sermon excerpts: Presents and Presence (Matthew 2.1-12)

Matthew begins his version of the Christmas story from Joseph’s perspective and his reaction to Mary’s news that she was pregnant. He agrees to stay with her, she has her baby, they name him “Jesus”. The next development in the gospel is the arrival of the magi. There is no inn, no manger, no angel choirs, no shepherds; it is a very minimalist and stripped down account.

In fact, he takes a foreigner’s point of view. Sometimes it takes a different perspective to see the truth. Epiphany is a word that “a moment of sudden revelation or insight”. It is the a-ha! That suddenly things make sense as the pieces fit together. How often does someone from outside of the situation make sense of things? We are too often enmeshed in what is happening, closed in with tunnel vision, focused on what is happening to imagine what other things might be.

That is what the wisemen from the east do for us. This moment of recognition and paying tribute moves us from a cute story about a baby’s birth to the real, life-changing, spiritually-charged event. This birth means something, a huge shift in how we understand life and death, honour and shame, glory and defeat.


Every time I think of this scripture, I am drawn to the wise men’s point of view. For them, this was a great adventure, set off for a distant land, searching out a great king, bringing riches and treasure to offer as a present. This was also a shot in the dark, an extended venture into a foreign land to find one Jewish baby among thousands.

It must have been a time of wonder, doubt and danger. Yet they pressed on. Did they have to keep going? Who would know if they decided to turn around? No one would have known they were coming so no one would know if the wise men didn’t show up. There would have been no harm done. Still, they pressed on.

God is speaking through dreams and stars. So we find the holy presence at work in the world within us and the world around us, from our sleeping subconscious to the far reaches of the cosmos. The signals are all around us. It is about taking time to pay attention to the world and wanting to know what God’s message is.

People don’t want to hear the message from God, maybe because they already think they know what it is. ... The United Church of Canada has launched its Emerging Spirit campaign as a way of reaching out to try and encourage young people to find out firsthand what the church is saying and not rely on other’s interpretations or on memories from years ago that are no longer accurate.

We also may be too busy to notice the signals, too preoccupied with the tasks of daily living to connect with God’s purpose or glimpse the vision, too worried about our own lives to pay attention to creation. I admit that I can sometimes go days without actually looking up into the sky. I would have no clue if there was a new star in the night sky or not.

It really is remarkable that the wise men travelled so far to honour someone who is a complete stranger to them, their society and their belief system. As Christians, we haven’t often recognized the value, or commonality, of what others believe is having an impact on our lives.

Yet the wise men did just that, they saw something important happening in a different tradition than theirs and honoured it. Another lesson they teach us: Pay attention to what others have to contribute.

Why was it important for Matthew to demonstrate in his gospel that it was Gentiles, foreigners, non-Jews who first took notice and paid proper tribute to the Messiah? I think that says something about the assumptions we may make about other religions, nationalities, or whatever categories we use to think about others. It also challenges our own grasp of what the truth is.

The wise men gave gold, frankincense and myrrh, gifts of royalty, priesthood and the grave, to the baby Jesus. They’ve given us a gift as well, from their story we receive gifts of Wonder, Determination and Openness. Setting an example for all of us as people of faith, on our journeys through life, seeking some distant place far off where everything will suddenly make sense. Pushing on through the obstacles that others put in our way, paying attention to our dreams, to the signs given to us in creation.

Acclaimed comedian, actor, and director, Woody Allen, calculated that “80% of success is showing up.” By simply being there we put ourselves in a position to succeed, to do well, to make a difference.

So let us show up with the wise men, risking the journey as they did. Our presence in Bethlehem, our movement towards finding God-brought-to-life-in-the-world is our greatest gift. So we go, offering our riches, our worship and our care for others as the gifts for the infant Jesus, for the living Christ. And let us be assured that what we have to give is enough.