Isaiah 60:1-6; Matthew 2:1-12
Preached by Rev. Deacon John Warner
Does the
Magic Continue?
May the words of my mouth and the meditations of my
heart be always acceptable in thy sight oh my Lord and my Redeemer.
As many of you know, I love to read.
I read a little of everything. In fact,
if I find myself alone in a restaurant without a book, I’m likely to be seen
reading the labels on condiments. Did you know that green Tabasco sauce
contains distilled vinegar, jalapeño pepper, water, salt, cornstarch, xanthan
gum and ascorbic acid “to preserve freshness?”
One of my favorite literary genres
is “magical realism.” Magical realism is not fantasy; nor is it science
fiction. It exists when the mundane is invaded by something fantastical,
something difficult to believe. For example, in the Spanish writer Gabriel
García Márquez’s novel, One
Hundred Years of Solitude , a trail of blood from one
man, after leaving a house, turns right and left until it finally covers the
town. Or, in Sarah Addison Allen’s The Girl Who Chased the Moon, there
is a bedroom with wallpaper which changes patterns depending upon the emotions
of its occupant.
When
the mundane is invaded by something hard to believe. This definition
certainly fits the magic of the Christmas story. Of course, I am not referring
to the magic of how a jolly old elf, although lively and quick, along with
twelve tiny reindeer can deliver all those presents to the children in the entire
world during one night. What I’m talking about is the Incarnation --when God
became flesh, to live like one of us, among us, by being conceived in the womb
of a young humble peasant from Nazareth.
Now Christmas is gone. The trees
have been thrown out, Christmas decorations taken down and stored again for
next year, and Christmas presents received have been separated into three piles,
to keep, give away or to regift next Christmas.
But, is Christmas gone? The Christmas
25th holiday is gone, but we
shouldn’t confuse the secular holiday with the Christmas within our Christian liturgical
year. As Father Jason said in last
Sunday’s sermon, the twelve days of Christmas doesn’t end with Christmas. It begins
on Christmas Eve and ends with the Feast of the Epiphany, which is tomorrow.
Does the magic of Christmas continue
into Epiphany? Are there events that produce awe and wonderment? Are there
episodes where the mundane is invaded by events difficult to believe? I believe
the answer is yes based upon today’s reading from Matthew. The three wise men,
the spiritual elite of the Gentile world, use the arcane knowledge of astrology
to identify the birth of the king of the Jews. Appearing in King Herod’s court,
the magi request his assistance in locating the baby so they can pay homage,
but their inquiry only alarms Herod and the Jewish spiritual leaders. Herod
dismisses the magi to find the baby but to return with the baby’s location so
he can worship … the future king of the Jews! The star that announced the birth
of Christ now moves ahead of the wise men until it stops over where the baby lies.
The star’s movement is plausible within the ancient world’s model of the
universe because stars were believed to be alive, especially, the Jews, who
believed stars to be angels. They enter to worship the baby bringing gold,
frankincense, and myrrh. Departing, they return to their own country by a
different route, having been warned in a dream to avoid Herod.
Why these three gifts, gold,
frankincense, and myrrh? Although we
don’t know why the wise men chose these three, tradition may yield some clues.
Gold is probably the most obvious. Throughout the Bible, gold is symbolic for
divinity; therefore, what better gift for Christ or God made flesh than gold. Frankincense is essentially hardened tree sap,
which when burned gives off a fragrant offering to God, representing holiness
and righteousness. Therefore,
frankincense is symbolic for Jesus’ willingness to become a perfect sacrifice, a
perfect offering for our sins. Finally,
myrrh, is a spice used for embalming.
Myrrh symbolized bitterness, suffering, and affliction; therefore this
gift was a foreshadowing that the baby Jesus would grow to suffer greatly as a
man giving his life on the cross for all who believed in him.
The
wise men gave gifts worthy of a king; however, these gifts pale in comparison
to the gift the Incarnation offers us. According to Isaiah in today’s reading, he
brought light to illumine the darkness; he offers hope to those in despair and reconciliation,
drawing the whole world to him.
Does the magic of Christmas and
Epiphany continue? In 2002, I was ordained a deacon in the Diocese of Georgia.
However, I had a diaconal ministry before that. It began with my baptism. Yours
did, too. We all share a diaconal ministry, a ministry of service, which began
when we were baptized, when we were grafted into the Christian family. It does, if we live out our baptismal covenant
and become instruments of Christian service in this world. It does when we give
of our time and talent. It is when we are serving the needs of this world that
the mundane, the ordinary, is invaded by the fantastical, something hard to
believe – a world transformed by our Christian service.
No comments:
Post a Comment