Preaching text: Matthew 2:1-12
It probably is fitting that my baptismal anniversary falls on the festival of Epiphany. From the very beginning, I seem to have had an interesting relationship with the magi of the Christmas story and with the often forgotten tradition of the 12 days of Christmas. In olden days, one began the celebration of the Nativity on Dec 25 with Jesus’ birth, but it did not conclude until Jan 6 with the arrival of the magi.
I’m a Christmas baby, I suppose, baptized in the shadow of the magi, who are some of the most intriguing and important characters in Matthew’s variant of Jesus’ life. They come from the East, bearing kingly gifts, to a child so poor he has only an animal’s feeding troth for a bed. They come following a star, claiming it to be a portend of the divine at work in the world, revealing their profession as diviners and astrologers. The D&D player in me has always been fascinated by the presence of “wizards” in the Christmas story, for that’s what these guys are.
Nothing really about them makes much sense. Even their gifts are nonsensical. Sure, one brings gold in tribute to a king; that one, at least, is logical. But the others are not. Frankincense is used in ritual prayer; mixed with the sacrifices of the temple or alone, its rising smoke symbolizes the elevation of prayer and petition to God above. Myrrh is embalming fluid, or at least the closest thing the ancient world had to it. A gift to a priest and the dead, of which the infant Jesus is neither...yet.
And then one has to consider the ancient world’s traditions behind gift giving. There is quid pro quo in the exchange of gifts. One does not give without expectation of something in return. It is this fact that so terrifies Herod. If these envoys from a foreign power are bringing gifts to his rival, what return are they expecting from him that Herod and his Roman masters are not providing?
An intriguing question and one perhaps at the heart of the whole story. What can Jesus give that worldly leaders cannot?
I prefer the term “magi” because of its connection to the word “magic” and “magician,” but the more commonplace name of “wise men” may be the more accurate. For these travellers are indeed very wise. They have sensed something that the rest of the world has not. Not Herod, not the shepherds, not the disciples, not the crowds. None of them understands who this child really is and what he’s come to do. There are only a handful of exceptions. Mary is one. Simeon, whose story was the lectionary last Sunday, is another. The old man of the temple who prophecies that “this child will be the rising and falling of many in Israel.”
The magi know that too. The gifts and the very giving of them reflect that. Here is one who is truly going to change the world. Here is one who “will bring down rulers from their thrones but will lift up the humble! He will fill the hungry with good things but will send the rich away empty” Here is the one who will proclaim the day of the Lord’s favor by bringing release to the captives and good news to the poor. This is the one who will change EVERYTHING.
And he will do it by being both priest and sacrifice for the sake of the world. “Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world,” John the Baptizer says of his cousin. He’s another that gets it. But there are very few.
We tend to forget that. Most of the people who lived these stories did not know or understand who Jesus was. They guessed, often wrongly. He was to be king in the same sense as Herod or David. He was Messiah like Cyrus of old, a conqueror. But there are some that did know. Some who knew he was born to die on a cross for the salvation of the world. And these magi were among them. The gifts they bring, as extravagant as they are by worldly standards, are but a pittance to the debt these men will owe to the one who will bring them life eternal and they know it. But bring them they do. Here, child of God, accept what we offer in exchange for what you will do for us and the whole world.
Every day of our lives, we do as the magi did. We bring our gifts to the Christ, paltry as they are, in gratitude for what God has done for us. We give our time, our skills, our money, our very lives for the sake of the one who gave everything for us and for the world we live in. To the one who changed and is changing everything.
We call this festival Epiphany for a reason. An epiphany is a unveiling, a discovery, a realization of a previously hidden truth. That is what the magi, staring into the sky, had when the star blazed into the night. God was at work. God was changing the world. Well, let us be as the magi were, for God is still at work and God is changing the world through Christ. Let’s bring all that we are to the manger. Let us be a part of that change. It’s 2018, a new year. Good time for change. Amen.
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