Sermon on Matthew 2:1-12

Pastor Jennifer Garcia

A hard time they had of it. The Wise Ones had journeyed far in a time before planes, trains, and automobiles. They were strangers in this land, foreigners not sure exactly where they would find what they were looking for.

Sure, they followed the star, but when they had reached the right region, they had to start asking around. And Herod “was frightened, and all Jerusalem with him.”

They were probably afraid for different reasons. King Herod was unquestionably afraid for his power. Whispers of a new king could bring an uprising and threaten his throne.

People in general were perhaps afraid of these travelers themselves—people from far away with strange clothes and practices who probably looked travel-worn and maybe a little suspicious.

But what they were really afraid of was probably Herod. If Herod felt threatened, they were all going to suffer the consequences, and indeed by the end of the story, all the family members of two-year-olds and younger did.

Herod was jealous and violent. As if the Wise Ones didn’t have enough to deal with trying to find the child after a long journey following nothing but the stars, they now had to dodge the schemes of an evil king.

But God did send a star that led them to where the baby was. God did orchestrate a powerful encounter where scholars and mystics from far away worshiped the baby Jesus and brought him tribute. Then, God sent the Wise Ones a dream, warning them not to play into Herod’s hands, and they went home by another way.

This story is full of surprising ways of knowing and being.

There are unexpected characters: foreigners from a distant land.

They paid attention to nature: trusting a star to lead them on their journey.

They didn’t pay attention to King Herod, with all his power and authority.

But instead, they trusted a dream that defied him.

God works in this story through strangers, mystics, nature, and dreams instead of an earthly authority figure.

God works apart from the usual channels to contrast Herod’s violent kingship with Jesus’ humble, surprising, compassionate Reign of God.

This time of year, it’s especially easy to go along with what’s around us.

Companies are spending a ton of money to advertise to us and make us feel inadequate—but wait! They know exactly what will fix us: their product!

We have to lose weight, regardless of what will actually improve our health, because they say so!

We have to buy all the planners and join all the courses, regardless of whether that will actually get our lives in order, because they say so!

We have toget ahead, regardless of our behavior’s effect on others, because they say so!

Our worldly authority figures can often lead us astray.

Maybe we, too, need to pay attention to different ways of knowing and being. Our story today calls us to something different.

Our story speaks of different, countercultural ways of knowing and being:

1.    Listening to outsiders like the Wise Ones instead of those in power like Herod

Who are the wise ones in our lives who might not have worldly power but who have wisdom to share with us? There are many forms of ancestral knowledge, family histories, and cultural practices that ground us in our past and prepare us for our future.

2.    Paying attention to nature – like the star

What might nature tell us if we slow down and pay attention to it? What can we learn from the changing seasons? How is climate change affecting even our neighborhoods?

3.    Trusting our inner knowing – like the Wise Ones trusting their dreams

Whether it’s God speaking directly to us in dreams or just noticing when our shoulders tense up, our bodies and intuitions have a lot to teach us if we learn to listen.

4.    Being willing to go a different way than what we expect for the sake of others, like the Wise Ones taking a different way home to protect baby Jesus

We can choose to live in countercultural ways for the sake of others: buying less to care for Earth’s resources or considering how our food gets to us, tipping outrageously to brighten someone’s day, ortruly living as if we believe every person is made in the image of God.

We of course have to use our critical thinking skills with all of this. I’m not looking to start a conspiracy theory or a cult. If you have a dream that says to harm someone, don’t do that.

But what if we really let God speak to us through all our ways of knowing?

What if we allowed ourselves to look a bit foolish or make what seems to our culture like a bad business decision for the sake of our neighbors?

What if we let Jesus be our guiding star?

We might just be walking each other home by a different way—a way of hope, peace, justice, and compassion that is the Reign of God.

Let’s be open to living a different way.

Receive this “Blessing for wisdom for Epiphany Sunday” from Kate Bowler:

Wise men.
They followed a star to where you lay,
tiny king.
Wonderfully ordinary in the sounds
you made,
perfect in the way all babies are,
but worshipped by important men,
wise men bearing gifts,
looking, searching, plotting trajectories
and making plans that,
once they were sure the signs were right,
they’d follow.

Blessed are we who are searching,
looking for the signs,
desiring above all the star, the wisdom,
the light by which we might see.
In our time, in our world.

God, can the light of that star reach us,
these thousands of years later?
And how would we know it,
the fact of your coming?

It seems hard to see in the broad daylight,
But, oh, how it meets us in the dark
from light-years away.
All creation knew it:
the star at your birth,
the seas at the sound of your voice,
the darkening skies at your death,
the gladdened hearts at your sweet return.

God, blessed are we who bow in the dark,
feeling our way forward in the unknowns
to wait and watch for the pinpoint of light
that will be your gift to us.