Matthew tells us that after seeing the child, the Magi went home by another road (Matthew 2:12, NRSV). It is one short line, easy to miss, yet it says so much. They had followed a star with hope and curiosity, and what they found was not power or prestige, but a vulnerable child and a holy moment. That encounter did something to them. It did not end with gifts laid down at the manger. It followed them out the door and onto the road. They could not simply return the same way they came.
I find myself coming back to that truth again and again. Any real encounter with God changes us. Not in a flashy way, but in a quiet, honest one. Repentance is not just about feeling bad or promising to do better. It is about a change that works its way into our hearts and then shows up in how we live. The Magi were changed enough to refuse Herod’s fear and violence. They chose a different way, even when it meant inconvenience and uncertainty. That kind of change always costs us something, but it also frees us.
For me, this scripture keeps asking a very personal question. After I have encountered Christ, am I willing to go home another way in how I love others? Another way in how I speak, how I listen, how I treat those who are hurting or pushed aside. Faith cannot stay private or polite. If it is real, it reshapes how we show up for our neighbors and how we resist cruelty and indifference. Going home another way means choosing compassion over comfort and love over fear, again and again. That is the change I am still learning to live into, one step at a time.
