May my words and my thoughts be acceptable to you, O Lord, my refuge and my redeemer. (Psalm 19:14)
SEASON: EPIPHANY 3
PROPER: A
PLACE: St. John's Parish, Kingsville
DATE: January 27,2002
TEXT: Matthew 4:12-23 – “Follow me, and I will make you fish for people.” Immediately they left their nets and followed him.
ISSUE: There is an urgent call to be attentive to God in the lessons for the day, and be focused on the Cross of Christ. The Christian community is called upon to change its direction, walking with and following Jesus Christ, proclaiming Good News, curing every disease and every sickness among the people. The lesson from Matthew implies urgency in proclaiming the Good News with Jesus Christ.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
The Epiphany Season continues, the season of the proclamation of Jesus Christ as Lord to the world. Matthew’s Gospel account indicates that John the Baptist, the forerunner of Jesus is now in prison and the ministry of Jesus Christ begins. Note too, that Matthew, addressing a largely Jewish community, always draws upon the Hebrew Scriptures to make many of his points. Jesus leaves Nazareth where he grew up. His ministry according to Matthew begins in Capernaum, in the territory of Zebulun and Naphtali. “Land of Zebulun, land of Naphtali, on the road by the sea, across the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles – the people who sat in darkness have seen a great light, and for those who sat in the region and shadow of death light has dawned,” as proclaimed by the prophet Isaiah. Light and hope is beginning to dawn. The Epiphany or manifestation of Jesus is being realized.
According to Matthew, Jesus’ ministry begins taking up pretty much where John the Baptist had left off. Jesus is calling people to repentance. Again, repentance is change or making a reverse direction. So much of what Jesus taught was for all intents and purposes a reversal of the way people in his culture believed. He is very accepting of women, and eventually Gentiles. Some of his parables astonish the folk of the time, because he reverses what people believed. His teachings are taking a new direction. You forgive the prodigal Son, and appreciate the unqualified love of the Father as opposed to an angry God. The last come first in the teachings of Jesus. The workers in the vineyard whether coming early or late receive the same measure of the immeasurable gracious giving of God. Thus, you can see why Jesus calls his followers to repentance, turn-about, change. He is a remarkable enlightenment of the people of this period, especially those doomed to dark despair of an oppressive and unchanging world. Jesus offers hope.
Now in this passage, Jesus walks along the seaside and calls Peter and his brother Andrew, fishermen casting their nets to come immediately and follow him. “Follow me,” he says, “And I will make you fish for people.” We are told that Peter and Andrew immediately drop their nets and begin to follow him. James and John are also fishermen mending their nets, and they too are called, and they immediately follow. They join Jesus in a ministry of proclaiming Good Newss in the synagogues, and healing the sick and diseased.
The passage here implies immediacy. They go within on the spot. It is hard for us to believe that such an immediate dropping of everything was so likely; it appears that there was hardly a time to build any trust. I would suggest that the selected disciples probably had some prior knowledge of Jesus and his mission and teaching. If Jesus’ ministry began to take shape early on in the dry season of the year, which was highly likely, it is possible that Peter and Andrew, James and John, may well have dropped the nets and go with Jesus at that time of the year. It was the time of the year that people were out and about, to be seen and heard. While Peter, Andrew, James, and John were not rich, the were part of an established family business, and big business at that. You had to be licensed by the Romans and purchase the rights to do the fishing. This was net fishing, not recreational fishing with a hook.
It was not unusual, as we might think, for a group of men to go off following Jesus. In this period if a man had a specific grievance in his community, he would gather followers who would go with him around to surrounding villages to announce their grievance. Naturally, if you had a following of sympathizers, you were more likely to be taken seriously and to be heard. It is not at all unlikely that if the selected disciples knew Jesus’ grievance and agreed with him, they may well have dropped everything, followed him; and left other family members to run the business.
According to Matthew, Jesus and his disciples go to the synagogues and begin teaching, and or calling people to hear their grievances. Now synagogues were community meeting centers where teaching, debate, argument went on among the men of various villages concerning their faith. Thus, here you have Jesus and the disciples calling men to be aware of a culture that alienated and oppressed people, created guilt, especially the poor and the disenfranchised, the sick and lame. Jesus begins along with Andrew, Peter, James, and John who were apart of an occupation that oppressed and confiscated enormous sums of their profits for taxes. They begin proclaiming a God of Love, and forgiveness. The begin to accept and embrace the guilty and the dispossessed, and give them a renewed sense that the first shall be last and the last shall be first in the eyes of God. You have the beginnings of the great turn-around, the great repentance, the great change, The Great Reversal. The disciples with Jesus are calling others into a great co-operative movement, like fishing was a cooperative business, to change the world. They are not “hooking” people but netting or networking them into the redeeming community of God.
Why fishermen? Why not a selection of carpenters? Why does Jesus begin selecting fishermen? Fishermen knew that out on the sea was a wealth of fish to be claimed. You couldn’t see them, but they knew the fish were there. They had that trust and confidence. Fishermen dealt with a great deal of uncertainty. Storms came up on Lake Galilee without a moments notice. They had to be strong, trusting, confidant, and determined individuals that could work easily in a focused community together, to get the job done. Why not fishermen they were the most likely to face a very difficult situation and ministry.
Jesus selection of disciples was not just fishermen. There were others with different backgrounds. But in the passage from Matthew you get the point of what Jesus was after. He employed the strong and the determined to join in the proclamation, and people who could work as a group and stay focused on the leader and the leader’s important message. The early church had a little trouble with this focus, as does much of the church today. St. Paul’s letter to the I Corinthians 1:10-17, takes on the fact that the church often got splintered into the followers Apollos, or Paul, or Cephas, all different parties or divisions of the church. Paul calls them back to their focus on Jesus Christ as crucified Lord. Jesus himself picked up on the importance of the immediacy of the Gospel, like you read in the Amos 3:1-8 passage. The handwriting is on the wall. When the lion roars, he’s got his dinner. When an alarm is sounded, you need to make an immediate response. When you see a world in need, you get on the bandwagon with Jesus Christ.
I’ve gone to great length to spell all of this passage and its implications from Matthew, because it speaks of what the early church was about. As we emerge from the concept of Christendom in our age, the church has become far removed from what was intended at the beginning. For many people today the church is a place of getting our needs met. We get baptized to assure us of our religious comfort. We see our part in the church as a kind of peaceful membership in what is a socially acceptable religious institution. The need for a deeper appreciation of the understanding of what Jesus Christ was about as leader, and the study and unity of Jesus Christ himself in many churches today is replaced by fund raising and getting people to come to church to help support the budget of the institution.
The ministry of Jesus was to call strong characters into a focused ministry that dealt with issues of justice and cultural change the brought the community into resonance with God and God’s will. Do you find that the church of today has an immediate concern, and immediate passion for justice? There are so many things out there in the world that needs to looked at, and so many things that demand our immediate attention and focus. There are many lonely people in nursing homes and hospitals, in our own communities. There are unfair practices that we do not stand up to and reveal them, in terms of wages for women as opposed to men, and wages different for whites over blacks. When I was a youngster working on a construction sight, black men with families, who knew the job better than I, and worked just as hard, if not harder received twenty-five cents less per hour than I did.
We Americans are of course very angry and depressed about the loss of thousands of people in New York on September 11th, as well we should be. But are we as angry about and depressed about the tens of thousands of men, women, and children injured and killed in Afghanistan? We have called for war upon terrorism that has effected the whole nation and called thousands of our military to foreign places to avenge the attacks for Sept. 11th. However, the war on drugs that has taken so many lives on our own city and country streets, cities and villages has had hardly the impact? Don’t you wonder about that? Are we as concerned about the orphaned street urchins who live in Russian train stations, and run away children in our own land? Our family life is a serious concern in our culture. The predicament of so many of our public schools is an issue. The overall secularization, and minimal attention given to spiritual matter in our culture must be a concern to all of us as members of Christ’s church.
Jesus was passionate and deliberate in his mission. He called those disciples that would join him in his passionate grievance and mission, and they responded. Their feeble human was at times expressed, yet the demand of Jesus was not defused. Jesus said to Peter, “Do you love me?” “Yes, of course, you know I do,” Peter indignantly replied. “Then feed my sheep.” Jesus said to him, and he says no less to us today.
Sunday, January 27, 2002
Sunday, January 20, 2002
EPIPHANY 2
May my words and my thoughts be acceptable to you, O Lord, my refuge and my redeemer. (Psalm 19:14)
SEASON: EPIPHANY 2
PROPER: A
PLACE: St. John's Parish, Kingsville
DATE: January 20,2002
TEXT: John 1:29-41 – The next day John again was standing with two of hi disciples, and as he watched Jesus walk by, he exclaimed, “Look, here is the Lamb of God!” The two disciples heard him say this, and they followed Jesus.
Isaiah 49:1-7 “It is too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to restore the survivors of Israel; I will give you as a light to the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.”
ISSUE: John identifies Jesus as “the Lamb of God.” It is an identity which has significant ramifications for those who here this. Jesus is sacrificial lamb and is also at the same time victorious as Lord. Jesus’ ministry now takes precedence over John, and the discipleship begins and also receives their identity. Simon will become Peter the rock. For all intents and purposes Christianity is forming as followers of the sacrificial and victorious Lord with a stable following of disciples.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
The Epiphany season is the season of the manifestation of Jesus as the Christ, the anointed one, and savior of the world. The Shepherds are sent to his manger by angels. The star leads Magi to him. Jesus is the light and living presence of God coming into the world. It is also a season in which John the Baptist identifies Jesus at his baptism with the title, “Lamb of God.” It is also the season when human lives are touched by his presence, and lives are significantly changed and discipleship with Christ begins.
Today’s Gospel from John tells of what happens to Jesus after his baptism by the Baptist in the Jordon River. In this account of the story, John the Baptist is bearing witness, or making a proclamation about Jesus. He is the one upon whom the Spirit of God rests and resides. He is the Lamb of God. Lamb of God is a mark of his identity to the world of this period. The title Lamb of God had significant meaning for the people of this time in different ways for Gentiles and Jews alike. Remember that John the Evangelist wrote that Jesus was the Word. For Gentiles who read John’s Gospel, the Word, “logos” in Greek, meant reason or rationale. Jesus is the rationale of God, the reasoning of God. For the Jews, the Word was what God had to say, and in Genesis simply says the word, and things come into being. Both interpretations were appealing to the people hearing about who Jesus is. A theology, or Christology is developing in the last of the Gospel accounts, which intends to reveal the identity of Jesus as Son of God. Here we have a similar situation, when John’s Gospel account refers to Jesus as the Lamb of God.
For the Jewish community, to say that Jesus is “The Lamb of God,” had rich very meaning. What immediately comes to mind is that when the Jerusalem Temple had existed a sacrificial lamb was slaughtered every day for the sins of the community, both in the morning and in the evening. Since the Temple had been destroyed, this no longer happened. For the early Christian Community, Jesus is the new sacrificial lamb whose death upon the cross becomes the sacrifice to bring an end to human alienation from God. In the sacrifice, people who will receive him, see the sacrifice of Jesus as God’s love for his creation, dying for his friends.
From still another point of view, many people would recall the great story of Abraham taking his only son up to the mountain to be sacrificed. When Issac sees the wood for the sacrificial fire, he asks his father Abraham, “Where is the lamb for the sacrifice?” And Abraham replies, “God himself will provide the lamb for the sacrifice.” (Gen. 22) Once Abraham, a man of great faith is ready to offer his only son Issac, God calls off that sacrifice, and in the woods there is a ram, or lamb that God provides. The early church, and the Jewish community who would have known this story now understand that Jesus is the provided sacrifice of God. He provides his own son to be the sacrifice and savior of the world. We no longer have to do that! Jesus becomes in the absence of the daily offering in the Temple the sacrifice for the sins of the world once and for all.
The sacrifice of the lamb was also central to the early celebrations of the Passover by the Jews. Moses, instructed by God when the Jews were in bondage in Egypt and suffering tremendously at the hands of the evil Egyptians, has the Jews paint their door sills with the blood of a slaughtered lamb. On that night of the first Passover, the Angel of Death passes over the homes of the Jews, while the first born of the Egyptians die. The Jews are strengthened by the slaughtered lamb, for their journey to the Promised Land, and their escape from bondage, and the blood of the lamb saves them from the Angel of Death. What is the developing Christology or theology of Jesus but the Lamb of God who saves us from evil and from death, but the giving and sacrificing of this own life as the child or Son of God. He is the strength and to persevere.
For the Gentiles and ancients, there was another image of the lamb that is somewhat difficult for us to understand, but it wasn’t for the ancients. The male lamb or ram with horns was a symbol for a conquering champion of victory. The astrological sign and constellation of Aires is a ram-lamb that in ancient time was something of a sign of victory. According to the Barclay Biblical commentaries, Judas Maccabaeus in the Apocrapha, Saul, David, and Solomon were victorious figures seen as Lambs of God.
In the Book of Revelation there are repeated references to The Lamb. The Lamb of God is the victorious one who sits upon the throne of God. (Rev. 17:14; 2:01; etc) The Lamb of God is the victorious one that leads God’s people into the Kingdom of God.
This unique imagery may be interesting to us, but more importantly, it gives you an idea of why people began turning to Jesus Christ as their Messianic hope, and seeing him as God’s anointed. For the poor and the afflicted, the disenfranchised people of the time, Jesus as Lamb of God, became their hope for deliverance from bondage and slavery. It was their hope that God loved and cared through the life and ministry of Jesus Christ. It was the hope and the assurance that God would ultimately conquer what seem in those times the unconquerable. Simple folk began to turn to him in the desire to follow and abide with him.
In this account of the Gospel, Andrew and Simon want to know from Jesus where do you live, or abide. Jesus says to them, “Come and see,” which simply means come follow and abide with me. While John the Baptist, an authority figure of the time had given Jesus a great witness and an authoritative identity, Lamb of God, Jesus begins to give his disciples and followers their identities. To Simon he says, “Your name is Simon son of John, but you will be called Cephas.” (Aramaic) (This is the same as Perter and means ‘a rock.’ (Greek) Those who come and see find stability and strength and hope in following, identifying with, and abiding with The Lamb of God. They follow in hope with no delusions that the way of the Lamb, the way of God has its demands and risks. To follow or to abide with Jesus Christ is to acknowledge that the Christ sacrificed for us, and there is no greater gift than a person lay down their own life for their friends.
Bishops John Rabb and Robert Ihloff are calling upon us today to look at the life and ministry of Martin Luther King, Jr., a pastor and prophet of our own time who walked the way of Jesus Christ and did abide with him to bring justice through non-violence to our country and to the world. We’ve a long way to go to fully learn this non-violent way. However, King was a great witness of what it means to be a follower of The Lamb. He stood for justice for all people in this land, and his non-violent way touched the hearts and souls of black and white people in this country and around the world. We have a better country and a better world for it.
We are all called to look at our Lord, the Lamb, and resolve to be faithful disciples and resolve to bear our own witness that is resonant with the sacrificial servanthood of Jesus Christ. Christians today need to become more focused, I believe, on what our mission is. We need to be prayerful about discerning whatever it is that God may be calling us to be and do in the service of Christ and in the abiding with Christ. We surely need to do and can do our part to end racism and discrimination. Ending racial jokes and developing friendships with people of other races could be an enormous step in the right direction. Yet there are still other things that God may be calling us to do. What are they? What comes to your mind that using your abilities, personality, resources that would allow you to be able to say this is my specific mission.
This week is the week set aside as Week of Prayer for Christian Unity. Tonight our choir and acolytes, some of our members, will join with other churches in the community to pray for the unity of Christians in the world. In some ways we are united in our love and faith in Jesus Christ. Banding together on this occasion in a special witness to the world that Christ sees the “Cephas, Petros, Peter, The Rock” of stability in us that calls for loving and respecting one another as Christians with a common cause in the world. A personal witness, a church with a mission and witness to the world, and a community of Christians can touch the world and make a difference, if we are focused, determined, and abiding specifically in Christ and in discerning what Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God would have us to do and be.
I now that many of you are committed people to the church of Christ and its mission efforts. Some of you are involved in diocesan work, some in the work of the food pantry, the life of the parish, other important charities and causes, and the volunteer fire company. We struggle to do our part and to be faithful to God and one another. May we never become complacent or too set in our ways that we forget who is our head, our Lord, our Lamb of God. And may we also keep up a continuing effort to discern what new things and directions that God may be calling us to offer our sacrificial way of life. From time to time we may well need to change our focus and our direction. Jesus was baptized and began his focused ministry, and there were others that wanted to abide with him. May God continue to call us in Christ to his Lordship, and to our ministries. “It is too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to restore the survivors of Israel [that you should just take care of yourselves and your own families]; I will give you as a light to the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.” (Isaiah 49:1-7)
ADD JOHN 1:42 TO THE READING:
He brought Simon to Jesus, who looked at him and said, ‘You are Simon son of John; you shall be called Cephas’ (that is, Peter, ‘the Rock.’)
SEASON: EPIPHANY 2
PROPER: A
PLACE: St. John's Parish, Kingsville
DATE: January 20,2002
TEXT: John 1:29-41 – The next day John again was standing with two of hi disciples, and as he watched Jesus walk by, he exclaimed, “Look, here is the Lamb of God!” The two disciples heard him say this, and they followed Jesus.
Isaiah 49:1-7 “It is too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to restore the survivors of Israel; I will give you as a light to the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.”
ISSUE: John identifies Jesus as “the Lamb of God.” It is an identity which has significant ramifications for those who here this. Jesus is sacrificial lamb and is also at the same time victorious as Lord. Jesus’ ministry now takes precedence over John, and the discipleship begins and also receives their identity. Simon will become Peter the rock. For all intents and purposes Christianity is forming as followers of the sacrificial and victorious Lord with a stable following of disciples.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
The Epiphany season is the season of the manifestation of Jesus as the Christ, the anointed one, and savior of the world. The Shepherds are sent to his manger by angels. The star leads Magi to him. Jesus is the light and living presence of God coming into the world. It is also a season in which John the Baptist identifies Jesus at his baptism with the title, “Lamb of God.” It is also the season when human lives are touched by his presence, and lives are significantly changed and discipleship with Christ begins.
Today’s Gospel from John tells of what happens to Jesus after his baptism by the Baptist in the Jordon River. In this account of the story, John the Baptist is bearing witness, or making a proclamation about Jesus. He is the one upon whom the Spirit of God rests and resides. He is the Lamb of God. Lamb of God is a mark of his identity to the world of this period. The title Lamb of God had significant meaning for the people of this time in different ways for Gentiles and Jews alike. Remember that John the Evangelist wrote that Jesus was the Word. For Gentiles who read John’s Gospel, the Word, “logos” in Greek, meant reason or rationale. Jesus is the rationale of God, the reasoning of God. For the Jews, the Word was what God had to say, and in Genesis simply says the word, and things come into being. Both interpretations were appealing to the people hearing about who Jesus is. A theology, or Christology is developing in the last of the Gospel accounts, which intends to reveal the identity of Jesus as Son of God. Here we have a similar situation, when John’s Gospel account refers to Jesus as the Lamb of God.
For the Jewish community, to say that Jesus is “The Lamb of God,” had rich very meaning. What immediately comes to mind is that when the Jerusalem Temple had existed a sacrificial lamb was slaughtered every day for the sins of the community, both in the morning and in the evening. Since the Temple had been destroyed, this no longer happened. For the early Christian Community, Jesus is the new sacrificial lamb whose death upon the cross becomes the sacrifice to bring an end to human alienation from God. In the sacrifice, people who will receive him, see the sacrifice of Jesus as God’s love for his creation, dying for his friends.
From still another point of view, many people would recall the great story of Abraham taking his only son up to the mountain to be sacrificed. When Issac sees the wood for the sacrificial fire, he asks his father Abraham, “Where is the lamb for the sacrifice?” And Abraham replies, “God himself will provide the lamb for the sacrifice.” (Gen. 22) Once Abraham, a man of great faith is ready to offer his only son Issac, God calls off that sacrifice, and in the woods there is a ram, or lamb that God provides. The early church, and the Jewish community who would have known this story now understand that Jesus is the provided sacrifice of God. He provides his own son to be the sacrifice and savior of the world. We no longer have to do that! Jesus becomes in the absence of the daily offering in the Temple the sacrifice for the sins of the world once and for all.
The sacrifice of the lamb was also central to the early celebrations of the Passover by the Jews. Moses, instructed by God when the Jews were in bondage in Egypt and suffering tremendously at the hands of the evil Egyptians, has the Jews paint their door sills with the blood of a slaughtered lamb. On that night of the first Passover, the Angel of Death passes over the homes of the Jews, while the first born of the Egyptians die. The Jews are strengthened by the slaughtered lamb, for their journey to the Promised Land, and their escape from bondage, and the blood of the lamb saves them from the Angel of Death. What is the developing Christology or theology of Jesus but the Lamb of God who saves us from evil and from death, but the giving and sacrificing of this own life as the child or Son of God. He is the strength and to persevere.
For the Gentiles and ancients, there was another image of the lamb that is somewhat difficult for us to understand, but it wasn’t for the ancients. The male lamb or ram with horns was a symbol for a conquering champion of victory. The astrological sign and constellation of Aires is a ram-lamb that in ancient time was something of a sign of victory. According to the Barclay Biblical commentaries, Judas Maccabaeus in the Apocrapha, Saul, David, and Solomon were victorious figures seen as Lambs of God.
In the Book of Revelation there are repeated references to The Lamb. The Lamb of God is the victorious one who sits upon the throne of God. (Rev. 17:14; 2:01; etc) The Lamb of God is the victorious one that leads God’s people into the Kingdom of God.
This unique imagery may be interesting to us, but more importantly, it gives you an idea of why people began turning to Jesus Christ as their Messianic hope, and seeing him as God’s anointed. For the poor and the afflicted, the disenfranchised people of the time, Jesus as Lamb of God, became their hope for deliverance from bondage and slavery. It was their hope that God loved and cared through the life and ministry of Jesus Christ. It was the hope and the assurance that God would ultimately conquer what seem in those times the unconquerable. Simple folk began to turn to him in the desire to follow and abide with him.
In this account of the Gospel, Andrew and Simon want to know from Jesus where do you live, or abide. Jesus says to them, “Come and see,” which simply means come follow and abide with me. While John the Baptist, an authority figure of the time had given Jesus a great witness and an authoritative identity, Lamb of God, Jesus begins to give his disciples and followers their identities. To Simon he says, “Your name is Simon son of John, but you will be called Cephas.” (Aramaic) (This is the same as Perter and means ‘a rock.’ (Greek) Those who come and see find stability and strength and hope in following, identifying with, and abiding with The Lamb of God. They follow in hope with no delusions that the way of the Lamb, the way of God has its demands and risks. To follow or to abide with Jesus Christ is to acknowledge that the Christ sacrificed for us, and there is no greater gift than a person lay down their own life for their friends.
Bishops John Rabb and Robert Ihloff are calling upon us today to look at the life and ministry of Martin Luther King, Jr., a pastor and prophet of our own time who walked the way of Jesus Christ and did abide with him to bring justice through non-violence to our country and to the world. We’ve a long way to go to fully learn this non-violent way. However, King was a great witness of what it means to be a follower of The Lamb. He stood for justice for all people in this land, and his non-violent way touched the hearts and souls of black and white people in this country and around the world. We have a better country and a better world for it.
We are all called to look at our Lord, the Lamb, and resolve to be faithful disciples and resolve to bear our own witness that is resonant with the sacrificial servanthood of Jesus Christ. Christians today need to become more focused, I believe, on what our mission is. We need to be prayerful about discerning whatever it is that God may be calling us to be and do in the service of Christ and in the abiding with Christ. We surely need to do and can do our part to end racism and discrimination. Ending racial jokes and developing friendships with people of other races could be an enormous step in the right direction. Yet there are still other things that God may be calling us to do. What are they? What comes to your mind that using your abilities, personality, resources that would allow you to be able to say this is my specific mission.
This week is the week set aside as Week of Prayer for Christian Unity. Tonight our choir and acolytes, some of our members, will join with other churches in the community to pray for the unity of Christians in the world. In some ways we are united in our love and faith in Jesus Christ. Banding together on this occasion in a special witness to the world that Christ sees the “Cephas, Petros, Peter, The Rock” of stability in us that calls for loving and respecting one another as Christians with a common cause in the world. A personal witness, a church with a mission and witness to the world, and a community of Christians can touch the world and make a difference, if we are focused, determined, and abiding specifically in Christ and in discerning what Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God would have us to do and be.
I now that many of you are committed people to the church of Christ and its mission efforts. Some of you are involved in diocesan work, some in the work of the food pantry, the life of the parish, other important charities and causes, and the volunteer fire company. We struggle to do our part and to be faithful to God and one another. May we never become complacent or too set in our ways that we forget who is our head, our Lord, our Lamb of God. And may we also keep up a continuing effort to discern what new things and directions that God may be calling us to offer our sacrificial way of life. From time to time we may well need to change our focus and our direction. Jesus was baptized and began his focused ministry, and there were others that wanted to abide with him. May God continue to call us in Christ to his Lordship, and to our ministries. “It is too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to restore the survivors of Israel [that you should just take care of yourselves and your own families]; I will give you as a light to the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.” (Isaiah 49:1-7)
ADD JOHN 1:42 TO THE READING:
He brought Simon to Jesus, who looked at him and said, ‘You are Simon son of John; you shall be called Cephas’ (that is, Peter, ‘the Rock.’)
Sunday, January 13, 2002
EPIPHANY 1
May my words and my thoughts be acceptable to you, O Lord, my refuge and my redeemer. (Psalm 19:14)
[FMC1]
SEASON: EPIPHANY 1
PROPER: A
PLACE: St. John's Parish, Kingsville
DATE: January 13,2002
TEXT: Matthew 3:13-17 - And when Jesus had been baptized, just as he came up from the water, suddenly the heavens were opened to him and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.”
Isaiah 42:1-9 – Here is my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen in whom my soul delights; I have put my spirit upon him; he will bring forth justice to the nations . . . . I have given you as a covenant to the people, a light to the nations, to pen the eyes that are blind, to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon, and from the prison those who sit in darkness.
ISSUE: Jesus is born and declared Son of God in a public ceremony for all to witness. His identity is given to him, and he accepts it. He lives out being the man of peace, neither breaking a bruised reed nor quenching a dimly burning wick. He becomes the light to the nations of the world. In baptism we join in that calling as the people of God, and we need to be aware of our identity and live into our baptism with Jesus Christ. Children need the guidance that leads them into that calling and seeking of their identity and gifts as the people of God.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
We have been in recent weeks exploring the meaning of the birth narratives of Jesus, and their relationship to our lives. In Luke, the infant Jesus is honored by angels and acknowledged by the simplest Jewish shepherds to be the child of God. In all simplicity Christ comes to his people in love and beautiful simplicity. In John’s account of the birth of Christ, Jesus is the light of the world, God’s light incarnate in the flesh. He is the reason and rationality of God, which is based and founded in love. Jesus is the Word, the expression of what God has to say to his people: love one another and love God with all you’ve got, and you know salvation, hope, a deep inner peace. And then Matthew’s Gospel tells of the star shining on the Christ and leading the Gentiles to Jesus. He is a new king of love initiating a new kingdom of love unlike the kingdoms of this world, symbolized by the evil Herod.
All four of the gospel accounts record the fact that John baptized Jesus in the River Jordon the Baptist. The accounts have some slightly different details but they are basically the account of Jesus coming to John the Baptist to be immersed into the River Jordon and God makes a clear response to the event.
The baptism of Jesus by John was something of an embarrassment for the early church. If Jesus was without sin, why did he need the baptism of John for repentance? There are some relatively reasonable responses to that question. If Jesus is really the incarnate Lord, and truly human, his immersion into the waters of Baptism identifies him with the human condition. Gathered there on the Jordon River bank with all the brutal soldiers, extortionist tax collectors, the prostitutes and the outcasts who are being baptized by John, Jesus himself identifies with them in this act of repentance.
We need, I think, to be regularly reminded that repentance is a matter of being changed, renewed, turning over a new leaf. Jesus identifies with those who come to change and renew their lives.
I cannot help but believe that the baptism of Jesus is another form of a birth story, that had a very special significance for Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. The baptismal event is as if Jesus is being born with the assistance of John the Baptist who is a kind of mid-wife forerunner of the coming of the Christ. Just as all of us were born out of the water in our mother’s womb, Jesus is born out of the water and is raised up for all to see. What was extraordinarily important was that a child be claimed by his father. When Jesus is raised up out of the water, God the Father is right there saying: ‘Ah Yes, this is my beloved son, with whom I am well pleased.’ Jesus is claimed, born in the spirit into the world and claimed by God as His Son. A great honor is bestowed upon the one who associated with all the children outcasts of God – tax collectors, prostitutes, outcasts, poor, and rejected. The baptism of Jesus makes it clear as to whose son he is. That he is indeed honorable, and baptized in the Jordon River which had so much meaning for the Hebrew people as the gateway to the Promised Land, and now the Gateway to the new Kingdom of God in following Jesus Christ.
In that Jesus is baptized in the Jordon in deep water would suggest that the baptism came at the close of the winter and the beginning of the spring. The water would then have been deep and cold. Cold water is awakening, refreshing, renewing, jolting. Jesus is the fresh new awaking renewing hope of the world. His identity is being proclaimed. He is like Isaiah’s anticipated servant. He is hardly a warrior type like what might have been expected, but one who comes in new peace for the world. He is the one who will not break a bruised reed or blow out a dimly burning wick. He is the new light for the nations, opening the eyes of the blind who have not been able to see the beauty of God, and leading oppressed people to justice. Something radically new has been born into the world, a new child of God who knows the human condition and will minister to it with determination and patience.
On this day that celebrates the Baptism of Jesus, we are also baptizing a beautiful baby girl. What’s more, we are all renewing our own Baptismal Covenant, our baptismal agreement. Therefore, understanding what the meaning of Jesus’ baptism was all about enable us to understand more fully what our own baptism, and what the baptism of Lauren Anne means for her and her parents and Godparents.
For a long time, many Christian people have had the idea that Baptism is washing up babies from their sins because Adam and Eve ate an apple. Baptism is hardly so trivial as that. Baptism is about being born into faith and trust, loyalty to, Jesus Christ and walking in his way. It is about being a child of God’s. At Lauren’s baptism today, and yours the voice of God is saying: ‘Ah Yes! This is my beloved son, daughter, child, my beloved Lauren with whom I am well pleased!’ The Fatherhood of God claims her, and God is declaring her legitimacy as his own. And, each of us are declared as his own.
We are given our identity as Christians. We join with him as a people seeking peace in the world. We join him as reaching out to the poor and the oppressed. We join him in loving, respecting, honoring the God of Love through praise, prayer, and worship. We honor God by finding our ministries. We look for ways to serve in the community of Christ all the folk in need of love, whose lives have been touched with illness, or rejection, or loneliness. We join with Christ in seeking his call for us to serve human needs and concerns. Parents and Godparents, and participants in this congregation are called to bear witness to our children through our regular worship, prayer, adoration, and respect of God. We are example to them and their teachers. They have to see in us the spirituality that has been given to them to be developed and nurtured and nourished.
Our baptism, and our renewal of Baptismal Vows, and the witnessing of Lauren’s baptism is for all of us an experience of being immersed ourselves into the cold shocking waters of conversion into being the children and servants of God. We need to keep praying and asking God to lead us into ways of serving and find ways to be focused on some specific mission that gives dignity to other human beings, that communicates the love of God to others, that treats people of all races and creeds with justice. Be mindful of the fact that we believe, we trust that there is a loving father, God, that there is Jesus Christ who came into the world to live and sacrifice his life in love, and to be the very Word of what God has to say. Accept and believe, trust, that the Spirit of God does and will, and continues to come to us to strengthen us for service. Lauren has yet a ways to go to continuing growing into Christ. Some of us have moved along the way through our lives, but never beyond the point of needing the sustaining grace and love of God and God’s spiritual presence. Rejoice in being a child of God with whom God is well pleased.
[FMC1]
SEASON: EPIPHANY 1
PROPER: A
PLACE: St. John's Parish, Kingsville
DATE: January 13,2002
TEXT: Matthew 3:13-17 - And when Jesus had been baptized, just as he came up from the water, suddenly the heavens were opened to him and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.”
Isaiah 42:1-9 – Here is my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen in whom my soul delights; I have put my spirit upon him; he will bring forth justice to the nations . . . . I have given you as a covenant to the people, a light to the nations, to pen the eyes that are blind, to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon, and from the prison those who sit in darkness.
ISSUE: Jesus is born and declared Son of God in a public ceremony for all to witness. His identity is given to him, and he accepts it. He lives out being the man of peace, neither breaking a bruised reed nor quenching a dimly burning wick. He becomes the light to the nations of the world. In baptism we join in that calling as the people of God, and we need to be aware of our identity and live into our baptism with Jesus Christ. Children need the guidance that leads them into that calling and seeking of their identity and gifts as the people of God.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
We have been in recent weeks exploring the meaning of the birth narratives of Jesus, and their relationship to our lives. In Luke, the infant Jesus is honored by angels and acknowledged by the simplest Jewish shepherds to be the child of God. In all simplicity Christ comes to his people in love and beautiful simplicity. In John’s account of the birth of Christ, Jesus is the light of the world, God’s light incarnate in the flesh. He is the reason and rationality of God, which is based and founded in love. Jesus is the Word, the expression of what God has to say to his people: love one another and love God with all you’ve got, and you know salvation, hope, a deep inner peace. And then Matthew’s Gospel tells of the star shining on the Christ and leading the Gentiles to Jesus. He is a new king of love initiating a new kingdom of love unlike the kingdoms of this world, symbolized by the evil Herod.
All four of the gospel accounts record the fact that John baptized Jesus in the River Jordon the Baptist. The accounts have some slightly different details but they are basically the account of Jesus coming to John the Baptist to be immersed into the River Jordon and God makes a clear response to the event.
The baptism of Jesus by John was something of an embarrassment for the early church. If Jesus was without sin, why did he need the baptism of John for repentance? There are some relatively reasonable responses to that question. If Jesus is really the incarnate Lord, and truly human, his immersion into the waters of Baptism identifies him with the human condition. Gathered there on the Jordon River bank with all the brutal soldiers, extortionist tax collectors, the prostitutes and the outcasts who are being baptized by John, Jesus himself identifies with them in this act of repentance.
We need, I think, to be regularly reminded that repentance is a matter of being changed, renewed, turning over a new leaf. Jesus identifies with those who come to change and renew their lives.
I cannot help but believe that the baptism of Jesus is another form of a birth story, that had a very special significance for Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. The baptismal event is as if Jesus is being born with the assistance of John the Baptist who is a kind of mid-wife forerunner of the coming of the Christ. Just as all of us were born out of the water in our mother’s womb, Jesus is born out of the water and is raised up for all to see. What was extraordinarily important was that a child be claimed by his father. When Jesus is raised up out of the water, God the Father is right there saying: ‘Ah Yes, this is my beloved son, with whom I am well pleased.’ Jesus is claimed, born in the spirit into the world and claimed by God as His Son. A great honor is bestowed upon the one who associated with all the children outcasts of God – tax collectors, prostitutes, outcasts, poor, and rejected. The baptism of Jesus makes it clear as to whose son he is. That he is indeed honorable, and baptized in the Jordon River which had so much meaning for the Hebrew people as the gateway to the Promised Land, and now the Gateway to the new Kingdom of God in following Jesus Christ.
In that Jesus is baptized in the Jordon in deep water would suggest that the baptism came at the close of the winter and the beginning of the spring. The water would then have been deep and cold. Cold water is awakening, refreshing, renewing, jolting. Jesus is the fresh new awaking renewing hope of the world. His identity is being proclaimed. He is like Isaiah’s anticipated servant. He is hardly a warrior type like what might have been expected, but one who comes in new peace for the world. He is the one who will not break a bruised reed or blow out a dimly burning wick. He is the new light for the nations, opening the eyes of the blind who have not been able to see the beauty of God, and leading oppressed people to justice. Something radically new has been born into the world, a new child of God who knows the human condition and will minister to it with determination and patience.
On this day that celebrates the Baptism of Jesus, we are also baptizing a beautiful baby girl. What’s more, we are all renewing our own Baptismal Covenant, our baptismal agreement. Therefore, understanding what the meaning of Jesus’ baptism was all about enable us to understand more fully what our own baptism, and what the baptism of Lauren Anne means for her and her parents and Godparents.
For a long time, many Christian people have had the idea that Baptism is washing up babies from their sins because Adam and Eve ate an apple. Baptism is hardly so trivial as that. Baptism is about being born into faith and trust, loyalty to, Jesus Christ and walking in his way. It is about being a child of God’s. At Lauren’s baptism today, and yours the voice of God is saying: ‘Ah Yes! This is my beloved son, daughter, child, my beloved Lauren with whom I am well pleased!’ The Fatherhood of God claims her, and God is declaring her legitimacy as his own. And, each of us are declared as his own.
We are given our identity as Christians. We join with him as a people seeking peace in the world. We join him as reaching out to the poor and the oppressed. We join him in loving, respecting, honoring the God of Love through praise, prayer, and worship. We honor God by finding our ministries. We look for ways to serve in the community of Christ all the folk in need of love, whose lives have been touched with illness, or rejection, or loneliness. We join with Christ in seeking his call for us to serve human needs and concerns. Parents and Godparents, and participants in this congregation are called to bear witness to our children through our regular worship, prayer, adoration, and respect of God. We are example to them and their teachers. They have to see in us the spirituality that has been given to them to be developed and nurtured and nourished.
Our baptism, and our renewal of Baptismal Vows, and the witnessing of Lauren’s baptism is for all of us an experience of being immersed ourselves into the cold shocking waters of conversion into being the children and servants of God. We need to keep praying and asking God to lead us into ways of serving and find ways to be focused on some specific mission that gives dignity to other human beings, that communicates the love of God to others, that treats people of all races and creeds with justice. Be mindful of the fact that we believe, we trust that there is a loving father, God, that there is Jesus Christ who came into the world to live and sacrifice his life in love, and to be the very Word of what God has to say. Accept and believe, trust, that the Spirit of God does and will, and continues to come to us to strengthen us for service. Lauren has yet a ways to go to continuing growing into Christ. Some of us have moved along the way through our lives, but never beyond the point of needing the sustaining grace and love of God and God’s spiritual presence. Rejoice in being a child of God with whom God is well pleased.
Sunday, January 6, 2002
The Feast of the Epiphany
May my words and my thoughts be acceptable to you, O Lord, my refuge and my redeemer. (Psalm 19:14)
SEASON: The Feast of the Epiphany
PROPER: A
PLACE: St. John's Parish, Kingsville
DATE: January 6, 2002
TEXT: Matthew 2:1-12 – “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.”
ISSUE: Matthew’s account of the coming of the Magi to Jesus marks the beginning of the Epiphany season. It tells of the acceptance of his reign for the poor and the Gentiles and the rejection of the Judeans symbolized by Herod. It is also the story of the manifestation or epiphany of Jesus to the world, and is the first mission of the church. The church today may need to consider more fully its call to the proclamation of Christ to a secular world, often devoid of spiritual hope and love.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
January 6th is the Feast of the Epiphany. It is and has long been one of the more important feasts of the church year. In fact, in the early Christian Church, Epiphany was in fact the celebration of what we now know as Christmas. Still today some people refer to this twelfth day of the Christmas Season as “Little Christmas.” Unfortunately the feast falling more often on weekdays has lost its popularity as a major feast in our secularized world.
Supposedly Christmas, the celebration of Jesus’ birth and incarnation was changed from the Jan. 6th date in the early church because it coincided with the Egyptian dating of the winter solstice which honored the sun god Horus. Inadvertently, the Dec. 25th date is close to the Celtic celebration of winter solstice and some of our customs and traditions have been based on that celebration. Paganism has been bountiful in our world.
At Christmas we use the Lukan story of Jesus being born in Bethlehem, which includes the story of the shepherds led by the angels to the manger, and then the shepherds go and proclaim what they have observed.
The Matthean account of Jesus’ birth centers on the star, and the coming of the Magi to the home of Mary and Joseph. Presumably they are coming to see a new king of some sort. We think in terms of there being three kings who come to Jesus. Actually, there is no accounting of how many kings there were only that they gave three gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. The kings or the Magi, and the better name is Magi, because they were not really kings. They may have been kings in the sense that they ruled some small fiefdom, but nothing significant. Magi were, however, political figures. They were consulted and advised other kings. They were astrologers (not really like quite like what we think of as astrology today) watching the stars and had some other scientific concerns. They were considered to be educated, and therefore wise men.
According to Matthew the Magi become aware of some sign in the heavens, a star or comet, is seen by them. Strange astrological movements or comets in this period were believed to be indicators of some significant political event about to take place, or the birth of a new king. Hence, the Magi go following the comet to where it seems to be leading, which is Bethlehem. On the way they stop for an encounter with the King of Judea, Herod. He was not known for being a very loveable character. He murdered his wife and several of his sons because they were a threat to his throne. His obvious interest in where the Magi are going is to take matters in his own control, and slaughter the child who may be a new king. In this culture anything that was done in secret was considered dishonorable and suspicious. Herod’s meeting with the Magi secretly, would indicate he was up to no good.
The Magi continue led by the star to Bethlehem where they find the child Jesus, and bow downs to worship and adore him. They offer him their gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. The gifts themselves are meaningful gifts so far as Matthew is concerned. Frankincense was a gift you would give to a priest. The priest would use frankincense as a part of the rituals of offering up prayers on behalf of the people and as a part of his offering of sacrifice. The gold would have been the container on the altar that held the burning incense. The myrrh was a spice used for the embalming. This gift anticipates the sacrificial life that the child and man Jesus will offer on behalf of the people. Fortunately, the Gentile Magi return home another way saving the child from Herod, and Joseph and Mary will take flight into Egypt.
Underneath all of this symbolism that Matthew gives us is also the understanding that Jesus is the fulfillment of Hebrew Scripture prophecy, or is at the very least an outcome of the hope for a messiah routed in Hebrew traditions.
Notice the Isaiah passage (60:1-6,9):
“They shall bring gold and frankincense, and shall proclaim the praise of the Lord.”
Note Psalm 72:1-2,10-17:
“The kings of Arabia and Saba offer gifts. All kings shall bow down before him, and all the nations do him service. For he shall deliver the poor who cries out in distress, and the oppressed who has no helper. He shall have pity on the lowly and poor; he shall preserve the lives of the needy. He shall redeem their lives from oppression and dear shall their blood be in his sight. Long may he live! And may there be give to him gold from Arabia.”
And we can go on. From the Book of Numbers 24:17 from the mouth of the prophet Baalam:
“I look into the future, And I see the nation of Israel A king, like a bright star, will arise in the nation. Like a comet he will come from Israel.”
And from the prophet Micah 5:2:
The Lord says, “Bethlehem Ephrathah, you are one of the smallest towns in Judah, but out of you I will bring a ruler for Israel, whose family line goes back to ancient times.”
And of course from Isaiah 11:10:
A day is coming when the new king from the royal line of David will be a symbol to the nations. They will gather in his royal city and give him honor.
Matthew has crafted his own story around the birth of Christ that challenges his Judean community. The Magi, a symbol of the Gentiles, are smart enough to know that Jesus is Lord! Why don’t you Judeans, symbolized by Herod, get it? Why can’t you understand that Jesus is Lord, worthy of honor, respect, and adoration? He is our King of Love and Prince of Peace; proclaim him! In Luke it is the simple Jewish shepherds who proclaim the Lord. In Matthew it is the Magi, the Gentiles, while the high and the mighty Pilate and Herod, many Pharisees and Sadducees can’t seem to get it at all.
The Epiphany is our season of manifestation, of shining forth. It is essentially and officially the church’s missionary season. All of us have to grapple with what the meaning of Christ Jesus is in each of our own lives, as a church and as individual people. The understanding of Jesus Christ can be resisted and has often been so. People can believe there was a Jesus who lived a long time ago who did good works. But the Christian understanding of Jesus goes deeper than that. We see him as the way of life, a living presence of love, forgiveness, and hope. We see him as the living expression of God. He is for us a way of life to be expressed and lived because he lives in us. We bow down to and adore his love. We bow down to and adore his forgiveness. We pray to him and with him. He becomes the source of the Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit within us.
We live in a very secular world. In that world there is much violence and abuse. There is great cruelty and hatred, sometimes in the name of religion. While some people suffer from hunger and oppression, others hold to their possessions and security without a profound sense for the need for sharing and sacrificial generosity. There is also in a world without attention to the Divine. Human beings can come to feel empty in spite of all of their accomplishments and material affluence and wealth. They feel an emptiness of meaning and purpose. We live in a world that is often perceived as very scientific and sophisticated with our medical advancement, technology, and electronic gadgetry. With our telescopes we can look into the past almost seeing the beginning of the creation. Yet even in science there is mystery, the whys and wherefores are still unanswered. New discoveries bring new and deeper questions. There seems to be some ultimate wisdom, reason, rationale still far beyond our comprehension that is more than a mere accident. Wise folk will look to God and find God in Jesus Christ the one who lived and gave love, sacrificial love and service to those in material need and those in spiritual need.
We must not sell ourselves short as Christians. We must not hoard the gospel as unique to our selves and our family traditions. For God reveals himself in loving and giving of himself through the life and ministry of Jesus Christ. He called us to join him, to be baptized and immersed in that love, and to provide that sacrificial love for the needy and the spiritual needy of the world.
We must really reclaim our missionary calling. We have lost that in the past and rely too much on ancestry and nominal acceptance of our faith. The world cries out for a spirituality that has meaning and hope. The Magi saw that hope in the mystery of Jesus Christ.
They knelt down and worshipped him providing him with honorable gifts, and he said, “Go forth and baptize all nations in the name of God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.”
SEASON: The Feast of the Epiphany
PROPER: A
PLACE: St. John's Parish, Kingsville
DATE: January 6, 2002
TEXT: Matthew 2:1-12 – “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.”
ISSUE: Matthew’s account of the coming of the Magi to Jesus marks the beginning of the Epiphany season. It tells of the acceptance of his reign for the poor and the Gentiles and the rejection of the Judeans symbolized by Herod. It is also the story of the manifestation or epiphany of Jesus to the world, and is the first mission of the church. The church today may need to consider more fully its call to the proclamation of Christ to a secular world, often devoid of spiritual hope and love.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
January 6th is the Feast of the Epiphany. It is and has long been one of the more important feasts of the church year. In fact, in the early Christian Church, Epiphany was in fact the celebration of what we now know as Christmas. Still today some people refer to this twelfth day of the Christmas Season as “Little Christmas.” Unfortunately the feast falling more often on weekdays has lost its popularity as a major feast in our secularized world.
Supposedly Christmas, the celebration of Jesus’ birth and incarnation was changed from the Jan. 6th date in the early church because it coincided with the Egyptian dating of the winter solstice which honored the sun god Horus. Inadvertently, the Dec. 25th date is close to the Celtic celebration of winter solstice and some of our customs and traditions have been based on that celebration. Paganism has been bountiful in our world.
At Christmas we use the Lukan story of Jesus being born in Bethlehem, which includes the story of the shepherds led by the angels to the manger, and then the shepherds go and proclaim what they have observed.
The Matthean account of Jesus’ birth centers on the star, and the coming of the Magi to the home of Mary and Joseph. Presumably they are coming to see a new king of some sort. We think in terms of there being three kings who come to Jesus. Actually, there is no accounting of how many kings there were only that they gave three gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. The kings or the Magi, and the better name is Magi, because they were not really kings. They may have been kings in the sense that they ruled some small fiefdom, but nothing significant. Magi were, however, political figures. They were consulted and advised other kings. They were astrologers (not really like quite like what we think of as astrology today) watching the stars and had some other scientific concerns. They were considered to be educated, and therefore wise men.
According to Matthew the Magi become aware of some sign in the heavens, a star or comet, is seen by them. Strange astrological movements or comets in this period were believed to be indicators of some significant political event about to take place, or the birth of a new king. Hence, the Magi go following the comet to where it seems to be leading, which is Bethlehem. On the way they stop for an encounter with the King of Judea, Herod. He was not known for being a very loveable character. He murdered his wife and several of his sons because they were a threat to his throne. His obvious interest in where the Magi are going is to take matters in his own control, and slaughter the child who may be a new king. In this culture anything that was done in secret was considered dishonorable and suspicious. Herod’s meeting with the Magi secretly, would indicate he was up to no good.
The Magi continue led by the star to Bethlehem where they find the child Jesus, and bow downs to worship and adore him. They offer him their gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. The gifts themselves are meaningful gifts so far as Matthew is concerned. Frankincense was a gift you would give to a priest. The priest would use frankincense as a part of the rituals of offering up prayers on behalf of the people and as a part of his offering of sacrifice. The gold would have been the container on the altar that held the burning incense. The myrrh was a spice used for the embalming. This gift anticipates the sacrificial life that the child and man Jesus will offer on behalf of the people. Fortunately, the Gentile Magi return home another way saving the child from Herod, and Joseph and Mary will take flight into Egypt.
Underneath all of this symbolism that Matthew gives us is also the understanding that Jesus is the fulfillment of Hebrew Scripture prophecy, or is at the very least an outcome of the hope for a messiah routed in Hebrew traditions.
Notice the Isaiah passage (60:1-6,9):
“They shall bring gold and frankincense, and shall proclaim the praise of the Lord.”
Note Psalm 72:1-2,10-17:
“The kings of Arabia and Saba offer gifts. All kings shall bow down before him, and all the nations do him service. For he shall deliver the poor who cries out in distress, and the oppressed who has no helper. He shall have pity on the lowly and poor; he shall preserve the lives of the needy. He shall redeem their lives from oppression and dear shall their blood be in his sight. Long may he live! And may there be give to him gold from Arabia.”
And we can go on. From the Book of Numbers 24:17 from the mouth of the prophet Baalam:
“I look into the future, And I see the nation of Israel A king, like a bright star, will arise in the nation. Like a comet he will come from Israel.”
And from the prophet Micah 5:2:
The Lord says, “Bethlehem Ephrathah, you are one of the smallest towns in Judah, but out of you I will bring a ruler for Israel, whose family line goes back to ancient times.”
And of course from Isaiah 11:10:
A day is coming when the new king from the royal line of David will be a symbol to the nations. They will gather in his royal city and give him honor.
Matthew has crafted his own story around the birth of Christ that challenges his Judean community. The Magi, a symbol of the Gentiles, are smart enough to know that Jesus is Lord! Why don’t you Judeans, symbolized by Herod, get it? Why can’t you understand that Jesus is Lord, worthy of honor, respect, and adoration? He is our King of Love and Prince of Peace; proclaim him! In Luke it is the simple Jewish shepherds who proclaim the Lord. In Matthew it is the Magi, the Gentiles, while the high and the mighty Pilate and Herod, many Pharisees and Sadducees can’t seem to get it at all.
The Epiphany is our season of manifestation, of shining forth. It is essentially and officially the church’s missionary season. All of us have to grapple with what the meaning of Christ Jesus is in each of our own lives, as a church and as individual people. The understanding of Jesus Christ can be resisted and has often been so. People can believe there was a Jesus who lived a long time ago who did good works. But the Christian understanding of Jesus goes deeper than that. We see him as the way of life, a living presence of love, forgiveness, and hope. We see him as the living expression of God. He is for us a way of life to be expressed and lived because he lives in us. We bow down to and adore his love. We bow down to and adore his forgiveness. We pray to him and with him. He becomes the source of the Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit within us.
We live in a very secular world. In that world there is much violence and abuse. There is great cruelty and hatred, sometimes in the name of religion. While some people suffer from hunger and oppression, others hold to their possessions and security without a profound sense for the need for sharing and sacrificial generosity. There is also in a world without attention to the Divine. Human beings can come to feel empty in spite of all of their accomplishments and material affluence and wealth. They feel an emptiness of meaning and purpose. We live in a world that is often perceived as very scientific and sophisticated with our medical advancement, technology, and electronic gadgetry. With our telescopes we can look into the past almost seeing the beginning of the creation. Yet even in science there is mystery, the whys and wherefores are still unanswered. New discoveries bring new and deeper questions. There seems to be some ultimate wisdom, reason, rationale still far beyond our comprehension that is more than a mere accident. Wise folk will look to God and find God in Jesus Christ the one who lived and gave love, sacrificial love and service to those in material need and those in spiritual need.
We must not sell ourselves short as Christians. We must not hoard the gospel as unique to our selves and our family traditions. For God reveals himself in loving and giving of himself through the life and ministry of Jesus Christ. He called us to join him, to be baptized and immersed in that love, and to provide that sacrificial love for the needy and the spiritual needy of the world.
We must really reclaim our missionary calling. We have lost that in the past and rely too much on ancestry and nominal acceptance of our faith. The world cries out for a spirituality that has meaning and hope. The Magi saw that hope in the mystery of Jesus Christ.
They knelt down and worshipped him providing him with honorable gifts, and he said, “Go forth and baptize all nations in the name of God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.”
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