Matthew
2:1-12
Not
a Private Matter
Did y’all enjoy Sarah Last
weekend? I noted that attendance was
down – way down. I think Donna even left
the numbers out of the bulletin – hoping not to call attention to the low
turnout. Maybe you can give me some
feedback on that later. Those who were
here – wasn’t it a blessing to have Sarah here to lead in worship and preach?
Did Brandon come as well? Did they bring Romney? Sarah and Brandon met here, in LCM. When Romney was born, she slept in the cedar
cradle I built for our children. When
asked, “Do you have grandkids?” I reply, “Dozens!” referring to the children of my LCM kids.
Romney is in that group. So is Lilly,
and Cooper, and Noelle, and Reece.
When Sarah was pregnant, we were at
a church meeting. Her belly was sticking
out there. We were talking, and she
flinched. Little Romney was
kicking. My eyes lit up! Immediately Sarah said, “Why is it that
everyone in the whole wide world thinks a kicking baby is an invitation to
touch my belly?” She was right, of
course. And I told her I admired her
setting appropriate boundaries for herself.
I hope and pray that the emotion on my face was consistent with my
words, and I think I even took a step backwards. In response to which, Sarah smiled and spoke
again, “You want to feel?”
Pregnant women, and new parents,
have their private space invaded too frequency.
They need their space, and deserve it.
I wonder, in re-considering
Matthew’s story of the visit of the three Wiseman, whether any similar thoughts
or feelings might have been running through the minds of Mary and Joseph as
these strangers from the east came knocking on the door. It is only in Luke’s gospel that Jesus is born
in a barn. Here, in Matthew, Jesus is
quite comfortable with his mother and father in the “house.” (Check out verse 11 if you have never noticed
this divergence from Luke’s recounting of the birth.) Of course, it is entirely possible that the
visit of these learned men come days or weeks or perhaps even months after
Jesus’ birth. These “astrologers,” most
likely having come to Israel from Persia, come to the place where Mary is
staying and assume that they have every right in the world to be there.
And, I
guess you would have to say, they do.
The visit of the Magi is Matthew’s way of letting us know
that this child has significance beyond what it is that we choose to believe
about him. The visit of these learned
men allows the story to expose Jesus as something more than the cute little
first-born of Mary and Joseph. The Magi
come, and with their arrival it is made clear that the birth of this baby is an
event which has implications for the whole of God’s creation. They have a right to be there. As a result of this birth their lives, and
for that matter the lives of everyone, will never be the same again.
We have allowed the story of Jesus’
birth to follow the path so often taken when we speak of religious life in
general. We have sat passively to one side
while Jesus’ birth is turned into this privatized event or feeling. As with the whole of Christian faith, we have
begun to think of it as a matter of individual consequence – something which
has meaning only because of what we do on our own when we are all alone.
But the birth of Jesus is not this
kind of an event. Maybe if we only had
Luke’s version, where a poetic mother speaks of the lifting up of those or low
degree. Perhaps if the only parts of the
story to be told were Zachariah’s solitude experience in the temple or the
moving of Elizabeth’s fetus. Maybe then
we would be somewhat justified in thinking of this birth as some cute and
quaint event affecting a few traveling peasants. But there is more to the story. And these other parts make us aware that the
birth of Jesus is not something which we can choose to acknowledge or choose to
ignore. The birth of Jesus is not that
kind of an event.
A star appears in the east. Learned men from a foreign land observe this
star. They come to pay homage to the
king whose birth the cosmos has announced.
They know that this birth isn’t something of consequence only for those
who happen to be living in the small villages on the banks of the Jordan Sea. The ruler of the universe presses the heavens
into service. The one who made the stars
is announcing a birth which has implications for us all.
And so these visitors come. And they barge in. And they have no regard for Mary’s
privacy. They realize that this birth
belongs to them, too. The retelling of
their story is an announcement that it has implications for everyone else.
We tend to allow the birth of Jesus
to reinforce this notion we have that religion is a private matter. We have moved the experience of God out of
that which is communal and carefully stored it in the category of things which
are between me and God and no one else.
It is common, in our day, to speak as if God has significance only for
those who choose to call upon Him in prayer, praise and thanksgiving. We have been hoodwinked into believing that
God is a factor only if I choose Him to be.
The story of Epiphany is a reminder that what has happened has happened
because of what God has chosen to do. Whether
we choose to believe or not – the action remains the same. God has come into the world. The creator of the cosmos has made use of
those elusive stars in order to say to the whole of creation “I have
come.” There is nothing private about
this. There is nothing left to the
whimsicalness of human reaction.
Governments and political systems
remain relevant for only as long as the population supports them. Ideologies run their course and are replaced
by the next fad. What happened in
Bethlehem isn’t that kind of an event.
These events remain relevant long after its devotees have fallen away.
I am as caught up as any in the
struggle to understand my faith in the context of a shrinking world. I don’t have answers to those who ask why the
teachings of Islam or Judaism should have a lesser impact upon my life than the
words of Jesus. But the story we gather
this day to retell is one which says to us that these images and these
occurrences have significance beyond the importance we, as individuals, may
choose to assign to them. God is the
actor. God is the one who decided the
course of human history. I struggle to
understand my faith in the context of a shrinking world because while I want to
respect what God has done in other places at other times I must not overlook
the significance of what God did in Bethlehem.
When a cute little baby is born,
the mother has her right to privacy. She
needs time alone so she can care for the child.
The baby born to Mary needed that kind of support too, but his life did
not depend upon it. God had already
decided what the birth of this child would mean.
Amen.
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