Sermon for the Sunday of the Epiphany, Jan. 7, 2024

 Sermon for SMHP, Epiphany Sunday, Jan. 7, 2024

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.

 

This is a story about kings.  How many kings?

Two, that’s right.  King Herod.  And King Jesus.

The Magi are magi.  “Wise men from the east.”  We have no idea how many there were, we don’t know their names, and nowhere in the story are they called “kings.” We only know that they come from east of, but they are almost certainly from the middle east—most likely from Mesopotamia or Persia.  You’ll notice—if you look—that our hymnal doesn’t have the hymn, “We Three Kings of Orient Are.”  That’s because the only true words in the title of “We Three Kings of Orient Are” are the first one and the last one… “We…Are.”

But there are definitely kings in this story.

King Herod is a classic king.  He is called Herod “the Great,” just to distinguish him from all the lesser Herods, of which there were several.  He was a prolific builder—rebuilding the temple, which had been destroyed by Rome the first time in 63 BCE.  The famed “Western Wall” remains from Herod’s Temple.  Much of the architecture and stonework underneath the temple and the old city are still called “Herodian.”

[2 slides] He built the amazing fortress of Masada at the top of a tall plateau near the Dead Sea.

Herod was productive, and he was ruthless.  As he grew increasingly paranoid about preserving his rule, he murdered his own wife and children.  So of course he lost his mind when “wise men from the east” saw a star and came looking for our other king.

The “King of the Jews.”

King Jesus. 

As his life begins, and just before it ends, others try desperately to fit a gold crown to our Lord’s head.  The wise men come looking for a king, bearing spices better suited for burial than birth.  As he is tried by the Roman authorities in Jerusalem, Pontius Pilate tries to get Jesus to declare himself a king, which he won’t do, of course, because the sovereignty of Jesus won’t fit anywhere inside of the frame of reference of a Pilate.  Or a Herod.

The sovereignty of Jesus isn’t about power over others, or about who can build the biggest religious structure, or fortress—and I’m not sure those are always mutually exclusive.

Those wise ones followed a guiding star to a house. We don’t know if Mary and Joseph and Jesus were still in the part of the house reserved for animals, or if they had been given an actual room in the house.  As far as we know, they still weren’t officially married, so probably the former.

But that’s where the star landed.  Over the house with the scandalously unmarried couple and their baby.  Regular baby.  King Jesus.

The star landed there and the Magi went inside and paid homage to the King of the Jews, even though they weren’t Jews—they were gentiles like us.  They left gifts.  Spices, incense, and gold which no doubt funded the family’s trip to Egypt to escape evil king Herod. 

And then they left Bethlehem by another road, to avoid old Herod, because they were…? 

Wise.

You’re here this morning because you’re like them.  Wise.  You know there are bigger churches.  There are certainly fancier churches—churches that look like Herod’s Temple.  Churches with the same kind of extras that Herod built into the temple.  If you’d gone to one of those, you could have bought a double peppermint white chocolate mocha right before church. 

I think we might have some flavored creamer back there.  And Tavis is here, so there is actually coffee made.  But that’s the best I can offer you.

Well, that’s the best I can offer you in caffeinated beverages.  I can also offer you an opportunity to worship the king whose gentle rule drew Magi from the east and Canaanite women from the west, and fishermen from the Galilee, and tax collectors from the bosom of Herod’s power.  Drew them close and marked them forever as people who chose to live differently.  To draw power from giving power away.

I can offer you a chance to learn the Jesus Way alongside people who really get it, people who have followed their own stars to get here this morning—sometimes on some pretty circuitous paths.  Those are often the paths that lead to deep and abiding faith. 

Of course, the truth is that I’m not offering you anything this morning.  This community isn’t about me…it’s about a God who comes to us in the most miraculously fragile form, and receives us in our most miraculously fragile form, in order to fashion us together into the body of Christ.

Remember which words I said were true of the traditional hymn for this day, “We Three Kings of Orient Are?”

We are. 

This is a story about kings.  But it’s also a story about us.

In choosing to follow a king born in a stable, to parents marginalized by their religious status, their economic status, their marital status…in choosing a king born in the little town of Bethlehem, rather than the big city of Jerusalem, who grew up in Nazareth, rather than Caesarea…in choosing to be part of this eclectic church community, worshipping in this slightly scruffy building with no coffee shop or bookstore…well, you’ve made choices.  And in keeping with the theme of Epiphany, your choices are a revelation.  They reveal you as someone most interested in following Immanuel—God with us, who became incarnate to take on our experience, not to sit on a golden throne.  They reveal you as someone willing to be seen, and known, as a follower of Jesus of Nazareth.  There’s nowhere to hide here.

And your choices reveal you as someone who knows a solid community of disciples when you see it. Not perfect.  We are not even close to perfect.  But we are solid.  Because we are certain that we are following the right king.

Four of you have chosen to make our community even more beautiful this morning.  Assuming you still want to join after everything I just said…

I hope so, because I think you fit right in.  In a moment I’m going to invite you to come forward and we will affirm our baptisms and receive you as members.  First I want to offer us one more chance to contemplate who we are by reflecting on whose we are.  Who is this king, this Jesus, this child?  Let us share that contemplation as we sing together hymn #296, “What Child Is This?”