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“Three Wise Men” by Rev Stuart Simpson
Sermon 6th Jan 2013
Isaiah 60:1-9
Matthew 2:1-12
It’s funny that we find ourselves going back in the Christmas story
today, even though Christmas has been over for a couple of weeks
Last Sunday we heard about Jesus being found in the temple
Today we hear about the visit of wise men from the East
However, chronologically, the visit of the men should have been
before the temple story
This is the joy of working with the lectionary
It is also, I believe, opportunity to delve deeper into an important
part of the Christmas story that we would otherwise miss
Three kings of Orient are
We’ve sung the hymn
We know the story
So what else is there? What else can we learn? What can God
possibly teach us today?
It seems very apt that on Christmas day the wise men didn’t turn up
to join the nativity scene
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Because in actual fact they weren’t there at Jesus’ birth, like the
shepherds
Significant time has passed between Jesus’ birth and the magi’s visit
The shepherds are back to work
Mary and Joseph are in “a house.”
Herod’s paranoia will soon lead him to exterminate all Bethlehem
children aged two and under – a bit of an overreaction if Jesus is still
a newborn babe in arms
Under the children’s story of the three wise men
There is so much to discover
Such as who were the wise men and why do we often think there
were only three (The Eastern Church has twelve)
Why did they travel so far and why was Herod so anxious along with
all of Jerusalem?
There is no way we can cover all of these
So instead we are going to explore two things
First how God reaches to all people
And second how, if we allow God in, our lives will be disrupted and
our direction may change
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So first God reaches to all people
God is so determined to proclaim the “good news of great joy for all
the people
That God reaches beyond fields in the region around Bethlehem to
“the East” (some scholars say Persia or Arabia, which fits with the
reading in Isaiah 60 where it mentions Sheba).
God reaches beyond shepherds at the bottom of the barrel to Wise
Ones at the top
God reaches beyond people scared witless by God’s glory to those
who observe the glorious star at its rising
And methodically, persistently and sincerely follow it to a king
All along the way, God directs them
First by a star, then via a verse from Micah and finally in their dreams
While Christian tradition holds that the Magi were kings a more
precise description might be that the Magi belonged to the priestly
caste of Zoroastrianism, which paid particular attention to the stars
This priestly caste gained an international reputation for astrology,
which was at that time highly regarded as a science
So these Wise ones from the East were scientists and practiced other
religions and God used their faith and knowledge to bring them to
the Christ
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More ironic, God used scientists who practiced other religions to let
King Herod and the chief priests and scribes of the people in on the
news that their Messiah had been born
God seems to do whatever it takes to reach out to and embrace all
people
God announces the birth of the Messiah to shepherds through Angels
at Christmas
To Magi via a star on Epiphany (Which is today twelve days after
Christmas day)
And to the political and religious authorities of God’s own people in
and through visitors from the East
From and manger, where a child is wrapped in bands of cloth,
God’s reach,
God’s embrace in Christ Jesus
Get’s bigger and bigger and bigger
Jesus eats with outcasts and sinners
Jesus touches people who are sick and people who live with
disabilities
Jesus even calls the dead back to life
Ultimately, Jesus draws all people to himself as he is lifted up on the
cross
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In Christ Jesus, no one is beyond God’s embrace
This is pretty awesome
God’s radical grace is wondrously frightening
Why?
‘What does it mean, what are the implications of portraying the Magi
as scientist who practiced another religion?’
Maybe it means that both the ways God reaches out to people to
announce good news in and through Christ
And what it means for individuals to have faith and for gatherings of
the faithful to be Church
Needs to be expanded
The Magi did not come looking for the Christ through preaching,
liturgy, sacrament, a welcoming congregation nor a vital social
ministry, things I hold dear.
They came seeking the Christ after studying the night skies
I wonder if we often limit God when we think that knowing Christ is
all about following a set formula?
And instead there are times when we need to let go of our favourite
cherished ways and recognise that God works to proclaim the gospel
and bring people to faith in often mysterious ways
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Maybe we just don’t like the mystery because we don’t know what is
going on
If that is the case then we probably need to focus on the point
that God will do all that God can to reach all people
for all people to know his grace in Jesus Christ
often that will look mysterious to us
but let’s not be like Herod or the Priests and miss what is going on
because is not the usual way of doing things
Just as a side note, I would like to think that once the Magi found
Jesus, their lives were changed
They went off to learn more about the Christ child not simply fall
back into their worship of other gods
This leads me to my second point
If we allow God in, our lives will be disrupted and our
direction may change
Matthew is not the first one to imagine three rich wise guys from the
East coming to Jerusalem
His story line and plot come from Isaiah 60, a poem recited to Jews in
Jerusalem about 580 B.C.E
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These Jews had been in exile in Iraq for a couple of generations and
had come back to the bombed-out city of Jerusalem
Walter Brueggemann, the Old Testament Scholar, goes on to say
They were in despair. Who wants to live in a city where the towers
are torn down and the economy has failed, and nobody knows what
to do about it?
In the middle of the mess, an amazing poet invites his depressed,
discouraged contemporaries to look up, to hope and to expect
everything to change.
“Rise, shine, for your light has come.”
The poet anticipates that Jerusalem will become a beehive of
productivity and prosperity, a new centre of international trade.
“Nations will come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your
dawn...”
Caravans loaded with trade goods will come from Asia and bring
prosperity
This is cause for celebration!!
God has promised to make the city work effectively in peace, and a
promise from God is very sure.
The wise men know all about this poem
About what is said in Isaiah 60
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They know they are to go to Jerusalem and to take rare spices, gold
and frankincense and myrrh
Most important they know that they will find the new king of all
peace and prosperity
But when Herod hears of these plans, he is frightened.
A new king is a threat to the old king and the old order.
Then a strange thing happens
In his panic, Herod, arranges a consultation with the leading OT
scholars and says to them
“Tell me about Isaiah 60. What is this business about camels and
gold and frankincense and myrrh?
The scholars tell him: “You’ve got the wrong text
Isaiah will mislead you because it suggests that Jerusalem will
prosper and have great urban wealth and be restored as the centre
of the global economy
In that scenario, the urban elites can recover their former power and
prestige and nothing will really change.”
Herod does not like that verdict and asks, defiantly, “well what
reading would you suggest?”
The scholars, I suggest would have been afraid of the angry king, but
they tell him, with much anxiety, that the right text is Micah 5:2-4:
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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.
This is the prophecy for those with little or no power
A hope for the future, a voice that is not impressed with high towers
and great arenas
Micah anticipates a leader who will bring well-being to his people,
not by great political ambition, but by attentiveness to those who live
the grind of daily life on the ground
Bruggeman says something about this
“Herod tells the Eastern intellectuals the truth, and the rest is history.
They head for Bethlehem, a rural place, dusty, unnoticed and
unpretentious
It is, however, the proper milieu for the birth of the One who will
offer an alternative to the arrogant leaning of intellectuals and the
arrogant power of urban rulers.”
The story that we have heard today is the story of contrast
Two human communities
Jerusalem, with its power and self-importance
And Bethlehem, with its modest promise
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And two Old Testament contrast: Isaiah 60 and its self
congratulation and Micah 2 and vulnerability
These contrast I suggest are leading us to a choice to make
we are given a chose to choose a life of self importance and self
sufficiency
Or we can choose an alternative that comes in the innocence and a
hope that confounds our usual pretensions
We can receive life given in vulnerability
We can choose to allow God to change our direction even if we think
we have is all sorted out
Did you know that Bethlehem is 14.5 km south of Jerusalem?
The wise men had a long intellectual history of scholarship and a long
term practice of mastery but they missed their goal by 14.5 km
And yet it is amazing that the wise men do not resist the alternative
to travel another 14.5 km to go onto the village
Rather than hesitate or resist, they reorganise their wealth and
learning, and reorient themselves and their lives around a baby with
no credentials
Are we willing to do the same?
Are we willing to be reoriented this year in 2013, even when we think
we might have it all planned out?
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I would like to suggest that the way beyond is not about security and
prosperity but about vulnerability, neighbourliness, and generosity
As you leave today go knowing that God’s love and grace reached all
people
And that God seeks to disrupt our lives in ways that are often
surprising but ultimately a blessing to us, our families, our neighbours
and the world.