Epiphany
of Our Lord – A
Meadowvale Lutheran Church, Mississauga
January
6th, AD 2009
Pastor Peter Lisinski
“THE
GIFTS OF THE MAGI”
(Matthew
2:1-12)
Over these last twelve days of Christmas I've been reading Paul Roberts'
book, "The Journey of the Magi".
It's a kind of narrative journal of his own mid-1990s pilgrimage from
Iran to Bethlehem, tracing the traditional route of the wise men outlined in the
thirteenth century memoirs of Marco Polo! In
the introduction he points out that Matthew does not say how many visitors
came from the east, nor that they were kings!
Roberts himself claims that they were Zoroastrian priests from Persia --
a fascinating and plausible conclusion with which I see no particular problem.
The magi may not have been "We Three Kings”, but the royal image
of the legend speaks powerfully of Jesus Christ as the "King of kings"
(Rev. 19:16) whose sovereignty reigns supreme over all people, all nations, and
all governmental authority! The
magi may indeed have been priests of a foreign religion, but that image speaks
no less powerfully of the universal vision of peace and good will which God
promises people of all creeds, classes and colours in the divine humanity of
Jesus Christ!
Whether the magi were priests, as Paul Roberts speculates; or kings, as
legend believes; or wise men, as our Bible reading calls them; or philosophers
or university professors, to which Martin Luther compared them, doesn't matter.
What matters is the gifts they offerred Jesus!
The gifts of the magi -- gold, frankincense and myrhh -- represent the
gifts all human beings are called, and able, to offer God:
our wealth -- no matter how great or small; our faith -- no matter how
weak or strong; and our service -- whatever our calling in life.
These three gifts of the magi comprise the fullness of divine worship for
which all human beings have been created. And
in offering our gifts of the magi, human beings receive the benefit of worship
-- life in all its fullness (cf. John 10:10)!
Listen to Marco Polo's legendary account of what happened when the magi
arrived in Bethlehem: "They
went into the house one after another, and though they were of different ages
and diverse ethnic heritage, the newly born infant appeared to each of them
exactly like each of them" (Roberts, p. 2; cf. p. 254)!
In finding Jesus Christ, the mysterious visitors from the east, found
their own true selves. The same
promise is given to us, and to all people. In Jesus Christ, we human beings --
once exiles and foreigners lost in the darkness east of Eden -- have been
reconciled to God, and enlightened by the true light of the divine presence in,
with, and among us. In the presence
and person of Jesus Christ, our human nature has been redeemed; in him our
humanity -- corporately and individually -- is fulfilled; in the divine humanity
of Jesus Christ, each of us becomes the child of God he has created and called
us to be!
Whoever they were, the mysterious pilgrims from the east are the human
embodiment in history of God's eternal epiphany in Jesus Christ, which the
Apostle Paul unfolds in today's reading from his letter to the Ephesians
[3:1-12] (slightly adapted for brevity and clarity):
"In
former generations this mystery of Christ was not made known to humankind, as it
has now been made known to me by revelation:
that the Gentiles have become fellow heirs of God's promises in Christ
Jesus. Of this gospel I have become
a servant by God's grace to make all of you see the plan hidden for ages in God,
so that through the church the eternal purpose God has carried out in Christ
Jesus our Lord might now be made known to all people and nations."
Whoever you and I may be -- butcher, baker, candlestick maker; prince or
pauper -- we, the people of God in the church -- individually and collectively
-- are the human embodiment through whom God's eternal epiphany in Jesus Christ
continues to be revealed in the world today! May God’s light shine through us
all in the darkness of this world throughout this new year!