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January 3, 2010
The Rev. Canon Grant Carey
This morning, I would like us to enter into a journey. The journey of the Wise Men, the Magi from the East, who followed the star to Bethlehem.
We don’t know much about these people, these Magi, but the fact that Matthew includes them as part of his telling of the Christmas story makes them significant.
We call them the “Wise Men.”
This implies that they were persons of education, probably from Persia, and members of a priestly class known as Zoroastrians - - scholars of their time who studied the heavens seeking portents of great events and impending disasters.
These Magi were real people. And it not unusual that that those who had made such a study of the heavens felt impelled to follow the light in the sky believing that would lead them to a place of tremendous import.
I believe that this story of the “Wise Men “ - - the Magi - - is a “true” story as opposed to a “truth story “. . . that it does correspond to actual celestial events that took place at the time of the birth of Jesus or time later, when the Jesus would have been older than our Christmas pageants portray him.
The fact is that King Herod actually ordered the killing children in Bethlehem. His motive may indeed have stemmed from the impressive visitors from Persia who claimed to have been led there by their charting of the heavens. This much we do know as fact, Herod the despot cared nothing for the lives of others - - even having members his own family put to death.
Those of us who remember the bloody rule of Idi Amin in Uganda some years back are aware that that such atrocities are not confined to Biblical times.
Of course, the story of the Wise Men - - the Magi - -has been embellished over the centuries. Our Christmas pageants are derived from the middle Ages when traveling actors who portrayed the story in graphic detail.
But even with its layers of myth and tradition, I love the story because of what it says, and I find it no wonder that, after two thousand years, the truth of this story continues to hold our attention and especially that of children whose perception is often far greater than those of us who are grown-ups. I love what Jesus is reported to have said: “Whoever does not receive the Kingdom of God, will never enter it.”
I have had people ask me about the story of the Magi: “Do you really believe that these stories are actually true?” Did wise men really come from the East to Bethlehem, bring gifts of gold, incense, and myrrh?” And my reaction is: “Why not?”
Whether or not the events took place exactly as the gospel writers told them, as Matthew and Luke presented to us, is of little consequence. It is what these stories tell us that is important, and I am more than willing to let the story wrap me up in its telling!
We are told that three men of importance came from far away with gifts, worshipped the child, and were perceptive enough to return home by another way, avoiding further contact with the despotic Herod.
When at last they completed their journey, one thing, I believe, is certain: they were not the same three men who had come searching for that which the nova in the sky signaled to them.
What they had found truly amazed them. Whether they knew it or not, they had found the Christ. And having found him, their lives would never be the same again.
Nor would the world in which they lived.
In the giving of the symbolic gifts of gold and spice and incense, they received the far greater gift of God Presence in their lives.
And so it is today.
I am convinced that no one who has ever truly encountered Jesus Christ has left the same person as when he or she first came.
There are times in life when we might be tempted to think that God is far away, remote from his people and their concerns. The story of the Magi reminds us that even in the darkest night there are stars that shine in the skies and through the mystery of faith, wise men (and women) still perceive the Star of Bethlehem shining in their lives.
O star of wonder, star of night,
Star with royal beauty bright;
Westward leading, still proceeding'
Guide US to thy perfect light! Amen.
The story of the Magi we heard in today’s Gospel holds a special place for me, personally, because of something that happened when I lived in Puerto Rico many years ago...
Forty years ago, Santa Claus was a stranger to the tropics. I do recall seeing someone in San Juan, perspiring profusely in his red Santa Suit, asking for donations.
Today I am told that Christmas trees and reindeer are now accepted by many Puertoriquenos through the effort of department stores.
But for both children and adults, January 6 that is the time for gifts. That date marks the culmination of 12 days of fiesta which begins with Midnight Mass on Christmas Eve. On January 5th, the Eve of the Epiphany, children still put straw beneath their beds. Then, very early the next morning on "El Dia de los Tres Reyes", ("The Day of the Three Kings") - - long before the children are awake, the Three Kings come riding through the countryside on horseback (not on camels).
They ride through villages and cities, visiting each home where the horses eat the straw, and the kings leave gifts.
My last Three Kings Day in Puerto Rico is one I will never forget!
I had gone to Ponce, the second largest city on the island.
For a number of years, our “Sisters of the Transfiguration” had operated St. Michael's House where they worked among the very poor, reaching out especially to children, many of whom had been abandoned and forsaken..
Sister Marjorie Hope asked me to help distribute gifts of clothing and toys that had been painstakingly wrapped appropriately chosen for each child.
I was dressed up as one of the Three Kings - - and I will never forget that when we entered the courtyard where the festivities were to take place, one small boy cried out at the top of his voice:
"Ya estamos salvado". "Now we are saved!"
What his gift was I do not recall, but what it represented was that in his shabby, poverty-filled life, someone cared enough to remember him by name, to say in essence, "God loves you. You are important."
On that day, the Sisters were the real "Wise Men" ... or better said, "Wise Women", because of the gifts of love they brought to the poor children of Ponce... each gift appropriately chosen for each child. And those gifts were more than clothes and toys. They were little epiphanies, little manifestations of God's love expressed through those who cared.
When I put on my paper crown and tattered bed-spread cape and went with the other two kings into the Sisters' courtyard, bearing gifts wrapped with recycled paper, and heard the little voice cry out, "Ya estamos salvado", I knew that God cared, that his love was manifested through us who were his messengers and gift bearers,... and that for one brief moment, His little ones had experienced the light of the Star of Bethlehem.
This coming Wednesday the children of our Cathedral will remember in word and music the coming of the Magi, the gifts of Frankincense and Myrrh.
They – and we – will enter into that ancient story with its abiding message of love, of courage, of giving - - recalling the words of life: “Christ came into the world to the end that who believe in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God so loved the world that he gave his only- begotten Son to the end that all who believe in him should not perish but have everlasting life.” (John 3:16)
Amen
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