A Camels Story.

While we are at Tauranga Aotearoa (NZ) and relaxing, I thought I might share a story that comes from the Epiphany which I enjoy. This is namely the story of the Magi, wise people from a camel’s point of view.

Ships of the desert, my eye! Being a beast of burden is probably not all it is cracked up to be when old nothing but dust for brains Adam named us camels. It was the same when Isaiah proclaimed that a multitude of us would cover the land of promise bearing peoples and gifts from all corners of the earth to come and see the brightness of the light of God's people shining through the thick darkness covering all the earth. But still, without the bunch of us lugging all the supplies and tents, and also those precious and somewhat odd gifts for a baby shower, the Wise Ones would never have made it by the twelfth day. It was by today actually, all those years ago. Well I’m one of the lucky ones who only had to carry one of the Wise One's.

By the time we got to Bethlehem, it was no longer a town bustling and bursting with people and commerce like it had been for those few days of the census. It had returned to its sleepy self after everyone had been counted and gone home. When we got there, the place was empty. There was just a man, a woman, and between them the baby. But there I go getting ahead of myself again. Thank goodness for the camel boys who saw to it that we were fed and watered and had a rub down. This was because the Wise Ones as usual had their heads full of the stars. All the time they were looking out at them. If they were not gazing at the stars they were talking about them, charting them, interpreting them, and searching for this special person.

They were searching for the one that would relieve them of their endlessly restless and yearning spirits. The wise one’s searched the heavens and earth for something they kept calling "the truth." The rest of us in the caravan saw to it that life was lived and everyone was taken care of. They often missed the most interesting exciting parts of the journey. They were so absorbed and preoccupied with their own concerns and interests. Like the mouse who smuggled herself into the saddlebag of Gaspar's camel, Lucky. This was a teenage mouse that had had a terrible fight with her parents. But there I go again. I'm getting off the point.

So where were we? Oh, yes; certainly not at that dreadful King Herod's place. There was plenty of company for all of us camels amidst his livestock and barns, and plenty of water and grain and other good things to eat. But even we could sense the terrible feeling of darkness and death that surrounded his part of the Roman Empire. And who was this Caesar he kept talking about? Herod seemed troubled to hear the Wise Ones talk about the stars and a new King of the Jews and asked for directions to the place where the child lay. Herod didn’t know the way but wanted us to return and tell him where the little one was so he could go there to pay his respects. It wasn't what he said but how he said it that made even the fleas on my humps crawl with uneasiness.  Surely there must be another way out of here, we all thought. And as it turned out, we did head off in a new direction.

We found them at night and it was very cold. The smell of the hay was very sweet, and the cattle's breath, like ours, came out in little puffs of mist hanging in the air. Of course I a camel wasn't supposed to come into the place where they were. In fact, it was such a tiny little cave of a place and there wasn't much room. We had come so far, travelling for so many years to find something, someone, somewhere. It seemed possible that we really might have to search no further. I figured it couldn't hurt if I just stuck my head in for a peek.

So while they were unloading the gifts off the back of my cousin, and the Wise Ones were still consulting their charts and graphs to make certain that this truly was the one they were searching for, I stuck my head in. Well, it was a bit surprising. The scene was so ordinary. I don't know what I had expected, but after years of carrying these Wise Ones and all their gear and supplies all over the place. I guess I thought there would be crowds, and family, and all kinds of hoopla. I mean, even when a new camel is born amongst the herd, there is more attention and excitement as the new baby tries to stand for the first time.

There was none of that in this little place in Bethlehem. There was a man, a woman and, between them the child who at the glance I caught, seemed to be a King." I could see that this little child was true light itself. It is really curious how little babies like this one cannot even get up on their legs the way we do. They just lie there, so, still and vulnerable. Even I could see that stars might bow down before this one, he could teach creepy old Herod a thing or two about being a king. I could see that the heavens and earth and all creation were somehow about to be made new by the presence of this one baby in the hay.

It's too bad the Wise Ones did not seem to see all that. I mean they put their gifts in there, and bowed down on bended knee and all. But then it was back out the door, and looking into the stars again. Soon we were being loaded up and herded down the road and out of town. All of us except that mouse who stayed behind moved on. She just could not bring herself to leave those people alone. She was not going anywhere. She was staying right there with him, the one born to be King. She wanted to live the rest of his story!

Just that glance, a peek in the door was enough to know that this Jesus reveals to you how much God watches over you and loves you. Even I could see that this Jesus calls us to follow him so we might do something beautiful with our lives and bear much fruit. Even camels!

The one thing I saw that night was that the world needs you. Jesus needs you. They need your love and your gifts and your light. Isn't that the funny part of it all? The Wise Ones are off all the time looking at the light in the stars, when the light that is the light of the world is right here in the midst of us. He shows us that. Any camel with eyes could see that! Know, my sister, my brother, that there is a hidden place in your heart where Jesus lives and his light shines!

This is a deep secret that even the Wise Ones overlook most of the time. Let Jesus live in you. Go forward with him into the whole world. Let your light shine, for the light that is the life of the world is coming into the world. Keep looking at the babe in the manger, offer him your gifts, and you will see all that there is to know and see! You will then see some more and then even some more. And who knows, maybe if we all offer as much as we receive, we just might in fact make it through the eye of a needle!