The Second Sunday After Christmas-Year C
Sunday, January 5, 2025
The Rev. David Wilcox
Given at St. Mary Magdalene, Belton (Via Zoom)
+In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
In this morning’s Gospel lesson, we hear from St. Matthew his account of the visit of the three wise men. Sages from the East come to honor the newborn king, bringing gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. This is a story of great significance, immortalized in the popular Christmas carol “We Three Kings.”
It’s an important story, but as I reflect on what these three wise men must have gone through to travel from distant lands to Judea in the first century, following a star, the first thing that comes to mind is: “Are we there yet?”
I can just picture it—the kings and their retinues trekking across vast desert wilderness, and then suddenly, one of them asks, “Are we there yet?” That dreaded question, familiar to parents everywhere. I can almost hear the other kings threatening to turn the camels around and return home.
At first, I thought I needed to take a more serious approach. But over time, I’ve come to appreciate the humorous notion that one of the kings might have had the patience of a child on a long car ride. It serves as a reminder that the central theme of this story—and of Epiphany itself—is that of a journey.
Journeys are an important part of the story in Holy Scripture. From Abraham, who was called to leave his home and go to a place that God would show him, to the Israelites traveling through the wilderness toward the Promised Land. From Mary and Joseph’s journey to Bethlehem before the birth of Jesus, to Jesus’ journey to Jerusalem to take up the cross. From the disciples’ journey to Emmaus, where they encountered the risen Lord, to Jesus’ ascension as He returned to heaven to prepare a place for us.
In today’s journey, the magi are traveling from the East. Tradition tells us that they were astrologer kings who studied the stars looking for signs of important events, perhaps even for signs of the divine. One came from Persia, another from Arabia, and the third from India. According to Matthew, they are traveling to Jerusalem because they have seen in the stars that a new king is to be born. Naturally, they assume that such a king would be born in Jerusalem. However, Jerusalem is not their destination. After consulting with King Herod, as well as the priests and scribes, they set off for Bethlehem instead.
When they arrive in Bethlehem the star continues to lead them until it stops over the place the young child lay. There they find Mary and Joseph with the new born Jesus and do him homage, offering him gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. The story then ends rather abruptly as Matthew tells us that the wise men are warned in a dream not to return to Harrod and so they depart for their country by another road.
The wise men set out to honor a fellow king with gifts but what they found was so much more. In that little town of Bethlehem lovingly cradled in his mother’s arms the magi found a very different kind of king, a king full of surprises. A king who would not rule with might but with love, a king who would not hoard wealth or power but who would empty himself completely of everything that was his by right. In that little town of Bethlehem the magi met, in the face of a newborn baby, the very God who made the stars they studied.
It is worth noting that the magi needed more than a star to lead them to Jesus. As smart as they were, their knowledge could only take them so far. The magi needed God’s Word to find the newborn king. And they needed the chief priests and scribes, people who knew God’s Word, to help them. And with that help they were able to encounter not just a king but the promised one of God, the one who would unite heaven and earth and turn everything upside down. Matthew tells us that when the wise men met the one they sought they were overwhelmed with joy.
The gifts the wise men brought teach us about who this new King is. Gold tradition tells us, is a gift to signify the Kingship of this miraculous child. Frankincense symbolizes his priesthood, his offering of himself to the Father. Finally, myrrh predicted his death and burial. Some traditions even say it was with this Myrrh that as Mary anointed the body of her son as he was taken down from the cross and placed in the tomb.
When the magi leave Bethlehem, we read that they return home by a different road. This is of course because they were warned to avoid Harrod but I think it also has a deeper significance. The magi, after all, are forever changed by their encounter with the Christ child. They will never be the same. They return home as different people, and so it is only fitting that they go by another road.
In this season of Epiphany, as we begin another year, we are invited once again to step out in faith, like Abraham did so long ago. Like the wise men we are invited to embark on a journey. A journey through the scriptures, a journey to encounter the one who called Abraham so long ago, who created the heavens and the earth, and all that is in them, including you and me.The one who the magi met so long ago. The King who reigns not from a throne but from the Cross. The King of the universe who came down from heaven and humbled himself to share in our humanity so that we might share in his divinity.
Each week in this season we will hear of an event from Jesus’ life, an encounter, a call, or a miracle that teaches us a little more about who he is and what he is about. I want to encourage us, like the wise men, to seek him with everything we are. Let us be attentive to what we hear in God’s Word, let us seek to understand it together with people who know that Word, here in our church community and let us be open to the guidance of The Star, the one who is the light of the world. Like the wise men, may we let our encounters with Jesus change us. Let us be open to the challenges, and the joy that those encounters might bring. My prayer is that each week we will leave this place, this Bethlehem by a different people, by a different road and that we will invite others to join us on our journey, because the story of the wise men teaches us that Jesus is for everyone, from everywhere.
Just don’t bother asking if we’re there yet because this is the journey of a lifetime, and it never ends! Amen.
