Rev. Kit Billings
“By ‘gold, frankincense, and myrrh’ are signified all things of the good of love and of faith in the Lord; by ‘gold’ those of the good of love; by ‘frankincense’ those of the good of faith; and by ‘myrrh’ those of both in things external. The reason why the Wise Men from the East offered these things, was that among some in the East there remained from ancient times the knowledge and wisdom of the men of old, which consisted in understanding and seeing heavenly and Divine things in those which are in the world and upon the earth. For it was known to the ancients that all things correspond and are representative….”
–Emanuel Swedenborg, Secrets of Heaven §9293*
How many of you have seen the wonderful cartoon movie titled “Hotel Transylvania”? It’s the one where a fun and emotionally moving rendition of Count Dracula was voiced by Adam Sandler. Well, roughly halfway through the movie, Dracula is sitting on top of his huge hotel next to his daughter, Mavis, and she hands him his memory-picture album. He opens it and it starts with images and words that read, “Two lonely bats crashed in the night. They felt a ‘zing’ of love at first sight. And they knew right then that they would be husband and wife.”
True love works that way, doesn’t it? People know when they bump into and feel that “zing” with that special someone. That scene in that movie strikes a chord inside of many of us. “Zings,” you see, come in more than one form. In fact, in my experience, I would say that God is the Supreme Author of “spiritual zings,” which are moments when vitally important spiritual truths connected to our spiritual growth and movement forward are reflected within God’s Word and the great stories it contains. Spiritual zings are a synonym for moments of epiphany. In Swedenborgian theology, the spiritual realm of existence is intricately connected to the physical-natural world. In our teachings we read that there is a correspondence or intimate connection between the spiritual and natural worlds, and the two are literally interlinked.
Therefore, a “spiritual zing” or personal epiphany could be seen as a moment of heightened awareness or connection to the Divine or Holy One, which transcends ordinary life experiencing. Think about it: how many times have you felt your own very precious moments of spiritual zinging when you hear someone read a story or verse in God’s Word, which connects perfectly with some very important aspect of your spiritual walk with the Lord—a revelation dawns for you! These inner “zings” are moments that help you to further deepen and strengthen your interdependent relationship (or partnership) with God.
From a Swedenborgian perspective, a “spiritual zing” might be interpreted as a manifestation of intimate Divine influence or heightened perception of spiritual illumination—moments of greater clarity between you and God. In our Swedenborgian or New Church theology, the human soul is fully believed to have the capacity to receive and respond to spiritual influences. Therefore, a spiritual “zing” could be seen as a moment when the soul resonates with its Divine Author and Sustainer, giving us clarity about the goodness of life, or about the joy we find in regeneration—inspiration at its best!
My guess is that in no way do you need me to really teach you about this powerful and meaningful truth, which I’m referring to as your own spiritual “zing” moments with your Lord. For me, the great and moving true story of those very wise Magi traveling southward from Persia down into the Holy Land in search of God-the-Savior born here on Earth on Christmas Day, is one of my spiritual ZINGS each year. It comes on the heels of Christmas Day, after we feel God’s new birth of loving goodness within. Months before Jesus was born those Magi or Wise Men saw a spiritual revelation up in the sky, which was only visible to those who had faith that in the fullness of time, when spiritual life on Earth was dying, God came here personally in Jesus Christ to redeem and save us.
In short, my friends, ever since a very long time ago, our human ancestors chose to go down a very sad and unfortunate pathway in life. Humanity fell away, we say, from having a mutually loving, close-knit partnership with our Divine Maker. For me, it is still somewhat of a mystery as to why our ancient forebears freely chose to explore life in ways that led them away from the Lord. What I do know is that God’s Word tells us that those very ancient chapters of falling away happened for real. Gradually, mankind created spiritual darkness where Light had been.
Long before humanity’s gradual turning away from God began, everything and everyone was good. People loved each other, regardless of physical differences and the color of our skin. Long ago people easily felt and saw God dwelling in life’s paradise. They listened to the Lord’s wisdom and those were very happy times. Long ago people enjoyed being dependent on God, because God is the Source of all that is good and true. But then, after thousands of years passed, people began exploring rebellion away from God. They no longer enjoyed knowing and feeling that they were dependent on God. They did not enjoy thinking and knowing that they owed everything to God. They began thinking and believing that what they had was their very own. This led them down the pathway of believing that they could do whatever they wanted with what was theirs, because God’s wisdom and knowledge no longer mattered to them.
The inner meaning of the first twelve chapters of Genesis brings all of this to light, which says that the most ancient peoples took a VERY BAD, spiritually devastating turn in life. Our very ancient forebears actually began taking credit for what they had, and what they did. They chose to enlarge and magnify their own egos. No longer did they believe that God was their great Source of what is good and true. They chose to believe falsely that if they were good it was because they possessed the will to do good, and if they were smart, they became smart in and of themselves and God had nothing to do with it. And so pride took over, and they began to enjoy thinking that what was false and evil was for them truth and goodness. They played games with God’s wisdom and knowledge and twisted false thinking to become the truth in their eyes. They became as Dr. M. Scott Peck aptly said it, the “people of the lie.” They lied to themselves and to each other and they enjoyed doing so. And in so doing they turned criminality into something desirable, and hence…evil and falsity were then born into their hearts. These powerfully evil and hellish ways of thinking and being then poured out into the forces of Mother Nature, which caused vicious animals and poisonous plants to evolve. And then, people began getting sick and miserable and unhappiness took the place of happiness, and spiritual darkness grew exponentially.
This is why in the times when Jesus was born, an enormous amount of evil and corruption were overwhelming humanity and it is why Roman occupation was oppressive and unhealthy to say the least. Jesus was born in Bethlehem because Rome’s Caesar Augustus demanded that a new census be taken so that he could know how far he could squeeze the highest amount of taxes from his huge peasant populations. In Judea Herod the Great was the puppet king of Caesar in Rome, appointed by Augustus to run a huge kingdom of mostly peasant Jews. The norm of life for the Jews was one of tension and confrontation between them and King Herod. Thus, the farmers, fishermen and townspeople of Galilee, Samaria and Judea all understood that Herod was being led by Rome’s rulers and that literally he could slit the throat of any Jewish person in the Holy Land when he felt they were a threat to his oppressive and unjust ways of ruling. And if Herod did not obey Caesar’s will, he would have been eliminated and replaced by someone who would.
Herod was brutal and Jesus was born into his military dictatorship, which means it was a society where everyone was being pushed, manipulated and coerced. As in most agrarian societies, about 10% of the population was born into aristocracy and nobility, and they lived lavishly. The remaining 90% worked the fields growing grapes, olives and grains, and where it was drier, sheep and goats were raised. The Jews were subsistence farmers and laborers, growing one bag of grain for themselves and one bag for Herod or Caesar. And while the rich prospered the peasants suffered, and so their hatred for Herod and the Romans escalated. The Jews hated Herod because he had a reputation for being a murderer and a thug—qualities epitomized within our story this morning where we witness Herod trying to manipulate the Magi into telling him where the Christ was born—not for paying Him homage but for killing Him forthwith. One can understand why both Herod and all of Jerusalem were upset when the Wise Men came before Herod asking where the newborn king was so that they could offer Him tribute. Herod had a penchant for killing anyone who threatened his throne.
This was the backdrop of why God had to come to Earth to put the hellish forces back in their place, bringing the words and ways of loving wisdom, justice and goodness back into the grasp of everyday local yokels like us who are hungry for Heaven on Earth. And this is why this wonderfully true story of those Persian Wise Men or Kings expending great resources and taking huge risks to find their newborn Savior of loving wisdom hits a major chord within us and makes us spiritually ZING inside. Like them, we too need to be willing to give greatly of our resources, time and efforts in life to seek out the Savior King named Jesus Christ—God made visible in His Divine-Humanity.
Their very long journey of following pinpoints of spiritual truth within their daily perceptions mirrors our long, steady, often challenging journeys of finding the birthplace of spiritual illumination, symbolized by Christ’s birth in Bethlehem. Their story reminds us that our own long journeys of finding God in His Divine-Humanity are worth it. Because then we are blessed to not only experience the joy of being in humble moments where new spiritual births take place, but we also are blessed to encounter life as our most ancient forebears used to feel it. For them, it meant everything to give God their greatest gifts, symbolized in the precious gifts the Magi laid at the Lord’s manger-bed filled with hay.
They brought Him gold, frankincense and myrrh—which represent giving their greatest love for God back to Him, because it came first from Him. Gold reflects such loving for the Lord. Frankincense symbolizes the sweet aroma of prayerful thinking full of faith and kindness towards the neighbor. And myrrh, a bitter resin, is a physical pledge to remain obedient to behaving good and speaking truth, even when life feels difficult or arduous to endure.
So, in closing, on this beautiful Epiphany Sunday, the Lord is poetically inviting you to enjoy doing what those Kings of the Orient did: follow your stars of truth that lead you to finding God the Savior born anew for you, and then feel the joy of giving Him your most precious gifts. What kinds of love, what kinds of daily thinking and praying, and what kinds of good and just behavior throughout this New Year will you give to the Lord, a re-gifting of spiritual living, which He has given you first?
Which king will you choose to pay homage to this year? The corrupt and terribly selfish symbolic King Herod? Or the holy and humble newborn King of Heaven, in Jesus Christ the Lord? Every morning and every day, these choices are yours. God’s Word possesses the power to zing you now today, to give you epiphanies of insight or illumination, because Heaven is found in the journey and the choice the Magi made. They put into action what we can as well, to do all we need to do to allow the Lord to be born anew within us, and then give Him our greatest gifts in return.
*Swedenborg, Emanuel. Secrets of Heaven, Vol IV. West Chester: Swedenborg Foundation, 2020.
Rev. Kit Billings, his wife Penny, and their daughter Julia moved to LaPorte, Indiana in 2012, where he is Pastor of the LaPorte New Church, a historic Swedenborgian sacred space. Kit enjoys ministering with people of all ages, and supporting others in their journey of growth with the Lord.