Finding Christ

 

Debbie Cato
Isaiah 60:1-6 and Matthew 2:1-12
Fairfield Community Church
January 2, 2022

Let us pray:   Meet us in this moment of proclamation, God. Enliven us with your Spirit. Motivate us with your Word. Remind us of your commands. Challenge us to live in your way. Hold us accountable to do more than sing and pray. Amen.

 

Finding Christ

 

Most people… whether they are Christian or not, know the story of Jesus birth.  The story of the manger, the animals, the angels, the shepherds… and the baby.  But knowing the story isn’t enough.  There’s a lot more to the story of Jesus’ birth than we see on the surface.  To really get it – to really get the magnitude of the birth of Christ and to really understand WHO he is, we have to go deeper into the story.  The story tell us a lot about who this Savior is.

 Jesus was born to a poor, unwed teenage mother.  This brought tremendous shame to Joseph, the disgrace of being engaged to be married to a pregnant woman.  But an angel explained all this to Joseph, so he would understand and he become part of God’s plan.  The journey to Bethlehem – foresaw as the place of the Savior’s birth, was a long, arduous journey – Mary nine months pregnant traveling 80 miles on a donkey.   The fact that Mary gave birth in the filth of a barn, laying Jesus in a feeding trough filled with dirty, itchy straw adjusts our romantic image of the nativity scene. Rough, unrefined shepherds were chosen by God to have the very first look at the Christ child.  Jesus came for everyone, and his humble birth and beginning was certainly an indication that God was with and for the ordinary people, not the people with power. 

Today is Epiphany Sunday.  Epiphany is Greek for “to show” or “to appear”. It is a celebration of God “showing himself” in human form in the person of Jesus Christ.  It’s Jesus “coming out party” in a sense.  God shows up in the infant Jesus and the magi travel to find him. 

The visit of the magi is the final piece of the birth story of the Savior of the world.  And with the visit of the magi to the Christ child, the scandal of the nativity story continues.  Like so much of the story, we miss the scandal because we traditionally identify the magi as “three kings” or “three wise men.”

 

Well folks, I hate to be the one to tell you, but the Magi aren’t who we think they are!  The Magi aren’t Jews – they’re Gentiles.  They don’t know the Jewish Scriptures – the Torah.  They don’t worship the Jewish God.  They are outsiders. 

 

Melchior from Europe, Caspar from Arabia, and Balthazar from Africa.  Yet they travel – probably from Babylon to Jerusalem – about 500 miles - to find the Christ.  500 miles.  Unlike the Chief Priests and teachers of the law, the Magi don’t have the head knowledge.  Yet somehow, they know this star in the East has great significance.  They take action. They go to find this child.  They arrive 12 days after his birth.  Epiphany of the Lord is actually January 6^th.  But we are celebrating it today – 4 days early. 

 

Now, unlike the song tells us, the Magi are not kings.  The Magi are most

likely astrologers; men who gain special insight into world affairs from their observations of planets and stars.  Babylon is enchanted by astrology and the worship of stars as gods.  Israel despises the magicians and astrologers of the Gentiles.  In fact,  Torah taught that they were “idolatrous deceivers to be avoided by godly folks.”  That’s pretty strong language!

 

So I think it’s fair to say that the Magi are not highly regarded in Jerusalem!

 

Again, they are the least deserving guests at the birthday party of the Christ.  Yet these “idolatrous deceivers” got something right – something cosmic had happened in Bethlehem.  Somehow, they sensed from the heavens that something important had happened on the earth.  They were so sure of this that they undertook a long and dangerous journey to investigate.  A 500 mile trip!  It is these undeserving, unwelcome gentile astrologers that God invites to the Messiah’s “coming out” party.  The Magi – these Gentiles, those considered alien to God’s purpose – They are the ones who exhibit an openness to God’s purposes and an eager receptivity toward the newborn king. 

We can’t help but notice that the Magi are deliberately guided by God.  First – a star in the East  - actually, a new star - and then a text from the Jewish Scriptures – a text given to them by Jewish leaders.  The Jewish leaders know the answer; they are experts in Scripture.  They know the scriptural significance of the event.  But what do they do?  Nothing!  They have the head knowledge.  But they don’t have the heart knowledge. They don’t go look for the baby.  They don’t worship.  They don’t do anything.  They miss it!  They don’t get it!

But these outsiders search for the Savior with purpose and are directed each step of the way by God’s hand.  The star brings the Magi to Jerusalem but Scripture brings them to the Christ.  God’s revelation in creation (the stars) raises the questions and begins their quest.  God’s revelation in scripture gives them a preliminary answer and directs them where to go.  But the Magi aren’t happy just knowing.  They want to find Christ.  They want to experience Christ.  And experience Him they do – with joy, and worship, and gifts.  We can call the Magi “wise men” because that is what they become by following the gracious star.   They become wise because of who they find – the infant Jesus.  The Christ child.

This visit by the Magi is the first appearance of Jesus to the Gentiles.  When he’s 12 days old!  What Matthew is trying to convey in this passage about the Magi is the reach of God’s grace.  Matthew is giving a Gospel sneak preview:  the Christ child who attracted these odd Magi to his cradle will later have the same magnetic effect on Samaritan adulterers, immoral prostitutes, slimy  tax collectors on the take, despised Roman soldiers, ostracized lepers… and you… and me.

Outsiders both in race (gentiles) and profession (astrology) are invited to the party!  God surmounts racial and moral barriers to his saving work by calling to the Son those considered most unworthy.   Magi are walking illustrations of God’s universal grace.  Hosea 2:23 says, “I will show love to those who were called ‘unloved,’ and to those who were called ‘not-my people’ I will say, ‘you are my people,’ and they will answer, ‘you are our God.’” 

So what do we hear in this story?  We hear that God has sent a gentle shepherd who will nevertheless upset the powers-that-have-been.  We hear that the smallest things, like a newborn baby, can terrify the arrogant, and bring them down in the end.  We learn that God’s reach of grace goes far beyond every obstacle and pushes us beyond them, too.  We learn that a great light has dawned, a light that draws all people and calls us to live our lives illuminated by its truth – to be the light of the world. 

There are many ways that we “find our way” to God, to the little baby born King of Kings:  nature does indeed point to the glory of God, the care of God, the presence of God.  But we need Scripture too; and personal experience, and the community that helps us understand all those gifts.  Then, like the Magi, we too are drawn to worship the One we seek.

During the Advent and Christmas season it is easy to look at manger scenes and find them lovely and maybe even moving.  It is so easy to view that hodgepodge of shepherds, magi, animals, new parents, angels, and the infant in the middle of it all and not bat an eye at the spectacle of all those wildly diverse people and creatures dwelling under one little roof

But then the season ends, and by the time Epiphany rolls around the manger scenes have been packed away for another year.  Epiphany, however, returns us to the reality of the church as a place likewise filled with a motley hodgepodge of all kinds of different people, all standing together around the Christ under one roof, and all called together by the one singular grace of God. 

Who are today’s Magi?  Who are the outsiders – those that don’t belong? What people or types of people make us uncomfortable or upset when they try to come to Christ?  Do we recognize ourselves in their midst, or have we always experienced ourselves as insiders?   Do we recognize our own unworthiness? 

The Gospel of Matthew reminds us that distinctions we make about people disappear with Christ.  The Christ child was both revealed to and worshiped by those who were thought to be on the outside.  A group of hodgepodge shepherds and gentile astrologers. And paradoxically, Christ was revealed to and rejected by many who were thought to be on the inside. The learned religious teachers and leaders.

Today’s Scripture encourages us to humbly admit that God’s glory may be manifested where we least expect it.  Sometimes God’s people become light for others; sometimes they appear blind to the light others can see.  But always… always, the light is there, as God graciously, mysteriously, and defiantly breaks into human lives.

So what does this mean for us – 2000 years later, here at Fairfield Community Church?   I think it means 3 things.

First – every single one of us is invited to come to Christ.  There isn’t anyone who is excluded.  We don’t have to be important.  We don’t have to have power or influence.  We don’t have to be experts.  We don’t have to look a certain way.  We just have to be open and willing to make the journey.  We are all invited to the party.

Second – the presence of Christ demands a decision.  Will we choose to feel threatened by the implications of Christ in our life and act out of fear or ignorance like Herod?  Will we choose to know the truth and yet not act on it like the chief priests and the teachers of the law?  Or, will we choose to be like the Magi – the outsiders – bowing to his kingship in our lives; responding in profound joy, worshiping our Lord and Savior and giving him gifts out of gratitude and worship?  Will we allow our encounter with Christ to change us?

Finally – the grace the Magi experienced opens the circle of salvation to include all people, in all circumstances.  It requires that we extend that same grace – that same invitation – that same welcome - to any and all who are seeking to find the Christ.  Those that are like us and those who are not.

It’s a new year.  How will you respond?  How will we respond as a church?  Amen.