Isaiah 60.1-6; Ephesians 3.1-12; Matthew 2.1-12
It’s been a long hard journey. The wise men have finally made it – off the window sills and into the crib scene! Our crib figures really are superb and it’s lovely now at Epiphany to see them altogether! And on ‘Sky at Night’ last week, high powered astronomers gave the appearance of a star for these magi to follow, the thumbs up! Mathematics can take them back to the stellar constellations around the time of Jesus’ birth, and there was indeed a conjunction of the planets which could have caused a bright light in the sky! They were also keen to disavow the notion that the reality of a star attaches literal historicity to the details of the extraordinary biblical story we have just heard! So what is this strange story, of perhaps not so wise men, all about?
Herod the Great, King of the Jews – though an Indumean convert to Judaism, is renowned for his brutality and violence. The visit of the wise men to Herod, unleashes Herod’s hatred on the community of this little family. (Joseph has been warned in a dream to flee into Egypt.) It seems incredible that these wise men had not thought through the likely outcome of their attendance at Herod’s court in Jerusalem! Once they find the baby of course, in a humble abode and not a palace, they begin to think it all through, and as so often in a time of heightened tension in alien circumstances, they dream dreams warning them not to return to Herod. Too late, the portents in Scripture have already been revealed to the wily Herod by his wise men! He knows it is to Bethlehem he must send his henchmen, and any potential candidate, every baby boy, must be done away with! The Massacre of the Innocents.
The magi, for almost certainly these wise men are magicians from Persia, men who watch the skies for portents of what is to come, the magi arrive to pay homage to the newborn king with extravagant and symbolic gifts: gold and frankincense as prophesied by Isaiah. Gold declares this baby’s kingship, king above all kings, king of the universe; frankincense declares his divinity. And then an unexpected twist! A gift not prophesied. Myrrh. Myrrh, fragrant oil used for the anointing of the body after death. Newborn king this baby may be – but as we know, death is close at hand.
The arrival of the magi and their gifts is the high point of Christmas! The Epiphany, the ultimate revelation of God, God’s nature and purposes! And it is indeed a long journey. The magi, traditionally depicted in art as kings coming from the major continents of the world, Africa, Asia, Europe, represent all the nations of the world. Represent the whole world. In the fulfilment of the prophecy of Isaiah, we may know that God wills the salvation of all peoples!
To understand how Matthew arrives at his dramatic story we need to go back to the beginning. We need to understand something of how faith in Yahweh, Israel’s God, has developed over the millennia!
Have you ever wondered why the Jews persecuted those first Jewish Christians? Wondered why Paul was on his famous journey to Damascus having just been pleased to witness the stoning of the first Christian martyr, Stephen? Or why Paul himself also came to be persecuted by the Jews? They were all in competition for converts!
Today Judaism is not a proselytising religion, and has not been so since the early centuries of the Common Era, since the razing to the ground of the beautiful city of Zion. City to which the prophets of old as in our reading from Isaiah, foretold the coming of the nations: Nations shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your dawn.
Before the razing of Jerusalem, Judaism was a proselytising faith. The people of Israel were called to be ‘light to the Gentiles’, called in their own way of life, to witness to God’s pattern of life for human flourishing. And they were indeed, very successful in drawing pagans to their faith. Many thousands of Gentiles became ‘God-fearers’. And it was in the synagogue amongst these God-fearers that Paul always began any new mission, drawing many to take the next step into following Christ.
The prophet Isaiah speaks of the Servant God will send to save his people. It is not entirely clear in its original context whether this servant symbolizes the people of Israel, or does indeed foretell a particular figure – a Messiah. Either way, in the faith of Israel we have the first understanding of a monotheistic God whose character is ethical. God who calls not for sacrifice in worship, rather God who seeks worship expressed in the justice and mercy of our living together.
What we believe about God informs every dimension of our living. In the Judaic understanding of who God is we have solid foundations for the well-being of the earth. Now God’s light has come into the world! This is what we mightily celebrate at Epiphany! This is what our beautiful crib figures symbolise for us! God revealed first to the people of Israel, and then fully in the person of Christ, a saviour willing to die for those he loves. Here is the God of all peoples, all nations. Building on this foundation we stand on high solid rock.
In our world today proselytising is rather frowned upon. Contemporary ethical understanding calls on us to respect the faith and beliefs of others. And I want to do that – where there is no contradiction with equality and justice! But of course I also passionately believe that the revelation of God in the Christ-Child whom we celebrate today, he has the power to enable us to live life to the full, live life free from fear with courage and hope. After the fall of Jerusalem in the year 70, the dispersion of the Jews widened, and they began to spread into Arabia. Here they brought to the nomadic Bedouins the date palm which was to become ubiquitous and new sophisticated craftsmanship. New industry and trade built Medina and gave Mecca a cosmopolitan atmosphere. The Arabs were also drawn to the ascetic monotheism of Judaism, and the devotion of the Jews to family life and education. Calling Jews ‘The People of the Book’, they lived side by side in peace, many Arabs studying and learning from ‘The Book’.
Into this milieu enter the young Mohammed. He was orphaned by the age of six, and at twelve went to live with relatives in Syria where he grew up in the midst of both Jews and Christians. The Jewish patriarchs became his heroes, heroes whom he later enshrined in the Qu’ran. And following in the footsteps of Moses and Joshua Mohammed began to dream of uniting the dissident and warring Arab tribes into one people, and raising them to an honoured position in the world. In a cave he was to have his own encounter with God through the intermediary of the angel Gabriel, coming to understand that he too was called by God to be his prophet, – and final successor to Moses and Jesus.
Just before Christmas a professor of political science who had taught at the Christian college in Illinois for eight years, Dr Larycia Hawkins was placed on ‘administrative leave’ following a statement she made on Facebook: “I stand in religious solidarity with Muslims because they, like me a Christian, are people of the book. And as Pope Francis stated last week, we worship the same God.” – Notwithstanding the views of her college administration, if we are monotheists, she and the Pope are surely right. This is the message of the wise men: One God of all nations. It is now our job to work out how we realise this. Certainly not through simple conformity and coercion. Rather through justice for all, recognition of diversity and inclusion of minorities.
In our present difficult times, with New Year celebrations cancelled for fear of further terrorist attack, and the appalling executions this weekend in Saudi Arabia, now is the time we need urgently to reach out, as Dr Hawkins, to our Muslim neighbours. I want to finish with a plug for three Wednesday evenings in January and one at the beginning of February as the Hampstead Christian Study Centre Reading Group reads and explores Mona Siddiqui’s ‘How to Read the Qu’ran’. Please do come along if you possibly can – leaflets at the back of church. And great to see you if you’ve not been before. Down in the crypt. I’m hoping that one or two Muslims will join us.
We rejoice today that others have carried the Light of Christ down the generations and out to the nations of which we are part. We are now tasked with carrying that light out into our widening world. And no, it’s no easy task, it calls for deep reflection and a willingness to put in some energy, beyond our comfort zones. But the rewards are huge! Very happy New Year!