Epiphany 2008
Isaiah 60:1-6
Psalm 72:1-7,10-14
Ephesians 3:1-12
Matthew 2:1-12
Ah, the three kings. Finally.
And today, January 6th, we get to move them. This day, the feast of Epiphany. The 12th day of Christmas. The three kings arrive in the tiny hamlet of
The choir will sing the song for us during the offering. You know the song, we three kings. Except it never says there were three. We have three gifts so we assume there were three. Legend even gives them names Caspar, Melchior and Balthasar.
And they aren’t kings either. Not the way we think of kings. These are Magi. “In the cultural world of Jesus, Magi were
a caste of very high ranking political-religious advisors to the rulers of the
Median and then the Persian empires (roughly equivilant to the modern countries
of
These are guys that lived in a land that was also being
threatened by the
These men read the sky, a typical middle-Eastern activity. They read the sky and see the signs and follow the star…or grouping of stars…
And so they travel a long ways, for a long time. Far away from their home and their culture. Obviously outsiders, in their robes and camels (wait…did you hear “camel” in the text?)
Anyway, the men
arrive from the East, tired and travel worn,
and after asking a few questions and a pit stop at Herod’s place, they find Jesus, in
The king of the Jews.?
The savior of
Wow, the political implications are huge! If Jesus comes not just for the people of
If God as a baby is such a threat to the order of the Roman Empire that Herod, a paranoid man at best, seeks to kill him by killing all those children under the tender age of two…
Not only Mary, but all of us have been given a lot to ponder in our hearts.
For here is God, come to earth. A vulnerable baby sought out by the humblest of people like those shepherds. And by foreigners like the wise men.
Paid homage, -reverence, honor, worship-by them all.
And then the baby is given these odd gifts: Gold, Frankincense and Myrrh.
Gold to indicate a king, Frankincense indicates a priest and Myrrh for the prophet. The last are ointments also used to anoint the dead.
These wise men worship the baby king and offer him their best gifts.
Now, we’ve just made it through the caucuses. Did you go? I went with a neighbor, it was her first time. We had a good time. The applause for all speakers was warm in my precinct. The cheering was festive. Even the numbering off was fun. It’s like a big party game for adults, I told Zhaia.
Some folks are very involved in this process. Spending a lot of time and energy these last few months trying to get their candidate into the top spot.
The next Presidential election is crucial. We know that. There is a huge amount at stake. We all want a leader that is compassionate, just, merciful, peace loving. Like the one in the Psalm preserving the lives of the needy.
But do we expect the next leader of the country to do it all? To be all? To take such control that the rest of us can pay homage to him or her and then sit back and click to the next station?
Who do we pay homage to ? Who or what claims our allegiance to such an extent that are very lives are changed?
And then after we gather and worship and give gifts to the object of our worship, do we return home by a different path?
If we are changed by worshipping the baby Jesus in such a way that our paths change, our lives change…that can be a threat to others.
If people think we can be bought, coerced, or calmed into complacency…if we are convinced that the right leader will fix it all and we don’t have to try…if we are content to let it be that way it always has been…
No threat there.
But if we worship, first and foremost, this child king, we start making our own waves. We speak up for the poor and needy. We stand for peace. We agitate for change in our neighborhoods and
in our world not just for like-minded folk, but for immigrants and foreigners and
the people of
That is a threat. A
threat to people whose power is based in control. In oppression, in the dark edge of violence. Herod does his best to make “the subversive
But the Magi, these foreigners, know more, see more, understand more, dream more and hope more than Herod ever will.
They return home by another road, after the dream warns them about Herod. They return home changed men, after all they
have seen and heard and touched. A
future lying in a baby’s eyes, the hopes and dreams of all the world…in this
unlikely place. In Judea, in
A threat to the powers of the world.
And so we come and worship. We pay our homage to this infant king. The king of the Judeans and of us. We ponder the wonder and mystery in our hearts. And we are changed.
When you go home today, take a different route. See the world with different eyes. Love your neighbor with a different heart: the heart of the baby Jesus. The one who accepts, who welcomes all people, all gifts.
In the name of God. Amen.