Sermon of 06 January 2019, on Epiphany, at First Christian Church of Hampton, VA. (No sermon on December 30, due to Christmas Hymn Sing. This was a challenging sermon, but we live in such times that followers of Jesus should look and listen carefully, with words and deeds measured against scripture.
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GOSPEL OF MATTHEW 2:1-12 (New Revised Standard Version)
In the time of King Herod, after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, asking, “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.” When King Herod heard this, he was frightened, and all Jerusalem with him; and calling together all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Messiah was to be born. They told him, “In Bethlehem of Judea; for so it has been written by the prophet:
‘And you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,
are by no means least among the rulers of Judah;
for from you shall come a ruler
who is to shepherd my people Israel.’”
Then Herod secretly called for the wise men and learned from them the exact time when the star had appeared. Then he 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.” When they had heard the king, they set out; and there, ahead of them, went the star that they had seen at its rising, until it stopped over the place where the child was. When they saw that the star had stopped, they were overwhelmed with joy. On entering the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother; and they knelt down and paid him homage. Then, opening their treasure chests, they offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. And having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they left for their own country by another road.
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INTRODUCTION
The risk always with scriptures that are oh so familiar, is reading past them, not slowing down and just listening. So it is that when I sat down with today’s reading from Matthew, I forced myself to slow down and read them word by word at the speed and thought as though I was copying them down, putting ink to paper. It’s a pretty good way to read scripture, especially when it is so very familiar.
This is when it struck me, words that had slipped by me before, especially given the story is so much about Herod. Listen with me to this verse, read at writing speed: “When King Herod heard this, he was frightened, and all Jerusalem with him; and calling together all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Messiah was to be born.” Did you hear it? Yes, Herod “was frightened” – and we’ll get to that – but it also notes “all Jerusalem with him.”
Why? It’s a simple question, not only why would he be frightened, but why would “all Jerusalem” be frightened as well? If this was the long-promised and hoped-for Messiah, why wouldn’t that be cause for jubilation within the population? And this is the crux of Epiphany – that it is a season of both wonder and fright, love and fear, realization of the hope of God manifest and realization of its call for change in our lives. So it’s a bit messy and we aren’t generally fond of messiness. We like predictability and everything in order, an expression of our desire to be safe. But the reading asks us, safe from what?
WHY I BRING THIS UP
I bring this up because in reality, Epiphany has two sides. In today’s reading, tied to so many wondrous carols about the magi, sometimes called wise men and other times called kings, we want the good tidings and warm feelings of Christmas to keep on rolling. Yet we recognize — as disciples of Jesus — there is this other side of Epiphany that sticks out – the one that speaks of kingdoms and rulers, of fear, and what that fear is resisting.
FOR INSTANCE
I’ve been thinking about this kingdom reading this week. The kingdom of Herod, who outsourced his spirituality and called in his religious consultants to tell him where the Christ child might be found, simply presumed that these advisers would see this baby as a common enemy. And, the other kingdom, that of the magi. These impartial and inquisitive visitors, possibly from Persia (now Iran), but certainly connected to the blend of astronomy, astrology and mystic faith which had roots in Babylon (now Iraq), for now they bring their searching faith to encounter something beyond their experience.
I’ve been thinking of the city, its ancient walls having risen higher, the Temple looming even more impressively over the city, no longer the small “City of David” but a metropolis of sorts, the center of the government and the center for religion. Here, Herod called for a group huddle with a handful of selected religious leaders upon word of this unknown child’s birth from the magi. There is irony in that wise men Herod consults are the chief priests and the scribes who are his key advisors, as a major theme within the Gospel of Matthew is that God does “not” reveal things to “the wise and intelligent” [11:25], but to the humble. And so while learned in the scriptures, Herod’s “wise men” do possess the Biblical knowledge that both Herod and the magi lack, but what good does it do them? They are not led by insight to seek out their Messiah, but to become involved in a plot to kill him, by turning the magi into informants.
I’ve been thinking of Herod, and his fearfulness of any challenge to his rule, and how he wasn’t alone in this, for we are told “all Jerusalem was afraid.” We forget with time, how the city had become this symbiotic economic partnership built around this government-temple complex, and I mean that not just with physical buildings, but the extensive connections. Here, the story of the magi foreshadows the opposition that will be shown to Jesus by the powerful people of his day, their prophetic voice choked off by self-interest, money and power being tied up in the matter. Religious leaders doing the bidding of a political ruler who wishes to destroy Jesus because of his message.
Let’s ponder for a moment this political-religious economy. In historical studies, we know Jerusalem had one market for wool carders, another for weavers – generally married women making the woolen clothing, and another market for the fullers who would pull the materials tight and render fabric more watertight. There was the leather industry, its tanneries outside the east city wall, tied closely to the Temple as the priests kept the skins of all the animals sacrificed which they farmed out to the tanners. There’s the butchers who sold the fattened cattle, the smiths’ market, holding forth work in iron and bronze, arts and crafts market – perhaps the same or separate from the gold and precious metals market, markets for the olive and olive oil industry, spice and ointment makers, water sellers, bakers… Truly, something for everyone and guaranteed to empty the wallet of every pilgrim!
And let’s also not forget the huge construction industry, which under Herod included the rebuilding of the Temple and Herod’s palace in the Upper City, three huge towers, the huge fortress of Antonia which along with the splendid tomb of Herod dominated the Temple Mount, a theater, the Hippodrome, a viaduct to increase the city’s water supply, magnificent porticoes around and across the twin pools of Bethesda, and all other manner of projects. All of this required tremendous numbers of stone masons, laborers, skilled craftsmen, and maintenance workers to keep the water sources and streets clean and ritually pure – which was paid for from the Temple treasury.
No wonder Jerusalem shuddered, every bit as much as Ephesus would later grow angry with Paul, because the whole house of cards here wasn’t built about transformational relationships – because it was centered upon economic self-interest.
So it is that I’ve been thinking the past days about those two kingdoms, evident in scripture, and how they relate to what has been unfolding in our time, as we wrestle with how the values which underlie our faith intersect with the myriad of social issues confronting us. That’s why when I read an interview that Jerry Falwell, Jr. gave this week, I was shocked by something he said.
Let me read his words carefully:
“There’s two kingdoms. There’s the earthly kingdom and the heavenly kingdom. In the heavenly kingdom the responsibility is to treat others as you’d like to be treated. In the earthly kingdom, the responsibility is to choose leaders who will do what’s best for your country. Think about it. Why have Americans been able to do more to help people in need around the world than any other country in history? It’s because of free enterprise, freedom, ingenuity, entrepreneurism and wealth. A poor person never gave anyone a job. A poor person never gave anybody charity, not of any real volume…”
Does this sound at all like the Gospel?
What happened to the Jubilee announced by John the Baptist?
What happened to the song to our spirit that is in the Beatitudes spoken by Jesus in his Sermon on the Mount?
To be blunt, I cannot see this as anything other than the announcement of a spiritual divorce heralding a requirement for some great spiritual chasm within us all. It is an argument that we should split ourselves into two kingdoms, never touching, certainly never intersecting; claiming a life changed by Jesus and yet not allowing that changed life to become transformative upon earth. It is the argument that only the wealthy have something of value, skipping past the widow whom Jesus lifted up and her last mite. It is the argument that we can call ourselves disciples of Jesus, while giving no evidence of such discipleship upon earth. It is the argument to give up any effort to challenge society and government to demonstrate our values of compassion, of generosity, of kindness, of justice. This is a call for a society where what Herod says goes.
Folks, we’ve been down this road before. We are reading about it in the Gospel of Matthew. It is about how Jesus has come. Then and now, we’ve just passed through Christmas and the story of how Jesus’ birth shook up the entrenched order that did not reflect the justice of God. Naturally, fear always seems to lurk nearby, in the minds and hearts of people, for since the time of the Creation narrative when the Serpent played on the fears of Adam and Eve, enticing them into relationship-damaging behavior against God, fear has been a part of the human story. And so, instead of hearing the news of the birth of one who may be the Messiah with joy, there is fear, a group huddle, and a plan to seek and destroy.
So when I hear Christ followers justifying everything transpiring, even when morally wrong, as OK because the economy is thriving, while turning a blind eye and cold heart to the poor, the destitute, those in desperate need, the refugees and folks just wanting nothing more than to raise their children where there is safety and enough to eat, I recognize the kingdom of Herod. Absent is the hand and heart that echoes the Lord’s words: “For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’
When I hear Christ’s followers justifying behavior which is nothing but a cover for systemic racism and inequality while holding up a faith which promotes the virtues of justice, equality, and fairness especially for those who are ostracized and mistreated, victimized by said system’s abuse, and oppression, victimized by authorities, institutionally incarcerated, professionally repressed, governmentally mistreated, educationally stifled, financially subjugated, and socially rejected, I recognize the kingdom of Herod. Absent is the hand and heart that echoes the Word: “Whoever says he is in the light and hates his brother is still in darkness.”
SO WHAT?
So what do we make of all of this, as we find our place within the story?
Epiphany is our challenge to begin the journey beyond the wondrous glow of Christmas Day. On this day, the story of the Christ Child runs headlong into the uncomfortable image of the hard edges of the world, of kingdoms and rulers, and the ancient and yet still present witness to the fears that would even today stifle God’s unending desire for purpose for the hungry and the thirsty, the stranger and sojourner, the homeless and the sick, the prisoners and those who feel alone and/or invisible. In this, we pay attention to the Spirit’s leading, as in the narrative of Matthew, kings are contrasted with servants [20:25-28] and wise men contrasted with infants [11:25], and the magi are depicted as those who do as they are instructed, seek no honor for themselves, gladly humble themselves before a woman and a child, and finally leave by another route to confound the powers that be so that the will of God might be honored.
Amen!
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Pastor’s Notes: “Is the story of Epiphany credible?,” by Ian Paul. Dated 04 January 2017, accessed at https://www.psephizo.com/biblical-studies/is-the-story-of-epiphany-credible/ “Jerry Falwell Jr. Unveils the Anti-Christ,” by Morgan Guyton. Dated 02 January 2019, accessed at https://www.patheos.com/blogs/mercynotsacrifice/2019/01/02/jerry-falwell-unveils-the-anti-christ/?fbclid=IwAR3Nb-dIeSIOLDPdcsNVd8gE7q4g_bXjoMLb_ZFD9ZWfrSZjmk9mEfXPolw#QM7kcYiiSA65CG26.01 Jerry Falwell Jr. can’t imagine Trump ‘doing anything that’s not good for the country.” New York Times, dated 01 January 2019. Accessed at https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/magazine/jerry-falwell-jr-cant-imagine-trump-doing-anything-thats-not-good-for-the-country/2018/12/21/6affc4c4-f19e-11e8-80d0-f7e1948d55f4_story.html?utm_term=.9d97c31313f3
©2019 by Vinson W. Miller, Hampton VA.
Sea & Anchor 