The Power of Wisdom

Sermon for SMHP, Year C, Sunday of the Epiphany, Jan. 6, 2019

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, ²asking, “Where is the child who has been born king of the Jews? For we observed his star at its rising, and have come to pay him homage.” ³When King Herod heard this, he was frightened, and all Jerusalem with him; ⁴and calling together all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Messiah was to be born. ⁵They told him, “In Bethlehem of Judea; for so it has been written by the prophet: ⁶‘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.’” ⁷Then Herod secretly called for the wise men and learned from them the exact time when the star had appeared. ⁸Then he 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 pay him homage.”

               ⁹When 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. ¹⁰When they saw that the star had stopped, they were overwhelmed with joy. ¹¹On 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. ¹²And having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they left for their own country by another road.

          Like all good art, this painting affects one slowly.  It works at several levels, and the point (or points) that the artist is making come as you consider both the piece and its title.

          I believe the artist wants us to consider power as we observe the piece.

          Government agents using power to separate children from their parents.

          The power of love which connects them even as they are separated.

          The power of wisdom, and the lack of power in not utilizing wisdom.

          The power of art to drive an image into your heart like a stake.

          I cried when I realized what this image was showing us by juxtaposing a family separated with the Holy Family.

          It is a powerful piece—would you agree?

          I want to talk about power this morning, though I should really say that I want to continue talking about power.  The Christmas and Epiphany stories, which have provided the narrative structure to four worship services in a row now—these stories are all about power.  How power appears, who has it, how it is used.

          Consider the nativity story as told by Luke, our evangelist for this church year, Year C.  The story begins with the Emperor—Augustus—exercising his power to make his subjects bend to his will.  “Y’all go to your hometowns so that we can count you,” he decrees.  And a very pregnant woman and her loyal fiancé are forced to travel a hundred miles on foot and the back of a donkey...because the Emperor has that kind of power.

          The child is born, then, in a place meant for animals.  Wrapped in cloth and laid in a manger—a feeding trough.  How much power does he seem to have?  Yeah, well, you can’t always tell who has power, can you?

          Then an angel appears, obviously exhibiting great power—so much that like most angels, this one has to lead with “don’t be afraid.”  The angel tells the story to shepherds—nobodies on a hillside.  Then “a multitude of the heavenly host” makes a big, powerful splash:  “Glory to God in highest heaven and peace on earth.”

          And after this very powerful moment, the narrative shifts back…to…

          The shepherds.  The dirty nomads who follow their sheep around the Judean hill country and beyond.

          And those nobody shepherds, who have already been the first to see the Messiah, also become the first to tell the story.

          Which means that God bestowed on them—the shepherds—the power of WITNESS.  A really important power.  Somewhere between occlumency and divination.  (That was a little shout out for the Harry Potter crowd.)

          The shepherds exercise the power of witness to begin the work that has been handed down for generations, all the way to us:  the power of observing the Christ and reporting what we see and know. 

          Shepherds.  Get that power.  You can’t always tell who has power, right?

          And from Luke 2 and the shepherds, we go this morning to Matthew 2 and the wise men.  How many are there?  No idea.  We assume three because they bring three gifts:  gold, frankincense and myrrh.  But if in a trivia contest you are ever asked how many wise men, the answer is “we don’t know.”

          What do we know about them?

          They are powerful.

          They have means:  gold, frankincense, and myrrh.  According to some scholars, the gold is actually the least valuable of the three, assuming there was a decent amount of the frankincense and myrrh.  By the pound, that stuff is expensive!

          However much there was, it is clear that these “wise men” come from a particular class of people.  They have stuff, and they are able to travel around checking out babies.  And the description of them suggests that they are Zoroastrian astrologers, whose powers of divination (there it is again!) would be highly sought by other powerful people.

          So a far cry from shepherds, yeah?

          And yet, they inhabit the same plane in our Manger Scenes.  The wise men have robes, and carry gifts, but you just can’t discount those shepherds and their place as the first hearers and first tellers.

          The wise men bring great gifts, and they are great astrologers.  Or maybe astronomers?  In any case, they find Jesus and Mary and Joseph by following a star.

          That’s a lot of power.  But their greatest deed of power in the whole story is the deed they don’t perform.  I am referring, of course, to…?

          They “left by another road.”

          They were warned in a dream not to return to Herod, and they “left by another road” to get back home.

          Herod, whose power was utilized for great evil during his reign, asked them to return and tell him where the baby born King of the Jews could be found.  He lied and said that he wanted to pay homage to the child.  We all know he had nefarious intent, and Matthew goes on to describe how he realized he had been tricked by the wise men and sent his soldiers to kill all of the children under two in and around Bethlehem.

          But they did not kill Jesus, because Joseph had another dream, which told him to “take the child and his mother and go to Egypt.”  They became refugees, in a land which did not erect a wall between itself and children. 

          A land, in other words, far different from our own, where the power of the bully pulpit has been joined to the power of the bully in order to demonize families that look an awful lot like our Holy Family.

          And I feel very comfortable saying that all of us in this room are upset by that. 

          Angry about that.

          Frustrated by that.

          But, really, what can we do?

          I mean, the bullies have all the power, right?

          We don’t have any, right?

          Today is Epiphany.  The word literally means “revelation.”  Jesus was revealed by a star.  And by wise men from the east who followed a star to see a child of little means whom they knew to be a king.  Wise men who bestowed upon that seemingly powerless child gifts meant for a king.

          You can’t always tell who has power.

          Rosa Parks was a slight African American woman, in a time when all of those things worked against you.

          Albert Einstein had a learning disability.

          Nelson Mandela was in prison for twenty-seven years, under the worst separation law in the world…at least so far.

          Then he became President of South Africa.

          Listen to the story of Epiphany.  Let it reveal itself.  See Christ revealed in it.

          See Christ, and know that you have the same power once vested in shepherds:  the power to see the revealed Christ, and to tell of his power.  The power of witness.

          The world needs witnesses.  This. Nation. Needs. Witnesses.  People willing to testify to what they have seen revealed in scripture, to what God has done in their lives and in history, and in the lives of the least of all of these.  The ones who seem to be without power but who are actually at the center of the Power of God’s Love.

          Listen to the story of Epiphany and ask yourself what it means for your life, this day.  Here we are on the precipice of another year.  Will we allow 2019 to happen without intervention? 

          Or will we find the power that is within us—the power of witness, the power of testimony, the power of shepherds and wise men, to put our bodies in important places?  Will we stand for the ones who lack power in the spaces in which they find themselves?

          Hear the lessons of Epiphany, people of God:

>Listen to your dreams. 

>Don’t believe everything others tell you.  See for yourself.

>If your mission is true, don’t let someone else co-opt it.

>Be brave.  Find your own power, and don’t fear the power of tyrants.

>Finally, pay homage to Jesus.  Offer him your gifts.  Invite him to use your gifts for the good of the world.

          There is a quote from the activist and writer Marianne Williamson which says this better than I could.  It is often attributed, falsely, to Nelson Mandela, for obvious reasons.  May these words reveal a truth to you.

          Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, and fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people will not feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It is not just in some of us; it is in everyone and as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give others permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.

          My hope for you in this new year is that you will shine.  And the world will be made better, by the revelation of your power.

Amen