Trinity Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)
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SERMON
For centuries,
we Christians have been fascinated
with the wise men.
I’m not quite sure what it is about them
that we find so intriguing,
but almost since the time the gospels were written,
more and more story and legend has grown up
around these wise men from the east.
For example,
we sing about “we three kings,”
but nowhere in the story does it say that they are kings!
That assumption was made by very early Christians,
reading the same Isaiah scripture we heard this morning,
the part about how “kings [shall come]
to the brightness of your dawn.”
So they might have been kings,
but we don’t really know that.
We don’t even know how many there were!
Tradition says there were three,
but Matthew doesn’t say.
We also don’t know that their names
were Caspar, Melchior, and Balthazar,
though many of us were probably introduced to them that way
in our childhood!
And we don’t know what racial or ethnic background they were,
though in most nativity sets you see
two of them are white and one is black.
Scholars assume they were Persian,
and perhaps of the Zoroastrian religion –
but again, it’s only an assumption.
All of these traditions have grown up
since the time of the Bible,
from Christians who were fascinated by
these unusual visitors from the east.
Even in the past century or so,
they have inspired stories such as
Henry Van Dyke’s “The Other Wise Man,”
and Gian Carlo Menotti’s opera
“Amahl and the Night Visitors.”
And all of that is real interesting.
But for me, the most fascinating things about the wise men
are the things that Matthew did include in his gospel.
I find it amazing, for one thing,
that these eastern sages chose to leave everything behind
to follow this star.
How did they know to follow it?
They weren’t Jews …
Some speculate that they were probably astronomers,
but even so, how did they know that the star
was a good sign and not a bad one?
What made them decide to bring gifts along?
And, perhaps the most curious thing to me,
after they had seen Jesus, the child, the king,
how ever did they tear themselves away from that,
and go back home again?
It seems to me that
the natural human tendency is,
whenever we find anything good,
to grab hold of it.
Not let it go, not leave it.
But hang on for all you’re worth.
How did the wise men tear themselves away?
They knew the child they saw was something special:
a star had come to tell of his birth,
they had brought him expensive gifts,
they fell down and worshiped him.
And then, they turned around and went home … ?
It’s tempting for us to conclude
that this means that the wise men
didn’t really understand or appreciate what they had seen.
That for them,
the whole thing was kind of like
a fireworks display –
beautiful, and quite moving,
but when it’s over, it’s over.
But in fact,
I think that just the opposite is true.
The fact that the wise men
did pick up and go home
after seeing the child Jesus
suggests to me that they did understand what was going on
and what had happened to them
better than many of us who have been Christians all our lives
understand it.
Somehow they knew that to stay there,
and simply keep this wonderful experience all to themselves,
would be dreadfully wrong.
The story had to be told.
Life had to change, now.
They were to go home and be a different kind of people
because of what they had seen and heard.
Somehow the wise men knew
what so many of us have forgotten:
that Bethlehem is not the end point of our journey;
it is the turning point.
From there we must go back into the world we came out of,
as people who have been transformed
by an encounter with the living Christ.
Now, the reason I say
that we’ve forgotten a lot of this
is that a lot of what passes for
Christian theology and Christian preaching today,
especially the “popular” stuff,
has completely left out the return part of the journey.
The emphasis so often is only on
seeking and finding Jesus,
not on what comes next.
Please don’t misunderstand;
I don’t mean to suggest that it isn’t important
that we search for and find Christ.
It is very important,
and sometimes it is very difficult;
we don’t have anything as obvious as
a star sitting over the place where he is
to point him out to us!
It’s absolutely important that we find Christ,
but that’s not the end of the story.
We have to realize that our finding him
doesn’t mean that we have a claim on him …
it means that now we must allow him
to have a claim on us.
Do you remember, years ago now,
those bright-yellow bumper stickers you used to see on cars,
proclaiming, “I found it!” ?
Those always irritated me;
made me want to holler back,
“I never lost it!”
But maybe a more appropriate response would be,
“You found it?
That’s great; now what are you going to do with it?”
Like the wise men –
once we have found Bethlehem,
once we have seen and heard the good news,
we must go back to where we came from
and live as people who have found Christ.
That’s rarely ever easy,
as we know, if we’ve tried it!
Because finding Christ is a turning point
in our lives.
Christ’s presence turns things around,
turns them upside-down,
turns them on their head.
Nothing can ever be the way it was again.
Once we have found Christ,
and allowed him to claim us,
every bit of our life is affected.
Christ’s presence
affects how we use our money:
what we spend it for,
how much we spend,
how much we give.
Christ’s coming
affects our relationships with other people:
how we treat our families,
how we deal with our friends and acquaintances,
and strangers as well,
and even how we view our enemies.
Finding Christ
influences how we spend our time and energy:
where we spend our time,
how we channel our energy,
and even how much time and energy we have.
Meeting Christ changes us.
It’s tempting sometimes
to want simply to remain always in his presence,
basking in his love,
learning from his teachings,
sheltered from harm.
And we need to do that sometimes …
that is what we’re doing when we come to church,
when we pray or meditate at home,
when we study our Bible.
These are ways in which,
you might say we return to Bethlehem.
we see Christ again,
and hear his words for us,
and enjoy his presence.
We need this …
but then,
Christ needs us to turn around and go home.
To tell his story
out in the world that we live in.
To live lives that have been
transformed and turned upside-down
by meeting him.
To minister to others
in his name.
It is not enough simply
to make the journey to Bethlehem.
Like the wise men,
we too must depart
and return to our own country.
To bring Christ out,
so that all the world may know.
Thanks be to God for this two-way journey!
Amen.
© 2002 Julie
Adkins (e-mail: Drjadkins@trinitypresdallas.org)