Follow a Star or Remain as You Are

Follow a Star or Remain as You Are

A sermon delivered by Rev. Peter T. Atkinson

January 6, 2019

at Bethany Presbyterian Church, Zuni, Virginia

Matthew 2: 1-12

Isaiah 60: 1-6

Let us pray,

Help us to see despite our eyes

Help us to think outside our minds

Help us to be more than our lives

            For your eyes show us the way

            Your mind knows the truth

            Your being is the life.

Amen. 

Epiphany

12 Days of Christmas lead to today,

So I guess today is all about the 12 drummers drumming

Or technically yesterday was – so we have to take the decoration down now (anyone else dreading)

But we could say that we could leave the star up – and the snowmen

But the star of Epiphany is a great symbol of light shining through darkness

Epiphany, like Christmas is a season too

Runs from now until March 5^th – the 6^th is Ash Wednesday – so Lent

So we can leave that star gleaming until Lent

Epiphany is the season where things become Manifest –

the word means “making something manifest”

and what we’re talking about is the notion that Jesus is God is manifest

Epiphany symbolically forms around three events

Star – wisemen - Father

Dove – Baptism – Holy Spirit

Transfiguration – Son

So today the star – and its story of the wisemen

The God of all creation, heavens and Earth, hung the stars

We know the story well

Here it is again

Matthew 2: 1-12 – Listen for what may be new and surprising

2 After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem ² and asked, “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.”

³ When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him. ⁴ When he had called together all the people’s chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Messiah was to be born.⁵ “In Bethlehem in Judea,” they replied, “for this is what the prophet has written:

⁶ “‘But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,

    are by no means least among the rulers of Judah;

for out of you will come a ruler

    who will shepherd my people Israel.’”

⁷ Then Herod called the Magi secretly and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared. ⁸ He sent them to Bethlehem and said, “Go and search carefully for the child. As soon as you find him, report to me, so that I too may go and worship him.”

⁹ After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen when it rose went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. ¹⁰ When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. ¹¹ On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh.¹² And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route.

So much fascinates me

Who are these men

From where have they come

What do they seek? Is it what they find?

Always liked the idea of

Persia – Alexander the Great

Babylon – maybe touched by Daniel’s legacy

India – Hindu/Buddhist

China—Taoist / Confucian

Latitude 31 --- Silk Road

Runs through China India Persia

Line of Jerusalem

Great for our imagination

But what most believe is crucial about this story is Gentiles

Which actually fits, what I was just talking about

Extends Gentile definition beyond Greek and Roman

An entire world movement – much more in line with what the early church actually was

Before the legacy of the Roman church came to power

Why just because foreign men saw a star? Why does that include gentiles

Gospel of Matthew – Prophecy gospel

Isaiah 60: 1-6

60 “Arise, shine, for your light has come,

    and the glory of the Lord rises upon you.

² See, darkness covers the earth

    and thick darkness is over the peoples,

but the Lord rises upon you

    and his glory appears over you.

³ Nations will come to your light,

    and kings to the brightness of your dawn.

⁴ “Lift up your eyes and look about you:

    All assemble and come to you;

your sons come from afar,

    and your daughters are carried on the hip.

⁵ Then you will look and be radiant,

    your heart will throb and swell with joy;

the wealth on the seas will be brought to you,

    to you the riches of the nations will come.

⁶ Herds of camels will cover your land,

    young camels of Midian and Ephah.

And all from Sheba will come,

    bearing gold and incense

    and proclaiming the praise of the Lord.

See that – Nations shall come

Kings bow down – Thus We Three Kings – 3 great kings

Thus the gifts predicted – except Myrhh

So gentiles are in

We know the story

But what new shall we take, glean, learn

What about Herod

What happens when you juxtapose  Herod and Magi?

Star – Sends Searching                                   Rumors – Fear

Observe – first hand                                       heard second hand – all Jerusalem frightened

Follow the star – do go                                   Chief priests and scribes know the story

                                                                        Don’t go – sends them

Curiousisty                                                      All the knowledge

Sends them following                                     left them frightened

Thirst for knowledge                                      afraid and still

Does this show us anything

Which are we more like?

Which would we rather be like?

Chief priest king scribe Pharisees

Wrong side

What is stereotype of church?

Pharisees or seekers after stars?

Have we grown lazy like – so sure, too sure to keep our eyes to the heavens

Are we wisemen or Herod

If wisemen our eyes are to the heavens

Searching led by wonder

Discerning

Listening for new calls

Ready to take the journey

Wherever it leads

Impetus and reason for all we do comes from God

If Herod

Led by fear

Protect what gains have been made

Worry about what change will mean

Worry about what will happen to us

Unwilling to risk

Taking control any means necessary

Killing children --- horrific story

But does it symbolically show the killing of the future

Whitney Houston

Naa – who needs em –

One of them might change things

Where are the children/ mmm

Where did the children go from churches?

Journey of the magi

All this was a long time ago, I remember,

And I would do it again, but set down

This set down

This: were we led all that way for

Birth or Death? There was a Birth, certainly,

We had evidence and no doubt. I had seen birth and death,

But had thought they were different; this Birth was

Hard and bitter agony for us, like Death, our death.

We returned to our places, these Kingdoms,

But no longer at ease here, in the old dispensation,

With an alien people clutching their gods.

I should be glad of another death.

Time – always want a little more

 Unless it is moing slowly

Sometimes speed it up

Always running short though

ALWAYS NOW

Death or Birth

As Christians we serve a living God

Of a star

Herod or Magi

Death or Life

It is that simple.  . .