I told Sherry I was coming here to put last Sunday's sermon on the blog and she asked me if I ever put jokes on it like I do in the sermon. I said, "Sometimes, why?" She said, "because they're funny, you should do it." So, maybe I will.
Here is the sermon with the reading from Matthew.
Matthew 2:1-12
In the time of King Herod, after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, asking, "Where is the child who has been born king of the Jews? For we observed his star at its rising, and have come to pay him homage." When King Herod heard this, he was frightened, and all Jerusalem with him; and calling together all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Messiah was to be born. They told him, "In Bethlehem of Judea; for so it has been written by the prophet:- `And you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,
- are by no means least among the rulers of Judah;
- for from you shall come a ruler
- who is to shepherd my people Israel.'"
Now after the wise men had left, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, "Get up, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you; for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him." Then Joseph got up, took the child and his mother by night, and went to Egypt, and remained there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfill what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet, "Out of Egypt I have called my son."
When Herod died, an angel of the Lord suddenly appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt and said, "Get up, take the child and his mother, and go to the land of Israel, for those who were seeking the child's life are dead." Then Joseph got up, took the child and his mother, and went to the land of Israel. But when he heard that Archelaus was ruling over Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. And after being warned in a dream, he went away to the district of Galilee. There he made his home in a town called Nazareth, so that what had been spoken through the prophets might be fulfilled, "He will be called a Nazorean."
January 6th is the Epiphany. It is the time when we read the story of the visit by the magi to the baby Jesus. These magi were very wise men. In fact we call them the wise men don't we. They were wise in several ways. They were not fooled by that very bad man Herod. I can just hear him saying to them in a kind of sneering voice. “when you find him, let me know where he is exactly so I may honor him as well”. Of course we know that honoring this future king was not what he was planning on doing at all.
We
believe these wise men had at least one astrologer amongst them
because they were following a star. That is about all we know. We
always say there were three but we don't really know that either.
Maybe there were five or six. Or two. We may have gotten the idea of
three from that old Epiphany song, “We Three Kings” I think it
goes something like this... We three kings of orient are' looking
for Jesus in our car'.
They
were probably pretty rich because they brought the child Jesus some
very rich gifts of Gold, Frankincense, and myrrh. All three were very
expensive. It does not seem to be the kind of gift you would give to
a baby but it is a powerful message about how important this child
was. There is a theory that if the magi had been women it would have
gone a little differently. They would have been on time for the
birth because they would have asked directions. They would have
helped deliver the baby. They would have cleaned the stable. One of
them would have brought a casserole and they would have brought
practical gifts.
The
magi very wisely returned to there home by another route but this
baby Jesus was not out of trouble yet. Herod was still going to try
and track him down. Of course this is only the beginning of the
family story.
You will notice that a lot of communication between God and man occurs in dreams. Dreams were considered very authentic sources of information to the people of the first century. The magi were warned in a dream and Joseph was warned through a dream as well. Then lastly an angel tells Joseph he can return to Israel.
Matthew
frequently attempts to make connections between the prophesy of the
old testament and Jesus as the messiah. Jewish scholars challenge a
lot of these connections the new testament authors make. For
instance the prophesy referred to in Matthew, “Out of Egypt I have
called my son” is taken from the prophet Hosea chapter 11. The
first two verses read, “When Israel was a child, I loved him, and
out of Egypt I called my son. The more I called them, the more they
went from me, they kept sacrificing to the Baals and offering incense
to idols.”
Jewish
scholars argue that the old testament prophets wrote for the time
they were in and not about something that would happen centuries into
the future. I am no biblical scholar and never plan to be and I am
not so sure how much of all this applies to us today.
What
does seem clear is that Jesus and his family were faced with danger
most of his life, at least the life we know about. Why is this
important to us today. I think it is important that we know the
story. Stories connect us and they teach us at the same time.
I
believe it is important that we know each others stories as well. I
don't mean spill your guts sharing but I also don't mean “my life
has just been the rosiest thing you could ever imagine and if you
want proof, just check my Facebook page”. Balance is always
important and I think that we will have a deeper understanding of
each other in the end. So if you wish, maybe we could explore this
idea. I will write mine 500 words or less and share it with you as
part of my next sermon and we will see where it goes from there. I
have a fairly checkered past so a few things may be left out for
those with a weak heart.
Amen
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