Westwood Presbyterian Church

January 6th, 2008

197 Browning  Boulevard, Winnipeg, Manitoba  R3K 0L1

REV. PETER BUSH's SERMONS

Matthew 2: 1-12

 

     It is my practice to preach from one of the gospels from Christmas to Easter each year, and this year we will be working our way through some passages from the gospel of Matthew. In under three months it is not possible to cover even the high points in Matthew let alone all of Matthew – but hopefully between now and Easter we will get something of the flavour of Matthew.

     Matthew is a book written to people who are already Christians, to people who are inside the church. Gospels like Mark and Luke were written for audiences outside the church – Matthew is asking the question, what can we learn from Jesus about how to live as a Christian?

 

     With that very limited background into Matthew let’s turn to the amazingly rich story of the Magi coming to see the new born king.

     This is a story of contrasts – there are two kings (Jesus and Herod); there are two responses to the new-born king (The Magi and Herod); there are two roads (one to Bethlehem and one leaving Bethlehem).

     The Magi – and it is probably best for us to call them magi rather than wise men or kings. The magi, who lived in either modern day Iran or Iraq (maybe close to Baghdad) were advisors to kings and business leaders they were the experts, the consultants, of their day. Their insight came from studying the stars – not as astronomers but as astrologers. They believed that the stars could tell them and other people how to live their lives, what decisions to make. We get the word magician from the word magi – they were magicians who foretold the future. So they were not followers of the God of Israel – for Yahweh had told the people of Israel that they were not to use the stars as the guide to live their lives – that astrologers and the like were to have no place in Israel. 

     So anyway you cut it the magi were outsiders – from a distant country, living a lifestyle that made them suspect, speaking a language that was foreign – they were outsiders.

     But by God’s amazing grace they are given an insight by the Holy Spirit to see in the stars that a king had been born in Israel. And the sign was so compelling, the call of the Spirit in their lives was so strong, that they had to go and see the new born king. This turn of events – that God would call magicians – people who followed a path of life that God had explicitly forbidden – to be among those to see the new born Messiah – was so shocking to the church of the Middle Ages that scholars argued that the Magi were really good Magi – weren’t really into the astrology thing. There is nowhere in the text that says that, Matthew wants us to confront this hard reality – that God’s grace came to these outsiders, to these people who did strange things, to these people who were living not according to God’s plan for life. Matthew wants us to understand that God’s grace comes to all – and we will see this theme coming up again and again in Matthew – comes to all independent of how they live their lives, independent of what they will do about it. God’s grace is poured out.

     What exactly the Magi saw we don’t know – but it caused them to pack their bags and head for Jerusalem to see the newborn king. Even today it is a dangerous drive from Baghdad to Amman through the desert – the buses make that journey only at night when it is cooler. So the Magi would not have taken the short route to Jerusalem -- they would have gone up the Euphrates river system into northern Iraq until that road met the coastal trade route and come south through Syria and on to Israel – a journey of about 1,500 miles – it would have taken about a month each way to make the trip. The Magi were not hopping the plane on Friday to Toronto to watch the Blue Bombers play in the Grey Cup and coming home on Monday. They would have been gone for about three months. It would have taken some planning for them to get away for three months, some planning to get all their stuff together for a three month journey.

 

     When the Magi get to the border of Israel, they head to where they expect the new born king to be – the palace in Jerusalem. And so they go knock on King Herod’s door and ask, “Is there a newborn king in the house?” And paranoid Herod has a fit – he is worried that some baby is about to unseat him as king. And when Herod is upset everyone gets worried, because an upset Herod will do horrific things.

     Herod consults his experts about where the new born king is – and they tell him – 5 miles down the road in Bethlehem. And Herod passes this information on to the magi.

     The magi have traveled 1,500 miles – taking months out of their lives, putting their obligations back home on hold – all to see a newborn king in Israel. And Herod and his advisors will not travel 5 miles to find the newborn king. The outsiders having seen the light – having had their eyes opened just a bit – are willing to investigate to join the journey of discovery. The insiders don’t hear, are not willing to be drawn deeper into the story of a newborn king.

 

     And so it is that the magi are the ones who alone make the 5 mile trip to Bethlehem and there they find the family – Mary and Joseph and Jesus – no longer in a stable – but rather living in a house. And upon their arrival they fall down and worship the child – the newborn king. They have recognized who this is – one to be worshiped. Worship is a sign of commitment – a sign that the one being worshiped is greater than ourselves – is worthy of our praise, our adoration, our commitment, our loyalty, our lives. To worship is to say that this person or thing that I am worshipping is the most important thing in my life.   

 

     Herod had told the magi that he wanted to worship the newborn king – and that they should come back and tell him where the newborn king was so that he could do exactly that. We who know the story know that Herod had no intention of worshipping the new born king – he had no intention of bending the knee to anything else – he alone was going to be the king - -the boss. It was all about him and his power – even though he was an insider – even though he knew the right things it did not make any difference in his life.

     One of my favorite preachers is William Willimon. I heard him tell this story. Willimon was at a conference where the minister from one of the largest Methodist churches in the US was preaching during one of the worship services. Willimon’s comment about the sermon was, “It was a bad sermon, it was all about the minister it did not talk about God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.” Then Willimon went on to say, “About 8 months after I was at that conference I read in the newspaper that that minister had murdered someone.” And then came the line that blew me away – “There is something about bad preaching that leads to murder.”

     Herod was afraid that this Child was going to overthrow him – was going to bring down his kingdom – and so he was willing to go to extreme measures to ensure that did not happen.

     If our lives are all about us – about as for Herod – keeping his position of authority – about making sure that we are comfortable – about making sure that nothing throws our lives off kilter – then we are setting ourselves up to be guilty of murder. Maybe not actually going out and killing people – but maybe destroying people with our words – maybe crushing people’s search for God.

     As the saying goes – “The problem with self-made people is that they worship their maker.” It is easy for insiders – people in the know – people who are comfortable to become people who are afraid of anything that will make them uncomfortable – anything that threatens the known and the predictable. And it then becomes easy to link safety and comfort with being the way things are supposed to be. When God calls in an unexpected way – when God’s action does not fit the expectations – it becomes hard to hear God’s voice – to see that God is working.

 

     The Magi, unlike Herod, are open to being surprised by God. The invitation to come and worship the newborn king was completely unexpected. They came and they worshiped – they declared their loyalty to this Child, still an infant though no longer in the manger. And they go home a different way. Yes, they go home not through Jerusalem – not going back to Herod to tell him where to find the child. But they also go home as different people, because having worshiped the Christ Child they can not go back to the same life they once led. They have declared their loyalty to this Child – in response to that recognition that this Child is the number one reality in their lives – they have been changed – they are not the same. And that change will come out in the way they live their lives.

     We don’t know if they went back and stopped being astrologers – but it would seem likely that that would be one of the things that changed. Certainly when they got back they would have chosen to not worship the gods they had worshiped before – they had been converted.

 

     I started this sermon by saying that Matthew is writing to people inside the church – so what does this text say to people inside the church?

First, we should not be quick to assume that we know who is inside and who is outside God’s grace. In the Magi’s story we are reminded that Jesus came for all people – for people of every nation and tribe and language group – for people who do not eat like us, dress like us, talk like us. And through the Christ Child we have Christian sisters and brothers from every nation in the world. That is not just a theoretical thing – for God is in the business of building multi-ethnic churches – churches that are a picture of heaven – a foretaste of heaven where we will be rubbing shoulders with Christians from every nation in the world.

Second, Matthew is driving home the point knowing the right stuff is not enough. Worship is not just lip service; belief is not just intellectual assent to certain theological statements. In response to God’s grace which catches us and the world off guard – and which brings us to the Christ Child – we have a choice to make will we worship and allow our lives to be changed. Or will we choose not to worship and follow the path that Herod walked. There is no middle ground – the child in Bethlehem has caused more division in the lives of people than anything else in human history – for as we saw last week – this Child reveals the true inner life of people – that of worshiping the Christ child or seeking to prevent the mission of the Christ child.

 

     On this Epiphany Sunday the choice is ours – we will allow ourselves to be drawn by Jesus the light of the world to come and worship – to allow our lives to be changed.