Then you shall see and be radiant

Sermon by Carrie Eikler
Isaiah 60:1-5, Matthew 2:1-12
Celebration of Epiphany

A couple of weeks have gone by since the Winter Solstice and the Longest Night. Believe it or not, the days are actually getting longer. Gradually, you can almost hear the creaking of the returning sun breaking through the darkness.

And if you are inclined to skywatching or star-gazing, you will know that this Solstice was special because for the first time in almost 400 years a full lunar eclipse took place on the Winter Solstice.

This is what we know about this eclipse: A lunar eclipse has not fallen on the Winter solstice since 1638. Think about it, the last time this occurred Galileo himself may have likely watched the phenomenon…perhaps from a window in his villa, where he was on house arrest for heresy.

We also know the moon on this Solstice was called a super moon, which means the moon was the closest to the earth as it will ever be. It appeared absolutely huge. And if you are interested in what some astrologers and astronomers have to say, on this particular night the earth was aligned with the Milky Way’s Galactic Center, the place where the galaxy gives birth to stars.

Now, I don’t know how many of you, like me, crept out of bed early in the morning of December 21st to get a glimpse of this historic event. I figured, I’m usually up at some point between 1:30 and 3:30 in the morning for some night time child tending, so this would give me a nice reward. After all, when we went to bed, the sky was clear, the moon full and bright, the stars just waiting in anticipation for the light of the moon to dim so they could really show off.

So as I crept around in the middle of the night, you can imagine how I felt as I looked out the window, then stuck my head out the door, then ran outside—if only so briefly. Nothin. Lots of clouds, no moon and earth-shadow dancing.

So Morgantown wasn’t so lucky to see the eclipse. Millions of people, avid skywatchers or no, were drawn to the sky that early, early morning. Even the possibility of seeing such a historic, cosmic event, was enough for many to at least try to catch a glimpse of the moon turn blood red as the sun slipped behind the earth.

And whether or not they saw it, if they were like me, we were at least satisfied knowing that we that something was happening. And in some way, we were part of witnessing it. Even if we didn’t see it.

[pause]

And hey, if it didn’t make for an awesome entre into the Christmas story, especially as we lay the foundation for some of the most fascinating characters. Today we celebrate Epiphany, when we celebrate Christ being revealed to the whole world. The Magi, those Sojourners from the East symbolize this. They seek, recognize, and adore the child Jesus as the Christ.

The story of the Magi is unique to Matthew. It does not appear in any other of the gospels depicting Jesus’ births. Somehow we’ve condensed all the different gospel stories of Jesus’ birth into one, making a nice menagerie of sheep and cattle, and lowly shepherds and opulent kings kneeling before the newborn baby in a feeding trough. No gospel story has all of these things.

And Matthew’s depiction of Christ’s birth is as far as you can get from the lowly stable, and the child born to a poor carpenter’s family. Matthew’s story takes place in regal courts, with chief priests and royal foreigners. The story doesn’t so much foretell of the servant who will wash the feet of the poor, but the Messiah who will reign in earth as in heaven. It’s an epic story, completing the line begun with Abraham, this child will save the people.

Our text from Isaiah fits nicely with Matthew’s story. Now Isaiah’s prophecy and wolf and lamb lying down together, that’s a good one for Luke’s story of shepherds and poor wanders. But Matthew…with the Magi, and the royal antagonist, and fear of the people, it’s almost a continuation of Isaiah’s words: “lift up your eyes and look around, they all gather together, they come to you, your sons shall come from far away, and your daughters shall be carried on their nurses’ arms. Then you shall see and be radiant; your heart shall thrill and rejoice”.

The one is born who brings the people to him. He is who they have been seeking for. He is the one getting them out of bed, to run barefoot into the night air turning their heads to the sky. From the far corners they come. His light will shine and we, in turn, will shine as well.

But the Magi are mysterious characters, aren’t they. There’s not much that we know about them. In fact, it is what we don’t know about them that make them such a riveting addition to our nativity scene.

So, this is what we don’t know about them and their journey.
One - The Gospel of Matthew doesn’t say how many Magi there were. Three became the most popular answer because of the three gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. But some paintings in Christian catacombs have two or four, some early non-Biblical writings have a list of twelve Magi with names, and some imagine an entire army of Magi, more like what we witness going on in Isaiah 60.

Two- Early Christians didn’t agree on where the Magi were from. The most popular answer was Persia (modern Iran), but others thought they were from Babylon or Arabia. Some believe they came from a land called Shir, which is probably equivalent to China. But we don’t know where they are from.

Three - Nobody knows what the Star of Bethlehem really was. Some early Christians thought it was an angel or the Holy Spirit, and more recent theories include a comet or a supernova. Some early writings lead us to believe that some understood the star to be none other than Christ himself in celestial form.

Four - We don’t know how long it took the Magi to reach Jesus. Based on Herod’s asking of Magi when the star appeared, followed by his command to kill all male infants under the age of two, many Christians thought it took them two years. Some imagined a much faster journey of twelve days, based on the “twelve days of Christmas” between December 25th and the celebration of Epiphany on January 6th. Some early Christian stories even said that the star “carried” the Magi to Bethlehem in the blink of an eye.

Five - We don’t know how the Magi knew that a star signified the birth of the King of the Jews Many Christians thought that the Magi must have known some prophecies that that “a star shall come out of Jacob.” [Numbers 24] In the some ancient writings the Magi are believed to be descendants of Seth, who learned about the prophecy of the star from his father Adam and that the same star used to stand over the Tree of Life in the Garden of Eden.

There you have it. Five things we don’t know. And there’s a lot more we don’t know as well. The Magi are a mystery. But we do know one thing. We know they sought the Christ. They streamed over the hills to the light they had seen. With hopes of clear skies and an honest king to give them directions (who we know turns out to be a hypocrite), they stepped into the unknown to follow the star to the Christ.

In the midst of everything we don’t know, we know that they sought him.

There are lots of “who” and “what” and “from where” questions in this story. And there are lots of “whys” as well. If the one thing we know is that the Magi were motivated to find him, the next logical question is “why”? Why did all these people seek the Christ child? Magi, King Herod, the Jewish populace…

Why did they seek him?

Well for the Magi, it simply states they came to pay him homage. However they heard about him, wherever they were from, whatever they hoped to get out of it, they came to honor him…at least honor a moment, and experience that they knew had cosmic repercussions, an event they would never again see in their lifetime.

King Herod, of course, sought him for less noble reasons. Can’t you imagine the hair on the back of his neck prickling up when tehse strangers come asking for the King of the Jews, and it was clear they did not mean him. He may have first written them off as strange, foreign, stargazers, but wait…is that gold I see in your satchel?

Not to mention the problems this could stir up among the Jewish people who had been waiting for a King with Jewish blood, just waiting for the royal descendent they heard about in the synagogues, around the fire, maybe even told to children as bedtime stories…stories about the kingdom of Israel and how a king, like them, would come again.

[pause]

And what about you?

You are here.

In some way, you are seeking the Christ.

For some reason, you are wondering, looking for the meaning of this event.
And there are lots of reasons people seek the Christ, aren’t there? To save you, to motivate you, to guide your decisions, to empower us, to be with us.

If you’re here, you’re seeking him. Enthusiastically or skeptically. Maybe for less than noble reasons, like to appease someone, or to appease yourself. Maybe to help you see the light that can help you, and the world, become radiant-through compassion, justice, and grace. Or maybe you’ve forgotten there is something worth searching for.

Like the Magi, we don’t have to have all the answers, even of ourselves. But we know that we are seeking the Christ, and it is the perfect time of year to ask yourself “why”?

Why do you seek the Christ?

Benediction-
A poem, by Ann Weems, called The World Still Knows

The night is still dark
And a procession of Herods still terrorize the earth,
Killing the children to stay in power.
The world still knows its HErods,
But it also still knows men and women
Who pack their dreams safely in their hearts
And set off toward Bethlehem,
Faithful against all odds,
Undeterred by fatigue or rejection,
To kneel to a child.

And the world still knows those persons
Wise enough
To follow a star,
Those who do not consider themselves too intelligent
Too powerful
Too wealthy
To kneel to a child.

And the world still knows those hearts so humble
That they’re ready
To hear the word of a song
And to leave what they have to go
To kneel to a child
The night is still dark,
But by the light of the star
Even today
We can still see
To kneel to a child.