“WHAT HAPPENED TO THE GIFTS?”
MATTHEW 2:1-12
2:1 In the time of King Herod, after Jesus
was born in Bethlehem of Judea, wise men from the
East came to Jerusalem,
2 asking, "Where is the child who
has been born king of the Jews? For we observed his star at its rising, and have come to pay him homage."
3 When King Herod heard this, he was frightened,
and all Jerusalem with him;
4 and calling together all the chief
priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Messiah was to be born.
5 They told him, "In Bethlehem of Judea; for so it has been
written by the prophet:
6 'And you, Bethlehem, in the land
of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for from you shall come a ruler who is to shepherd my people Israel.'"
7 Then Herod secretly called for the
wise men and learned from them the exact time when the star had appeared.
8 Then he sent them to Bethlehem, saying, "Go and search diligently for the child; and when you have found him, bring
me word so that I may also go and pay him homage."
9 When they had heard the king, they
set out; and there, ahead of them, went the star that they had seen at its rising, until it stopped over the place where the
child was.
10 When they saw that the star had
stopped, they were overwhelmed with joy.
11 On entering the house, they saw
the child with Mary his mother; and they knelt down and paid him homage. Then, opening their treasure chests, they offered
him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.
12 And having been warned in a dream
not to return to Herod, they left for their own country by another road.
13 Now after they had left, an angel
of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, "Get up, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain
there until I tell you; for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him."
14 Then Joseph got up, took the child and
his mother by night, and went to Egypt,
15 and remained there until the death of
Herod. This was to fulfill what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet, "Out of Egypt I have called my son.”
A little over
a week ago I went back to where it all began. I went back to the 1st Congregational Church in South
Portland, Maine for a funeral. As
some of you know that’s where I started my ministry as an associate pastor back in 1983. As I sat there in the sanctuary
my mind was flooded with all kinds of memories. One of those memories had to
do with a slip of the tongue that almost gave the senior minister a heart attack. It came one morning during the “Concerns
& Celebrations.” Everything was going along just fine until I came to the announcement for the Lenten Bible Study. “Don’t forget,” I said, “Pastor Nordgren’s Lenten Bible
Study will continue this Wednesday morning from 10 to 11
a.m. in the Laity Room. Child care will be provided for those who want to come and have children.” Everyone laughed of course and what made it even worse is that I couldn’t figure out why they were
laughing.
Moments like that are embarrassing.
They’re embarrassing because they make you look like you don’t know what you’re doing. They make you look like you don’t have a clue. It’s like the minister who went to the hospital
one day to visit an elderly parishioner. The man was wearing an oxygen mask which made it hard for him to talk, but the minister
did his best. Suddenly all kinds of alarms started to go off and the man started to wave his arms. It was clear that the man
was having a hard time breathing. Since the man couldn’t speak he motioned for a pad of paper and a pen on the tray
in front of him. The minister handed them to the man and then watched as he scribbled a few final words. In the confusion
that followed the minister put the note into his pocket and forgot about it. A
few days later though, during the man’s funeral, the minister remembered the note in his pocket. “You know,”
the minister said, “just before he died old Bill wrote a note. I haven’t read it, but knowing Bill I’m sure
there’s a word of wisdom there for all of us.” With that he took
the note out his pocket and read the words, “You’re standing on my oxygen line.”
If you’re like most
people don’t want people to think that you’re clueless. What you
really want is for people to think you’re competent and in charge. You
want people to think you’re confident and in control.
Sometimes though, it’s
good to admit that you don’t have a clue. It’s good to admit that
you don’t know it all; that you’ve got a problem that you can’t handle; that you’re in over your head.
Take a look at the wise men
and Herod. They were all rich and powerful and important people, but you know what?
They were all a little clueless. That’s right. They were all a little clueless. Let’s start with the wise
men. We know that they were wealthy. After all the gifts that they brought the
Christ child weren’t exactly bargain basement kind of gifts. We also know
that they were educated men. We know that because they knew how to read the stars.
They were also important. We know that because we’re told that when they got to Jerusalem
then went to see Herod the Great. Now you don’t get to see Herod the Great
if you’re just an everyday person off the street. It would be like you
or me walking up to the White House and telling the Secret Service that we’re there to see the president. It just isn’t going to happen.
So the wise men were rich
and powerful and important, but they were still a little clueless. First of all
they didn’t know exactly where they were going which is why they stopped to see Herod.
The wise men also didn’t know what Herod was up to when he told them to go and search diligently for the child. They were patsies who were being used by Herod which is why God had to warn them in
that dream not to go back to Herod. Here’s something else that doesn’t make sense. After God warned the wise men
about Herod why didn’t the wise men warn Mary and Joseph? Instead of warning them that Herod was going to have the child
killed the wise men got on their camels and went back to their own country by another way.
The wise man may have been
rich and powerful and important but they were still a little clueless. The same
thing came be said for Herod. First of all, the messiah is born right under his nose and he doesn’t even know it. Then
when the wise men show up he makes another big mistake. Here’s what I want to know. Why didn’t Herod send a spy
follow the wise men to Bethlehem? Herod’s ego was probably so big that he
probably figured the wise men wouldn’t dare double cross him. Well they
did and after every thing is said and done Herod ends up looking a little clueless himself.
The only one who isn’t
clueless here is God. In fact, you can see God’s incredible wisdom at work just about every place you look in this story.
First of all God is the one who put the star in the sky that guided the wise men to the baby Jesus in the first place. God was also the one who knew what Herod was up to and warned the wise men not to
go back to him. God was also the one who warned Joseph in a dream to take Mary
and Jesus and flee to Egypt.
That’s where the gifts
that the wise men brought come into play. You can also see God’s incredible wisdom at work in those gifts. You see,
I never really thought about those gifts very much until this past week. I always figured the gifts were meant to remind us
that the child in the manger was a very special child. Then I asked myself a
question. What happened to those gifts after the wise men left?
Then I asked myself another
question. How did Joseph get Mary and Jesus to Egypt?
You needed camels and food
and provisions for a journey like that and we know that Joseph wasn’t a rich man! We saw that Joseph wasn’t a
rich man last week when he and Mary went to the Temple to dedicate Jesus. Luke tells us that Joseph offered two doves. That wasn’t what you usually offered
though to dedicate a child. The usual offering was a lamb. You only offered two doves if you were dirt poor.
So Joseph didn’t have
the money to take his family and flee to Egypt. But wait!
What about those gifts? The wise men brought the child gold. Caching! The wise men brought the child frankincense. Caching! The wise men brought the child
myrrh. Caching! Caching! Caching!
When I realized that Joseph
probably used those gifts to help them escape to Egypt I said
to myself, “Isn’t God amazing! God had it all figured out right from the start.
God was a step ahead of the wise men and Herod and Joseph and everyone else.”
You can see God’s wisdom at work all the way from the beginning
to the end of this story, from the star that brought the wise men to Bethlehem
to the gifts that made it possible for the holy family to leave Bethlehem and
escape Herod’s wrath.
Now here’s the really
good news! God’s incredible wisdom is there for you too. God’s incredible
wisdom can guide you through all the difficult decisions that you have to make and the difficult dilemmas that you face. All
you have to do is be humble and listen they way the wise men did when God spoke to them in that dream.
Herod didn’t do that. Herod wasn’t humble. He was too full of himself to listen to anyone. That’s
a big problem today. Shortly after Hurricane Katrina slammed into the Gulf Coast
Billy Graham’s daughter was interviewed on the Early Show. Jane Clayson
asked her, “How could God let something like this happen?” Anne Graham
gave a very simple answer to that question. What she said was this, “I
believe God is deeply saddened by this, just as we are, but for years we’ve been telling God to get out of our schools,
to get out of our government and to get out of our lives. And being the gentleman
He is, I believe He has calmly backed out. How can we expect God to give us His
blessing and His protection if we demand He leave us alone?”
I don’t know about
you but I don’t want God to leave me alone and I’ll admit it. There
are times when I’m totally clueless. There are times when I do stupid things;
times when I say stupid things; times when I try to fix a problem and I only make it worse. When that happens though remember
those gifts that made it possible for a dirt poor man and his family to flee to Egypt
and escape the wrath of a hate filled king. Remember the gold and the frankincense and the myrrh because it’s true. God’s wisdom can more than make up for the fact that there are times when we
don’t have a clue. Amen.
Rev. Dr. Richard A. Hughes
January 7, 2007
