Year C

Matthew 2:1-12

The Rev. Denise Vaughn

Journey to the Manger

My life has been filled with journeys, as I’m sure yours has been also; journeys that are planned and some that are not. For the Christian, the one journey each of us hopefully makes is a journey to the manger. The journey to the manger is our story of how we have come to know God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit in our lives. It’s called our spiritual journey with God and if you are like me, there have been those moments in my journey that I like to call the “Aha” moments when the lights turn on and I begin to understand something in a different or new way. My first “Aha” moment was when I was 13 years old.  I had a serious medical condition and needed major surgery. Before I went into surgery, a priest came and prayed we me and my parents. I thought I was dying so when I woke up and realized I was not dead. I asked God why was I still alive and I heard God speak to me in that still small voice. It was then that I realized God was in my life. This is one of the ways God works in the lives of those who seek God.

Today, on this the Feast of Epiphany we begin a season full of those “Aha” moments; moments like the one the Magi, the wise men, had that opened their eyes to see God at work in their lives and in the world. This festival day commemorates the coming of the Magi to worship at the site of the birth of Jesus and we hear their journey to find the child born “king of the Jews” which turns out to be that “Aha” Epiphany moment for them.  During this season of Epiphany, which will end in March on Ash Wednesday, the scripture lessons each Sunday will all seek to turn the lights on or to give us those epiphany moments about who Jesus is. All through this season, we will be reminded of what Jesus’ birth in Bethlehem really means. Christmas was the event: Epiphany opens our eyes to understand it. Today our eyes are opened as we journey with Isaiah, Paul, and the Magi, to see the hand of God at work in the lives of God’s people.

There is a connection that runs through the three passages we read this morning that reveal the theme not only for today but for the whole season of Epiphany.  Epiphany is God revealing God’s self to the world. The coming of God into the world is the coming of light into a world filled with darkness. So it’s not surprising that we hear from this portion of Isaiah today who see’s God’s self-revelation in the coming of a brilliant light, “Arise, shine for your light has come”; a light that is the gift of God that has the power to transform people’s lives. The people of Israel are restored to God, and those outside Israel, are drawn to the light seen in them. God’s glory or light shines, and when God’s glory shines, the glow shines in God’s people, and they become a presence of light in the world. This is how Paul, in his letter to the Ephesians sees it, too. The point of God’s epiphany, God revealing God’s self to the people is that everyone should be drawn to God. This includes those mysterious travelers from the East, who were led by the light of a star to a baby in a manger in Bethlehem.

In Latin America, and for many here in this country, today the celebration of Epiphany is called Three Kings Day or El Dia De Los Reyes. It’s a day when the children collect grass and water in a shoebox and leave it under their beds. Then, during the night the magi visit, taking the gathered supplies for their camels and leaving a present in their place. A baby Jesus figure is hidden in special sweet bread called King’s Bread that is shaped into a king’s crown. The wise men have always had enormous appeal. Everything about them has been depicted in poetry and story. They have become kings; they have been depicted as representing youth, maturity and old age; they have been given the features of different races; they have even been named. Yet, if we forget the preconceptions we bring to the story, when we actually read Matthew’s account, we don’t really know that much about them, we don’t know where they come from, just that it is ‘the East’; we don’t know how many of them there are, just how many presents they bring; we don’t even know their status, thought they do have the confidence to call at Herod’s palace. What we can surmise is that these men weren’t Jewish but Gentile and that they were fascinated with the stars and somewhere read that the Jews had been promised a Savior.

This knowledge led them on their quest to find this child. It seems they were hungry for light in a dark world, eager to find that which was greater than them-selves so they follow the bright star, using their intelligence to calculate its path. In the end, what they saw cannot have been what they were expecting. They were tracking a king, so they looked for him in a palace, and brought presents that must have looked out of place to Mary and Joseph. Yet, when they met Jesus, they knelt down and worshiped him, then left their strange presents and headed for home satisfied. The real story of the wise men is that God’s coming, God’s kingship is not what they or we would expect. But at least they do recognize the end of their journey was the manger and when they see it, we are told they are ‘overwhelmed with joy’.

Astrologers from a foreign land are some of the first to acknowledge Jesus as God’s anointed king, and the final command of the risen Jesus before he leaves this earth at his ascension is to carry the gospel to all nations, this includes all who have been baptized or will be baptized this morning as children of this king.  So following the dream that warned them not to return to Herod, they left for their own country by another road. We read that when Herod realizes that he has been deceived by the wise men, he is furious and decides he must find and destroy this new king who is a threat to his kingdom. This new king and his kingdom was a threat and always has been a threat to those who seek the ways of this world’s kingdom. The wise men were sent by Herod to be part of the evil use of power or at least contribute to the wealth and power of a system that Matthew says is evil.

What changes their minds? At the manger they find their Epiphany! Once you encounter Jesus, you travel different roads and each of us is invited to make that spiritual journey to the manger every day, so we can know that God is very present and active in our lives.  If we don’t take a chance and follow God’s leading we can miss an epiphany “Aha” moment to gain new understanding about ourselves and about God. So may we live our lives on a journey to the manger always seeking to know God, to love God and to love what God loves. Then at the end of our journey we too will be ‘overwhelmed with joy.’ “Arise, shine for your light has come”; a light that is the gift of God in Jesus Christ that has the power to transform our lives and the world. This is the gospel of the good news.