A Sermon preached on 7th January
2018, Feast of the Epiphany (transf.), at St. Augustine’s, Wiesbaden
Isaiah
60: 1 – 6; Ephesians 3: 1 – 12; Matthew 2: 1 – 12
In Germany the Feast of the Epiphany is known as "Three Kings Day" and in the Cathoilic regions the Sternensänger, dressed as kings. go from house to house collecting money for charitable causes.
But, according to the
Bible, they were only “wise men from the East,” not kings. But to be a
full-time magi or wise man, an astrologer or astronomer you would have to be
wealthy, and at least serve a king or ruler. We also have no evidence for the
number of visitors. We just know that they offered three types of gifts from their
treasure chests: gold, frankincense, and myrrh. And while I am deconstructing
the story …. We don’t know their names
either. Caspar. Melchior and Balthasar were probably reverse engineered out of
the initials CMB that are written on or over doors as part of the traditional
Epiphany blessing, standing for "Christus
mansionem benedicat" or May Christ bless this house.
What we do know is
that magi came in fulfillment of the prophecy we heard in the reading from
Isaiah: “Nations shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your
dawn. … They shall bring gold and frankincense, and shall proclaim the praise
of the Lord.” (Isaiah 60:3,6)
The wise men came
to and followed a light, the light of the star that lead them to Bethlehem and
to the one we call the Light of the world. “Ahead of them, went the star that
they had seen at its rising, until it stopped over the place where the child
was.” (Matthew 2:9) Once there they proclaimed praise: “On entering the house,
they saw the child with Mary his mother; and they knelt down and paid him
homage.” (2:11)
There are however some
big differences between the prophecy and its fulfillment. Isaiah imagines the representatives
of the nations coming to Jerusalem, bringing their riches with them, especially gold and frankincense. In Matthew they
come to Bethlehem, and they bring not just gold and frankincense, but also
myrrh. Ironically, they are sent to Bethlehem by King Herod. There is a message
in this too. Bethlehem was the city of Israel’s great king, David. Herod was
king only by virtue of the Roman occupying powers. And his family had no
connection to either of the great royal dynasties, not to the house of David,
nor even to the Hasmonean dynasty founded by Judas Maccabeus. Herod’s family
were originally Edomites, though Herod was raised as a Jew. Bethlehem as a
destination tells us who is to be seen as the true king of Israel and of all
the nations.
The gifts are also
significant and contain a message. On the one hand, these valuable items were
standard gifts to honor a king or deity in the ancient world: gold as a
precious metal, frankincense as perfume or incense, and myrrh as anointing oil.
We find these same three items recorded in ancient inscriptions of gifts or
offerings and, as we heard, Isaiah also mentions two of them.
But there is a spiritual
meaning to the gifts as well. Gold
represents Jesus’ kingship. The Magi came to hail a new king. Gold was
valuable, beautiful, and long-lasting – just the right thing for a king who
would not have just any throne, but an everlasting one.
The gift of
frankincense is in recognition of Jesus' priesthood. Frankincense
was often used in the temple routines, burned ceremonially by the priests.
Jesus is – according to Hebrews – our great high priest, not just replacing the
high priests of the Temple in Jerusalem but acting as mediator and intercessor
for the whole world.
Finally, myrrh,
that extra gift not mentioned in Isaiah’s prophecy. This is a bittersweet present,
as myrrh was used in embalming rituals, and so connected with death and burial.
This gift foreshadows Jesus’ death. It also reminds us Jesus’ death was already
present at his birth. It was part of his mission.
The three gifts
stand then for Jesus as King, as Priest, and as Sacrifice.
The strange thing
is, we could receive the same three gifts. We are also called to be kings and
priests, and to give up our lives.
In the 1st
Letter of Peter (2:9) we read, “But you are a chosen race, a royal
priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people, in order that you may proclaim
the mighty acts of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.”
God has entrusted creation to us as beings made in God’s image and as Christ’s
heirs. But we are kings on his behalf. Christ is still the king of kings, we
owe him homage, and our reign or rule is supposed to be by his standards.
We are also all
priests, not just me. We all have priestly responsibility “to represent Christ
and his Church; to bear witness to him … and, … to carry on Christ's work of
reconciliation in the world.”[1] Together
we worship and praise the one great high priest.
And what do I mean
by giving up our lives? In his Letter to the Romans (6:3-4) Paul writes, “Do
you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were
baptized into his death? Therefore, we have been buried with him by baptism
into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of
the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.” In Baptism we promise to give our lives to
Christ; to seek and serve Christ; to put selfish desires to death. He has
already died for us, but through Baptism we share in that death and in the
promise of new life in this world and in resurrection at the end of our lives.
And what gifts should
we bring to the Christ child, to the incarnated God? What can we give that God needs?
One answer is simply, nothing. The other is that God may not need anything from
us, but that God desires that we give back just a little of what we have
received. Just as the presents Jesus
received from the Magi came with great responsibility, so too do the gifts we
receive come with a charge or call. God’s other desire is that we receive God’s
greatest gift, the gift of God’s Son, fully and completely and without any reservation.
In the words of the
last verse of Christina Rossetti’s lovely carol, “In the bleak midwinter“
What can I give Him, poor as I am?
If I were a shepherd, I would bring a lamb;
If I were a Wise Man, I would do my part;
Yet what I can I give Him: give my heart.
Amen.
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