Our Bible is clear,
our tradition is clear,
our faith is clear,
until we put our faith in action, we don't know Christmas,
until we put our faith in action, we don't know Emmanuel,
until we put our faith in action, we don't know Epiphany,
until we put our faith in action, we don't even know what Easter means.
Christianity has never been a spectator sport.
It requires active involvement on the part of every person who would dare to claim the matchless title of Christian.
Isaiah 60:1-6
Matthew 2:1-12
Well, today is another special day in the church.
Today we are celebrating Epiphany Sunday.
Some of these words aren't in our everyday vocabulary, but probably should be.
We learned Emanuel means "God-With-Us",
and Epiphany means "God has appeared",
God has broken through,
God has revealed a part of himself – a crack in the cosmic egg has allowed the beyond to be glimpsed – and everything is changed ever after.
Epiphany celebrates the visit of the "wise men" to the baby Jesus in Bethlehem.
Of course, the Bible says nothing about the timing of their visit, but tradition has long held that the wise men arrived in Bethlehem on the twelfth day after Jesus' birth.
The time in between is what is called the "twelve days of Christmas".
In many cultures around the world, the thirteenth day, Epiphany, when the wise men arrived with gifts to visit the new baby, is celebrated more like we celebrate Christmas.
Christmas, for them, is a time for going to church. And, Epiphany is the time for the gathering of the family and the exchange of gifts.
Now, curiously, what we know about these so-called "wise men" is remarkably little.
The first twelve verses of chapter two of Matthew's gospel, which we just read, are the sum total of the Bible's account of them.
They are mentioned nowhere else.
Matthew tells us only that they were "wise men" or to use an older word, "magi" who came to Bethlehem to pay homage to Jesus.
If you took the little quiz in last month’s newsletter, you know that it isn't stated how many there were. There could have been two, or three, or four, or twenty – it doesn't say.
But, we do know something more about who these guys were.
You know what would have happened if they had been wise women, don’t you?
If it had been Three Wise Women
Instead of Three Wise Men?
They would have asked directions,
Arrived on time,
Helped deliver the baby,
Cleaned the stable,
Made a casserole, and
Brought practical gifts
Actually, the term "wise men" is descriptive of the esteem in which the visitors in our story were widely held.
Magi is the plural of Magus, the root of our word magic – the best translation of the word used is probably "court astrologer".
The group of Magi in question came "from the east".
They might have been Zoroastrians, Medes, Persians, Arabs, or even Jews.
We don't really know.
They were quite knowledgeable about the stars – in fact it is quite remarkable to study some of the ancient charts that were made as they observed the phenomena of the skies.
That the stars and the sun and moon and the planets moved in the skies from night to night, was obvious.
But, they observed patterns to these movements, and could chart where all the different stars and planets, and sun and moon would be in the sky for any particular day of any year – in fact, for any particular minute and any particular second, of any particular day – going back in time to day one, and forward ad infinitum.
They knew their skies.
They served as court advisers,
making forecasts and predictions for their royal patrons based on their study of the stars.
We know that Magi often wandered from court to court, and it was not unusual for them to cover great distances in order to attend the birth of a new king, or a coronation, paying their respects and offering gifts.
It is not surprising, then, that Matthew would mention them as a sort of validation of Jesus' kingship,
or, for that matter, that Herod would regard their arrival as a very serious matter.
Matthew calls these Magi, "wise men."
These men were wise in several ways, and by remembering them every year, we can only hope that we may gain wisdom from their story.
These wise men were wise, first of all, because they eagerly sought knowledge of the natural realm in which humans live.
They sought learning in a variety of ways.
Their search for knowledge,
their search for learning,
their search for wisdom,
was an insatiable desire.
They thought nothing of taking off on journeys of long arduous distances to learn of something new and potentially important that might add to their store of knowledge,
and perhaps, affect their lives.
To them, ignorance was inhuman.
They knew the world to be full of life and knowledge to be learned.
Our Bible affirms that God gives humanity a wonderful world to live in,
to learn about,
to explore,
and to understand
as fully as our God-given minds will allow.
Truly wise men and women seek to know all they possibly can about the world God has placed in human care.
Secondly, the wise men were wise in that they sought religious knowledge.
And, it seems that their quest for religious understanding was as deep and as wide as their search for worldly knowledge.
They came from lands far removed from the territory of Israel,
but once they arrived there, they knew to go to Jerusalem in order to find the proper religious authorities –
those who could help them pinpoint the location of the birth of the new king.
Jerusalem was not the political capital of the region, nor was it the largest city.
Yet the wise men knew without asking, to journey there first.
Obviously, they had studied Hebrew Scriptures prior to their arrival, so that they were well-informed of the religious significance of Jerusalem in Judaism. There were open-minded persons who sought godly truth down many avenues –
even from those religions that were foreign to them.
It would seem that one of the largest problems people of faith have in these first days of the twenty-first century, is ignorance –
ignorance of Christian history,
ignorance of our Bible,
ignorance of what our faith is really all about.
It is the sign of wise men that seeks to know all they possibly can of God's revealed truth to humanity, and make a life-long vigorous pursuit of godly truth.
Thirdly, the wise men proved their wisdom in that took action in response to both the worldly and the religious knowledge they had obtained.
They studied the Scriptures,
they observed the world around them,
they saw the star,
and they did something about it!
They got off their plush Persian pillows,
got on their camels or horses,
and went off to find the Christ child,
Emmanuel, the manifestation of God, Epiphany.
You know, most of us are so conditioned to inaction.
If it were announced that Jesus was coming to earth tonight, and would be arriving at the Philadelphia International Airport,
I bet that most of us would opt to watch the coverage on television from the comfort of our own living rooms chairs.
But, you know, we've lost something.
Our Christian faith demands activity, not passivity. We can read the Bible religiously,
we can offer the most sincere prayers imagined,
we can pledge our love to Jesus during our favorite tele-evangelist's altar call on channel 48,
and we can gripe about how the world is falling apart because of a lack of faith.
But, our Bible is clear,
our tradition is clear,
our faith is clear,
until we put our faith in action, we don't know Christmas,
until we put our faith in action, we don't know Emmanuel,
until we put our faith in action, we don't know Epiphany,
until we put our faith in action, we don't even know what Easter means.
Christianity has never been a spectator sport.
It requires active involvement on the part of every person who would dare to claim the matchless title of Christian.
The apostle James puts it succinctly:
"...be doers of the word, and not merely hearers." Truly wise men and wise women actively respond to the coming to Jesus Christ into the world.
The wise men proved how really wise they were in that they recognized their goal – the end – of all their seeking when they reached it.
Verse 11 of Matthew 2 says, "On entering the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother; and they knelt down and paid him homage.
Then, opening their treasure chests, they offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh."
When they found the Christ child, these wise men knew that their seeking and searching had come to an end.
Henceforth, here would be the center point for their lives.
To the babe of Bethlehem belonged all their worship,
all their honor,
and all their gifts.
They need look no further.
They had found Emmanuel.
Perhaps you remember the old Russian legend about a woman named Babushka.
Like too many of us Babushka was always busy, too busy.
She was a tidy housekeeper, always occupied with the many chores that needed her attention.
One evening as she is cleaning her house she hears a commotion out on the street.
Looking out her window she sees her neighbors pointing to a star high in the heavens.
Off in the distance she sees a caravan approaching.
Babushka is startled to hear a knock at her door. She opens it to find three richly dressed kings. They ask her if they could lodge there overnight. After all, she has the finest house in the whole village.
That night they tell Babushka that they are following a star.
They invite her to go with them in search of the
newborn king.
Babushka makes excuses.
First she tells them she doesn't have a proper gift.
Besides she has to clean up her house before she does anything.
As the three kings are leaving she promises to join them the next day after her work is complete.
And, the kings leave without her.
The next day Babushka cleans her house and finds a proper gift.
All of a sudden she has the urgent desire to catch up with these men.
But, now they are a full day's journey ahead of her but, she hopes to catch them.
Everywhere she goes, she asks if people have seen the three kings.
Finally she tracks them to the village of Bethlehem.
But she is too late.
The kings have come and gone.
And the baby they were searching for is gone too.
Babushka missed the kings and the King of Kings.
According to legend she continues her search year after year.
In fact many believe that she can still be seen
in villages at Christmas time, looking for the Christ Child.
"Is he here?" she asks the villagers, "Is he here?"
Follow the star.
That's good advice for this first Sunday of a New Year.
Carpe Diem – seize the day.
Get into action.
Don't let life pass you by.
Brothers and sisters, the example is given to each of us.
Arise and shine, we are told.
Like the wise men, seek the babe of Bethlehem. Open your eyes to Emmanuel.
Seek the signs of God breaking into our world.
Be sensitive to the clues we are given.
Search your night skies for real evidence of Epiphany.
It took wise men to see God appearing in that Christ child.
May you, and I, be so wise. Amen.
Showing posts with label Epiphany. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Epiphany. Show all posts
Wednesday, January 6, 2016
Monday, December 21, 2015
The Christmas Stories Are Stories of Theophanies
Advent is a time the church concentrates on preparing for Christmas.
Christmas is so important to our faith.
It is so basic to our understanding of God and Jesus.
Without Christmas – and the stories that are told about it –
the rest of our faith would be nonsense.
I really like Advent and Christmas and Epiphany.
It gives us a chance to get down to the raw basics and to hear stories that impact our faith and how it gets expressed in our lives.
The Christmas stories are stories of theophanies – encounters with the holy – culminating in the ultimate theophany: Emmanuel! –
the incarnation of the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob,
the Creator of all that is,
the great Jehovah, into our very lives.
The Christmas stores are stories of cracks that occurred in the cosmic egg that traditionally separates the holy from the mundane –
cracks through which people were able to glimpse the divine,
cracks through which people encountered the holy.
Traditionally, during this Advent season our churches purposefully focus on these encounters with the holy from days gone by – through the stories we hear and the stories we tell.
Through our telling and hearing these stores again, this Christmas, maybe, just maybe, you and I can encounter the Holy.
Oh, I am convinced that we do encounter the holy just as we hear they did in days of yore.
It’s just that usually, we don’t recognize it when it happens.
Even when the very skies open and the celestial voices sing, we are prone to ignore it –
perhaps because we are so preoccupied with enhancing our own display.
The stories of our faith are good stories.
And, they have lasted through the years because they speak of truth – truth that ring to the heart of all who hear them.
But, if we let them remain as stories of people of another time, of days gone by, we do them – and we do us – a disservice.
For, they are true.
And they speak to our reality.
This year I invite you on a quest to encounter the holy.
I am convinced that we can.
I know that we do.
Let us take this time before Christmas to sharpen our senses and to hone our skills so that, like the people in our Christmas stories, we can point to times the holy breaks through in our lives,
to recognize it when it happens,
and to celebrate when it does.
So, in church each week we will be looking for the breakthroughs in the stories of our faith and in the days of our lives.
We will pay attention to the messengers of the Lord that come to us – is they did to Zechariah, Mary, Joseph and the Shepherds.
Our stories tell us to be alert to our dreams and heed them as Joseph and Simeon and the Magi did;
to listen for the celestial song – the music of the spheres – as the shepherds heard;
to see what happens when hospitality is practiced – remembering the Innkeeper and the Table of The Lord;
and, to learn to celebrate the incarnation – Emmanuel! – Christmas Day and every day.
May you encounter the holy this Christmas.
Christmas is so important to our faith.
It is so basic to our understanding of God and Jesus.
Without Christmas – and the stories that are told about it –
the rest of our faith would be nonsense.
I really like Advent and Christmas and Epiphany.
It gives us a chance to get down to the raw basics and to hear stories that impact our faith and how it gets expressed in our lives.
The Christmas stories are stories of theophanies – encounters with the holy – culminating in the ultimate theophany: Emmanuel! –
the incarnation of the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob,
the Creator of all that is,
the great Jehovah, into our very lives.
The Christmas stores are stories of cracks that occurred in the cosmic egg that traditionally separates the holy from the mundane –
cracks through which people were able to glimpse the divine,
cracks through which people encountered the holy.
Traditionally, during this Advent season our churches purposefully focus on these encounters with the holy from days gone by – through the stories we hear and the stories we tell.
Through our telling and hearing these stores again, this Christmas, maybe, just maybe, you and I can encounter the Holy.
Oh, I am convinced that we do encounter the holy just as we hear they did in days of yore.
It’s just that usually, we don’t recognize it when it happens.
Even when the very skies open and the celestial voices sing, we are prone to ignore it –
perhaps because we are so preoccupied with enhancing our own display.
The stories of our faith are good stories.
And, they have lasted through the years because they speak of truth – truth that ring to the heart of all who hear them.
But, if we let them remain as stories of people of another time, of days gone by, we do them – and we do us – a disservice.
For, they are true.
And they speak to our reality.
This year I invite you on a quest to encounter the holy.
I am convinced that we can.
I know that we do.
Let us take this time before Christmas to sharpen our senses and to hone our skills so that, like the people in our Christmas stories, we can point to times the holy breaks through in our lives,
to recognize it when it happens,
and to celebrate when it does.
So, in church each week we will be looking for the breakthroughs in the stories of our faith and in the days of our lives.
We will pay attention to the messengers of the Lord that come to us – is they did to Zechariah, Mary, Joseph and the Shepherds.
Our stories tell us to be alert to our dreams and heed them as Joseph and Simeon and the Magi did;
to listen for the celestial song – the music of the spheres – as the shepherds heard;
to see what happens when hospitality is practiced – remembering the Innkeeper and the Table of The Lord;
and, to learn to celebrate the incarnation – Emmanuel! – Christmas Day and every day.
May you encounter the holy this Christmas.
Thursday, January 26, 2012
The Light Still Shines
Epiphany is one of the oldest days of celebration recognized by the
church – they celebrated the Day of Epiphany for several hundred years
before anyone thought of celebrating the day of the birth of the baby
Jesus.
Truth be told, I think we should do far more with the twelve days of Christmas and Epiphany than we do.
The deepest satisfactions in life are not those objects of gold, frankincense or myrrh . . .
The secret lies not in our possessions,
but in taking possession of ourselves.
It's the light that burns from within that truly counts.
The secret lies not in our possessions,
but in taking possession of ourselves.
It's the light that burns from within that truly counts.
Isaiah 60:1-6
Matthew 2:1-12
Matthew 2:1-12
Maybe you heard the story about the elephant who was thoroughly enjoying himself as he splashed about in the river.
And a mouse ran up to the sandy shore.
It was obvious that the mouse was agitated and disturbed about something.
And, the mouse yelled at the elephant, "Come out of the water now."
The old elephant laughed and said, "Why should I come out?"
The mouse was not about to be humiliated by this mountain of flesh. He kept yelling and yelling.
The elephant realized that if he wanted any peace and quiet he had better come out of the water.
So, slowly the elephant lumbered out of the water and stood on the shore towering over the mouse.
And spoke: "Now, why did you want me to come out of the water?"
The mouse looked up and said, "I wanted to see if you were wearing my bathing suit."
Of course, it is a nonsensical story,
but the theological punch line is this:
It is easier for us to understand how an elephant could wear the mouse's bathing suit than it is for us to understand the awesome mystery of the incarnation – Emannuel – God's Word became flesh.
The God of all creation became a tiny babe in a manger.
Today we celebrate the Epiphany – we call it Epiphany Sunday.
Actually, the church recognizes the Day of Epiphany as being January 6 – the first day after the twelve days of Christmas – but, most churches celebrate on the Sunday closest to January 6.
(So, sometimes Epiphany Sunday is a couple of days before, and sometimes a couple of days after January 6.)
It may surprise you to know that many cultures of the world make far more to do over the twelve days of Christmas and Epiphany than they do over Christmas day itself.
In fact, Epiphany is one of the oldest days of celebration recognized by the church – they celebrated the Day of Epiphany for several hundred years before anyone thought of celebrating the day of the birth of the baby Jesus.
Truth be told, I think we should do far more with the twelve days of Christmas and Epiphany than we do.
So today, on this Epiphany Sunday, we remember the story:
We remember that thousands of years ago those mysterious strangers were heading toward Bethlehem.
As everyone knows, they came to Bethlehem "following yonder star."
According to convention they were three kings who made their way to the stable where Jesus was born.
They made their journey in fulfillment of the prophecy of old:
"The Lord will rise upon you and God's glory will be seen over you. The nations will come to your light, even kings to the brightness of your rising."
According to tradition those kings had decoded the secrets of the stars;
they realized that the mysterious light in the sky brought news of a new ruler.
So they traveled toward Bethlehem in homage to the one who would eventually rise to a position of preeminence and power.
But when the magi told their story to King Herod it touched off his paranoia and fear.
Suspecting that Herod would want this pretender to the throne put to death, the three visitors paid a brief visit to the manger,
left their gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh,
but departed for home by another way.
So three ancient monarchs followed a star to a place where a child was born... so what?
What does that series of events so long ago have to offer us, here in the modern world where star-gazing and even the title of King seem to convey such little power?
You have, no doubt, heard that is the oft quoted advice of Ralph Waldo Emerson:
Hitch your wagon to a star.
Hitch your wagon to a star.
That was the philosopher's way of saying that all of us need high ideals, a commanding sense of purpose, great ambitions.
Well, these days, we are pretty apprehensive, aren’t we?
I don’t know about you, but before hitching my wagon to a star, I’ve learned that I'd better take a closer look at the fine print.
I'd like to read the warning labels and make sure what kind of an adventure I'm signing up for.
Before heading off into parts unknown, I'd like to check and see that the fail safe systems are in order, [wouldn’t you?]
that the seat belts are fastened,
and above all, that the landing gear is operational.
In fact, the story of Epiphany reveals as much about the dangers of star gazing as its promise.
A careful reading of the Bible reveals a number of telling details.
First, we notice that those strange and mysterious visitors to Mary and Joseph and the new baby, are nowhere referred to as kings.
Nowhere is it specified that there were three royal visitors to the Christ child.
Though most modern versions of the Bible translate the Greek word as “wise men” – one calls them a band of scholars, another “some men who studied the stars”, the word is magi – the same Greek word that we use for magician – and magic.
And again, it's plural, to be sure, but we just don't know how many of them there were;
one ancient source puts their number at twelve – another at 120.
And the group might easily have included women.
(Only hundreds of years after the fact have we come to imagine three kings beside the manger. )
In fact, these magi were a common sight in the Middle East of that time.
Magi traveled constantly throughout the Mediterranean world, sometimes playing the part of sorcerers and magicians,
sometimes practicing the burgeoning science of astronomy,
sometimes selling their services as interpreters of dreams, and/or purveyors of wisdom and enchantment in the court of many a monarch.
The magi were descendants of the Medes, a people who once constituted a great empire.
But the Medes were conquered by the Persians and so they lived as a subject people.
Once they mounted a rebellion against their Persian oppressors,
but they were hopelessly overpowered and the rebellion was crushed.
And, from that hour the Medes were relegated to the sidelines of history,
their kings and queens became the gypsies of the ancient world.
They were ministers without portfolio,
They were kings without a country,
They were queens without a crown.
They turned to the stars for guidance because they had no armies,
they had no subjects,
they had no territory to call their own.
They would turn up in all the palaces of the empire ingratiating themselves to the real potentates of the world, but they had no province of their own.
The magi had become prisoners of their own dreams,
hoping beyond hope to recover the lost tribes and territories.
By sheer exertion of wit and skill they managed to maintain a finger hold in the palaces of the empire, but no matter how successful they became,
they could not forget the basic fact that they were a defeated people.
But, then one day the magi of our story saw a star shining in the east.
They saw a strange light on the horizon, and for one last time, the dream of glory beckoned within them.
Once again they gathered their belongings,
they packed their camels,
they carefully wrapped those trinkets of gold, frankincense and myrrh,
and mounted their horses [most certainly, folks of their class and ilk would not ride camels] and they headed out, following yonder star.
Now this is one of the major points of this story, and one of the reasons it is told again and again every year at this time, [don’t miss it]
Like everyone else in the world –
like everyone else in Bethlehem at the time –
like everyone else in Jerusalem –
like everyone else in Rome or in Egypt –
like everyone else in the world –
Until this encounter with the Christ child, they believed that the favors of God belonged to the rich, the powerful and the mighty.
But in Bethlehem they saw the truth.
All of us -
all people -
are simply lost souls looking for a star that will not fail.
And there is no star in the sky that will lead us to the truth.
He is the bright morning star that rises in our consciousness.
He is the light that shines when we see that God has found a dwelling place within us.
And so they turned over their gold, frankincense and myrrh,
not in tribute to a new king,
but in the realization that they would no longer need these trappings of their former life.
Some scholars have even suggested that the gold, frankincense and myrrh were not meant as gifts. Rather these were the tools and instruments of their magical arts.
These were the props they used in spinning their illusions of power.
But what they found in that stable in Bethlehem made these paraphernalia of an ancient superstition suddenly obsolete.
No longer would the magi search in vain for the glory of a forgotten empire.
Now they could live as a free people knowing that God has a sure foothold in the here and now.
All the light we need is here within us.
If only we have the faith and courage to look and see!
When we read the story of the magi carefully
everything is turned around 180 degrees.
Christ is not glorified because kings come to do him honor,
rather these would-be kings are liberated from their dreams of power and glory and they leave Bethlehem a free people.
More truly free then they had ever been even in former days of imperial majesty.
Now that the hustle and bustle of Christmas are behind us,
now that the ritual of exchanging gifts is past,
you and I are free to receive the true gift of this season.
And that is the same gift which the magi received so long ago in a crowded manger.
In Christ we are freed from the necessity to shore up our lives with the trappings of wealth, power, fame or other forms of stardom.
The deepest satisfactions in life are not those objects of gold, frankincense or myrrh,
not those dvd players,
not those fancy cars,
not those Oscars,
not those superbowl championships or any other honors that the world has to give.
The secret lies not in our possessions,
but in taking possession of ourselves.
It's the light that burns from within that truly counts.
Rather than searching the distant stars for the secrets of our destiny as the magi did,
we need only survey the quiet places of our own hearts.
It is appropriate that we celebrate this season, not with relics of gold, frankincense or myrrh, the trinkets of astrologers.
Instead we turn to the simplest of things,
a word of truth,
a song,
a prayer,
a warm welcome to ones we love,
the struggle to do the work of justice and to fulfill God's promise of peace.
It is about Emmanuel!
In the birth of this baby Jesus,
God has come as close to us as the bones of our own bodies,
as near as the blood coursing through our veins.
He is our bright morning star,
a light that shines within our hearts even when all else fails.
Let us not hitch our wagons to any lesser star than this!
And a mouse ran up to the sandy shore.
It was obvious that the mouse was agitated and disturbed about something.
And, the mouse yelled at the elephant, "Come out of the water now."
The old elephant laughed and said, "Why should I come out?"
The mouse was not about to be humiliated by this mountain of flesh. He kept yelling and yelling.
The elephant realized that if he wanted any peace and quiet he had better come out of the water.
So, slowly the elephant lumbered out of the water and stood on the shore towering over the mouse.
And spoke: "Now, why did you want me to come out of the water?"
The mouse looked up and said, "I wanted to see if you were wearing my bathing suit."
Of course, it is a nonsensical story,
but the theological punch line is this:
It is easier for us to understand how an elephant could wear the mouse's bathing suit than it is for us to understand the awesome mystery of the incarnation – Emannuel – God's Word became flesh.
The God of all creation became a tiny babe in a manger.
Today we celebrate the Epiphany – we call it Epiphany Sunday.
Actually, the church recognizes the Day of Epiphany as being January 6 – the first day after the twelve days of Christmas – but, most churches celebrate on the Sunday closest to January 6.
(So, sometimes Epiphany Sunday is a couple of days before, and sometimes a couple of days after January 6.)
It may surprise you to know that many cultures of the world make far more to do over the twelve days of Christmas and Epiphany than they do over Christmas day itself.
In fact, Epiphany is one of the oldest days of celebration recognized by the church – they celebrated the Day of Epiphany for several hundred years before anyone thought of celebrating the day of the birth of the baby Jesus.
Truth be told, I think we should do far more with the twelve days of Christmas and Epiphany than we do.
So today, on this Epiphany Sunday, we remember the story:
We remember that thousands of years ago those mysterious strangers were heading toward Bethlehem.
As everyone knows, they came to Bethlehem "following yonder star."
According to convention they were three kings who made their way to the stable where Jesus was born.
They made their journey in fulfillment of the prophecy of old:
"The Lord will rise upon you and God's glory will be seen over you. The nations will come to your light, even kings to the brightness of your rising."
According to tradition those kings had decoded the secrets of the stars;
they realized that the mysterious light in the sky brought news of a new ruler.
So they traveled toward Bethlehem in homage to the one who would eventually rise to a position of preeminence and power.
But when the magi told their story to King Herod it touched off his paranoia and fear.
Suspecting that Herod would want this pretender to the throne put to death, the three visitors paid a brief visit to the manger,
left their gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh,
but departed for home by another way.
So three ancient monarchs followed a star to a place where a child was born... so what?
What does that series of events so long ago have to offer us, here in the modern world where star-gazing and even the title of King seem to convey such little power?
You have, no doubt, heard that is the oft quoted advice of Ralph Waldo Emerson:
Hitch your wagon to a star.
Hitch your wagon to a star.
That was the philosopher's way of saying that all of us need high ideals, a commanding sense of purpose, great ambitions.
Well, these days, we are pretty apprehensive, aren’t we?
I don’t know about you, but before hitching my wagon to a star, I’ve learned that I'd better take a closer look at the fine print.
I'd like to read the warning labels and make sure what kind of an adventure I'm signing up for.
Before heading off into parts unknown, I'd like to check and see that the fail safe systems are in order, [wouldn’t you?]
that the seat belts are fastened,
and above all, that the landing gear is operational.
In fact, the story of Epiphany reveals as much about the dangers of star gazing as its promise.
A careful reading of the Bible reveals a number of telling details.
First, we notice that those strange and mysterious visitors to Mary and Joseph and the new baby, are nowhere referred to as kings.
Nowhere is it specified that there were three royal visitors to the Christ child.
Though most modern versions of the Bible translate the Greek word as “wise men” – one calls them a band of scholars, another “some men who studied the stars”, the word is magi – the same Greek word that we use for magician – and magic.
And again, it's plural, to be sure, but we just don't know how many of them there were;
one ancient source puts their number at twelve – another at 120.
And the group might easily have included women.
(Only hundreds of years after the fact have we come to imagine three kings beside the manger. )
In fact, these magi were a common sight in the Middle East of that time.
Magi traveled constantly throughout the Mediterranean world, sometimes playing the part of sorcerers and magicians,
sometimes practicing the burgeoning science of astronomy,
sometimes selling their services as interpreters of dreams, and/or purveyors of wisdom and enchantment in the court of many a monarch.
The magi were descendants of the Medes, a people who once constituted a great empire.
But the Medes were conquered by the Persians and so they lived as a subject people.
Once they mounted a rebellion against their Persian oppressors,
but they were hopelessly overpowered and the rebellion was crushed.
And, from that hour the Medes were relegated to the sidelines of history,
their kings and queens became the gypsies of the ancient world.
They were ministers without portfolio,
They were kings without a country,
They were queens without a crown.
They turned to the stars for guidance because they had no armies,
they had no subjects,
they had no territory to call their own.
They would turn up in all the palaces of the empire ingratiating themselves to the real potentates of the world, but they had no province of their own.
The magi had become prisoners of their own dreams,
hoping beyond hope to recover the lost tribes and territories.
By sheer exertion of wit and skill they managed to maintain a finger hold in the palaces of the empire, but no matter how successful they became,
they could not forget the basic fact that they were a defeated people.
But, then one day the magi of our story saw a star shining in the east.
They saw a strange light on the horizon, and for one last time, the dream of glory beckoned within them.
Once again they gathered their belongings,
they packed their camels,
they carefully wrapped those trinkets of gold, frankincense and myrrh,
and mounted their horses [most certainly, folks of their class and ilk would not ride camels] and they headed out, following yonder star.
Now this is one of the major points of this story, and one of the reasons it is told again and again every year at this time, [don’t miss it]
Like everyone else in the world –
like everyone else in Bethlehem at the time –
like everyone else in Jerusalem –
like everyone else in Rome or in Egypt –
like everyone else in the world –
Until this encounter with the Christ child, they believed that the favors of God belonged to the rich, the powerful and the mighty.
But in Bethlehem they saw the truth.
All of us -
all people -
are simply lost souls looking for a star that will not fail.
And there is no star in the sky that will lead us to the truth.
He is the bright morning star that rises in our consciousness.
He is the light that shines when we see that God has found a dwelling place within us.
And so they turned over their gold, frankincense and myrrh,
not in tribute to a new king,
but in the realization that they would no longer need these trappings of their former life.
Some scholars have even suggested that the gold, frankincense and myrrh were not meant as gifts. Rather these were the tools and instruments of their magical arts.
These were the props they used in spinning their illusions of power.
But what they found in that stable in Bethlehem made these paraphernalia of an ancient superstition suddenly obsolete.
No longer would the magi search in vain for the glory of a forgotten empire.
Now they could live as a free people knowing that God has a sure foothold in the here and now.
All the light we need is here within us.
If only we have the faith and courage to look and see!
When we read the story of the magi carefully
everything is turned around 180 degrees.
Christ is not glorified because kings come to do him honor,
rather these would-be kings are liberated from their dreams of power and glory and they leave Bethlehem a free people.
More truly free then they had ever been even in former days of imperial majesty.
Now that the hustle and bustle of Christmas are behind us,
now that the ritual of exchanging gifts is past,
you and I are free to receive the true gift of this season.
And that is the same gift which the magi received so long ago in a crowded manger.
In Christ we are freed from the necessity to shore up our lives with the trappings of wealth, power, fame or other forms of stardom.
The deepest satisfactions in life are not those objects of gold, frankincense or myrrh,
not those dvd players,
not those fancy cars,
not those Oscars,
not those superbowl championships or any other honors that the world has to give.
The secret lies not in our possessions,
but in taking possession of ourselves.
It's the light that burns from within that truly counts.
Rather than searching the distant stars for the secrets of our destiny as the magi did,
we need only survey the quiet places of our own hearts.
It is appropriate that we celebrate this season, not with relics of gold, frankincense or myrrh, the trinkets of astrologers.
Instead we turn to the simplest of things,
a word of truth,
a song,
a prayer,
a warm welcome to ones we love,
the struggle to do the work of justice and to fulfill God's promise of peace.
It is about Emmanuel!
In the birth of this baby Jesus,
God has come as close to us as the bones of our own bodies,
as near as the blood coursing through our veins.
He is our bright morning star,
a light that shines within our hearts even when all else fails.
Let us not hitch our wagons to any lesser star than this!
Amen.
The congregation of Christ Presbyterian Church in Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania, USA, experienced this sermon during a worship service on Epiphany Sunday, January 8, 2012.
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