Sermon: After the miracle
From Wellington Cathedral of St Paul
3 January 2010: am
The Revd Judith Wigglesworth
- Isaiah 60:1-6
- Psalm 72:1-14
- Ephesians 3:1-12
- Matthew 2:1-12
On Boxing Day I settled down after lunch, after a very lazy start to the day, to watch a film – The Nativity. The three men from the east, featured in our Gospel today, were key characters in the film. Early on they observed the stars, referred to ancient prophecies, and wondered whether the words of the prophets were about to be fulfilled. Eventually they packed up their camels and set off on what would be a tortuous journey of many months, to follow a star.
The wondering and progress of these travellers was interspersed in the film with the story of Mary, a young Jewish woman betrothed to Joseph, doing her own wondering after a visit from the angel Gabriel. After spending time with her cousin Elizabeth, Mary set off on her own journey, with Joseph, to Bethlehem. The rest is history.
The film powerfully portrayed the story of the nativity, and clearly showed the humanity of the Magi, Mary and Joseph. Yet the film also captured a sense of awe – a real sense of the miraculous – which, after all, is what the Christmas story challenges us to accept.
The three Magi in our Gospel reading were not kings, nor should they probably be called wise men. By the first century the term Magi referred to astronomers, fortune-tellers or star-gazers. We don’t know exactly what motivated them to seek the infant Saviour, why they came and why they worshipped. The narrator seems more interested in the response they made: they were “overwhelmed with joy” when they saw that the star had stopped, and they paid homage to the newborn Saviour. “By a mysterious combination of God’s loving grace and their faithful seeking, they are there, as models of seeking Jesus, believing in Jesus, and worshipping Jesus with what they have. God used what they knew – the stars – and gave them what they didn’t know – the Scriptures – to bring them to Jesus.” (Antony Billington, Of Astrologers, Magicians and Bungling Sorcerers, www.licc.org.uk London Institute for Contemporary Christianity: Word for the Week , Christmas 2009)
Today we mark the beginning of the season of Epiphany. One theme running through Epiphany is that of celebration and proclamation – telling the good news of the coming of Jesus Christ. Today, as we focus on the story of the Magi, there are perhaps two other themes that emerge.
First, Epiphany says something about continuity. The awe and miracle of Christmas is not a one-off event. The Magi came, they saw, and they went. After paying homage to Jesus, their journeying continued, they knew the significance of what they had just witnessed, and implicit in the Gospel is the sense of awe they took with them.
We ourselves may have experienced that sense of awe at our soaring Christmas worship, or in the sight of the Christ-child being laid in the manger at midnight. We may have found comfort in that sense of awe as we recalled the loss of a loved one during the year. We may have missed that sense of awe altogether if our own pain or loneliness overwhelmed it.
Can we carry, or re-discover, a sense of awe and wonder in our journeys beyond Christmas, into our summer break, back to work, and into our communities? Perhaps we can – if we don’t pack up the Christmas Saviour with the Christmas decorations. Perhaps we can – by praying, giving thanks to God for Christ in our midst, and delving into the great scripture passages that will carry us through Epiphany. Perhaps we can – if we let that sense of awe and wonder in the Christ-miracle continue to guide our thoughts and actions this Epiphany.
Epiphany also says something about gifting. The Magi gave their treasure to the newborn Saviour. In turn, they received, on behalf of all people, the greatest treasure of all – the gift of the Saviour to the world.
We too were given the gift of Christ at Christmas. When we filled our Cathedrals and churches we came to receive that gift. We also came to give of ourselves in worship and thanksgiving.
During Advent I read a book called Glory in our Midst by Michael Perham, Bishop of Gloucester. He talks of Christ’s three-fold coming.
First, the coming of Christ as a child. This is the Christ whose birth in a stable we celebrate at Christmas.
Second, the final coming of Christ. This is the Christ whose coming we anticipate as the fulfillment of God’s kingdom.
There is a third Advent – an “intermediate and present” coming. In the words of Michael Perham:
"The intermediate and present coming is for many of us focused in the sacramental presence of Christ, which unites us with both his first coming and his final coming. It links us with the child born at Bethlehem, for there Christ dwelt in the body of the baby; and in the Eucharist, however precisely we understand it, he dwells in the bread we receive as his body. It links us with his final coming, for it is a daring anticipation of the feast of heaven, where everyone and everything will have been gathered up into Christ." (Perham, Glory in Our Midst, 2005, 20)
This is the Christ we encounter in the Eucharist today. This is the Christ we encounter in living as followers of Christ. This is the Christ whose kingdom we can glimpse afresh each day. And this is the Christ who will give us the energy and will to live out the challenge presented to us by the Dean on Christmas Day: to love each other, and to care for the world.
Just as the Magi came to be in the presence of Christ, to give gifts, and in turn to receive the gift of Christ in the stable, so we come at Christmas – and today – to be in God’s presence. Here we will taste the “boundless riches of Christ” Paul refers to in his letter to the Ephesians.
But what is our gift? We haven’t travelled for miles across deserts with well-packed treasure chests of gold, frankincense and myrrh. We have come with jumbled-up lives of joy and sorrow, successes and pain, delight and heartache. Perhaps the Christmas carol “In the Bleak Mid-Winter” holds the answer:
What can I give Him, poor as I am?
If I were a shepherd, I would bring a lamb;
If I were a Wise Man, I would do my part;
Yet what I can I give Him: give my heart.
This Epiphany, let’s make our own journey to be in Christ’s presence, loving others and caring for the world along the way. Let’s be humble enough to recognize the immensity of the Christmas gift of Christ to us. Let’s be brave enough to give, in return, our most precious gift: ourselves.
Amen
