The after-Christmas sales have been going on since December 26, and a lot of people in the wider society have moved past the celebrations of Christmas.
However, the church is on a different calendar. There are twelve days of Christmas. So today we’re celebrating the Epiphany, which actually falls on January 6. In Latin America and parts of the Caribbean, Three Kings Day is the big celebration of Jesus’ birth. And in the Eastern part of the Church, Epiphany is the important festival and celebrates the baptism of Jesus.
In
Matthew’s gospel, the Christmas birth
narrative is told in the first
chapter. By the first verse of the second chapter, the shepherds are a
distant memory. When
the mysterious seers from the East bring their gifts and worship, Jesus is
almost two years old. The holy family
is settled in Bethlehem, raising their toddler.
On the road to Bethlehem are a group
of MAGI-- wise men-- searching the
darkness of the sky... following a star... hoping to find the Christ child. They left the comfort and security of their homes to travel
through the desert on their quest.
When they saw that the star had stopped-- they were overwhelmed with JOY!
They found the child
Jesus... and they knelt down and
worshiped him. Then they offered him
their GIFTS of gold and frankincense and myrrh.
In his story about the Magi, Matthew
tells how some people responded to the birth of the Christ with joy...
and devotion.
But woven into the story of the
Magi's devotion is the story of Herod's reaction
to the birth of the King of the Jews.
Herod responds by plotting to KILL
him.
Herod knew that his kingdom would be
threatened by a new king. The possibility of not being in charge of the kingdom didn't bring him
joy. He was confused... and afraid… “and all Jerusalem with him.” If this child was really the Messiah-- it would change
everything.
In Matthew’s telling of the Nativity
story, we hear a note of fear and
opposition to the Messiah’s birth. The
news of the birth of a new “king of the Jews” threatens Herod’s power and the
status quo.
Perhaps the fear and agitation was
also about how the world might be changing, that God is doing something new,
and that nothing can stay the same.
The arrival of these three
astrologers is a sign that the reach of God’s embrace is broadening…that there
is no longer “insider” and “outsider,” but that all are included in God’s mercy
and salvation. This isn’t a new theme in
Judaism. But now it is happening in ways
that wise ones can see it.
Who knows what could happen next?
Do you hear
the givenness of that event—the gift?
Do you hear the inclusive and universal
nature of it? What God did in and
through Israel in Jesus is not only for Israel-- but for the whole world, for all people.
If we were
listening carefully on Christmas Eve,
we heard the angel say this to the shepherds:
this good news is for all people.
Some of us
hear this as good news. But for others,
this more inclusive understanding of God’s salvation plan is troubling. For those who are more privileged or
powerful, the idea of change can cause a fearful
response. Herod had instructed the magi to come back and
tell him where they’d found the Christ child.
But they’d been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, and they’d
traveled back to their own country by a different way. An angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a
dream and warned him the Herod would be searching for them and sent them to
Egypt, so the Holy Family became refugees.
Herod was
so terrified of the promise that God
would, in this child, restore peace and justice that he was willing to slaughter
the infants of a whole region. When he
realized the magi hadn’t come back to tell him where the Christ child was, he
ordered that all the children two years and under in and around Bethlehem be
killed. This reminded people of what had
been written by the prophet Jeremiah: “A voice was heard in Ramah, wailing and
loud lamentation, Rachel weeping for her children, she refused to be comforted,
because they are no more.”[1]
As David
Lose suggests, such a grim account of wholesale massacre and desperate flights
to safety would seem far-fetched were it not for similar atrocities and
tragedies happening right now.[2] How many Syrian refugee families have left
everything behind in a desperate flight for safety? How many children are starving to death
around the world or dying of preventable illnesses? How many families are grieving the loss of a
loved one due to gun violence or warfare?
How many families are contending with their own sorrows and hardships?
The light shines in the darkness, but there is
still so much darkness in the world. But Matthew
wants us to know that in Jesus—Emmanuel—God
has drawn near to us and came to live among us, full of grace and truth.
When life
is beautiful and filled with goodness and grace, God is part of that, blessing
us and celebrating with us. When life is
hard and painful and scary, God is part of that too, holding on to us,
comforting us, blessing us with the promise that God will stay with us through
the good and the bad, drawing us more and more deeply into God’s loving
embrace…and promising that nothing—not
even death—can separate us from God’s love.[3]
Our
scripture lessons for Epiphany are GOOD NEWS!
We hear the prophet Isaiah saying, “Arise, shine, for your light has
come, and the glory of the LORD has risen upon you.” No matter how dark things look to you now,
look around. You shall see and be
radiant. Your heart shall thrill and rejoice.”
The
Gentiles from the East, these outsiders
kneeling to worship the Christ child, remind
us that to worship the Christ with them is to see humanity differently, as one family of God,
and that the mission of the church is to nurture, promote, work for, and
celebrate the oneness of the human family—not to divide it
Here too we
can learn from the Magi and how they responded to Christ’s birth. The magi had to take another road home. Not the most direct route, or the most
convenient or comfortable.
Now that we have traveled to Bethlehem, things
can be different for us.
I love the
way Peter Gomes puts it: “For we have come from an encounter with the
world of the possible in the midst of the impossible. We have seen God…and survived to tell the
tale, moving about not knowing that our faces shine with the encounter, bearing
the mark of the encounter forever, and marveling in the darkest night of the
soul at that wondrous star-filled night.”
The world
will change because we are
changed. We have seen God—not high and
lifted up—but lowly and vulnerable. God with us!
We have seen the reality and
power of love to conquer hate and violence.
We have wondered at the mystery of life and love. We have seen the Christ child, and nothing
will ever be the same.
We are changed.
And because we are changed,
the world will change, gradually, as
we live out our call to carry Christ’s light out into the world... to let the light of the gospel shine through our lives.
Let the
light in, live in it, and let your light shine… That is the heart of the Christian life.
Which
brings us to this Table. For here Christ, the Light of the World,
offers himself to us in the gifts of bread and wine. This table is open to all who have been
claimed by Christ in baptism, all who come to be fed, all who desire to know
the truth and power of Jesus.
So come. Taste and see…and feast in the radiant reality of Christ our Light. May the Light of the World not only shine on
your life, but live in and be reflected in you.
Amen!
Rev. Fran Hayes, Pastor
Littlefield Presbyterian Church
Dearborn, Michigan
January 3, 2016
[1] Jeremiah
31:15
[2] David
Lose, “Matthew’s Version of the Incarnation, Part 2. Thursday, Dec. 25, 2013, at www.workingpreacher
[3] Romans 8
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