Dec 27, 2009 How Do We Become Wise Men and Women?

12.27.09

How Do We Become Wise Men and Women?

Rev. Annie Arnoldy

Matthew 2:1-12

Luke 2:26-38

The gifts have been given, the packages opened, the squeals of delight, the joy of family.  But did you know there are still gifts to come?  I bet this comes as a surprise to most parents and a hopeful anticipation for children.  In many parts of the world, Epiphany is a bigger holiday than Christmas because this is when gifts were presented to the Christ child by the magi.  Twelve days after Christmas is the official celebration of Epiphany, but we often recognize it the first Sunday after Christmas.  In parts of the world, like Ethiopia, children leave their shoes filled with hay outside their houses.  The hay is for the camels of the wise men, who leave gifts for the children in the shoes as thanks before resuming their journey to Bethlehem. 

Isn’t that a neat tradition?  It is one more way to keep the sacredness of the season, when everywhere we turn, we are bombarded with the secular.  If you’re interested, try googleing “Epiphany in Ethiopia” (215). 

The theological concept of epiphany opens up a door wider than just the story of the wise men visiting the baby Jesus.  The story of Simeon and Anna in the temple is certainly an epiphany, as is Jesus’ baptism, his transfiguration, and his resurrection.  But, epiphanies go beyond what is in the Bible.  Epiphanies are manifestations of the Divine, and they are woven throughout our lives.  They are the ordinary and extraordinary ways in which the light of Christ appears in your life and the lives of those you love.  You can ask yourself, how has God been made known in my life?   Or, by what light do I see God? (217)

Most of us have encounters, big and small, of times when God’s gentle hand has guided us, or still small voice has kept us steady in times of uncertainty.  As we look at the larger than life story of a new star appearing and the wise men following it to Bethlehem, do not forget that the simple story of Anna and Simeon is also a manifestation of God’s coming in our real lives in the places where we pray and live.

One tradition holds that Epiphany celebrates the sharing of the gospel with Gentiles, represented by the magi in the gospel of Matthew.  The gifts have often been interpreted: gold representing an appropriate gift for a king, frankincense symbolized divinity, and myrrh testified that the Son of Man would be destined to die.  Historically these assertions are now recognized as invalid, but for us, they live on in the story that enlivens our faith.  Perhaps the deeper meaning is that these Gentiles from the east came on faith that they would find a new king who would change the world.  They had not been part of the Jewish community who had heard of a Messiah in their scriptures for generations.  They presented their gifts, not necessarily with symbolic significance, but in response to the greater gift of the Christ child himself.  The gifts of the magi are sacramental, signaling to all followers of Jesus to participate in this infinite generosity by giving themselves to God and others freely.  The real revelation is not in this one moment of acknowledging Jesus’ birthright, but in our acknowledgement of what kind of disciple we seek to become in light of the revelation of Christ in our lives. 

Another meaning of Epiphany is the manifestation of Christ, following the literal meaning of the Greek, epiphaneia.  Here the magi’s observation and following of the star serves as a physical marker of a new outpouring of heavenly light.  These details of our faith can be very helpful in looking at the signposts we seek to guide our way.  If this star is the physical marker of faith for these wise men, then they continued on their journey guided in the same way we are, without much more than a light, sometimes bright and sometimes dim, guiding our path of faith.  For the wise men journeying from afar, they needed a physical landmark to guide their way.  These were people who studied the night sky, who were astrologers, analyzing and deciphering constellations and movement within the blackness of night (214). 

Do you ever feel a bit like these astrologers, studying and questioning your life and purpose, much like the wise men did of these stars? 

I think it is a pretty common journey to wonder about purpose and search for guidance and meaning.  Sometimes we need a physical marker, like the star was for the wise men, in order to begin our own journey.  Luckily, our faith is marked with these physical designations, at which points, we can easily set out on our journey to Bethlehem to discover the manifestation of God in our own lives.  One of these auspicious moments is the New Year.  The New Year can signal for many people a time to start over, a time to begin something new, a time to reconnect with self or spirit.  The New Year is a star for us, a light to guide us into something beyond where we are presently. 

Entering the New Year in a life of faith has a plethora of gifts to go with it!  For ordinary people, it is simply the beginning of a new tax year, or the start of their family’s year of birthdays.  For some, it carries baggage of failed attempts at resolutions last year, or unfulfilled dreams of closing out the year.  But, for people of faith, the New Year can have many deep and meaningful designations.  First, it can signal the starting of a new vision for yourself.  It does not mean you have to begin a plan or program on January 1^st, but that you can begin to ask yourself some questions about what you would like the New Year to hold for you.  Use January as a month of discovery and discernment.  I think all too often, we set out to accomplish a goal, without really discovering what our spirit needs right now.  So, in January, if you are so inclined as to take a spiritual journey, or follow a star, start by pondering these questions:

• What is my heart longing for right now?
• What path feels most authentic for me to take right now?
• How do I best want to care for myself this year?
• What might the resources be to guide me on this journey?
• What steps will I take to begin the journey?

In your spiritual questing and questioning, you might lead yourself to some unexpected places.  You might find that your heart longs for rest, when you thought it might need a new sport or hobby.  You might find that the path that feels most authentic right now includes a move or a new environment.  Maybe part of your care of self this year means giving up alcohol or over-working or over-spending.  You may know the resources you need or you may simply start asking God to present them to you.  The journey of the magi to find the baby, the savior of all, began when they left home, not when they knelt before him. 

In our journey of discipleship, it is said that it is likened to a kind of shining, which recalls the light from the star that shined on the Christ child.  Jesus tells his disciples, “You are the light of the world … let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven” (Matthew 5:14, 16).  It is in discipleship that we come to find what is under the star’s bright light. 

The more cynical among you may wonder, so what happens after we get distracted and forget we are following the star and begin returning to the world?  There is hope for those of us who tend to leave the space of spiritual discernment and wonder into the busy marketplace of life.  In fact, Mary and Joseph and the baby Jesus never got to that silent night, holy night – they were surrounded from day one by animals and people, noises and smells.  They were nowhere near home and had journeyed far to the place of Joseph’s family, Bethlehem.  Because Bethlehem was such a tiny town, Mary and Joseph packed up and started back toward Jerusalem not long after Jesus was born.  They needed to dedicate him in the temple according to tradition.  Imagine how exhausted they would still be, and now, travelling again, and needing to buy a costly animal sacrifice for the temple.  They spent any money they had on a pair of turtledoves to offer as the scriptures told them to.  When they arrive at the temple, they meet two important people: Simeon and Anna.

We only meet these people once in the gospel stories so why are they so important?  They are important models for us, the ones who believe and know that God is very much alive in the world today, for those who wait on the Lord expectantly.  Simeon has waited his whole life to see the Messiah, whom God says he will see before he dies.  He recognized Jesus immediately and worships him and says, “… my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared in the presence of all peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people Israel.”  Simeon says now he can die in peace.  The waiting and the dying in peace are theologically poignant for us who glance away from death anxiously, who do not often feel they can die in peace.  Throughout our whole lives, we rush about from one task to the next, not waiting, but filling our time … and in our inability to be still and know that God is God, we miss God (166). 

Anna was a prophet who lived at the temple.  She was 84 years old, a considerable age in those days.  She also sees the baby as his parents enter the temple.  She begins praising God for this experience, and telling of all that this child will become.  The story of our faith is not a lesser experience because we were not there and we did not get to witness the Christ child ourselves.  The story of our faith begins with our response.  “How we respond to this one person decides everything” (168).  It is not that if we go with Jesus, our lives will be somewhat better and our happiness a fraction higher.  It’s all or nothing.  In the world, you fall or you rise.  But, with Jesus, you fall and rise.  Giving everything you have to Jesus – all your hope, all your wishes, all your faith, all your energy leads to a life that will include falls, but will guarantee redemption and rising.  It is our rising that magnifies the glory of God, the saving factor of our faith. 

This case, with Simeon and Anna, reminds us that more people than we know have an investment in those we love; and the most dedicated and courageous of those people will tell us of their hopes and of things for which we should be prepared.  “Finally, this great story of visiting the temple ends on a surprising note.  The family returns home.  The prophets have given us a faint glimpse of the future, but for the moment, people will return to the ordinary circumstances of their lives but living with a new expectancy and confidence in the fulfillment of God’s purposes” (169).   

Let us pray:

Lord, may we be like the Wise Men who were guided to you by a star.  Give us the wisdom to seek you, light to guide us to you, courage to search until we find you, graciousness to worship you and generosity to lay our gifts before you, who are our King and our God for ever and ever.  Amen.

Resources used:

Feasting on the Word (preaching the Revised Common Lectionary), Year C, Volume 1

Feasting on the Word (preaching the Revised Common Lectionary), Year B, Volume 1