January 4, 2009 Message

Ephesians 3:1-12; Matthew 2:1-12

This Tuesday, the day after tomorrow, is an important day – it is Epiphany, the day when church tradition celebrates the Magi – or as the song says, kings from the orient – who followed a star to its resting place over Bethlehem to honor the new born King. In mythology a star would rise to its zenith (or highest point) to reveal the presence of a divine hero. In astrology, this particular rising star represented the rising of Capricorn, Judea’s sign in the zodiac – thus signaling the birth of that nation’s new ruler. The Magi were thought to be astrologers from the east, who under the star's zenith, honored Jesus, the Christ child, with precious gifts common to eastern cultures; gold, frankincense and myrrh.

Matthew's Gospel, of the four, is the sole record of these “wisemen” from the east. So, why does Matthew include this story when the others don’t? One popular understanding is that Matthew was all about ‘connecting the dots,’ for the Jewish people of his day. His account of the Magi fulfilled the prophecies made in the Books of Numbers, Isaiah, and the Psalms, that the whole world would pay homage to the God of Israel. The Magi from the east represented this larger world. It is also said that Mathew’s account of the Magi symbolizes God’s inclusiveness – and God’s shinning forth or revelation of God’s human form in the person of Jesus Christ – to all people, Jews and Gentiles alike.

These “magi from the east,” these star gassers and fortune tellers, were looking for a ‘once in a lifetime’ experience. They hoped to discover the one talked about all these years, the one mentioned in ancient Hebrew writings. They were searching for the truth. They wanted to become wise. And yet, they shouldn’t have been there. They followed the stars, and signs in the sky - not God. They were the wrong race and the wrong religion. They shouldn’t be there, but they were. They would have been much better models of believing in the wrong things. If only they were kings.

Matthew’s message may have become distorted by our attachment to a song. Who were these travelers from the east – kings, right? Anyway that is who they are in our Christmas programs – the ones with crowns on their heads. And how many were there – three? Matthew says they were magi, not kings. And there is no mention of how many, only that the magi brought gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. See how mistaken our understanding can sometimes be – especially when we learn the wrong stuff?

Perhaps the greatest truth anyone can discover is how to be truthful about ourselves. In his book “Wisdom of the Heart” Alan Cohen writes, “Dear God, please help me to recognize the truth about myself, no matter how beautiful is it.”

Cohen suggests that most of what we think about ourselves, we learn from others. We adopt the oft times dark self-images projected on us by others who don’t love or know themselves. And because of what they have taught us, we begin to believe that we too are somehow deficient and unlovable. We find ways to avoid facing who we really are. We fill our lives with busyness, or other peoples’ dramas, or even with addictions to avoid facing who we really are.

We see the world not as it is, but as we are – how we perceive ourselves to be. The reality we experience is the one we carry with us in our mind. So the vision we use is crucial to our lives now and in the future. And the truth we live about ourselves, who we are, and whose we are, is critical to that vision.

But the truth is that we are children of God, made in God’s image, loveable and loving, of infinite value and worth. You are someone! You are beautiful! You are worthy! You are an amazing creation!

We discover the truth when we see ourselves through God’s eyes and not through the comments of those who taught us that we are inadequate and unlovable. It is then we become wise. It is then we have hope. It is then we are face to face with God.

Discovering that truth leads to discovering life! To discover how to be truly human, as God created us to be, is the ultimate quest for people everywhere. We are to be like those men from the east in Matthew’s story, who were drawn by Bethlehem’s star to a place where they found God before them. Haven't we all felt that same desire to find a “newborn king” in our lives? Don’t we, too, seek to be truthful, to live and love, and above all to be human? Isn't that why we continue to follow the One to whom the Bethlehem star has led?

Paul writes in his letter to the Ephesians that, “through the church the wisdom of God in its rich variety might now be made known…” We, who are the church, have that same responsibility to share what we have found. We don’t really know if these men from the east were “wise” before they found the “new king” – this Christ child called Jesus. However, we do know they were “wise” after discovering the new king through God's revelations to them, and then… having taken a “different way” (God’s way) home.

God calls us to do what the Magi did, and that is to seek Christ. Meaning is found in a pursuit of the Messiah. Purpose is discovered in the quest for the Son of God. Seeking the One who has come looking for us is the key to finding true meaning and purpose.

As today’s Magi – or wise ones - who seek to discover how to be truthful about ourselves, how to live and love and to be truly human, may each of us hear the words of Isaiah as our call to follow Bethlehem's star and the Star Child it welcomed into the world, "Arise, shine out, for your light has come, the glory of the Lord God is rising on you, though night still covers the earth and darkness the peoples.”

It’s up to us now to “make it known” to those who are yet to be wise.