St. John’s United Church of Christ
January 6, 2008
A Sermon by the Rev. John Krueger
Wise Men From the East Matthew 2:1-12
Garrison Keillor has forever influenced my understanding of this birth story of Jesus in Matthew’s Gospel. As he tells the story, these three astrologers from Persia, modern day Iran, get this crazy idea to act on a fortunate configuration of stars, something very unusual in the night sky, and set out on a journey to see what it all means. They leave in a hurry, not sure how long the constellation will last. They take leave of their families, climb on their camels, and head out to the west, following a star. When they arrive in Jerusalem, they ask for directions, something Garrison says men ought never to do, and they end up in Bethlehem.
They bring gifts with them, gold, frankincense and myrrh. Everyone knows what gold is, as rare and valuable today as it was then. And we know what frankincense is as well, a resin from the balsam tree burned for incense. But myrrh, said Keillor, that is the mystery. While some think it too is a resin from some bush in Arabia and Africa, Keillor said it really was an early form of Hamburger Helper. One of the wives insisted they take this gift, knowing that a young new mother would need some help in providing for her new family.
Well, put that along side whatever else you have learned about this story of the birth of Jesus. While Garrison Keillor assumes, as most people do, that there were three Magi, three astrologers from Persia, that is just an assumption based on the three gifts. There could have been two, or four, or more. And, being fairly wealthy, they could have had a retinue of servants that accompanied them as well.
What I find interesting is the contrast between the two sets of visitors mentioned in the two stories, shepherds in Luke’s story, closely following the birth of Jesus, and wise men in Matthew’s story, some time later. We have here two extremes in the social classes of the day, both ends of wealth and prestige and status present when God intervenes in our world in Jesus.
The shepherds were at or near the bottom of the social classes. They were hirelings, day laborers, people contracted for work few others wanted. There was a saying that a Jewish mother would never want her daughter to marry a shepherd, for that sort of match would demean the family name.
We have cleaned up and sanitized the shepherds in our crèche scenes, making them quite presentable. But in truth they had a bad reputation, and today we miss the irony of their presence in Bethlehem. It was the scruffiest of the scruffy who received the special invitation to come to Bethlehem to verify God’s gift of a Messiah. They were often accused of being thieves and liars, cheaters and untrustworthy, and yet they were given the gift of being the first witnesses to what God was doing to save God’s world.
At the other end of the social scale were these Magi, astrologers, the learned priests and practitioners of their studies. They were respected and revered for their knowledge of how the universe was structured, the orbiting of the stars, the change of seasons, the prediction of phases of the moon and sun that governed religious festivals and practices. They were probably members of the king’s court, for only a foolish, headstrong king would start some important venture without being assured by the Magi, the wise men, that the stars were rightly aligned for success.
Well, it must have been a dull time in Persia, not much going on locally, that prompted them to set off on this trek to the west. In our crèche scenes these wise men from the east are usually clothed in expensive robes and crowns, with jewels and all the appropriate accessories, and rightly so, for they were persons of means. They came from a distance, and they could afford the trip. They too were present when God made this statement of love for the world in sending Jesus to a peasant family. Shepherds and Wise Men, some from the very bottom of the social pecking order and some from the upper echelon, both characters in God’s story of redemption and hope for the world.
Today, on the first Sunday of the New Year of 2008, we gather about the Lord’s Table to renew our faith journey today as this faith family, St. John’s United Church of Christ. In our tradition the table is always open to everyone, wise men from the east, shepherds from the hills, tax collectors, saints-in-training, the well and the sick, the humble and the arrogant, the worthy and the unworthy. We all belong here, belong here, for each of us is a child of God, and each of us is deserving of God’s favor. Pedigrees are not important about the table. Earned degrees and bestowed honors are interesting but not necessary. Jesus, the Christ Child, is the great equalizer, the central figure who makes every one of us eligible.
Were the shepherds changed people because of their encounter with God and their visit to a manger in Bethlehem? Were the wise men transformed people as they returned to Persia with a story of an adventure that they did not fully understand? Do any of us understand God’s ways among us at the time God touches our lives, or is it only later that we come to know that we have been in a holy place?
May God provide many holy times for you in this new year, and may you thank God that you too have been invited to share in God’s plans for a better world.