“Home by a Different Route” – Jan 2, 2011
Jan 2, 2011
Scriptures: Matthew 2: 1-12
In the time of King Herod, after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, asking, “Where is the child who has been born king of the Jews? For we observed his star at its rising, and have come to honor him.” When King Herod heard this, he was frightened, and all Jerusalem with him; and calling together all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Messiah was to be born. They told him, “In Bethlehem of Judea; for so it has been written by the prophet: ‘And you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for from you shall come a ruler who is to shepherd my people Israel.’” Then Herod sent them to Bethlehem, saying, “Go and search diligently for the child; and when you have found him, bring me word so that I may also go and honor him.” When they had heard the king, they 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. When they saw that the star had stopped, they were overwhelmed with joy. On entering the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother; and they knelt down and honored him. Then, opening their treasure chests, they offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. And having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they left for their own country by another road.
Sermon: Home by a Different Route
by Doreen Oughton
This Thursday, January 6, the Christian church celebrates the feast of Epiphany. Now Epiphany means something like revelation, when something is illuminated, revealed, shown for all its glory. The scripture for the feast is the story of the Magi, foreigners, non-Jews who have received the revelation that a new king has been born to the Jews. And though this new king is born to Israel, he is not only for Israel, but is born for all people, and the magi are eager to kneel before him and pay him homage. It’s a familiar passage, included in Christmas pageants, and Christmas lessons and carols everywhere. As our own Nativity tableau shows, the magi are depicted as arriving at the stable, honoring Jesus in the manger, kneeling before the feeding trough that held the new born babe. But that is actually a conflation of two different stories.
The gospel of Luke is the one that has Joseph and Mary traveling from Nazareth to Bethlehem for the census, and ending up in the stable. In Matthew’s gospel, there is no such story. We are told only that Mary conceived, Joseph had a dream telling him to marry her, which he did, and that the baby was born and named Jesus. Right after that brief paragraph about the birth of Jesus comes this story. If we didn’t have the Luke story to influence us, we would read that Mary and Joseph just lived in Bethlehem, and that was where they had the baby. Notice that the reading says the wise men entered the house and honored Jesus. And based on the passage that comes right after this one, it seems that Jesus may be about two years old when the magi come to him. In the next verses, right after this reading, Joseph is told in a dream to take his family to Egypt to escape Herod, who is looking to destroy the child. Herod orders the killing of all children aged 2 and under, so is probably basing that cut-off age on when the magi saw the star.
So who are the magi, and why did they come? In our opening hymn today we sang “We Three Kings of Orient Are,” the story of the magi. They are called kings in the song, but they are not kings. The scripture tells us they are from the East, east of Israel. The song says there were three, but the scripture does not say that, only that there are three gifts. There may have been fewer magi, there may have been more. In Eastern Christian tradition, there are twelve magi.
The term magi is often translated as the Wise Men, some say astronomers, people who studied the stars and the skies, some sort of scientists. Others say they were more like astrologers, looking for signs and portents to predict events, more like psychics or seers. According to a Greek historian of those times, magi were a caste of priests from Persia who could interpret dreams. And though they weren’t kings themselves, they may well have had political influence, advising the rulers of their nations. The scripture doesn’t say where in the East they came from, maybe Persia, now Iran, but you may want to keep in mind that the East is where the nations that conquered Israel through the centuries were.
When I read quickly through this passage, I imagined the magi showing up at the Jerusalem palace of Herod, the puppet king appointed by Rome to rule over Israel. Some say Herod was not Jewish himself, but ruled over Judea for the benefit of Rome. But the scripture does not have the magi showing up at the palace. It says they traveled to Jerusalem, and asked around about the king that had been born to the Jews. And Herod heard about their asking and panicked. Herod and “all of Jerusalem,” and by that I assume everyone who had a stake in the continuation of Herod’s regime. The star may not have been shining over Jerusalem to guide the magi, but the star told them that the king had been born to the Jews, and they went to the capital, to the place one would normally find a king. It was Herod who sent them to Bethlehem, after consulting with his scribes and chief priests who consulted scripture and found the prophecy of the birth of a new ruler, one from Bethlehem.
Why did the magi go to Israel, I wonder. Why did they follow the star? What were they seeking, what were they expecting? They started out going to Jerusalem, the place of worldly power. Did they think it was an heir of Herod’s that had been born? Did they want to start diplomatic relationships as early as they could? Were they checking out the lay of the land so they could better advise their own rulers? Did they set off together, or did they meet one another along the way? Was it their own idea to go? It must have been a lengthy trip, as much as two years, apparently. They must have imagined every scenario as they traveled. They may have considered the possibility that this new ruler was like every other ruler, but I suspect they were hoping for something more, something different. Listen to how the passage describes their reaction when they see the star again, and see that it has stopped. They were overwhelmed with joy. If they had been expecting a royal atmosphere, they were not the least bit disappointed that it wasn’t what they got.
They embraced this ruler-to-be who was different, and they didn’t try to make him the same. They didn’t stay to groom the child for proper rulership, they didn’t leave their contact information to be called as advisors when Jesus was ready to take over. They didn’t set the family up financially to make sure Jesus got the right education and connections. They just knelt and honored him, and left their symbolic gifts. The gift of gold would have been appropriate for any king, the frankincense honored him as a priest, as an important religious leader, but the myrrh, well that was one strange gift, and it must have been very disconcerting for his parents to receive this ointment used to prepare a body for burial. It certainly does seem by that gift that they had some insight into how different he was. Jesus had been revealed to them in the fullness of his role and his purpose.
The magi started out going through the proper channels to find the new king, going to the places of power and influence, places of wealth and privilege. But they found their way instead to Bethlehem, city of bread, to a simple family, a faithful family, no particular power or privilege, no wealth or apparent influence. And they embraced it. They rejoiced in it, and when they left, they went home a different way. They did not return through Jerusalem. They did not check in with the centers of power, they did not second guess, return to compare, get validated or assured that they really had found the new king. They went home a different way. They went home rejoicing that the king of the Jews had come, and had come for all of them.
Where and how do we go looking for Jesus? Do we look in places of power and privilege, wealth and influence? Do we pay attention to the television preachers who are raking in the money, listening for messages of prosperity? Do we focus on how to expand the Christian empire? How to fill our pews with people who have wealth to share with the church? Do we look for security, whether through amassing enough money and material goods, or through building stronger armies, thicker walls, less permeable boundaries? Or can we let ourselves look in the humble places, the vulnerable places, for truth and light? Can we embrace these places with rejoicing, with generosity and honor? And can we return to our homes in a different way, rejoicing in a new kind of rule, one of peace and one of sacrifice? It is a difficult journey, it involves picking up a cross to follow Jesus, but it doesn’t end with the cross. It ends at our true home, with God, a home we can only truly reach by going a different way. May it be so.
