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Sermon - January 6th, 2008
The Star in Our Hearts
Rev. Gwen Drake
Scripture: Matthew 2:1-12
Prayer: We give thanks, O God, for sacred stories. Through it you nurture our imaginations, increase our awareness, and challenge our assumptions. May the words of my mouth and meditations of our hearts be acceptable in your sight, O God, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen.
Since the first Sunday in December, we have entered into Cycle A of the lectionary readings. What that means is that we will be observing Jesus’ life this year most of the time through the Gospel of Matthew. Matthew has a very particular perspective. Matthew’s genealogy begins with Abraham and Sarah, showing that Jesus is the coming together of energies and movement that were set in motion from the very beginning. Matthew is saying that Jesus is the fulfillment of all that has happened before. Matthew often wrote: Such and such happened “that it might be fulfilled.” According to Matthew, everything has been completed in Jesus. God’s creation is complete. God’s salvation is fulfilled.
Matthew starts with the genealogy, then comes the birth of Jesus where Joseph is an important part of the story, no shepherds, no host of angels singing “Gloria In Eccelsis Deo,” no Magnificat from Mary, no mention of Elizabeth and her baby, no story about traveling to Bethlehem and staying in the stable because there was no room in the inn. Instead a big part of Matthew’s nativity story is the wise kings coming from the East, following a star, bearing odd gifts, and bringing them to the baby Jesus. It is a story that captures our imagination. Poets have wrapped their words around this story. Longfellow gave them names, Melchior, Gaspar, and Balthasar. Artists have painted the scene. Modern storytellers tell their own version of the story—from Garrison Keilor on Prairie Home Companion to O’Henry’s short story titled “The Gift of the Magi.” So much has been made of this story that it is surprising to us to remember that we really know very little. We call them kings when they were not kings according to Matthew. We say there were three of them when there were three gifts, but who knows how many magi there were. Matthew is the only Gospel that tells this story. The truth is we don’t know who they were, where they came from, how many there were, how long it took them to get to Bethlehem, or how old Jesus was when they arrived. We are not even sure about the special star they followed.
So, we can not prove without a doubt whether this story is factual or not. But that doesn’t mean the story isn’t true. It is an important story whether it is factual or if it is a metaphorical narrative. What is important about the story is to discover what the story means to us. It is important to just listen to the story and let it come to life inside of us. Then we can decide on the basis of our own reaction whether or not the story is true for us. Pay attention to how the story affects you and others. Ask yourself, does this story make you any more or less human? Does this story leave you speechless, take your breath away, or does it shut you down? Does this story increase or decrease your capacity for joy?
Listen to the story again as I tell it from my perspective, reading between the lines, using my imagination, and bringing into the story my own life experience. Listen, and see if you are captured by the story, or if it triggers your imagination to tell yet another version, your version of the same story.
Once upon a time there were some wise people in a far off land, extremely intuitive and spiritual people, who somehow knew that they were not the center of the universe and that out there where the sun set, was a part of the world they wanted to see and experience and learn from. They were the wisest people that they knew. But not for a minute did they believe they were the wisest in the universe. They were on a quest and that quest was about disentangling the glitches in the human condition. In other words, they wanted to know why humans were not able to stay balanced and why there seemed to be so much misery and discontentment in the world. They wanted to find the wisest of the wise, so they could ask them their questions about life. They weren’t finding the answers in their own neighborhood; so, they asked the universe for guidance, and set out on a journey. They started following the stars after a while, because no matter which way they went and how far they went they could count on the constancy of the stars.
The journey drew them close together in spirit and it seem as though they were thinking as one. Maybe it happened after the decision to use one particularly bright star in the night sky as their main navigational tool. So, as they traveled they observed new lands and new people until one day they saw in the morning light a shining city on a hill in the distance. This must be the place, they thought. For the light’s reflection off the natural white stone was stunning and they felt drawn to the city. When they arrived in the city it was only logical to go to highest place, the palace, the king’s residence, to see for themselves if they had found the one, the wisest one in the universe, who would answer all their questions, answers they could take back home and teach to their own people.
They were a little dusty from the journey, but they had this royal look about them, and gaining entrance to see the king was no trouble at all. But as soon as they saw the king and all his indulgences surrounding him, there hearts sank, because they knew this was not a man of balance or contentment. He was a man who covered himself with material wealth to disguise his misery and weakness. They saw a man who craved power over others because of his own powerlessness. So, instead of asking this king of the shining city their questions, they asked him if he knew of any other kings in the area.
This disturbed the disturbed king and he stepped out to consult the prophets whom he kept close at hand. The prophets were the kings “yes, men” and looked in the scriptures to tell the king what the king wanted to know. They had become very good at their job because if they weren’t they were gone forever, put away or executed, what ever the king’s mood was that day. In the book of Micah, the prophets saw, was something about a new ruler for Israel, but nothing to get excited about. It had been there a very long time—over 400 years. In a suburb of Jerusalem—a little place called Bethlehem. What harm would there be in sending these strange travelers to Bethlehem to do the research for them, saving them the time and expense of doing the work themselves.
So, they told the king and the king told the travelers. Go to Bethlehem at once to find this king, he said. And come back and tell me all about it. For I need all the help I can get to rule this unruly country, he told them. He, too, would take the king a gift to show his goodwill and set the travelers on their way with his blessing. The travelers left the palace for Bethlehem, relieved to be free from the presence of one who was sucking the breath right out of them. Out in the night air again, they once again found their balance. They saw the star. And it was not long before they found themselves at the doorway of a modest one-room house in Bethlehem.
They found their gifts in their bags, ready with their questions, and certain that this was the place. Not that it looked like the home of the wisest man in the universe. But their was a feeling of balance and peace and something else—hope. They felt the warmth and welcome before the stepped up to the door. They saw something they could not describe. Yes, this was the home of the one they were seeking, a king, the wisest of the wise. But nothing had prepared them for what happened next.
When the door opened the couple gasped at the sight of the travelers. They had come to see the king and in they went with their arms full of gifts, into a small room, bumping their turbans, and snagging their robes on the rough walls. All the travelers could see in the room was the baby, who was not gasping at their sight, and who eyes shone bright with wisdom, brighter than any they had ever seen. There was no doubt in their mind that this little child was the one they came looking for. But there would be no questions answers, no long discussions, so they knelt down on their knees and gazed into his eyes, giving him gifts that he had no use for. They should have brought a blanket, a wooden rattle, something shiny. But they didn’t have any idea of who they were looking for.
The child’s parents were kind. They thanked these strange travelers for the gifts. And then to their surprise the mother picked up the baby and laid him in the arms of one of the wise travelers. And each of them held him. And then the mother fed the child until he fell asleep in her arms. And they all fell asleep in that room, leaning against each other, soaking in the warmth and love and peacefulness of that small, humble home.
The next morning, the travelers knew that it was time to go home. They had found the one. A baby who changed their hearts forever, was so much more than answers and solutions to the human dilemma. In his presence, they felt contentment and balance. That baby showed them the star in their hearts.
And no, they would not be returning to Jerusalem. Their quest was complete and it was time to go home. It was a quest that they could not give to others. Others had to find their own quest, their own path, their own contentment and balance in life. They would not return to the king in Jerusalem because his quest was to bring misery to others because he was miserable. This child they had held in their arms was on a quest to bring love to others because he was love. That’s what they knew. It was about finding the star in your own heart.
So, the wise travelers kissed the baby good-bye, went outside, and went back home, with the star in their hearts.
Amen.