Epiphany 2014 part 1

Sermon preached today at Quarry Kirk, based on Matthew 2:1-12.

When I was growing up there were 2 roles I would be pretty much guaranteed to get in the church nativity play – that of a shepherd or wise man

For some reason, in the plays that church had, at least one of those characters would have a reasonable amount of dialogue to remember and I was not only very good at remembering my lines, but also of being heard. Being heard in a church has never been an issue for me!

There was one year where the play had a lot of dialogue for the angel Gabriel. So, I was given that role. I must admit, I was gutted and hated having to do what I considered a 'girly' role. Back then no one told me Gabriel was a boy angel.

Anyway, when I look back, the thing I remember about playing the shepherds and the wise men is they were lead to follow Jesus – by angels or a star.

When they got to see Jesus, they worshipped him, and were filled with joy.

Filled with joy in seeing this special and precious baby.

And then we would give our gifts

okay, so shepherds, which appear in Luke's gospel, are not said to have given anything to Jesus, but what nativity play doesn't had the shepherds giving a sheep or blanket to the baby?

But the best gifts – and the gifts we are told about in Matthew's gospel – are reserved for the wise men

they bring their gifts of gold and frankincense and myrrh to Jesus

each gift not only expensive and precious in its own right, even 2000 years later these are expensive items

each gift not only the sort of gift which foreign dignitaries coming to visit a new born king would be expected to present

but each gift is a pointer to who Jesus is, his life and his death.

The gold speaks of him being a king, a king sent by God, a king for all the nations

the frankincense speaks of Jesus being God's high priest. Frankincense was – and still is – burnt in the temple and some churches by the priests to help the prayers of the people reach God's presence

but mostly, I remember the symbolism of the myrrh. As a child playing a king, one year we each had to learn our verse from 'we three kings' and sing this as we gave our gift to the baby

myrrh is mine its bitter perfume

breathes a life of gathering gloom

sorrowing, sighing, bleeding, dying

sealed in a stone cold tomb

myrrh was used to anoint bodies of the dead before burial

though an expensive perfume, the symbolism is that this gift points towards Jesus' death on a cross

after all, this baby, this precious king, this high priest of God was to grow up

He would grow into a man who would be baptised by John in the Jordan

who would call disciples

who would heal the sick, give sight to the blind and feed the 5000

a man who would talk to all who would listen

gaining enemies as he talked to the wrong sort of people – tax collectors, prostitutes, Samaritans

and would eventually land up nailed to a cross, giving his life in order that the whole world could know God's love and that all people, everywhere, no matter their background, gender, faith or nationality could come to worship God – could come to have a relationship with God

and it all began with those wise men. Foreigners themselves – the word magi, which they are sometimes known as – means a astrologer from Persia.

Not only were they foreigners, but they were not from a land which worshipped the same God as the Jews

yet, when they say Jesus they were filled with joy and worshipped Jesus

and, when they left Jesus and his family, they went home.

Though we never hear of them again, I like to think they were the first to take the good news of Jesus Christ to the gentiles, to the foreigners

and today, we hear on the news bad news stories about foreigners coming to Britain how should we as a church respond?

That I do not think has an easy answer, but I would suggest we should remember who Jesus reached out to all through his life – the sick, the excluded, the foreigner – and remember that in our Christian life we are called to follow Christ's example and his disciples.

Part 2, preached by Spot, can be found here.