2 Christmas, Yr C (2025) The Rev. Karen C. Barfield
2 Christmas, Yr C (2025) The Rev. Karen C. Barfield
Matthew 2:1-12 St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church
In the name of the one, holy, and living God:
who was, and is, and is to come. Amen.
Arise, shine; for your light has come,
and the glory of the LORD has dawned upon you!
When I was growing up our diocesan cathedral held a service called,
“The Feast of Lights,”
which celebrated Epiphany and the arrival of the three kings.
It was a glorious event,
with processions of candles lighting up the dark recesses of the gothic architecture.
Three kings robed in splendor would slowly process down the center aisle
– appropriately spaced for dramatic effect –
each bringing a gift they would place in front of baby Jesus
as he lay in the crèche at the front of the church.
We would be singing, “We Three Kings of Orient Are” –
each verse paired with the appropriate king, of course.
Everyone knew that if you wanted to get a seat,
you had to arrive early
because the church would be packed as we retold today’s Gospel story.
It is interesting to see how sometimes our Gospel stories take on a life of their own!
They are like the whisper
that morphs into an entirely different story
by the time it makes its way around the circle.
Our gospel today begins:
“In the time of King Herod,
after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea,
wise men from the East came to Jerusalem.”
I was shocked to find there is no mention of three kings!
Listen again: “after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea,
wise men (or “magi”) from the East came to Jerusalem.”
And, take note: we don’t actually know how many there were.
They brought gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh, so…
if each brought one gift,
then it would make sense that there were three wise men,
but it certainly could have been more!
So, if not kings, then who were these “wise men?”
The wise men were likely scientists – astrologers –
people who were experts in interpreting dreams or portents.
They might have even been the predecessors of the Zoroastrians.
What is remarkable is that these wise men noticed that something cosmic,
something earth-shattering,
something life-changing
had happened.
They saw a star in the night-sky
and knew that life as they had known it had changed.
The King of the Jews had been born.
By asking where the king of the Jews had been born,
they clearly had some knowledge of the faith of the Jewish people.
Somehow this event so compelled them that they packed their bags,
loaded their camels with gifts,
and set out to a foreign land in search of this baby – this God-child.
They found their way to Jerusalem
but seemed to have lost sight of the star along the way.
As they wandered about town,
they asked everyone they saw where the king-to-be was,
for they had come to honor him.
Herod got wind of it and immediately felt his power threatened,
so he sent for all the scribes and chief priests to find out where this child might be.
After learning that the Messiah was to come from Bethlehem,
he secretly sent the wise men there to ferret out where this threat lived.
As the wise men set out for Bethlehem,
the star again appeared in the sky,
leading the way to the home of Mary and Joseph and Jesus.
All these years I have had in my mind that the three kings arrived at the stable
not long after the shepherds got there.
But now I wonder how long it actually took these men to make this journey –
weeks, months, years?
Just a few verses later in Matthew’s gospel we hear that when the wise men did not return to Herod to tell him where to find Jesus, Herod was infuriated and issued the order to kill “all the children in and around Bethlehem who were two years old or under, according to the time that he had learned from the wise men.” (Mt 2:16)
If it took up to two years for these wise men from the East to arrive,
something deep and True must have compelled them
not only to take this journey but also to complete it!
The birth of this child, Jesus, so captivated their lives
that they were whole-heartedly committed to the journey.
This was no mere weekend road trip!
And…these events took place right under the noses of Herod and the chief priests and the scribes, yet somehow they missed it!
Also note the differences in the responses to the birth of Jesus….
Herod and all Jerusalem (likely the leaders in civil and religious power)
were frightened by the news and clutched ever tighter to their own power and control.
Yet, when the wise men saw the star stop over Jesus’ home,
they were “overwhelmed with joy.”
When the wise men entered the house and saw Jesus with his mother,
they knelt before him.
They opened their treasure chests and showered him with gifts.
The eyes of their hearts had been enlightened.
They brought the finest they had to offer
in response to God’s generosity of giving God’s self to the world.
Once again, God showed up in a most unexpected people and place.
God used scientists who practiced other religions
to let Herod, the chief priests, and the scribes know that the Messiah had been born.
The wise men only knew of Jesus by what had been revealed to them in the natural world, and that revelation compelled them to find this God-child and meet him in person.
Some years ago, Richard Rohr wrote a reflection entitled: “Seeing the Divine Image”
“You cannot earn God.
“You cannot prove yourself worthy of God.
“Knowing God's presence is simply a matter of awareness,
of enjoying the now,
of deepening one's own presence.
“There are moments when it happens.
“Then life makes sense.
“Once I can see the Mystery here,
and trust the Mystery even in this piece of clay that I am,
then I can also see it in you.
“I am able to see the divine image in myself, in you, and eventually in all things.
“Finally the seeing is one.
How you see anything is how you will see everything.
“Jesus pushes seeing to the social edge.
“Can you see the image of Christ in the least of your brothers and sisters?
“He uses that as his only description of the final judgment (Matthew 25).
“Nothing about commandments,
nothing about church attendance—
simply a matter of our ability to see.
“Can we see Christ…in those who cannot reward us in return?
“When we can see the image of God where we are not accustomed to seeing the image of God, then we see with eyes not our own.
“Finally, Jesus says we have to love and recognize the divine image even in our enemies.
“He teaches what many thought a leader could never demand of his followers:
love of the enemy.
“Logically that makes no sense.
But soulfully it makes absolute sense….
Either we see the divine image in all created things, or we don't see it at all.
“We see it once,
and the circle keeps moving outward,
widening its embrace.
“The Christian vision is that the world is a temple.
“If that is true, then our enemies are sacred, too.
Who else created them but God?
“The ability to respect the outsider is probably the litmus test of true seeing.
“And it doesn't stop with human beings and enemies and the least of the brothers and sisters.
“It moves to frogs and pansies and weeds.
Everything becomes enchanted with true sight.
One God, one world, one truth, one suffering, and one love.
“All we can do is participate.” (https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/#inbox/151fc07c55cf9f9b)
The wise men of a different faith observed the rising of the star
and recognized that God was doing a new thing in the world.
They had the courage to step up and seek it out.
Herod and the chief priests and the scribes could not see the new life that God was bringing into the world…they only saw a new enemy to their own power.
There is no limit to God’s redeeming work in this world
if we will but open our eyes and hearts and see!
We each have our own idiosyncratic story,
telling our pathway to seeing God’s presence in the midst of our lives.
I invite you to look around you this week…
and see where God is revealing God’s self to you in your daily life.
God may be working through unexpected people and in unexpected places.
If we walk through each of our days with the posture that God may be speaking to us through each person we meet, our view of the other changes….
We become open to seeing and listening in a new way…
in a way that might even change us.
Not only is God working through others to reveal God’s love to us…
God is speaking through us to bear the light of Christ to the world.
So…may your Light shine in the darkness,
for the glory of the LORD shines upon you.
Amen.
