Pastor Dan Mangler's Sunday Sermon

Coming to the Light

Matthew 2: 1-12

January 6, 2008

Coming to the Light

There’s a hundred-year-old Swedish story about a country doctor who came to a farmhouse one night to help deliver a child. As the mother labored on a kitchen table, her husband assisted the doctor by holding up a gas lamp to illuminate the makeshift delivery room. After a time of courageous labor, the mother produced a fine baby boy. Then, to the surprise of both parents, the doctor announced that a second child was due to arrive. And indeed the mother delivered a lovely daughter. The husband was already shaken by this unexpected turn of events, so you can imagine his astonishment when he heard the doctor say, "Hang on. I think there's a third. I think we have triplets."

At this, the father began to back out of the room. "Hold it!" called the doctor. "Come back here with that lamp."

"Oh, no," said the father. "It's the light that attracts them."

It is an appropriate story for Epiphany Sunday when we read of another light that attracted another set of three, the trio of wise men from the East who followed the light to the newborn Christ Child.

They weren't kings, you know. Nor were there necessarily three of them. The tradition that there were three comes from the fact that there were three gifts. Who were they? If they weren't astrologers, at least they were conversant in astrological knowledge. A good guess is that they were Zoroastrian priests from Babylon, followers of the Persian prophet Zoroaster who roamed the Iranian plain about 700 years before Christ. And Zoroastrians have an interesting theory that every good man has a "fravashi", a guiding light in the heavens that appears in the sky as a star when he is born. The greater the man, the brighter the star.

The star that -appeared in the heavens when Jesus was born must have been the brightest ever to start these men on a 600 mile journey to a foreign land. For as they studied this particular star they came to the conclusion that ;this was not only going to be a good man, but that he was to be a king, a king of the Jews, and that his kingship would have universal significance. And so, with this promise of the star to follow, they set on there way.

What they encountered could not have been what they expected. We get our first clue that this was so when we read that they stopped in Jerusalem to inquire "Where is the child who has been born king of the Jews?" Jerusalem was Israel's ancient capitol. This is where all the kings of Israel would be found. They might even have inquired at Herod's court thinking it might be Herod's heir. Instead, the star led them six miles south to sleepy little Bethlehem.

This was not the only surprise. If not the palace, well then certainly a mansion. But instead, the star led them to a humble little house.

If not of the king's household, certainly of an influential family. Instead, the parents were of peasant stock.

This journey certainly could not have been what they expected. They received no other encouraging sign along the way to suggest they were on the right road or coming to the right infant, except the promise of that star that led them. But that was enough.

By the promise of the star they were led away from important Jerusalem to lowly Bethlehem. By the promise of the star they were led away from the mansions of the wealthy to the borrowed house of the poor. By the promise of the star they were led away from influential families to this peasant family. And on the basis of the promise of the star they knelt down to pay the baby Jesus homage, and to leave their kingly gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. Matthew then tells us that they returned home to await the outcome.

Our journey is not unlike theirs. We, too, have been attracted by a light in the heavens, Jesus. In that light we too see promise. In the light of Jesus we see promised joy, hope, blessings, and protection. Is there any wonder that we would follow such a star?

But following that star does not always lead where we think it should. The wise men thought Jerusalem, but were led to Bethlehem; thought a mansion, but were led to a poor house; thought royal parentage, but led to a carpenter and his wife.

In following the promise of the Jesus' star we think joy, but sometime experience sorrow; in following the Jesus star we expect hope, but sometimes experience disappointment.

In following the Jesus star we expect blessing and protection, but often experience failure and suffering. What do we do when our faith journey leads us into unexpected and disappointing directions?

We do as the wise men did. We, too, follow the promise of the star. We, too, enter into his presence bringing ourselves to pay him homage and then continue on life's journey confident that somehow, the promise will be realized. The wise men could never have anticipated that the promise of this star, a Judean king with a universal reign, would have been fulfilled the way it was. Nor can we anticipate the way Jesus' promise of joy and hope, blessings and protection will be realized in our lives. And we won't know until the day it happens. We can only trust that it will. What do we do in the mean time?

In the Middle Ages the ceremony of "homage" was a rite during which a vassal took a solemn oath that he would be the "man" (French "homme") of his future lord. He knelt down and placed both of his hands between those of his master. As a humble vassal his head was bare, as required, and he was without weapons. In this state he then swore that he would use his hands, when they were released, and his weapons, when they were restored to him, only in the service of his future lord.

If we are to follow in the footsteps of the wise men, following the promise of a star into the presence of Jesus to give him homage, we promise all that we have in the service of this Lord: hearts filled with love for him, wills bound in holy obedience to his Word, minds eager to grasp the truth of salvation, lips ready to declare his truths to others, hands willing to give help where it is needed, and our earthly treasures to further his work.

The wise men had their job; to follow the star of promise, come into the presence of Jesus to bring gifts and pay homage, and then leave the promise fulfilling up to God. That, too, is our work. Amen.

May the peace of God that passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Amen.

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