Epiphany of our Lord 2 January 2022
(Isaiah 60: 1-6 Psalm 72 Ephesians 3:1-12 Matthew 2:1-22)
“Boldly Seeking Jesus!”
Who were these mysterious wanderers, who were under-impressed by King Herod, and instead did homage to a newborn babe and opened their hearts wide enough to allow an angel to change their travel plans? By tradition, we call them “kings.” Better we call them “Magi”, a title that hints at mystery, magic and miracles.
So much has been made of this story about which we know so little. It really is difficult to pin down much in the way of historical fact in this story. These men were not Kings, of course, and there were not three of them, at least we do not know this according to Matthew. We do not know who they were, where they exactly were from, or how many of them there were. We do not know how long it took them to get to Bethlehem or how old Jesus was by the time they got there. We are not even totally clear about that famous star.
But also, it’s not that the facts don’t matter. It’s just that they don’t matter as much as the story itself matters, and the story can be true whether it happened or not, because the way you know a story is true is by listening to it and by knowing how it touches you somewhere within, and how it comes to life within you—and then you know on the basis of your laughter and your tears and your longing and your desire to feel more deeply—then is when you know the story is true.
Perhaps this story of these traveling Magi is intended to do that to us, to be about us, sophisticated, savvy, educated, secular types, searching for signs of the world’s deepest meaning.
I think we can agree that there has been a lot of searching going on these last couple years, especially in our country, the world, in our churches and in our personal lives—people are looking for some deeper meaning.
Polls continue to tell us that less than 40% of Americans are happy with where our country and the world are going. More than 80% say they believe in God, but many are not finding what they are looking for in their churches and other places of worship. There are many others who are content to drift, put questions of faith on hold for a time, and staying busy looking after today and tomorrow.
But also, I think the quest is deeper than only our personal inner questions. The real venture of our time, I believe, isn’t simply finding our personal happiness, or sending more people on pleasure trips into space, or even extending our life spans to 125 years.
The great challenge of this next year—this New year—to find a way for human beings, with all our differences, to live together and work together on this earth peacefully—will require profound imagination, bold bravery, intrepid courage and meaningful sacrifice and faith, even more than any of us might be able to imagine today.
Matthew tells us that when the travelers arrived, “They were overwhelmed with joy.” Joy is the pervading tone of the story. Yet, we know, that hovering over this story is King Herod, a Jewish puppet installed on the throne by Rome. He is the embodiment of power, but we see him nervous and worried at the news the Wise Men bring. Herod is also one of history’s worst villains. He murdered his wife, three of his children, and most of his good friends—anyone who made him nervous and feel threatened. And not only was he terrified, but Matthew tells us that “all Jerusalem” was terrified with him. We know that soon, Herod, in an effort to destroy this child-king, will order the killing of all the male children in Bethlehem.
Jesus was a threat from the start. This child is born and the “powers” start shaking, because it’s the Wise Men who know that vulnerable love is the only lasting hope for our world, that reconciliation and justice are the only way. The Magi “get it.”
The poet, T.S. Elliot wrote an amazing poem1 entitled, “Journey of the Magi,” and in the poem, when the Magi finally arrive, the speaker in the poem asks the question, “were we led all this way for Birth or for Death?”
Maybe that needs to be our question on this Day of Epiphany, at the beginning of a New Year. Are we looking at a birth or a death this morning? The Birth is what we celebrated a week ago, but with this birth comes the need to let go of some old ways of living—a dying to a world as Herod runs it; dying to a world where only those with power have the final say, where our lives need rearranging!
The next question is more defining: What will this ask of us? , even as the world around us is pretty much the same as it was before Christmas—a world distracted by too much anxiety and conflict, too many uncertainties and inequalities.
Most of the decorations are being taken down this weekend, if they already have not been put back in the attic. Tomorrow we go back to work and to school. So before we simply go back to “normal,” let’s pause a bit longer on this day of Epiphany. Let’s affirm the vision to live differently, to be willing to serve this vulnerable love.
Finally, I could not preach this sermon today, following the death of Archbishop Desmond Tutu, without mentioning him, and quite frankly, lifting him as an example of all I am trying to preach in this sermon today. Archbishop Tutu was one of the most prominent human rights and anti-apartheid activists we have known, opposing the system of racial segregation and white minority rule all his life. He has been described as “a towering global figure for peace, a man tender and vulnerable in his compassion for the oppressed and downtrodden people across the world, a consensus – builder, supporting gay rights, overseeing ordaining women as priests, opposing the practice of child marriage, advocated for addressing the AIDS pandemic and climate change. He spoke out against anti-immigrant sentiments among black South Africans…..and in the midst of his tireless work, it was noted that even in his struggle for justice, he was never blinded to the humanity of his enemies.”
Archbishop Tutu stands as an example over and against the power-filled Herods of today’s world. Archbishop Tutu stands as a compelling example how to encounter healing that follows from pain.
The Epiphany message: Be bold in your seeking of Jesus! Be kind in your searching! Be willing to travel a different way! Thanks be to God! Happy New Year 2022! Amen!
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1 T.S. Elliot, “Journey of the Magi,” Collected Poems 1909-1962 (New York: Harcourt, Bruce & World, 1970), 99-100.
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