Matthew 2:1-12
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 have come to worship him.”
When King
Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him.
When he had
called together all the people’s chief priests and teachers of the law, he
asked them where the Messiah was to be born.
“In
Bethlehem in Judea,” they replied, “for this is what the prophet has
written:
“‘But you,
Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,
are by no means least among the rulers of Judah;
for out of you will come a ruler
who will shepherd my people Israel.’[b]”
Then Herod
called the Magi secretly and found out from them the exact time the star had
appeared.
He sent them
to Bethlehem and said, “Go and search carefully for the child. As soon as you
find him, report to me, so that I too may go and worship him.”
After they had
heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen when it rose
went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was.
When they saw
the star, they were overjoyed.
On coming to
the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and
worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with
gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh.
And having
been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to
their country by another route.
Here ends this reading of the Word of God
for the People of God. Thanks be to God. Amen.
Prayer for Understanding
God of light and life, open our eyes as well as our ears, so
that we may not only hear your Word preached today but then see your Word lived
out in our lives and in your world, through Christ, our Lord, the light of the
world. Amen.
Message Another Road
In the time period when Jesus was
born, people kept to themselves. Jews kept to Jews. Samaritans kept to
Samaritans. Greeks kept to Greeks. Not only that, people stayed close to home.
People from Bethlehem married people from Bethlehem. People from Nazareth
married people from Nazareth. People from Bethany married people from Bethany.
Most people grew up and then lived as adults in the same home in the same town.
When families got too large to fit into their accommodations, they built
another room on the house. A household
would have parents and grandparents and aunts and uncles and cousins.
People were very suspicious of
outsiders. They only trusted people
whose ancestors lived alongside them for centuries. Everyone else was suspect.
After Jesus was born, unusual things
happened to him and his family. When Jesus was 8 days old, his parents followed
Jewish custom and had Jesus circumcised. When it was time for Mary and Jesus to
be purified, the family traveled to the Temple in Jerusalem. They took a pair
of two young doves to sacrifice as a thanksgiving for the birth of a first born
son.
When the family was at the Temple
completing the rituals required by the Jewish tradition, the strange things
occurred. Simeon, a righteous man who was told by the Holy Spirit he would not
die before he saw the Messiah, waited for the Holy Family. When he saw Mary, Joseph, and the baby, Simeon
took the baby in his arms and praised God because he finally met the Messiah. A
prophetess, Anna, who lived in the
Temple and worshipped day and night, then approached the Holy Family and
praised God that she was meeting the child who was going to redeem Israel.
The modest family created quite a
sensation.
After a few months, a group of
foreigners arrived to honor the baby. This was extremely alarming. I can just imagine the shock on Mary’s face
when the door opened to their grand, foreign guests. Magi, astrologers, learned
men from the East, from Arabia, were at her family’s modest home to present the
baby with gifts and to honor him.
First shepherds. Then Simeon and
Anna. And, then a band of foreigners for far, far away.
Jesus came to earth to make all
things new. A baby born in a stable came to change the world.
God chose for Jesus to come to earth
so that all people will have access to God. Jesus was born to a family who, if
he was any other child, would have stayed in the town of Nazareth until the end
of their days. But, because Jesus came to be the Messiah, he was visited by
strangers, people from far, far away.
He was worshiped by people who weren’t born into Judaism. Just after
this visit from the Magi, Jesus’ parents fled to Egypt. Jesus was a refugee in a strange, foreign
land. God sent Jesus to invite the world to believe in God.
Jesus came for the people of
Nazareth. Jesus came for the people of Bethlehem. Jesus came for the people of
Jerusalem. Jesus came for the people of Arabia. Jesus came for the people of
Egypt. Jesus came for the people of Europe, and Asia, and Africa, and Australia,
and the Americas. Jesus came for the people of Skippack.
When Jesus came to earth, all
tribalism and ethnocentrism was broken. We stopped being people who were only
concerned about our biological family members or the members of our tribe or
clan. We stopped being people who only cared about other Americans or other
Pennsylvanians. We became people of the greatest Commandment, people who work
to Love the Lord our God with all of our hearts, and souls, and minds, and
strength. And, people who work to love
our neighbors as much as we love ourselves.
Our neighbors down the street and our neighbors across the oceans. Our
neighbors from our metropolitan area and our neighbors from everywhere else.
For God so loved the world that God
gave his one and only son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but
have eternal life.
Thanks be to the God who shared
Jesus with us, all of us. Amen.
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