January 6, 2008
The Epiphany (Years A, B, and 2008 C)
Isaiah 60:1-6; Psalm 72:1-7, 10-14; Ephesians 3:1-12; Matthew 2:1-12
Wise men came from the East. I wonder, how many wise men? I wonder, how many people did they travel with? Servants? Wives? And how much livestock did they bring when they traveled? Certainly if they were noticed by Herod they must have had quite an entourage with them. Note that the scripture doesn’t say three kings or three wise men; it merely says wise men from the East came. And how ever many of them there were, they followed the light, the star that drove them to a little place in an outpost of a town to see the Christ Child and his parents and to bring their gifts: Gold, always useful, especially for royalty which it symbolizes; Frankincense, made from the gum of a tree found in Asia and Africa that produces aromatic smoke and is used in worship; and Myrrh, which was used to anoint bodes for burial, a symbol of burial and death. All three gifts cast a shadow under which the babe in the manger would live his life, a royal king like no other, a person to be worshipped, and one who would die and be buried for us all.
They followed the light to find the Christ and brought gifts that foretold his life – no matter how many of them there were or how many of them brought those gifts. Hmmmm! I wonder if there were other gifts?
There is currently an email going around that I have had on my wall for several years, a gift I treasure from a parishioner, that says, “Three wise women would have asked directions, arrived on time, helped deliver the baby, cleaned the stable, made a casserole, brought practical gifts, and there would be peace on earth.” I wonder what would practical gifts have been? Perhaps there were practical gifts from the other members of the traveling party? Perhaps there were fabrics and books and carrying cases for their trip to Egypt? Perhaps the first century equivalent of a casserole, dried fruit and goat cheese? Then again, while gifts foretelling the life Jesus would lead are not “practical,” they do emphasize the mystical connection between the light that led the wise people to the stable and the truth of Jesus’ life.
I have been thinking this week about how a troop of people might decide to follow a star, might decide to follow the light. Given what I know of first century cultures in the middle east, I would guess that one person made the decision to go – one man, of course – and then they readied themselves with food and water and merchandise to trade so they could keep themselves provisioned and give gifts of thanks whenever they relied on the hospitality of strangers long the way. I wonder if other children were born on the trek? I wonder where exactly they came from? I wonder if they were the equivalent of gypsies?
But most of all I wonder, did they, like the Israelites, get to the point when they wanted to stop and go home? Did they ever wonder if the ones who were leading them via star gazing were nuts, and threaten mutiny? Or, I wonder, if they were all mystical folks who knew the strange star in the sky was a sign that something stupendous was going to happen, and that they should just follow, trusting that indeed something or someone would come into their lives that would change them and the world? I wonder.
How many of us dare to truly follow the light of Christ? How many of us would leave hearth and home to follow the light to some place foreign and unknown for the promise of meeting someone who would forever change us? Of course, each day, each minute, each hour, we have that chance, but sometimes the light is dimmed by the distractions of our lives and we mistake a light bulb for the true light. Sometimes. And other times the light is right there for us leading us and the others.
As I thought of this passage, I also thought how important it is to discern about that light, the way the travelers did, to talk with outsiders, even the Herods of our lives, to travel in community as part of a pack so that when one can’t see the light, another can. How important it is to keep testing the light with others, to see if this is the way, and to make sure that not all like minded people travel in the same pack for light can be tricky and having people who see it differently informs everyone. Maybe, come to think of it, those traveling wise persons were the prototype of the church. They inform us not only about being willing to give up everything to follow the light, but about how to do it in community along the way. Today at the 9:00 service we will baptize Anna Rose. Anna’s mom Jennifer was baptized here a years ago, and she wanted her daughter to be made part of the Christian pack, the family of those who follow the light in the same place that she had been baptized. And so we will gather this morning to make that possible.
We will baptize Anna into the light of Christ, and by who we are and how we live in this community (though likely she will find a new church family as her family is on the move, just like the wise people, so we will do it on behalf of those who will be her church family), she will learn from us and them how to be a follower. She will learn about the light of Christ from the likes of us; she will learn what it means in our lives by how we treat her, and one another, by how we give of ourselves for others, by how we forgive and how we love our neighbors – “neighbors” taking on an ever widening meaning.
We will introduce her to the light, and we will dance around it with her, following, always following the star. And the first gift we give to Anna as she joins this pack is a share of a sheep in Heifer International. We do this in the hope that it, like the gifts of the magi, may foretell something about her life. We want her to be one who gives to those who can least afford it, one who shares and provides from the bounty of her life to those in other tribes or packs who have very little. And so may her gift of sheep foretell a lifelong servanthood to others just as we who live under the light of Christ recognize our call to serve others selflessly.
Anna, welcome to the pack; welcome to the body of Christ; welcome to the light!
Amen.
The Rev. Dr. Gale Davis Morris
Church of the Good Shepherd