A Sermon preached on the
Feast of the Epiphany, Jan. 6, at St. Augustine’s Wiesbaden
Isaiah 60: 1 – 6; Ephesians 3: 1 – 12; Matthew
2: 1 – 12
I am not certain that the wise men really deserve
their title. First, they trusted in astrology, the idea that the movements and
relative positions of stars and planets have something to say about human
affairs and terrestrial events. Then they trusted King Herod who sent them to
Bethlehem, saying, ‘Go and search diligently for the child; and when you have
found him, bring me word so that I may also go and pay him homage.’ (Mt. 2:8) And
it wasn’t their own wisdom that stopped them going back to Herod, but a dream.
Otherwise we can assume that once they had told the king where they had found
the child, he would have had them killed, before sending a team of assassins to
murder the “child who has been born king of the Jews.” (2:2)
As even very recent history teaches us, that
is what despots and dictators do: imprison, silence, or kill the witnesses and
messengers and anyone who is a threat to their power. Because as power
increases, so does paranoia! While the wise men, and Jesus, survived the day, those
children we call the “Holy Innocents” and whose feast day we remember, rather
oddly a little over a week before Epiphany, did not: “When Herod saw that he
had been tricked by the wise men, he was infuriated, and he sent and killed all
the children in and around Bethlehem who were two years old or under, according
to the time that he had learned from the wise men.” (2:16)
But while their judgment may have been faulty
in getting to Bethlehem, at least they made the right choices when they were
there, “on entering the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother; and
they knelt down and paid him homage.” (2:11) Seeing not just a child, but what
this child would be and would do, they put their trust in God.
Let’s stay with the theme of trust for a
moment. Trust is the firm belief in someone else’s reliability, in the truth of
what they say, or in their ability to do something or to deliver. We trust that
they will act as we have agreed, or in our mutual best interest without having
to watch or supervise them. Relationships break down without trust. Neither our
communities, nor our societies can function without trust. Sadly, and
worryingly, that is what is happening in the world right now. The erosion of
trust in our institutions and the established parties and politicians leads to two
self-reinforcing dangerous developments. We are only willing to trust those we think
we know really well, such as our own families, and those who look like and act
like us. We put our trust in those who have easy answers, who reinforce the
fear of the stranger, who proclaim self-reliance: for the individual, the group
who support him (it’s mostly a he), and for the nation. It is not only the wise
men who put their trust in the wrong people.
The most recent example is the new president
of Brazil for whom the best solution to the problem of crime is not to tackle the poverty that is its cause, but to
free up gun possession: “Good citizens deserve the means to defend
themselves,” he said in his inauguration speech a few days ago. I wonder who will
define who is a good citizen? And, as they all do, Mr. Bolsanaro claims to want
to “unite the people, rescue the family, respect religions and our
Judeo-Christian tradition, … conserving our values.” One thing is sure, they
are not Christian values: faith, hope, and love are our core values - faith
in God, hope for the future, and love of God and our neighbor. As long as the
Bolsanaros and his like are being elected on supposedly Christian platforms, we
have not been doing our job, we have not been preaching the gospel, and we, as
the church, have not been making God’s wisdom and plan for restoring humanity
to the role God intended known: as guardians and stewards of creation and one
another.
We remember the wise men, or the three kings
as they are often also called, and who even have a shrine of their own in
Cologne Cathedral, not for who they were, wise or not so wise, but for what they
did. They made the long and perilous journey to find the Christ child. They
brought him presents that symbolized Christ’s kingship, priesthood, and sacrificial
death. They signal at the very beginning of the Gospel of Matthew that the good
news is not just for the Jews, but for the whole world. This is the same message
Paul has for the Ephesians when he writes that “the Gentiles have become
fellow-heirs, members of the same body, and sharers in the promise in Christ
Jesus through the gospel.” (Eph. 3:6) The Feast of the Epiphany, and the season
that follows, are all about this revelation, this realization that God has
acted in the world through Jesus for all people and that in Paul’s words, it is
in Christ Jesus that “we have access to God in boldness and confidence through
faith in him.” (Eph. 3:12).
With this boldness, confidence, and faith, all
of which are also synonyms for trust, with the knowledge of God’s revelation in
Christ, and with the same enthusiasm and commitment that Paul shows, despite being
in prison, we are equally empowered and sent to bring to all people the “news
of the boundless riches of Christ.” (Eph. 3:8) Just as the wise men, as
representatives of the world, were sent to Bethlehem, encountering in Herod the
evil powers that need to be overcome on their way, so we are sent out from Bethlehem,
from the manger on a mission to the world. Our mission is to proclaim the Good
News of the God’s Kingdom whose values our Anglican Communion has summarized[1]
as responding to human need by loving service, transforming unjust structures
of society, challenging violence of every kind and pursuing peace and
reconciliation, striving to safeguard the integrity of creation, and sustaining
and renewing the life of the earth. We trust in God, in the truth of the mystery
now revealed, and in the working of God’s power in us to transform the world
into the kingdom that royal child, sought by the wise men, who is Christ Jesus our Lord, proclaimed in his life and teaching.
Amen.
[1] Taken from the Five Marks of Mission, see: https://www.anglicancommunion.org/mission/marks-of-mission.aspx
No comments:
Post a Comment