Matthew 2:1-12
One of the amazing facts about the
Christian faith is how well the story of the Magi is known. Ask the
youngest of Church attendees and they will know about the
wisemen. Older Church folk will likely tell you there were three
in number, and some may even say their names were Melchior, Gaspar and
Balthasar. We know that
poets like William Butler Yates and William Carlos Williams have
written about the wise men. We know that Henry Wadsworth
Longfellow gave them their names, and because he only named three, we
assume that he felt that is all who came to Bethlehem. The truth
is, we do not know the names of the wise men: their names are
Longfellow’s creation. In fact, we don’t even know how many wise
men there were. Matthew simply says, “Some wise men came from the
east” (Matt.2: 1), yet, many artists have painted wonderful
paintings about the following of the star and the opening of
gifts. Composers have written songs and cantatas about the
eastern kings, and even some Christmas carols refer to three kings,
each with a gift - gold, frankincense and myrrh.
While there is a discrepancy about the
facts, there is none regarding the importance and lasting quality of
the stories, because stories can be true whether they actually happened
or not. You and I should just listen to the stories, and let them
come to life within us. If we are concerned about their power, we
just have to look at other people who also read the stories, and see
how they are affected over time. Even the most spasmodic of
Church attendees finds some pull each Christmas when the stories are
retold. Somehow, the capacity for joy is increased.
We’ve already observed that only two
of the gospel writers tell the birth story, and these two differ
substantially, because they are telling the story to different
audiences. Matthew has the angel coming to Joseph, because his
genealogy is in the line of David. That fact is crucial if
Matthew is to impress the Jewish believers to whom he is writing.
Matthew is also the only writer who refers to the wise men or kings
from the east. Luke tells
the story from a different viewpoint. He has the angel coming to
Mary, and announcing that she will bear a son. Elizabeth, the mother of
John the Baptist, is visited by Mary and confirms that she is with
child. When the child is born, it is shepherds, common ordinary
shepherds, not kings, who see the star and come in from the hills to
admire and worship the child.
The only parts of the two stories that agree are that the birth is in
Bethlehem, and there is a star that is a guide to that city. It is not
until approximately 50 years later that an interpretation is penned by
the writer of the book of John. This writer does tell of the
birth at all. Instead he immediately launches into a theological
explanation of what it all means.
For John, the details of the birth are unimportant. John launches
immediately into a theological explanation: “In the beginning was the
word, and the word was with God, and the word was God.” In this
person, God finally says what God is like and what humans are. It
means, suggests Frederick Bueckner, that just as your words have you in
them- like you in your breath; you in your spirit; you in your power;
and you in your hiddenness- so Jesus has God in him.”
Thus, John continues, “in him was life
and the life was the light of humans. The light shines in the darkness,
and the darkness has not overcome it.” All other revelations of God
that came to the earth were in one way or another, overcome by the
darkness that seemingly is in incumbent within the human race.
But not this one. Jesus was and remains, the light doing away
with the darkness. And nothing- nothing can diminish that light.
The word I want us to dwell on this
morning, is this word light. Light dispels darkness. When
we used to present Christmas pageants, in another Church that I served,
we would hang up a light and cover it with a coffee can that had a tiny
hole in it. When the sanctuary was darkened, that light seemed to be
remarkably bright. It cast away darkness. Darkness, in the Biblical sense, is simply
the absence of light. It is used as a symbol for sin, which
blinds us from seeing God correctly. It is used as a symbol for
doubt that makes us unable to see the works of God, and it is used as a
symbol for that aspect of God which is unknowable to humans, that is
beyond our ability to comprehend. John eloquently states, life
has come into the world in the form of a baby and that life is light.
Light is a recurring theme in all of
the world’s great religions. Certainly, it appears over and over
again in the Judeo-Christian tradition and in our Bible. In
Genesis we read, “God said let there be light, and God separated the
light from the darkness, and God saw that it was good.” The
Psalmist proclaims the same thought in the 36th psalm, “For with thee
is the fountain of life; in thy light do we see light”. The
prophet Isaiah says in chapter 9:2, “the people who walk in darkness
have seen a great light.” In fact, the word light appears in 239
verses in the Bible, but it surely appears most eloquently with
Jesus. Not only is Jesus
called, over and over again, the light of the world, but in his
teachings he states that those who believe in him and seek to live his
life are light. Believers enlighten the darkness that is everywhere. John reinforces that thought when,
writing about John the Baptist, says, he was not the light but he bore
witness to the true light that enlivens every person coming into the
world. (Jn 1:8f)
Today, at the beginning of a new
calendar year, either we will dwell on old man time with his bent back
and his nicked scythe (that seems to be the historical way of the
world), or we will focus on a baby in a diaper. Either we will
seize this new opportunity, and will grasp the light available in Jesus
as our guide for the coming year, or we will carry on as people looking
through last year's eyeglass prescription; we see what we are looking
for, but not very clearly.
Too often we lament what has
transpired, and then let that thought be the reason why we fail to
grasp new opportunities for a New Year. We have a unique opportunity as
2005 comes upon us. This can be an exciting time: our city and
area is changing dramatically. As a Church, we will either look
to an exciting future and accept the changes that such a future
demands, or we will dwell on the past, think glowingly about how things
used to be, refusing to change, and finding ourselves dying as a viable
and exciting Church.
If we are willing to embrace the light
that is shining in the darkness, we will proclaim with conviction,
Jesus is Lord. That is the most prominent Christian proclamation,
but sometimes we don’t realize just how important it is. In the
Roman Empire, when Jesus was on earth, the emperor was called Lord.
Thus, for a person to say, Jesus is Lord was to say, Caesar is not Lord. In the black days of the Nazi regime, to
say Jesus is Lord was to say, Hitler is not Lord. Today, for us to
say Jesus is Lord is to say, Jesus is my Prime Minister; thus our Prime
Minister is of lesser importance. To say Jesus is Lord is to say,
Jesus is more important to me than money or reputation; it is to say
Jesus is Lord, not a political system or an economic process.
That’s why the writers said, “to you this day, in the city of King
David is born a saviour who is Christ the Lord.”
We gather around this Communion Table
this morning to recommit ourselves to our Lord. His memorial is
neither a statue nor a palace. He asks us to remember him with
bread and wine- basic necessities of the peasants of society. It
was to the common and the ordinary that Jesus came, the light of the
world, and he said, I am the light that illuminates the darkness in
which these people live.
At the dawn of a New Year, the question we must ask ourselves is, who
or what is the Lord of our lives? That question is crucial,
because this is a year of new beginnings for this Church. The
entire Sea-to-Sky corridor is changing in its economic and population
characteristics. Soon, you will be welcoming a new Pastor who
will seek to lead this Church in this new environment. Our downtown location means this Church
faces unique opportunities for service. As new people come here to
worship, and as our youth are exposed to the story of our faith, one
challenge remains ever present. Who is the Lord of your life?
May our lives grasp the concept of
John in today’s scripture,-“In Him is life, and that life is the light
of humans. The light shines in darkness and the darkness has not
overcome it”. Jesus is Lord! May it be so with each of us.