Sermon 01/04/09 (Matthew 2:1-12)

“The Journey to Christ”
Matthew 2:1-12
Rev. Désirée H. Gold
St. Mark’s United Church of Christ, Baltimore, MD
Sunday, 4 January, 2009
Second Sunday after Christmas - Epiphany Sunday
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 Sometimes I think that the name I chose for my newsletter column is rather presumptuous. “An Offering of Gold?!” I realize that some of my articles are better than others -- and this month I don’t have even have an article! That said, I wanted something that corresponded with my name and something that was also scriptural. The word “gold” appears 548 times in the Bible, and upon looking through the places in which it appears, this phrase seemed to be most fitting for the name of a newsletter column: “They offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.” The gifts of the magi are presented in a humble manner, because they are gifts to the Christ child, and it is in that spirit of humility that I hope to present my newsletter column to you each month (well, most months).

Now here we are, on Epiphany Sunday, encountering those Wise Men as they follow the star to Bethlehem to meet the Christ Child for the first time. The story of the Wise Men -- remember, nowhere does the scripture tell us that there were three of them -- is lumped into our consciousness with the Christmas story. Nativity scenes on front lawns frequently include the Wise Men gathered around the manger, along with the shepherds and the donkeys. When shopping for Christmas cards this year, I had a hard time finding ones that didn’t include the Wise Men -- in fact, some Christmas card designs show only the Wise Men (and there are always three of them).

It is understandable why we do this -- why we lump the Epiphany in with Christmas. Less than two weeks ago, we were gathered in this church to celebrate the birth of Jesus, reading the birth narratives from the Gospel of Luke. Last week I insisted to you that it was still Christmas (which it still technically is today), and our Gospel reading detailed the circumcision of the baby Jesus. Jewish babies are circumcised when they are only a few days old. Our Gospel today begins with the words, “In the time of King Herod, after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, asking, ‘Where is the child who has been born king of the Jews?’”

We seem to be following a straight trajectory here -- birth, circumcision, visit from the Wise Men, otherwise known as Magi. But, in fact, many scholars believe that Jesus was a toddler by the time the Magi visited. In any case, he was certainly not still a tiny baby in a manger.

And who were these “Wise Men from the East”? Tradition has given them many forms throughout the centuries. Matthew’s gospel calls them simply “magoi,” a word that could mean several different things: magicians, priests of some sort, or astrologers. The role of astrologer seems likely, since they follow a star in order to find Jesus. Sometimes, however, tradition has referred to them as “kings,” probably because of the expensive gifts they brought. One tradition even gives them names: Melchior, king of Persia; Gaspar, king of India; and Balthasar, king of Arabia. But nowhere in our scriptures are they designated as kings, nor given names, nor specified as three in number. We know only that they were Wise Men -- of some sort -- from the East, who followed a star to find “the child who has been born king of the Jews,” and brought that child expensive gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.

What of those gifts? We know what gold is, of course. Both myrrh and frankincense were fragrant scents that were frequently given to royalty in various forms. Frankincense was part of the holy perfume used in the sanctuary and nowhere else. Myrrh was sometimes used as an anointing oil for priests. Myrrh was also used as an embalming ointment after death, and in the Gospel of John we read that “Nicodemus brought ‘a mixture of myrrh and aloes, a hundred pounds’ weight,” for the preparation of Jesus’ body” after his crucifixion. For this reason, some people have ascribed symbolic meaning to the myrrh Jesus was given by the Magi, to tie the birth of the Messiah to his death. Again, symbolism has been added that does not appear in the scripture itself. All we know is that the gifts brought by the Magi were befitting of a king.

What, then, is the point of all this, now that we have unpacked it? What is Epiphany, and why do we celebrate it? In one sense, Epiphany does connect to Christmas Eve, in that it is an extension of the light we celebrated on that holy night. It is actually epiphanies, plural, one of many such manifestations of the Christ-light coming into the world. It is also about the search for the Messiah, and by extension, our own search. The Magi went to great lengths to find the Christ child. They traveled to Jerusalem, sought out King Herod there to ask him where the child might be, and went to Bethlehem. These were long journeys in a time when travel was uncomfortable and time-consuming. Once they had found this young Messiah and offered him their gifts, they went out of their way to avoid King Herod, because a dream had told them to do so. In other words, they went to great effort, both to seek the Christ and to return home from their visit with him.

Where are we willing to go to find the Christ? What are we willing to do in our search for Jesus? Perhaps we do not need to travel from country to country looking for him. We may not need to go anywhere physically at all. But where do our thoughts need to go, where do our hearts need to go in order for us to truly worship the Christ? What in our lives do we need to set aside in order for us to be able to focus on our spiritual journey? What things do we need to forget before we can do what we need to do as Christ-followers?

May the Christ be revealed to you during this season of Epiphany. And may this revelation rededicate you to your mission as a Christian, a follower of Christ.

Now let us pray.