Matthew
2:1; The Epiphany of Our Lord (observed); January 5, 2020;
Now after Jesus was born in
Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the east
came…” (Matthew 2:1, ESV)
Life
in Christ Lutheran Church, Grand Marais, MN;
Grace
and peace to you from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.
Everything
seemed normal in the little stable when the baby was born. His mother had all the normal birth pangs;
his father paced and worried that everything would be all right. The animals around watched in eager
expectation. The birth of a baby is
always as special occasion. When he was born,
he was quickly examined to see that everything was perfect. At first glance, it all seemed to be, but
when he staggered to his feet and began to walk that’s when everybody realized
something was different. They weren’t
surprised that he could walk, all reindeer walk moments after they are born,
what was surprising was his nose. It was
unexplainable; there on the end of his face, where the hair gives way to the
soft skin of his nose, was a light. It
was perfectly formed. I know that many
of you are imagining this light as a bulb screwed into a socket right there
where his nose should be, but it wasn’t like that at all. There between his nostrils, on the flat part
of the reindeer’s nose, the skin was, well… transparent. It was a little like a car’s headlight. The flat surface of his nose was the lens,
underneath, was unexplainable light source, and behind that a very smooth and
very shiny surface. It cast a bright red
beam that was brighter than any halogen light that is driving down the highway
today. It was so bright that everywhere
the little deer looked heads turned away to protect their eyes. The animals fled the stable, even though there
was a freezing blizzard outside; at least they understood the wind and the
snow. His mother screamed and
fainted. His father broke down and
wept.
You
know how the story goes,
“all
the other reindeer use to laugh and call him names.
They never let poor Rudolf, join in any reindeer
games.”
He
was excluded, different, not part of normal reindeer life. We can relate to Rudolf. Remember on the playground? Lining up to be picked to play a game of
ball. “I’ll take Joe.” “I’ll take Peggy.” “I’ll take Dan.” On and on it goes until everyone is picked,
except one. Neither captain wants to
pick him, because well frankly he can’t play.
He is uncoordinated and slow. Finally,
they try strike a deal. “You take him.”
One captain says to the other.
“Ok.” He agrees, “but you have to
give me Dan and Peggy, too.”
It
is a part of human existence to exclude certain groups of people from the
‘normal’. Our own country’s history is a
dark example of racial hatred and exclusion.
Our bloodiest conflict ever was fought, in the shadow of the African
American slavery. Even with slavery abolished,
the scares will likely never heal. Talk
to Chinese immigrants in San Francisco , or
Polish settlers in Nebraska
I’d
like to tell you about Willy. He was 8
and afraid to go to school because of the protestors. Whenever he did go, they would stand outside
yelling obscenities, and racial slurs.
He didn’t understand why people hated him so much just because of his
race. He had heard of several schools
like his had been burned, and the teachers beaten, and that men dressed in
white sheets were terrorizing his relatives in town. Sometimes he was angry with his parents. “Why did they have to be so different?” He wondered.
“Why couldn’t they be like other people?
Why did they have to be so . . . German?” That, of course, was a picture of history in
this country during the First World War, when racial prejudice was expressed
against Germans, and German Lutherans in particular. It was at the height of anti-German sentiment
that nearly closed parochial schools around the country. No racial group is immune from exclusion.
God
hates racism. There is no question about
this. Hatred and exclusion based upon a
person’s race is outside of God’s desire for this world. He created man most of all with a capacity
for relationships. First and most
important, he created him for a relationship with God, Himself. Second, he created him for relationships to
other people. Our relationship to God
is expressed in Luther’s explanation of the First Commandment… to fear, love
and trust God above all things, and then to love our neighbor as
ourselves. When Adam watched Eve pick
the fruit, he had decided that they knew better about what was good than
God. He pushed himself away from God,
ripping the loving, trusting relationship that was between them. In an instant destroyed the nature of
relationships forever. Without a proper
relationship to God, a proper relationship to others is impossible. That destruction is the nature of sin, and
its power over us.
Over
time humans have gotten pretty good at relationship breaking. Cain killed Able. Jacob deceived Esau. Hitler gassed Jews. Southern Whites beat Blacks. Every generation is the same, and worse.
But,
before we begin to think that we are immune here isolated on the North Shore,
because we live in a ‘protected,’ ‘secluded’ community, we might want to think
again. We may not be guilty of gross prejudice, but we are guilty. No, I’m not saying we are responsible for
our ancestor’s wrongs. We didn’t invoke
slavery. We have enough guilt of our
own. Scan your memory for your thoughts,
or words. Do you look at certain folks who
you see around here in the summer and say to yourself you’re glad they don’t live here? Have you heard or said things like ‘He’s a
pretty good worker for a colored person?’
When have you told off color jokes about Jews or homosexuals, and passed
them off as nothing? When was the last
time you heard of a racial slur causing pain and separation? Most times though we here aren’t guilty of
racial exclusion, but rather it comes in the form of economic exclusion. We want the “better” people to be members of
the church. We’d pay much more attention
to the doctor visiting the church than the unemployed person. After all, with all our tight budget… Well, you understand. It happens, and it happens right here.
As
much as God hates separation, he loves separated people. The Bible is a love story about how God
reaches out with loving, protecting arms to restore his relationship to the
world. His love reaches beyond
political, ethnic and economic boarders.
He reaches out to people of all nations and races and classes. It isn’t that God is colorblind. He loves people, in all their varying shapes
and colors, all their walks of life, both rich and poor, black and white, and
even sexual orientation. Please note: I’m not saying God ignores sin. He just loves them so much that, once in
time, he sent his son to be born in a quiet and dark stable. He became an ethnic human being. Jesus Christ our Savior was a Jew.
Our
text tells us of visitors to the infant Jesus.
They were outsiders, Gentiles. Despised by the Jews. They were the butt of jokes told in the daily
marketplace. Contact with them caused
you to be unclean. “What are they doing
here?” was asked of them. But they came
and gave expensive gifts to the Christ child.
Matthew goes to great lengths in his Gospel, with this account and many
others; to assure us that God’s love in Christ is for all people, even the
despised and outcast. He tells us how
Jesus love poured out on even the unwanted, hated separated people around
him. He healed them, forgave them and
comforted them. Finally, he was raised
up on a cross, spread out his loving arms to the entire world, every race,
every color, every nation, and he died for them all. This great act of love evaporated the
separation between man and God. Through
faith in his un-separating work, human beings can once again be in a
relationship with God. They can trust
him and love him. He changes them from
sinners to saints. They can look to him in times of pain and times of joy. He can heal their broken relationships with
others. He can cure them of their sin.
God’s
work of healing is a work of healing for you and me. We are gathered here as a community of
believers. We are one because of our
Baptism into the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. We confess faith, given to us in Holy
Baptism, to end our separation from God.
We believe in this work for all people.
It is only through this faith that we can begin to tear down the walls
of separation that exist. Through this
faith, God will enable us to heal the brokenness caused by our own
prejudice. That is what the church is
all about. It is the place God has
chosen to build relationships to people of all classes and ethnic groups. It is the place God has chosen to speak His
word of forgiveness, and give it through Word, Water and Bread and Wine. We live in that Word every day. Everyday we can do God’s work in the
community, tearing down the walls of hostility between races and social
classes. We can do it, not because we
are sin-free, but because we are sinners, forgiven and set free from our
sin. If you want this church to be all
that God wants it to be, look for opportunities to connect to those people that are usually told they
don’t belong; look for ways to include the outcast people into our church, and
our community; look for ways of sharing the forgiveness God has given you here
in this building.
So
many years ago, ‘outsiders’, Gentiles, went to visit the Christ child. They weren’t Jews. They traveled a great distance to be
there. They traveled into a foreign land
that didn’t welcome them. When they
found him, they stood in wonder, then they bowed down in worship. There before them was a Savior, not just a
Savior for the Jews, but also a Savior for all people. He was a Savior for ‘outsiders’ and Gentiles
like them. He is a Savior for
‘outsiders’ and Gentiles like us. God
had led them there to show us that his love and forgiveness crosses ethnic
boundaries, race, and nation. He wanted
us to see ‘The World’ worshipping Jesus.
‘The World’, with all its ethnic variety, needs this Savior. It needs him to restore its divisions, its
ethnic hatred… its sin. That’s why he
came to this world. He came to gather
the ‘outsiders’ to himself. You see, as
wonderful as the Christmas story is, the real joy for us is that … “Magi came
from the East.” Because, their visit
shows us that we too are included in God’s grace. Their visit shows us that God’s saving act
through Jesus Christ was for Gentiles like them and like us.
The
peace of God that passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in
Christ Jesus. Amen.
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