Cat Goodrich First Presbyterian Church Birmingham, AL January 4, 2015 Journey Matthew 2: 1-12

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1 1 Cat Goodrich First Presbyterian Church Birmingham, AL January 4, 2015 Journey Matthew 2: 1-12 I spent January of my senior year in college in Madrid, studying Spanish, drinking sangria, and learning about that culture. We arrived just in time for Three Kings Day - Epiphany. A huge celebration in the Spanish speaking world, Epiphany is the height of the Christmas season there. Like the Kings with their gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh, people give and receive gifts on that day. The longest standing parade in Spanish history is the one for los tres reyes magos the story of the wise men has captivated people for centuries. After all, no Christmas pageant would be complete without the star of Bethlehem, guiding the wise ones to the baby dressed in glittering robes, with crowns, carrying bejeweled boxes of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. Much has been made of the gifts Christ is said to have received from the three kings. And I think that the magi can help us think about gifts what we receive from the Christ child, and what we can offer him. The magi s gifts of gold and frankincense are fit for the king that they seek, and they fulfill an old testament prophesy. Intriguingly, the author of Matthew adds myrrh to the trio of gifts. Myrrh is a potent spice used to cover the stench of death in hot arid climates. An inappropriate gift for a child, if you ask me! But it is certainly elegant foreshadowing of the story to come. In Biblical history, an Epiphany was the revelation of God to the people. The word has come to mean an insightful moment that reveals something new. The visit of the magi is a story of cosmic power bowing to

2 2 God s presence in the world. This story shows us that Christ came for all people: for rich and for poor, for Jew and for Gentile, for those near to the revelation and for far away stargazers who crossed oceans to pay homage to the babe. Through their study of ancient texts and their knowledge of the universe, the magi recognized what ordinary folks in Bethlehem could not. They saw the star shining in the East, proof that the universe itself was bowing to the Christ child. Stars burst forth in brilliant affirmation of God s new presence on earth! The wise ones traveled, crossing deserts and mountains, moving through unknown lands to arrive at the seat of power in the occupied state of Israel. They had the nerve to step into the palace of Herod who called himself great, and ask, where is he? Where is the king that we seek, the one who has been born King of the Jews? Imagine, for a moment, the boldness of this blunder. Royalty from the East, coming to pay homage not to the political or religious leaders, but to an unknown infant and asking the top dog to help them find the baby! Herod consulted with his advisors, who suggested that something strangely threatening was happening in the quiet town of Bethlehem. Realizing their mistake, the magi depart with haste and plot a new course. Clearly, God works in unusual ways to upset our earthly ideas of power and influence. Imagine it can you feel the shock the magi must have felt moving from the splendor of Herod s palace in the bustling city of Jerusalem to sleepy Bethlehem, to the dusty house where Jesus lies sleeping? Following the star, they find a baby with a teenage mother and a poor carpenter father. The story tells us they fell down in worship and gave strangely opulent gifts for a child.

3 3 The magi s presence in Matthew s story tells us that Christ came not just for Jews. Not just for people born into the right family, not just for those of the right cultural or national identity. Christ came for all people! I thank God that the Magi are here in Matthew s gospel, when the church continues its tired old argument about who s in and who s out. What s orthodox and what s heretical. Who s right and who s wrong. Because here are foreign astrologers, most likely Zoroastrians, who are among the first to recognize Christ when he arrives among us. Before the religious leaders in Israel, before the faithful folks in Bethlehem, the magi get it! Who today might be able to teach us churchgoing folk about God s presence on earth? What unlikely people should we be reaching out to? The Magi reveal one gift given by the Christ child- God s promise of redemption for all people but that s not all. As I mentioned before, they can also help us think about what we might give in return. To help illustrate this, I want to tell a story my mom loves to tell. It goes like this: There was an anthropologist who spent his years studying the aboriginal peoples of the South Pacific. He lived an incredible life traveling to far-off places, learning obscure languages and unraveling secrets of indigenous culture. He would read and write thick ethnographies in his office lined with leather-bound books, then fly off to tropical locales. Once, he spent many months living with a remote island tribe. At the end of his journey, he was walking down the beach to catch the boat that waited to return him to the mainland. The sun scorched the back of his neck as he said goodbye to the elders hosted him during his time on the island. He turned to leave, when a little girl ran up to him and tugged on his hand. Surprised, he saw that she had brought a gift to him, a token of thanks for the time he had spent learning the ways of her people. She gave him a shell

4 4 that was highly prized among her people. It was perfect and vibrant hot pinks and orange. Its inside shimmered with mother of pearl. He knew that if he practiced, he could blow that shell like a horn, with a loud and magnificent wail. The anthropologist was astounded. How could such a highly prized shell come from such a small girl? She was much too poor to have purchased it. The anthropologist paused thoughtfully, as anthropologists often do, and turned the shell over in his ink-stained hands. Thank you, he said. Then he asked her, How did you find such a beautiful shell? These are only found on the other side of the island. Shell hunters must walk through many miles of jungle, over the lava fields, to the cliffs on the other side of the island. Then, they have to jump from those cliffs, and swim to the underwater caves, the only place in the world these shells can be found! Did you make that journey to find this shell, only to give it to me?? The little girl looked at the elders, who nodded. She looked back at the anthropologist, shyly raised her eyes to meet his, and said Yes! Long walk, part of gift Long walk, part of gift. What gifts do we offer the Christ child, my friends? I believe the journey itself our life of faith is a gift we offer to God. Our worship, our prayer, our everyday search for the divine, the striving and struggling of our long walk of faith this is part of the gift that we offer. What happens when we allow the love of God revealed in Christ to shape us in small ways each day? Might it enable us to respond with patience when someone frustrates us at work or is rude in the grocery store? Would it help us to

5 5 show understanding when a friend disappoints, or offer forgiveness in the face of betrayal? What if we were to respond to the gift of Emmanuel by living compassionately in a world of great need, with hope in the midst of bitterness and despair. The steps we take each day add up to a lifetime of faithful choices. And every day comes with new social, economic, environmental challenges for us to confront faithfully. It s the journey that defines us, not the destination. When faith is unleashed from Sunday morning and informs all of our choices, from the food that we eat to the energy we use and the clothes that we wear, from the decisions we make at work to the way that we show love to our friends and hospitality to strangers it can be exhausting! Overwhelming! But was not the journey of the wise ones exhausting? Our strength is renewed for this journey when we come together in worship, to experience the mystery of God among us, to remind one another that we are loved and forgiven. The magi traveled through unknown lands, crossing borders and bridging boundaries of power, culture, and religion that separated them from the Christ child. They crossed the wide chasm between their wealth as astrologers in the East and the poverty of Jews in occupied Israel. They confronted the power of the state, met the power of love revealed in the Christ child, and the text tells us they returned home by another road: meeting God in Christ, they couldn t remain the same. Like the magi, our journey is not only a search for the divine. It is also returning home changed by our encounter with God. It is our daily response to the surprising love of Christ. It is going out from this place and taking part in the strange, upside down kingdom Christ preached a kingdom where the oppressed are liberated, where the last are first, where the weak are strong, and where the power to love trumps the power to

6 6 control. For Christ came not just for the powerful and privileged, but for all for rich king Herod and poor Mary and Joseph, for Jewish shepherds and Zoroastrian stargazers, for you, and for me, my friends, Christ came for everyone. Matthew s story of the magi is one of gifts brought, prophesies fulfilled, and death forshadowed. It is a story that reveals the dramatic reversals our God is so fond of centers of power upset by those on the margins, expectations of royalty met by a vulnerable baby, a king troubled by the birth of a peasant. The beginning of Matthew s gospel heralds the end: in the gift of myrrh, and in the journey of the Magi themselves. They are foreigners and Gentiles who read the signs written in the stars and travel across many borders to arrive at the feet of Jesus. There, they see the truth of God s love for all people, and go forth again, transformed by the encounter, and continuing on their journey, their long walk of faith. May it be the same for us.