Your Destiny...

Sermon: Second Sunday after Christmas A

Jeremiah 31:7-14
Psalm 84
Ephesians 1:3-19
Matthew 2:1-12

Preached at St John’s Lancaster

Have you ever stopped to think what you might have in common with three Zoroastrian philosophers, a Jewish carpenter, a young mother and baby, a dour but hopeful Jewish prophet, and murderously Machiavellian King? This question has the distinct sound and feel of the first line of one of those internet jokes that seem to flood my in-box, but it is far from a joke, because it reminds us all of God’s great love towards us, and of our responsibility to respond appropriately to that love.
The three philosophers are better known to us as the three kings, or three wise men. They were not Jews, but in all probability were followers of the prophet Zoroaster, a Persian prophet of the late sixth century BC. His teachings are recorded in the “Zend -Avesta,” and are based in the worship of the good god Ormazd, who is engaged with his followers in a great struggle between light and darkness. There are still Zoroastrians today in the Iranian exile community. Most of them in their homeland have, like their Christian neighbors, been killed, marginalized, or forced to flee. These philosophers were noted for their knowledge of the heavens, which they used to predict the future and to advise rulers, and they were very aware of the sacred writings of the peoples of their world. They saw a new star in the east, perhaps a comet or a conjunction of the planets, and as they compared it to their sacred writings, they came to believe that it was a harbinger of the birth of a king. And so they came to Judea looking for him.
Without doubt, one look at Herod confirmed all they had heard about him. He was a cruel and manipulative man- a man who would stop at nothing to centralize and protect his power. And so it would have come as no surprize that after they had found the child where the prophets had said he would be, they presented their gifts and “departed to their own country another way, having been warned in a dream.” The Scriptures had predicted that when Messiah came into the world as a bright and shining star that “Kings of the Earth should attend to his rising.” And so the prophesies were fulfilled in these three wise kings from Persia. Their experience seems so far removed from our own, but is it?
Joseph was just another carpenter from a small town occupied by the Romans, another town of no account. In a later age of equally dominant Imperial thought it might have been described as “south of Brownsville and east of Dover,” or merely as “beyond the pale.” But the Bible tells us that Joseph was a just man, and one who listened to God. And so he “got up” on more than one occasion and took the child, and his mother, first to Bethlehem, and then into Egypt, and then into Israel, and then into Galilee, to a city called Nazareth, “that what had been spoken through the prophets might be fulfilled, namely that He shall be called a Nazarene.” And so through this simple and just man, the protector of the Holy Family, the prophesies were fulfilled. His experience seems so far removed from our own, but is it?
Mary and her son seem to be the pawns in this story. Moved about by forces beyond her control, supplied and protected by men sent in accordance with the prophecies of God. Hunted by a murderous tyrant, and forced to relocate time after time in her child’s formative years, her humility and trust in God never flagged. She remains for us today “Our Lady,” that one human being who perhaps more than any other teaches us what it means to walk humbly with the Lord our God, and to trust him every step of the way, even when our understanding is incomplete. She is what we hope to be, what we ought to be, and so often fail to be. Perhaps she is the easiest to relate to of all the characters in this account.
And so the question remains, what do we have in common with these people? St. Paul addresses the issue when he writes to the Church at Ephesus,
Ephesians 1:3-12 (King James Version)
3Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ:
4According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love:
5Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will,
6To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.
7In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace;
8Wherein he hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence;
9Having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself:
10That in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him:
11In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will:
12That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ.

You see, before the foundations of the world were laid, God had a plan for the salvation of his creation. In his abounding love, He knew that the freedom with which he endowed us would be misused and misunderstood. He knew that we would fall. It was the price of making us free. But freedom was the way he chose to show his love to all creation. It was as if he thought, “If after life’s vicissitudes and difficulties, they will willingly respond to my love, and learn to share that love with each other, forgiving each other and living together successfully as my people, then all creation will see the beauty of my character and know the wonder of my love.”
But back to the question at hand. “ What do you and I have in common with these people?” Like them, before the foundations of the world were laid, God knew your name, and had a plan for involving you in the outworking of his plan for the salvation of mankind, indeed of all creation. You are as it were “predestined” for this work. Like Jeremiah, the dour prophet of Israel, we are called to sing aloud the fact of God’s love in our own lives, that the people among whom we live and work might know that God is in the process of gathering in his people, from every nation, that his creation might be made whole and reflect that love and purpose and joy and peace that is his glory. It is our vocation. It is our destiny.
But what of Herod? How does he fit into this question? Herod is a tragic example of what happens to one who rejects the possibilities of oneness with God. Like all of the others in today’s lessons, and like us, he was given the gift of freedom by a loving God. But instead of that holiness of God which shines forth in love and purpose and joy and peace, he chose power and pride and control over others and at their expense; and he forfeited his own soul.
Today, God calls you and me, all of us here, to live into that vision of wholeness illuminated by the lives of the wise men, Joseph, Mary, the Babe, and Jeremiah. He calls us to be “just” like Joseph, to be obedient and submissive like Mary, to use our minds and our skills for the accomplishment of God’s plans like the wise men, to proclaim to all by word and example the reality of God’s love in Jesus Christ like Jeremiah, and ultimately to be willing to sacrifice ourselves for others for the sake of the kingdom of God, like Jesus. We are called to have these things in common with these men and women of faith. It is our destiny. Unfortunately, some among our species will choose like Herod to misuse their freedom and walk another way. But let us so live our lives that everyone we meet might see the wholeness of God in us, and be drawn to the service of Jesus, our Lord and our Saviour, our Brother and our Friend. In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. AMEN.