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Advent series Part 4
Sermons from Commons Church. Intellectually honest. Spiritually passionate. Jesus at the centre. Since 2014.
Welcome to the CommonsCast. We're glad to have you here. We hope you find something meaningful in our teaching this week. Head to commons.church for more information. Welcome to the final Sunday of Advent, the last time that we will gather this way before the arrival of the Christ child.
Speaker 1:And as we've said all the way along, this has been a bit of a strange advent. All the waiting and anticipating of a normal year now mixed with lockdowns and health concerns and economic uncertainty. And all of this creating an air of longing for peace. And in some ways, this is the heartbeat of Advent, that persistent hope that what you long for most is on its way toward you. But for today, still we wait.
Speaker 1:And we have one more story to look at before Christmas Eve. Today, we engage the story of the Magi. But quickly, I wanna gather up where we have been this Advent. Because this Advent, we have been talking about enough. This idea that the machinery of Christmas and the culture that surrounds us can teach us to believe that we can never have enough.
Speaker 1:There's always more to buy or give or receive or get or put a down payment on. And yet throughout the Christmas story, we are constantly hearing the reminder that we are already enough. That we have already been given enough, that we are already loved and included in every way that we need to be. And so we've looked at three stories so far. Mary, who by introduction is someone we don't expect much from.
Speaker 1:She isn't rich. She isn't well known. She doesn't have enough formal theological education to speak for God or certainly to teach us about God. And yet very quickly, we come to understand why God chose this woman to raise the Christ. Her grasp of not only the forms of Hebrew worship, but her ability to craft words in the shapes of her people, her grasp of the very character of the divine, all of that is on display in her Magnificat.
Speaker 1:This poem that gathers up the history and the hopes of the Hebrew people and reimagines that story in the coming of her son. The God who will in time make all things right, level all structural imbalances, and invite all peoples to the table. As I said that week, Mary has more than enough awareness of God to lead her son well through life. But there is one more thing that I ran out of time for that week that I do wanna talk about here quickly. When Mary finds out about this son that she will have, the first thing that she does is pack up and leave town and move in with her cousin in Judea.
Speaker 1:It's actually her cousin Elizabeth. She's the audience for this magnificat. Think about this for a second. When Mary finds out that she's pregnant, she leaves town. And what this says to me is that likely, Mary just didn't feel like she had enough support around her where she was.
Speaker 1:She didn't have enough family with her or enough friendships to carry her through this season. And there's something just really powerful about the fact that she knows this, and so she seeks it out. And oftentimes, what we really lack is what we are too afraid to be vulnerable enough to ask for. Now look, Mary isn't a mess. She's not a wreck.
Speaker 1:She's overjoyed, she needs someone to share that story with. And Elizabeth is there for her to open her doors and open her home and welcome Mary's joy without hesitation, and it's beautiful. But look, this strange Christmas that has come for all of us, maybe it reminds us that we need to share what's in us with someone the way that Mary does. And maybe you can be the one who opens yourself to be there for someone the way that Elizabeth does for Mary. Maybe you can be the one who reaches out and asks for someone to share the story with you.
Speaker 1:Because none of us ever need to be enough for ourselves on our own, and that's another thing we learn from Mary. However, next we looked at Joseph. Really interesting story. I mean, can you imagine being caught in this predicament? Your fiance tells you she's pregnant but promises it's not what you think.
Speaker 1:And here we talked about not having enough information. You don't know the whole story, and yet you just decide to trust anyway. One of the really interesting things I think we see in the story is the way that changing our minds or reversing our course can be holy too. Joseph is ready to divorce Mary after hearing about her pregnancy after all. He doesn't have the whole story, and he can't wrap his mind around the tale yet.
Speaker 1:Then an angel appears, and as incredulous as Joseph is, he decides to backtrack. Sometimes knowing that we don't always have all the information, knowing that we can learn and then change and grow and turn ourselves around when need be, that can we can go back to someone that we have perhaps disbelieved or even hurt. And we can say, I'm sorry. I was wrong. I didn't see it then, but I understand it now.
Speaker 1:Trusting that we have all of us that capacity already in us. Sometimes this is what makes love possible in a world where none of us have all of the information. And then last week, we looked at the shepherds. These poor, dirty, smelly, essential workers of the ancient world who didn't carry enough respect to be credible witnesses for anything, let alone an angelic proclamation. And yet this is who God comes to with an announcement, an invitation, an offer to be the ones to witness salvation up close.
Speaker 1:And once again, I think we see ourselves here if we look closely enough. There are those moments where we know that God has spoken to us. In our bones, we sense divine leading. And yet often, there's someone near us, someone we desperately want the approval of that just can't see it with us. And look, I firmly believe that God speaks in community and that we need to hear each other in order to hear God well.
Speaker 1:God is no respecter of persons. And just because someone can't see the potential that God is calling out of you, this is not reason to abandon what God has invited you to witness. You may not have all of the respect that you crave, but you are already enough. You already have invitation to take your seat at God's table. So Mary is more than her lack of formal education.
Speaker 1:Joseph is more than his lack of information. Shepherds are more than their lack of prestige, and the Magi, they are more than the fact they come from outside the story. But first, let's pray. God, for all the ways that you surprise us this advent again. You come to us to tell us that we are enough to be used in your story.
Speaker 1:That there is purpose and intention behind our creation that we are here to bring you into the world in some new way. May we begin to disbelieve all the lies that tell us we are not enough for your purposes. That we are too small, too insignificant, too sinful, too broken to be used by you, and instead, may we begin to believe the voice of your spirit that reminds us that we are enough. That we have a place, that we have a role, that you speak in and through us to the world. That as we begin to add our small story and our small slice to your kingdom that is building and advancing around the globe, we get to participate in the greatest story ever imagined.
Speaker 1:The way that you are at work right now healing, repairing, saving everything. In the strong name of the one whose coming we await, we pray. Amen. Alright. Today, we're telling the story a little bit out of order.
Speaker 1:And today's story is traditionally saved for epiphany or the period after the twelve days of Christmas, which, by the way, start on Christmas Day and run through to January 6. And that's because the Magi or the wise men obviously came along long after Jesus was born. So sorry, no, they were not in the barn with the donkey that night. However, they were the ones who brought the gifts, so perhaps that does make some sense to talk about on the Sunday before Christmas after all. And speaking of gifts, I am notoriously a bad gift receiver.
Speaker 1:Unless you're going to try to buy me another gray shirt, I just really don't need much or want it, to be fair. Actually, my wife thought that she had found something that she could get me for Christmas this year, and she tried very subtly to work it into our conversation over dinner one night. She was asking about the color of the thing that I wanted, not very subtle actually. And so I just replied, ordered it already yesterday. Christmas ruined.
Speaker 1:Although my favorite gift giving story was when I was about 12 or 13 years old, and I tried to buy a doorknob with a lock for my parents. And they were always complaining about my sisters and I barging into their rooms. Rather than respecting their space, that seemed like too much to ask for a 12 year old, I figured I could at least allow them to lock me out. Anyway, on Christmas Eve, I had the brilliant idea to unwrap this gift, open the box, and install it on their door while they slept. See what I mean about not respecting any space?
Speaker 1:But I was 13 years old. I had no idea what I was doing, and I proceeded to make far too much noise in the attempt and wake them up. At that point, I ran and hid under my sister's bed hoping that they would go back to sleep, but instead creating a mild panic when they couldn't find me in the middle of the night. Regardless, our gift bearing visitors here are much wiser than I, and that's why they call them the wise men, I guess. But they just walk up and they present their gifts.
Speaker 1:Pro tip, that works too. But let's take a look at this story and what it might say to us about Christmas. And for that, we're gonna go to Matthew chapter two, where in verse one we read that after Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea during the time of King Herod, Magi from the East came to Jerusalem and asked, where is the one who has been born King of the Jews? We saw his star when it rose and we've come to worship him. Now there's a lot for us to talk about here already.
Speaker 1:Now first of all, Magi from the East came to Jerusalem. So who are these guys? That's actually a pretty good question and there seems to be at least three possible answers. They are Persians, Babylonians, or Arabians. And each of these actually have compelling arguments.
Speaker 1:The term magi or majoy that Matthew uses here, it is most directly related to the Persian hypothesis. It comes from the Medes or the Persians. And in fact, early Christian writers like Clement of Alexandria identify these magi as such, even claiming that they are Zoroastrians coming from Persia following a prediction about the birth of the Messiah by Zoroaster. There's a first century BCE text called the oracles of Haistapes that refers to the son of God and his coming. Now is it referring to Jesus?
Speaker 1:Well, that's hard to verify, but there certainly was in Persia at the time in anticipation of some type of cosmic event born in the world. Okay. So Babylonian. Well, this one comes from the star. The Babylonians at the time weren't really into astrology.
Speaker 1:And due to the Babylonian conquest of Judah, Babylonian theologians knew a great deal about Jewish eschatology and hopes for a Messiah. So Babylonians looking for signs in the skies and knowing a lot about Hebrew theology could very well have put these two things together. Now when it comes to the star itself, some people choose to read this as a literary device more than an actual astrological phenomenon. It represents the cosmic significance of Jesus in the world. But if we do want to map it onto a visible phenomenon, we could speculate.
Speaker 1:It could have been a supernova, something happening somewhere in our galaxy visible only for a few years from Earth until it burned out. It could have been a comet. Halley's comet, for example, would have been visible in that part of the world in 12 to November, or perhaps most likely here, it could have been a planetary conjunction or planetary alignment. Jupiter and Saturn line up about every twenty years, and they appear much brighter in the sky than they normally do. And then even more rare is when Jupiter, Saturn, and Mars all line up.
Speaker 1:Now Kepler recorded this happening in sixteen o four and calculated the interval at every 804, which would place it in the sky from about seven to six BCE. There were even Jewish writings that ascribe theological significance to the conjunction of these planets. Abraham bar Haya in the eleventh century and Isaac Abravanel in the fifteenth century tried to date the exodus and the coming of the messiah based on this astrological phenomenon. Regardless, if you're ascribing the star to an actual astrological event, Babylonians are probably your best guess for the identity of these travelers. And then finally, we have the Arabian hypothesis, and this one is linked to the gifts that they bring.
Speaker 1:Gold and frankincense and myrrh, these are all gifts that are associated with those from Midian and Sheba in the Hebrew scriptures. Isaiah, Psalms, Kings, and Proverbs all have different references to Arabians that seem consistent with Matthew's portrayal here, including their gifts. Now why does any of this matter? Well, it doesn't, except I think it's really important to understand that whoever these travelers are, they are not Jewish. They are not from inside the story or from inside the community.
Speaker 1:They are outsiders who recognize the beauty of this moment and they make their way toward it. Now later, after Jesus has been born and died and raised, the significance of this story will become even more apparent. And the doors will be flung wide open to the Gentiles, the non Jewish peoples, and they will be invited into the community of Christ. Paul will take up the charge and demand that expansion, the inclusion of more at the table. But I would suggest that those ends are evident here in the very beginning.
Speaker 1:Not only are these foreigners welcomed to the home of Mary and Joseph I mean, to be fair, they did bring some gifts. I'd let them in too. But they're able to notice the signs that those who knew to expect the Messiah somehow missed for themselves. That awareness is then met by divine revelation in a dream where God confirms their intuition and tells them not to return to Herod with news of their discovery. That's the next part of the story.
Speaker 1:So in verse three, we read that King Herod hears about everything that's happening, and he calls together all his people and asks them what it all means. Where is this Messiah supposed to be born? He wants to snuff out any rival to his throne. And likely, I mean, he doesn't buy into the Messiah mythology. He's he's not Jewish after all, but he's also not foolish.
Speaker 1:And he knows that if enough people start to believe in something, even if it's not true, it can be dangerous. So he wants to shut this down. But his people, they they can't figure it out, so he has the Magi brought to him. He sends them to Bethlehem saying, go and search carefully for the child. As soon as you find him, come back and report to me so that I too may come and worship him.
Speaker 1:However, when they get there and they find Mary and Joseph and baby living in a house, and yes, by this time, the family has moved out of the manger. They present their gifts, but then we read in verse 12 that having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route. That's kind of it for the Magi. We really don't know who they are. We don't really know where they came from.
Speaker 1:We don't really know where they went. All we really know is that they showed up with some gifts at a really opportune time. In fact, in the next verse we read that Joseph also has a dream in which he is told to flee Bethlehem that Herod, incensed by not being able to find the Christ child, intends to kill all the boy children in the area. And so Joseph packs up his family and he moves to Egypt. He literally becomes a refugee on the run from the state.
Speaker 1:Some speculate that the resources to make such a move on such short notice, perhaps they came from the gifts of the magi. And a little gold goes a long way. But let's think about this. Have you ever had someone drop into your life unexpected, perhaps only for a short season and leave an outsized impact? And of course you have.
Speaker 1:Right? A teacher or a coach, a stranger, a friend. One of the really interesting things about being a pastor is the different ways that people come in and out of my life. And some of you watching today were part of the team that launched Commons Church six years ago. Some of you have known me since I moved to Calgary and started pastoring in the city fifteen years ago, and those kinds of durable, lasting relationships are some of the great joys of my life.
Speaker 1:But then there are also people watching today that I've never met in person. There are people who were students in Calgary at one point who impacted me deeply while they were in university, but they moved away after they graduated. There are people who resonated with a season of my ministry and then found new life somewhere else. And all of that has its own beauty to it as well. There's the story of the Magi speaks to us of the outsized gifts those from outside our circle often bring to us.
Speaker 1:Even if and sometimes because they are only in our lives for a moment. Sometimes it's the voices that come from the margins, the ones we don't expect to bless us, the ones we didn't see coming that have the most impact on us. And look, without being too cheesy here, a kind word or a smile from a stranger, these things really can make a huge difference when they're offered with grace. And I know you've received them. I know that you've offered them, and sometimes celebrating them is important.
Speaker 1:But what I really wanna notice here is the way that those outside our story can help us experience our story in new ways. Remember, whoever these men are, they're they're not Jewish. They're not from inside the community. They may have had a familiarity with the Jewish story and religion, but this is not their training or expertise or lived experience. And yet, before anyone else, they recognize the signs.
Speaker 1:And they acknowledge the significance from inside their own religious traditions and expectations of God. They uncover and appreciate and point us to new beauty birthed in the world. From outside the story, they help those inside the story understand the story. And in that, they point to the fullness, the comprehensiveness of the story that would eventually expand to include all peoples everywhere. And the fact that it is outsiders who recognize the Jewish Messiah who becomes the world's Christ, this is not a mistake.
Speaker 1:It is yet another example of how Christmas reminds us that every time we think to walk past someone without noticing their contribution to us, Whether it is assuming that Mary is too young to teach us about God, or Joseph too ill informed to choose the good, the shepherds too lowly to herald the arrival, or Magi from the East, from different religious traditions to lost to possibly point us to where the story is going. Every time we begin to think that someone that we are not enough for God to use, It is the way that God comes here in Advent that brings us back to noticing the divine that is present in everyone around us always. This Christmas, in all of our frustration, in all of our celebration, in all of the ways we struggle to know that even this is enough for us. May the way that God arrives to you this Christmas Reignite your fascination with the God who is around you all the time in everyone you meet. May you look for God in unexpected places.
Speaker 1:May you learn about God from unexpected voices. May the divine be revealed just enough for you to hope this Christmas. You are enough for God to use, so is everyone you encounter this Advent. May you discover the Christ child this Christmas. Let's pray.
Speaker 1:God of all good gifts, who comes to us in unexpected ways, on the sly, on the slant, in all those that we have been taught and conditioned to look past, to walk past. Might we recognize that your divine presence and brilliance is embedded in every person we encounter. We are enough to carry you into our world, and that everyone we meet shares something of your divine image with us. This Christmas, may we see you everywhere as we await for you in the specificity of a child. May your coming to us open our eyes, open our imagination.
Speaker 1:May it help us to hope for your presence around us in new ways tomorrow. And as we begin to align ourselves with that story, as our choices, our words, our relationships, our gift to the world, contribute to the kingdom you are building. May we be swept up in your imagination, In the strong name of the one we await, we pray. Amen.