| Matthew 2:1-12 "Find Yourself" (Epiphany Sunday) |
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| Written by Rev. Don Lee | |
| Saturday, 06 January 2007 | |
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This is Epiphany, the season of light. Epiphany means “a visible manifestation of a hidden divinity.” The Magi’s story is associated with this season because it marks the first time, in the Gospels that Christ is revealed to a Gentile audience (the Magi being non-Jews). In the words of the prophet Isaiah “Nations shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your dawn.” (Isaiah 60:3, which by the way, is probably where the tradition that the Magi were kings, grew from). In ancient Babylon, Magi were astrologers. Their specialty was interpreting the movement of stars. The Magi’s brief, almost cryptic appearance in Matthew’s Nativity gives us advance warning that the world we are about to enter into is a “magical” place where the extraordinary is common place. In the words of Stan Saunders: Imagine [in contrast], a world where daily life is not determined by immutable "laws of nature," a world where, for example, human beings can walk on water, where thousands are fed with a few loaves of bread and a couple of fish, and where enemies learn to love one another. Imagine a world where economics are not driven by the assumption of scarcity, but by the reality of plenty. Imagine a world where a shrewd peasant repeatedly trumps the political authorities, where the representatives of the greatest military power on earth are humbled by an unarmed healer from the backwaters of Galilee. If you can imagine this kind of world, you possess the kind of imagination the evangelist Matthew sought to instill among Christians at the end of the first century—an imagination ready to discern the reign of heaven. - Stan Saunders, Sojourners Online Our gospel reading this morning comes from Matthew 2:1-12. I invite you to stand as you are able, and listen for the Good News. Prayer: God of light and life, who has revealed yourself to us in the Christ child; open up our minds and our hearts to receive your good news of great joy. Amen. Our story begins with God as the initiator. God speaks to a group of Magi gathered around a pile of star charts and a plethora of ancient sacred writings. “A child has been born… King of the Jews.” So compelled by this revelation and its significance not only for the Jews, but for all people, they load up their camels with much of their wealth and begin the journey from ancient Babylon (the cradle of civilization). It is a journey that will take them up to a full year to complete. After months of traveling through the desert, they find themselves lost, unsure of where they are heading. Common sense leads them to Jerusalem. Where better to seek the King of the Jews then at the doorstep of King Herod’s palace! One of the things you might have picked up from Matthew’s narrative is that the Magi appear to be very naïve about power and politics. When King Herod sends them on to Bethlehem to locate the child for him, they have no sense that he is playing them, for murderous ends. Verse 9, [The Magi] set out; and there, ahead of them, went the star that they had seen at its rising, until it stopped over the place where the child was. The star they had sighted from the East reappears to guide them to Bethlehem. In fact, it stops and hovers right over the very mud hovel Mary and Joseph have temporarily made “home” until mother and child are both strong enough to make the return trip to the Galilee. The narrative’s point is clear….God is at work, here. Verse 10, “When they saw that the star had stopped, they were overwhelmed with joy.” The original language is even stronger, “They rejoiced with extreme joy!” If you want to know what extreme joy looks like, watch ABC’s Extreme Home Makeover and see what happens when the words are spoken, “Bus Driver, move that bus!” I imagine the holy couple had all sorts of visitors after the birth, but none even remotely close to the Magi! Imagine your last family reunion. Family members are oohing and ahhing over the newest arrival, when three strangers show up at the front door wearing turbans, dusty Bedouin robes, and swords. Their language is unfamiliar and they seem to be very agitated, as they make excited motions toward the newborn child, as if they want to hold him. What would you do? “Over my dead body!” Right?! What’s peculiar is that these strangers are here at all. After all, the Magi were not Jews. Many scholars believe the visitors were Zoroastrians from ancient Babylon (modern day Iraq). There is no indication they converted to Judaism and they certainly didn’t pray to receive Christ. Nor are they mentioned in the Gospel narratives again. What role the Magi play in the birth narrative is purely conjecture! They are pagans whose religious beliefs are as far from Judaism, as Islam is from Christianity. And yet, they come bearing gifts. Makes me wonder what gifts those of other belief systems and religious traditions have to offer us. Perhaps instead of feeling threatened by Muslims, Jews, Hindus and Buddhists, we ought to have as much grace as Mary did in receiving these strangers). She threw the doors open and received them warmly. But there’s more here for us in the Matthew’s version of the Nativity: We know from elsewhere in the Gospel narratives that Nazareth was about as redneck as they come. Turn with me in your bibles for a second to John 2: 45-46. “Philip found Nathanael and told him, ‘We have found the one Moses wrote about in the Law, and about whom the prophets also wrote-Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph. “Nazareth! Can anything good come from there?’ Nathanael asked. “Come and see,” said Philip.” While Joseph may have been gainfully employed as a carpenter, given the economics of Nazareth, odds are the couple was poor. So imagine the irony of this Nativity scene. The wealthy, educated, religious elite gathered in a straw and mud Bethlehem hovel, bowing before a child and his mother, at the very least, an acknowledgement of the Magi’s shared humanity with the socially marginalized; the poor, the female, the child. For a short time, the rich and the poor co-mingle, each giving their gifts to one another. The rich share from their abundance, and the poor, share out of their poverty and suddenly it becomes clear that wealth cannot truly be measured in terms of one’s resources. Given their response to finding the child, the Magi left believing they got the better end of the deal! And here we catch a glimpse of the Kingdom Jesus will proclaim some thirty years later; a world in which there will be no more hunger or death or mourning or pain because the old order of things has passed away. (Rev. 21:4) I’ve spent a lot of this week thinking about the Magi’s journey and comparing it to my own journey on account of this child. I’ve spent time in prisons, shelters, nursing homes and hospitals. I’ve been in royal residences, orphanages, and even walked among the Killing Fields in Cambodia. I’ve visited with Buddhist monks, Baptist Deacons, and Latter Day Saints. I’ve walked to raise money for the poor and have financially supported orphans in third world countries. I’ve worshipped in sanctuaries of all different shapes and sizes; in the mountain churches of Haiti, the inner city squalor of Phenon Penh, and on the grounds of an orphanage near Matamoras. I’ve broken the bread with men, women, and children of many nationalities and differing beliefs. And I have walked through human pain and sin to find him. Like the Magi, I have crossed nations, met people, and encountered situations and circumstances totally unfamiliar to me. I am amazed at the magnetic pull he has had on the course of my life; the places he has taken me; and the peoples he has caused me to meet. I marvel at what I have read, said and done on account of this child. He is teaching me to “bend my life toward God.” And because of him I know I will spend the rest of my life building and crossing bridges. So rather then losing myself, I am finding myself instead. So getting lost like the Magi is not such a bad thing, especially if you’re willing to stop and ask God for directions. In the words of singer/songwriter Brad Paisely, sometimes when we lose our way, that’s when we find ourselves! Pray with me: Lord Jesus, bless us as we break bread together as part of our worship of you. Let us return home by a different way. |
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