I think this is the fourth time in the last three weeks we have read from a portion of Matthew 2. From the star stopped on Christmas Eve to Joseph leaving for Egypt with Mary and baby Jesus in two to the wise men's escapades to the Egypt and Nazareth being places in the birth narrative, the preaching has been Matthew-centric. I suppose most years we mostly focus on the Luke birth narrative, so it was ok to spend s much time in Matthew.
This sermon was tied to a Sunday school activity in which the kids marked the doorways of the church with gold stars as a contemporary living out of the Christian Epiphany tradition of "marking the doors" to declare Christ's presence in all the rooms we enter and leave.
We also had the wise people (three young men and a tag-a-long young woman) process to the chancel area with gifts as we began our worship service. They also joined us for the Time with Young Disciples, where they were interviewed about their experience of going to Bethlehem.
Needless to say, we had a lot going on that filtered into the sermon. Not sure the sermon worked that well - maybe too much going on!
“Marked People” Epiphany SAPC, January , 2019; Matthew 2: 1-12
In the time of King Herod, after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, wise men[a] from the East came to Jerusalem, 2 asking, “Where is the child who has been born king of the Jews? For we observed his star at its rising,[b] and have come to pay him homage.” 3 When King Herod heard this, he was frightened, and all Jerusalem with him; 4 and calling together all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Messiah[c] was to be born. 5 They told him, “In Bethlehem of Judea; for so it has been written by the prophet:
6
‘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[d] my people Israel.’”
7 Then Herod secretly called for the wise men[e] and learned from them the exact time when the star had appeared. 8 Then he sent them to Bethlehem, saying, “Go and search diligently for the child; and when you have found him, bring me word so that I may also go and pay him homage.” 9 When they had heard the king, they set out; and there, ahead of them, went the star that they had seen at its rising,[f] until it stopped over the place where the child was. 10 When they saw that the star had stopped,[g] they were overwhelmed with joy. 11 On entering the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother; and they knelt down and paid him homage. Then, opening their treasure chests, they offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. 12 And having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they left for their own country by another road.
Introduction: Epiphany Sunday
the appearance of God — Christ’s birth; Epiphany focuses on the wise men arriving to discover this appearance of God.
epiphany can also mean a revelation - new revelation of who God is and how God chooses to live and work among us in human flesh.
But the new revelation not just about who God is in Christ, but we also come to realize who we are because of God coming in Christ, who we are in light of God’s ongoing presence, who we are because of God’s promise to come again in Christ.
Look at this new revelation through the lens of the story of the wise men.
Move 1: First of all, we notice they were looking for the appearance of God in the particular.
a. The question the wise men have for King Herod: “Where is the child who has been born king of the Jews?”
1. Not looking for God in general terms.
2. Not looking for some generic god.
3. they were looking for God in particular” (I came across this idea reading Dr. John Mcoy’s sermon, “A Wise Man's Christmas”12/20/.81 sermon preached on St. Andrew)
4. Looking for the God with whom they could have a relationship.
5. Looking for the God who comes in the particularity of their lives.
b. Likewise, we are not looking for some general concept of God.
1. We are looking for the God who comes in the particularity of our lives and our time.
2. During Sunday school today the kids put into practice an old Epiphany tradition of marking the doors.
3. They put stars over the doors as a reminder that Christ arrived and is present.
4. Christ, the real person, who arrived and is present even now by the power of the Holy Spirit, in the particular places we live and go.
Move 2: The Wise men also remind us that the appearance of God in Christ marks us for salvation and redemption.
b. In the coming fo Christ, we see God’s desire to save and redeem all the world.
1. Tom Long reminds us that the wise men are the out-of towners;
2. the wise men are the outsiders to the faith;
3. they did not have the long tradition of expecting a Messiah.
4. They did not know the customs and rituals of the Jewish tradition.
5. But they arrived at the house where the baby Jesus was because they were seeking God.
6. There they found God and their lives were changed forever.
b. The chalking of the doors that took places in Sunday school takes us back to that night in Egypt when God’s people were instructed to mark their doors so the angel of death would pass over them
1. the night marked God rescuing Israel from slavery in Egypt.
2. The story of the night is told generation after generation to remind God’s people of God’s saving grace and God’s desire to redeem.
c. the similarity in marking the doors in Egypt and marking our doors today is not just the fact that marks were made over doors, but in what the marks mean - God is at work saving us
1. that is God’s desire we discover in the presence of Christ is our midst; that is what we lay claim to - God’s saving grace.
2. We join with the wise men as people marked for salvation and redemption by the appearance of Christ.
Move 2: marked by the journey
a. poem entitled “Wise and Weary Ones”
Christmas was gone
before they got to the manger,
camels and servants grumbling.
“We saw his star in the east,” they said.
Mary wondered why
a sign from God didn’t get
them there on time for the birth.
“You missed the angel choir,” she replied.
They knelt before the babe,
offering gifts and hopeful hearts:
“What matters is we made it.”
( Milton Brasher-Cunningham - January 8, 2015; donteatalone blog)
b. We never hear from the wise men again.
1. they appear with little known about them.
2. they discover God in the Christ-child.
3. then they go home a different way.
4. People changed by discovering God present in their midst.
Conclusion: We are marked people, changed by the God we meet in Christ. Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment