Scripture reading: Matthew 2:1-12 (Appointed for January 6: The Festival of Epiphany)
I've long argued in preaching and teaching that our God is a god of surprises. He never does what people expect. He's always doing the unexpected, the surprising, the "hey, wait a minute..."
We see this throughout the Scriptures. For the father of his Chosen, he picks a man named Abram who is both aged and childless. For the liberator of his people, he picks an exiled murderer with a stuttering problem named Moses. The greatest king of his people is not some virile Adonis, but the ruddy youngest son of Jesse, so inconsequential that he's forgotten when Samuel comes to anoint the new king. Jesus calls a tax collector and (according to the traditions) a prostitute to be among his most devoted followers.
The story of Jesus' birth fits this pattern. The king of kings, the savior of the world, is born not in a palace, but in a manger: the feeding troth of animals. His birth, the most monumental event in human history, is not welcomed by the high and mighty, but by slaves and shepherds. And while Luke tells us those same shepherds told what they had witnessed far and wide, it doesn't seem they were listened to by very many.
Which bring us to Matthew's version of the Christmas story. Strangers from the east, diviners and sorcerers of the Persian court, arrive as a diplomatic envoy to the court of King Herod, seeking the newborn King of the Jews. This news of a new king is utter shock to everyone in Jerusalem. They didn't have a clue.
Does anyone else note the irony here? The Jews, the remnant of the Chosen Hebrews, those most steeped in the Scriptures, those most familiar with the prophecies of Messiah, had utterly missed that Christ had been born in their very midst. And the only people who seemed to realize this monumental event were these foreigners, followers of the Zoroastrian religion, who knew next to nothing of Yahweh and his holy Word.
God did it again. Gotcha! Surprise!
The Christmas story is hardly the last time God has done this. The most influential Christian of the early Church, the one who wrote the majority of the New Testament, was a former persecutor of Christianity. The one who denied Christ three times goes willingly to his martyrdom for the sake of the Gospel. These fishermen and commoners who Jesus called disciple and apostle spread as far as India and Europe to spread the Gospel they'd embraced. Surprise after surprise.
Even today, God continues to zing us with his surprises, showing the wonders of his grace.
Which is one the reasons I get so discouraged by the fear and prejudice I see in so much of the Church today. How do we know that Muslim might not become the instrument of God's work in the world tomorrow? How do we know that immigrant might not become the means by which God brings a new cure for disease into the world? The least likely people have been chosen time and again to be God's hands in the world. If the magi can proclaim Christ's birth, what can't God do with any of us?
The author of Hebrews warns us to be ever welcoming, since angels do appear in disguise in our midst. God is ever at work in our world, constant in his love of surprise. Hey, people, watch this...and then wonders unfold before us. Sinners do amazing work of righteousness. The mute speak. The deaf hear. The lame walk anew. Open your eyes and your heart and God will surprise you too.
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