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1st Sunday after Epiphany
January 6, 2008 Sermon by The Bill Van Oss, Rector
                                                                                       Readings                                                                                    

Three sons left home, went out on their own and prospered. Getting back together, they discussed the gifts they were able to give their elderly mother.

The first said, “I built a big house for our mother.”
The second said, “I sent her a Mercedes with a driver.”
The third smiled and said, “I’ve got you both beat. You know how Mom enjoys the Bible and you know she can’t see very well. I sent her a brown parrot that can recite the entire Bible. It took 20 monks in a monastery 12 years to teach him. I had to pledge to contribute $100,000 a year for 10 years, but it was worth it. Mom just has to name the chapter and verse, and the parrot will recite it.

Soon thereafter, Mom sent out her letters of thanks: “Milton,” she wrote to the first son, “The house you built is so huge. I live in only one room, but I have to clean the whole house.”

“Marvin,” she wrote to another, “I am too old to travel. I stay home all the time, so I never use the Mercedes. And the driver is so rude!”

“Dearest Melvin,” she wrote to her third son, “You were the only son to have the good sense to know what your mother likes. That chicken was delicious.”

Impractical gifts: A big house for a single person, a car and driver for someone who never goes out, a parrot,. . .Gold, frankincense and myrrh for a baby?

Those wise men traveled an awful long way to offer impractical gifts, don’t you think?

But the gifts were not meant to be practical; they were meant to be symbolic. The gifts symbolized who the newborn Messiah was: Gold represented royalty – it was a tribute to a king; Frankincense produced the aromatic smoke used in worship – incense – a symbol of the great high priest; and myrrh, the substance used to anoint bodies for burial – it foretold Christ’s suffering and death, His giving of Himself for us.

Symbolic gifts given by these foreigners, these Gentiles from the East – from present-day Iran.

Jesus Christ, The Good News had come for the whole world – for all the peoples of the world.

Christ had come not just for the Jewish people, the chosen people, but Christ had come for all people – event the gentiles. God’s light has extended to all the nations, to all the peoples of the world.

I read last week of a Palestinian Christian man who lives in Jerusalem, in the shadow of a huge wall that divides Palestinians from Jews. This man, living in the shadow of this huge, concrete wall spends his days carving manger scenes to sell to tourists, but his manger scenes have one added feature. A tall wall divides the wise men from the rest of the figures in the scene. The wise men are on one side of the wall and Mary, Joseph, Jesus and the shepherds are on the other side. How symbolic is that? Were the wise men to make the journey today from Iran to Bethlehem they would encounter that wall. . .

And yet, on this Epiphany day we celebrate and remember that Jesus came as a light to all the nations – Jews and Gentiles alike.

Oh, how our world desperately needs this Good News today. Our world builds walls and fortresses in the vain hope of gaining security, just like King Herod built walls and fortresses in his day. And yet, Herod was the most frightened character in the whole story.

The wise men journeyed a long way, following the star, to offer their gifts and to pay Christ homage. That’s all they wanted. That’s all they wanted.

To catch a glimpse of the Divine and to offer a gift – seeking nothing in return: How rare is that?

In the course of His short life, Jesus would face hundreds, if not thousands, of people who came to Him looking for something. “Heal me Lord”, “Heal My son or daughter.” “Feed me, Lord.” “Forgive me.” “Settle this dispute I have.”

Countless people approached Jesus looking for something, but these first visitors sought only to pay Him homage and offer him gifts.

What a wonderful lesson that is for us. We who so often approach God looking for something for ourselves or someone else, to be reminded that the first posture is worship, and honor, and gratitude and to be reminded that each one of us has gifts to offer God. Each of us has been blessed with gifts: a good mind, a compassionate heart, an able body, knowledge, insights and skills – from which we can give back, seeking nothing in return except the satisfaction of knowing that our gifts give honor and glory to God.

Today we celebrate Wise Men bearing symbolic gifts for the newborn Christ. We celebrate that God sent a Son for all people, that God’s love extends to all the people of the earth.

And we celebrate that we are a gifted people – gifted by God’s goodness and grace, we are invited to give back so that the whole world might glimpse the light that has come for all the nations. Amen.


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