Presents and Presence

Scriptures:     Isaiah 60:1-6,  Ephesians 3:1-12, Matthew 2:1-23    John 1:1-18

Today is Epiphany Sunday, in which we read of the visit of the Wise Men, which symbolically represents the offering of God’s grace to the Gentiles, to those beyond the chosen people of Israel who nonetheless are greatly loved by God. 

Of course, in most Christmas pageants, we expect to see the shepherds and the wise men show up – but in the actual context of the story, Matthew’s original readers would have been scandalized, freaked out, by their arrival.  On Epiphany Sunday, for the past few years, I’ve worn this beautiful but unusual robe – a gift from Isaac and Stella – as a reminder of how out of place the wise men would have been.  Perhaps we can begin by imagining what would have happened if a contingent of mummers in full costume had walked into Herod’s palace unannounced – the initial reaction would have been, “Who are these bozos? Who invited them?” – followed by fear when Herod and his advisors understood why they had come. These wise men were not from Israel, but “from the east” – most likely from Persia, which is modern-day Iran; not Jewish, but gentile.  Scripture tells us that they were alerted to Jesus’ birth by a star, and indeed, these wise men, or magi as they were called, were not only astronomers but astrologers, trying to predict the future by the position of the stars – think of Jeanne Dixon or whoever writes the astrology column in the local newspaper.  From their title, Magi, we get our word magic, and so Matthew’s readers would have been considered sorcerers and magicians….and Matthew’s Jewish readers definitely would have looked down their nose at these strange visitors.  But while Matthew’s gospel was directed to a primarily Jewish readership, Matthew also wanted his Jewish readers to understand that God’s salvation was for all, not just for them.  For Matthew, in the coming of the magi, Isaiah’s words from our Old Testament reading come to life:  “nations shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your dawn….. they shall bring gold and frankincense, and shall proclaim the praise of the Lord….”   Matthew and the other Gospel writers remembered that God’s promise was not only that Israel was God’s chosen people, but also that God’s chosen people were to be a light to the nations, to draw the Gentiles to God – and these Gospel writers saw Jesus as the fulfillment of that promise.  And the arrival of the magi was, for Matthew, the beginning of that promise coming to fruition. The magi bring their gifts, gold, frankincense and myrrh, and the hymn “We Three Kings” describes the significance of the gifts as well as anything else I can say, proclaiming Jesus as king, as priest, and as sacrifice.

There’s someone else who wants to bring Jesus a present, or at least, so he says.  In trying to find Jesus, the Magi bumbled into the court of Herod, asking “Where is the child born king of the Jews?”  Only one minor problem – as far as Herod was concerned, Herod was the king of the Jews, and no others need apply.  The Magi – not so wise men in this case – tipped off Herod that he had a rival to power.  And as it turns out, Herod was one nasty piece of work.  He instituted many large building projects; what is now the Temple Mount and the Wailing Wall date were part of Herod’s great rebuilding of the Temple.  On one hand, the building projects provided employment for some; on the other, the heavy taxes to pay for them were a burden to all his subjects – the buildings were nice to look at, but Herod’s subjects would much rather have spent their money on food and provisions for their own families rather than on monuments to Herod’s imperial ego.  And more to the point, Herod was paranoid.  Herod was so ruthless that he had his wife and two of his own sons killed without batting an eye – a joke of the day said that it was better to be Herod’s pig than Herod’s son, because as a nominally observant Jew, Herod wouldn’t kill a pig in order to eat it – but he had no such scruples about killing his own sons.  He knew he was unpopular among his people, so much so that he ordered a number of prominent Jews to be held captive and to be killed when he died, so that people would cry at his funeral.  It doesn’t take a lot of imagination to realize that when Herod heard he had a rival, Herod was going to be on the warpath.  When the Wise Men did not return to Herod to provide him with directions to the birthplace of Jesus, Herod took matters into his own hands and had all the male babies in Bethlehem around Jesus’ age killed.

We’ve heard about the Wise Men, and about Herod, but there was one other man who is key to Matthew’s story of Jesus’ birth – Joseph.  Joseph gets only brief mention in Luke’s gospel and none in Mark’s and John’s – and even in Matthew’s gospel, Joseph fades out of the picture after Jesus’ birth.  Joseph had no presents for Jesus – no gold, no frankincense, no myrrh.  All Joseph had was his own presence, being present for Jesus, even being willing to risk rumors and ridicule by taking the pregnant Mary as his wife, though he knew he was not the father of Mary’s baby.  And Joseph was present for Jesus not only at the birth, but for some time afterward.  Today’s reading from Matthew’s gospel reads almost like a sort of chess match between Herod, who wants to kill Jesus, and the divinely-guided Joseph, who is willing to turn his own life upside down to protect Jesus – ultimately a chess match between the worldly powers of empire, which bring death, and God’s power, which brings life.   Herod’s first move is to send the Wise Men so they come back with directions for Herod.  Warned by an angel, Joseph counters by fleeing to Egypt.    After Herod dies, Joseph makes a move by returning from Egypt, but though Herod is dead, his son Archelaus, ruling in Jerusalem, is still a threat – and so Joseph counters the threat by retreating far away from Jerusalem, to a little village way up in the north and out in the middle of nowhere, called Nazareth.

Of course, gold, frankincense, and myrrh are not the only presents given in the Christmas story.  At Christmas, God gave us a present, the greatest present, Jesus.  Jesus, this gift from God, is not like the gifts of the wise men, which were gone when they were sold or traded or used up.  Jesus is a present from God who is always present with us, even right here, right now, and also when we leave this place.  Jesus is the proverbial gift that keeps on giving, giving to us, and giving through us to one another and to our neighbors.  It was Joseph who was present for Jesus, keeping him safe, and in the same way, Jesus is present for us, our good shepherd.

Jesus is present for us, so that we can be present for one another and for our neighbors.  And we need the presence of Jesus, and we need to be present for others so that they can feel Christ’s presence.  King Herod of Jerusalem died long ago, but we live in a world overrun by Herods, those in power, in other countries and in our own, who have no scruples about harming or killing others in order to protect their wealth and power - nothing personal – just business.   Joseph is no longer fleeing from Herod in Egypt, but around the world millions of refugee Marys and Josephs along with their children are on the run from those who seek their lives.   Innocents are still being slaughtered, and Rachel is still weeping for her children.  Will we listen?  Will we protect?  Will we be present?   

And we should be prepared to expect the unexpected, to welcome those we wouldn’t expect.  The birth of Jesus drew exotic, unexpected visitors – visitors who upset Herod, and all Jerusalem with him, but who were welcomed by Mary and Joseph and the baby Jesus.  Likewise, as Jesus is alive in this congregation, we should likewise be prepared to welcome people we wouldn’t expect, especially those who might not be welcome elsewhere.  They likely won’t be bringing gold or frankincense – though if they do, we’ll take it, and even send ‘em a nice receipt – but everyone who comes our way comes bearing gifts.

May we at Emanuel Church be present, for one another, and for our neighbors.  May we welcome those wise men and women who seek Him.  Blessed by the gift of Jesus, may we share that gift with all we meet.  Amen.