A Sermon preached on the Feast of the
Epiphany, January 8th 2017 (transf.) at St. Augustine’s, Wiesbaden
Isaiah 60:1-6, Ephesians
3:1-12, Matthew 2:1-12
"Where is the
child who has been born king of the Jews? For we observed his star at its rising,
and have come to pay him homage.” (Matthew 2:2)
Pay homage is an
interesting phrase. The Greek word being translated is proskynesis, which describes, and I quote, “an attitude of humbling
submission, or worship adoration – particularly towards a sovereign ruler, God
or the gods.” Most other English Bible translations I looked at, just use the
word “worship,” but I think the NRSV is right to look for a different word with
more emphasis, this is more than just “worship,” this is about commitment. The English
word homage means a “special honor or respect shown publicly,” and that is
clearly what the Magi or wise men have in mind. The word homage comes to us
from medieval Latin, via Old French and it contains the root word homo/hominis, Latin for man – for the original use of homage was to describe the
ceremony at which a vassal declared himself to be his lord's ‘man.’
So, how and why do
the Magi show respect publicly and declare themselves to be the Lord’s men.
Well, to start off with, by coming an awful long way on what would have been a difficult
and dangerous journey just to see Jesus, the king of the Jews. And by bringing
him gifts – as prophesied by Isaiah (60:6) “They shall bring gold and
frankincense, and shall proclaim the praise of the Lord.” For one thing, the
presents can be seen as tribute – a payment made to a ruler as sign of
dependence. We heard about this in Psalm 72 (v.10) earlier, when – referring to
King Solomon – “The kings of Tarshish and of the isles shall pay tribute, and
the kings of Arabia and Saba offer gifts.”
The gifts have a deeper
meaning too. On the one hand they are simply rare and valuable items, standard
gifts to honor a king or deity in the ancient world: a precious metal, a rare
and fragrant form of incense. But they have a spiritual meaning too - gold as a
symbol of kingship on earth, frankincense as a symbol of deity, and myrrh (an
embalming oil) as a symbol of death. I’m certain you noticed that myrrh was not
on Isaiah’s list – it is a gift that is already pointing forward to Jesus’
destiny in Jerusalem – pointing from the cradle to the cross.
The Magi also pay
homage by kneeling: “On entering the house, they saw the child with Mary his
mother; and they knelt down and paid him homage.” (Matthew 2:11) Putting
yourself below the person you were paying homage to, by falling down, bowing,
or kneeling was another way in which respect was and still is shown. It was also
mentioned in the psalm: “All kings shall bow down before him, and all the
nations do him service.” (72:11)
And why do the
wise men want to pay homage? To travel such a long way, they must have been
convinced that this child was more than just the king of the Jews, and more in
fact than any normal earthly king. Their very act shows that they consider this
child to be above their own kings and gods. They follow a star, a symbol of
light and “when they saw that the star had stopped, they were overwhelmed with
joy” (Matthew 2:10) because the star was shining its light onto the Light of
the world, the one Isaiah describes so beautifully: “Your light has come, and
the glory of the Lord has risen upon you. For darkness shall cover the earth, and
thick darkness the peoples; but the Lord will arise upon you, and his glory
will appear over you.” (Isaiah 60:1-2)
Psalm 72 also describes
the priorities of the one whose light will drive away the darkness of sin and
despair: “He shall deliver the poor who cries out in distress, and the
oppressed who has no helper. He shall have pity on the lowly and poor; he shall
preserve the lives of the needy. He shall redeem their lives from oppression
and violence.” (Psalm 72:12-14) To be freed from sin is to be liberated from
oppression and violence. It is sin, the sin of greed that keeps the poor, poor.
It is sin, the sin of pride that oppresses. It is sin, the sin of selfishness
that keeps us from loving God and our neighbor. The wise men know that they
have come not just to pay homage to an earthly king, but to the Savior.
And what about us?
How do we pay homage? I know that some of you travel quite far to be here on a
Sunday, from Nierstein, Wispertal, Taunusstein, Hadamar … and many other
places. It is important that come to church we worship together, but that is
not the long journey I am thinking of. Unlike the Magi, our journey does not end
with Jesus, it begins with him. Our long, difficult and dangerous journey is
the journey of faith that begins at our baptism when we
promise to follow and obey him as our Lord. If we take
this promise seriously and with full commitment it will take us to places we do
not expect, but where we can serve our Lord best.
In my Christmas
Day sermon, I talked about gifts, presents. About how we are the ones who
received a huge present, God’s gift of God’s Son. But as part of our homage we
are called to bring gifts too. We give of our time, talent, and treasure to God’s
church and to God’s people in need. Most of all though, we give ourselves. In
the words of the traditional language, Rite I, Eucharistic Prayer “we offer and
present unto thee, O Lord, ourselves, our souls and bodies.”
What about
kneeling? Well, depending on your tradition many of you bow or kneel during our
worship, as a sign of respect. I haven’t seen any of you fall down, mind you. We
bow to the altar, we bow to the cross, we bow our heads at Jesus’ name, we bow
or bend or knee before the bread and wine made holy, in which we believe that
Jesus is present. Just how that happens I will not try and explain …. We had that
discussion 500 years ago (it wasn’t pretty).
But it is not just
God and God’s Son Jesus who we need to show respect to. I said earlier that the
word homage comes from the Latin homo/hominis
for man, as does the word ‘human.’ And I want to dwell a little on that
connection.
The story of the
visit of the wise men already points to the climax of the Gospel, when Jesus
comes face to face with the Pontius Pilate, the representative in Palestine of the
world’s greatest king, Caesar. In Matthew’s Gospel, Pilate’s soldiers are the first
gentiles since the Magi to call Jesus the “King of the Jews;” even if it was
meant mockingly. But in John’s version of the event, Pilate uses a very special
title for Jesus. When he brings Jesus out, wearing the crown of thorns and the
purple robe, to show him to the crowd, he says Ecce homo: Behold, here is the man! (John 19:5). There is that word
again. I don’t think Pontius Pilate meant to pay Jesus homage, to be Jesus’ man,
but he does manage to remind us of an important truth about Jesus, the Son of
God and Son of Man.
We worship and
adore not just Jesus the God, but also Jesus the man, Jesus the human, the perfect
human, Jesus the new Adam. We can and must do that at church, in our worship services
of course, but we also worship and adore him everywhere and anywhere and when,
in the words of our Baptismal Covenant, we “seek and serve Christ in all persons,
loving your neighbor as yourself and strive for justice and peace among all people,
and respect the dignity of every human being.”
Paying homage is a
commitment, to follow Jesus on our journey through life, to give fully of
ourselves, and to serve him and those he came to serve and to save.
Amen.
