Scripture/Sermon of the Day.  January 7, 2024

Matthew 2:1-12

The Visit of the Magi

In the time of King Herod, after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, magi from the east came to Jerusalem, 2 asking, “Where is the child who has been born king of the Jews? For we observed his star in the east and have come to pay him hom age.” 3 When King Herod heard this, he was frightened, and all Jerusalem with him, 4 and calling together all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Messiah was to be born. 5 They told him, “In Bethlehem of Judea, for so it has been written by the prophet:
6 
‘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.’ ”
7 Then Herod secretly called for the magi and learned from them the exact time when the star had appeared. 8 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.” 9 When they had heard the king, they set out, and there, ahead of them, went the star that they had seen in the east, until it stopped over the place where the child was. 10 When they saw that the star had stopped, they were overwhelmed with joy. 11 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. 12 And having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they left for their own country by another road.

Reflection:

I.      This lovely Christmas story that we have today would not have happened without Moses.  So let’s go back a few thousand years before Jesus, to see how the epiphany of Jesus was possible.  Moses became an outlaw when he murdered an Egyptian slavedriver who beat a Hebrew worker to death.  Moses fled Egypt to escape the Pharaoh’s punishment — execution.  He ended up in a land called Midian, where he was an outlaw and an immigrant.  He met a woman Zipporah and they married.  His father-in-law Jethro was a priest and owned flocks of sheep as well.  He hired Moses.  Zipporah and Moses had two sons, Gershom (which means “a stranger in a strange land,” a name that would later become famous in 1961 as a best-selling science fiction book by Robert Heinlein) and Eliezer (God is my help).  Moses loved domestic life, his family and being a shepherd.  Out in the pastures he thought to himself, “It doesn’t get any better than this.”

II.     But one day when he was enjoying the the outdoors and the wind and the sun — he saw a bush that began talking to him.  “Odd,” he thought.  And even more strange — the bush said it was God.

III.    God said, “I have seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering. 8 So I will rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and guide them to a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey… 9 So Moses — I’m sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt.”

IV.     Moses thought about this.  Then he said:
“O Lord — you are Spirit.  I can’t see you, but can only hear you through this bush  People of all religions worship you.
But Pharaoh is the king of Egypt.  Which means — HE IS A POLITICIAN!  Don’t you understand, Lord,  that you can’t mix politics and religion.  At lest, that’s what I’ve always been told.  I don’t know why, but people have always said that.
There was silence for a few moments, then God said:  “Moses!  Why didn’t I think of that??!!  You are right!

Then there was another pause, and finally God said, “OK — never mind.”  And Moses collected the sheep and returned home to his loving family and they all lived happily ever after.  And the people of Israel eventually married Egyptians and raised their children as such and eventually they lived happily ever after also — and the nation of Israel ceased to exist.  So Jesus was never born.  And everyone lived happily ever after.  The end.

V.      I know, I know — I made most of that up.  Can you imagine what the world would be like if we couldn’t mix politics and religion?  People still tell me — when I talk about Pharaoh or Herod that I shouldn’t mix politics and religion.  Which really limits what I’m able to preach.
I’d have to preach from something other than the Bible — because, if you read it — you see it’s all politics and religion.  It’s the whole backdrop of our reading today!  A king — Herod — the most powerful politician in Israel, and three foreign kings — or magi — and God’s child, also a king, of the Jews.  A king of Israel, kings from the east, and king Jesus. Politics and religion!

VI.     Luke probably left Herod and the magi out of his gospel and put in the shepherds because he was so tired of people telling him not to mix politics and religion — and he probably left out the Magi because he didn’t want foreigners poisoning the blood of the Israelites.   So he made a nice Christmas story that was Kosher.  All Jewish people, and no politicians (though he started the chapter saying that Caesar Augustus wanted a census for the whole Roman World — so Mary and Joseph had to leave Nazareth and go to Bethlehem, where Jesus was born.  Mostly Luke kept out the politics and the foreigners.
But eventually he had to mix everything because foreigners came to Jesus and Jesus visited their countries.  And the politicians got involved and had Jesus arrested and executed.  So even Luke realized that we can’t separate one part of our lives from the other — our religion gets mixed-in with everything — as it should.

VII.    Saturday, January 6th is called Epiphany, which is defined as — “a revelatory manifestation of a divine being.”  Jesus’ birth was an epiphany.  Moses encounter with the bush was an epiphany.  Maybe this sermon will be an epiphany.  So that the next time someone says, “Don’t mix politics and religion,” we have to say:  “That’s impossible.  If we did that, we’d have to tear-up 90% of our Bibles.”  I hope this new year, we will think more.  I hope in this new year we will listen more to God in silence — because I believe God wants each of us to be epiphany’s of Jesus loving spirit, here in this political world.