Sermon for Day of Epiphany
Wrong Town, Wrong Time
By The Rev. Eric Christopher Shafer -
Many years ago, some wise men living in the Eastern lands of the ancient world saw an amazing sight in the heavens. They saw the rising of a new star, or maybe it was a comet blazing brightly across the night sky. Whatever it was, these wise men knew that the rising of this brilliant light was a sign from the heavens, a signal that something momentous, something world-changing, had happened.
During this worship service we are singing the wonderful Epiphany hymn, "We three kings of Orient are..." (One of my favorites). However, we know that these wise men were not kings at all. They were almost surely philosophers and astrologers, some think they may have been Zoroastrian priests.
Whoever they were, these wise men were shrewd observers of the night sky, those who looked for signs of decisive events and clues to the future in the heavens. Thus, Matthew tells us that just as Jesus was born, these wise men saw this new star rising in the western sky over Judea, the land of the Jews. Using all their powers of analysis and interpretation, these wise men determined that this star was a sign that a new king had been born; that the Jews had been given a new king, and even the lights of heaven proclaimed it.
These wise men wanted to see this new thing that had happened. They desired to show their honor for the new king. So, these wise men set out for Judea to the west, in the direction of the star that they had seen. In our imaginations, we see them riding along, mounted on camels, but the Bible does not say how they traveled. It says only where they traveled, to Judea. When these wise men got to Judea, they went immediately to the city of Jerusalem, to the palace of Herod.
Now, Matthew has already told us in this story that Jesus was born in Bethlehem, not Jerusalem. But the wise men went to Jerusalem looking for the new king.
Why did they go to Jerusalem when Jesus was born in Bethlehem?
Pastor Tom Long tells story that may help. It is the story of a poor Christian man living in a small village in Nicaragua. Every week, the priest in this village would read a passage from the Bible to the people in his congregation, all of them poor peasants, and then they would discuss this passage, saying what they heard and what they thought. When this priest read this story of the wise men from the East who went to Jerusalem looking for the new king of the Jews, one of his very poor members said, “It seems to me that when those wise men arrived they knew that the Messiah had been born and they thought Herod knew about it and that the Messiah was going to be a member of his family. If he was a king, it was natural that they should go to look for him in Herod's palace. But, in that palace, there was nothing but corruption and evil, and the Messiah could not be born there. He had to be born among the poor people in a stable.”
What this humble Christian was saying was that the wise men simply assumed that a king would be born in power and glory, born in the royal palace. However, if the wise men thought they could find the savior of the world in Herod's house in Jerusalem, they were in the wrong town.
And, they had also come at the wrong time. Herod the Great, who was the Roman-appointed King of the Jews, was growing old, and in his aging, he had become a mentally unstable tyrant, who ruled through fear and cruelty. He was so insecure about his standing that every whiff of palace intrigue and potential opposition threw him into a murderous rage. He even killed one of his wives, several of his children, and other members of his own family, fearing that they were plotting to betray him.
So, if the wise men have come to an aging, insane, and ruthless Herod, the King of the Jews, asking about where they can find the new king of the Jews, well they have come to the wrong town at the wrong time. It would be like going to the Kremlin today and asking Vladimir Putin, "Where's the new leader of Russia? We have come to pay him homage." You can just imagine how that would go over!
Sure enough, Matthew tells us that the wise men, when they told Herod that they were looking for the new king of the Jews, rattled King Herod so badly that he shook like a leaf in the wind, and the whole city of Jerusalem trembled with him.
Tom Long also tells the story of a church that has a very elaborate annual Christmas pageant. Now this is not a simple event with the children wearing bathrobes and coat-hanger-wire angels' wings to play the parts in the Christmas story. No, this church's pageant is a major production, held on the front lawn of the church, and featuring leaders from all around the community as the main characters - Joseph and Mary, shepherds and angels and wise men.
One year, the men who were playing the roles of the wise men decided that they could best show that they were mysterious visitors from the East by arriving in a swirling cloud of incense. So, they borrowed a thurible from a nearby Greek Orthodox church. The thurible is a metal container in which incense is burned.
On the night of the pageant, these men were in the basement of their church waiting for the cue to make their appearance on the lawn. Just before it was time for them to be on, while they were still in the church basement, they lit the incense in the thurible. Clouds of smoky incense filled the air. Then they headed out across the lawn to the manger.
What they did not know was that their cloud of incense had accidentally set off the church's fire alarm system, one with an automatic notification to the fire department. As the wise men slowly walked to the manger, the fire trucks arrived, sirens blaring. Soon, firefighters in yellow slickers were unrolling hoses among the startled shepherds and angels. But, very quickly, the fire chief spotted the wise men surrounded in a fragrant cloud of incense. He quickly realized what had happened. In a voice loud, loud enough to be heard by everyone, the fire chief bellowed, "You wise men are setting off alarms all over town!"
Setting off alarms all over town. Matthew would agree. Matthew would say, "Yes, that is exactly what happened." The arrival of the wise men from the East asking about a new king of the Jews set off alarms all over the town of Jerusalem, because if there's a new king of the Jews, then that means the old king is finished.
That old king was Herod and Herold shook all over with fear when the wise men told him that a star had risen in the sky to announce the birth of this new king, Jesus. That tyrant knew that the birth of the true king, Jesus, could/should mean the end of his own abusive and illegitimate reign of terror. So, Herod did everything he could to stay in power. Matthew tells us that he even ordered the massacre of all children younger than two years old in and around Bethlehem, so Herod could rid himself of this newborn king, and, of course, later in the story the Roman rulers tried to stop Jesus again by nailing him to a cross.
But, when Jesus Christ is at work in the world, the powers of cruelty and oppression cannot stop him.
You see when Easter hope is alive, it is the tyrants and the power brokers and those who ignore human need for their own gain who should tremble.
Eventually, the wise men figured out that if they were looking for the new king of the Jews in Herod's city, they were in the wrong town. So, they set off for the right town. With the help of some scribes and biblical scholars, they learned that the scripture promised that Israel's Messiah was to be born in Bethlehem. And they also had the help of that blazing star, which led them to the very place where the child Jesus was. The wise men were able to pay homage to the true king and to give him their gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.
I wonder if we, you and I, if we, too, do not go at times to the wrong places and at the wrong times to find Jesus Christ. Herod represents everything in human beings and human history that is haughty, cruel, violent and vindictive. The Messiah was not born in his palace.
Where is Jesus Christ truly to be found today? Jesus, himself, says that the truly blessed ones are the poor in spirit, the mournful, the meek, the merciful, the pure in heart, and the peacemakers, and it is among these little ones where Jesus is truly to be found.
Whenever the church of Jesus Christ believes the Messiah can be found in the White House or the Governor's Mansion, it is looking in the wrong town at the wrong time.
Whenever the church of Jesus Christ believes the Messiah can be found in places of wealth or in schemes to gain prosperity, it is looking in the wrong town at the wrong time.
Whenever the church of Jesus Christ proclaims that some political power broker who ignores the cries of the poor and turns a deaf ear to the pleas of the hungry, the orphan, and the alien, is "chosen by God," it is looking for the Messiah in the wrong town at the wrong time.
Jesus told us where he would be, among the hungry and the thirsty, among the stranger and the immigrant, among those who lack clothing or medical care, among those in prison. He said, "In so far as you care for the least of these, you care for me."
Whenever we ignore these least ones and instead seek out the successful and the powerful, we are looking for the Messiah in the wrong town and at the wrong time.
So, let us go with the wise men to Bethlehem. Let us go with our gifts, not of gold, frankincense, myrrh, but gifts of devotion, commitment, passion, gifts of all that we have and all that we are. Let us go and truly worship him. Let us seek the Messiah as we reach out in love to this world and everyone in it. And, let us remember that when Jesus Christ is at work in the world, the powers of cruelty and oppression cannot stop him.
Amen.
(With thanks to the Rev. Tom Long and Day1).
The Rev. Eric Christopher Shafer
Senior Pastor - Mt. Olive Lutheran Church
Santa Monica, California
Sunday, January 5 & 6, 2019
