favorites. The wise men’s quest is over, their gifts given, and it is time to return to ordinary life  And, while you might miss the meaning of the angel pointing the way in the stained glass window, you cant’s miss it in this little black and white graphic. Here we see not "wise men", but the angel alerting vulnerable, all too human sleeping men, all tucked into bed. And a good thing they listened to the dream, even though it would have put them at odds with Herod - in "bad odor" as it says so delight-fully somewhere in Scripture. Herod had told them that once they had found the child, to return and tell him exactly where he was so he too could go and worship as well. But we know that, out of fear for his own kingship, Herod's real intent was to go and kill the child.. And so, these foreign men, heeding the angel’s warning, saved the infant Savior’s life. A lot in a little line, no?