The Trouble with Presents

Epiphany of the Lord

January 8, 2016

Matthew 2:1-12

(Or watch here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wjJu2gYbIIM)

            Did anyone have any trouble with Christmas presents this year, where the gift you gave was an absolute dud? Or where you found yourself looking at your loved one, wondering silently or out loud, why did you give me this? It happens sometimes, right? It’s the risk in giving gifts. Sometimes what we think is the perfect gift for someone isn’t received quite that way. Or sometimes what someone is so excited to give us, we aren’t quite so excited to receive. We learned this year at my house that, according to my mom, my daughter is just like I was when I was a kid and can’t keep a secret from mom. My mom and my husband put up a valiant effort. All I knew was that she had an idea of what to get me and you could get it at the mall. They managed to keep it a secret until about two days before Christmas, when my daughter accidentally spilled the beans. Or maybe the trouble is you don’t know what to get someone. I learned this year with my middle sister that donating to charity in her and her husband’s name was a perfectly acceptable gift. It never would have occurred to me, because it’s not something we’ve ever done for each other before. But when I was asking for ideas of what to get her and her husband, she mentioned it. So, that’s what we did. Other times, though, the problem is that you feel like the person already has everything they need and everything they want. What do you get the person who already has everything? It makes it that much harder, doesn’t it?

And what would you get a King?! I’m sure over in England young Prince George of Cambridge and Princess Charlotte received many nice baby gifts when they were born. Perhaps some monogrammed towels or something. But what do the wise men bring baby Jesus? The only thing remotely useful was the gold, because Mary and Joseph could use that to pay the innkeeper or perhaps to help pave the way for their trip to Egypt. But frankincense? Was it to mask the odor of the animals in the manger or something? And myrrh??? A spice used to embalm a dead body is not exactly an appropriate gift for a child. Maybe Wednesday Addams might appreciate it. The wise men bring gold, frankincense, and myrrh to give to Jesus. Why? Because they correspond to what are traditionally called the “offices” or the work of Jesus Christ. Gold because he is a King. Frankincense because he is a priest. And myrrh, which I’m hoping isn’t too much of a stretch here, goes with his office of being a prophet. John Wesley stressed the balance of preaching Christ in all his offices, and so we’re going to touch on each of the three this morning.

The first one is probably the easiest. We’re used to talking about Jesus as King. We even have Christ the King Sunday as the last Sunday of the church year, the Sunday before Advent begins. We’re used to King Jesus, a ruler, a sovereign, our Lord, the big guy upstairs who’s in charge. Jesus is the one who reigns forever, the eternal king. We know Jesus is royalty, we know we live in God’s kingdom. I’ve preached on that before. So, let’s move on.

Jesus is also a priest. In Hebrews it’s explained that Jesus is the great high priest, the one who intercedes for us before God. Historically, that was the role of the priest, or the pastor. The priest talked to God for the people and talked to the people on behalf of God. He was the intermediary, the go-between (and traditionally it was always a ‘he’). The Protestant Reformation changed some of that, with the idea that people could directly approach God and didn’t need a priest to intercede for them. You don’t have to tell me what you want to tell God; you can tell God directly yourself. And you can listen to God directly yourself. You don’t need a go-between, or a translator. You’re probably now wondering why I’m here and why you’re here and if I haven’t just talked myself out of a job. Or, rather, I’ve talked Jesus out of a job. Anyway, we believe that Jesus interceded with God on our behalf, and only because of Jesus do we dare approach the throne of grace with boldness. Jesus is why we have access to God. I’m here to remind you of that. Incense is still burned in some high church services. Has anyone ever been to one? Probably the worst was the baccalaureate mass when I graduated from college. I went to a Jesuit university and so it was a high Jesuit mass, where I was told the Catholics didn’t know what was going on, either. 

And when they brought in the incense in the thurible, they didn’t just gently swing it up the aisle. Oh no. They shook it over our heads on both sides of the aisle! They made sure we were thoroughly blessed and sanctified and ready for mass. And we know that Jesus sanctifies us and makes us holy.

Finally, Jesus as Prophet. Prophets are those who reveal God’s will, who enlighten our minds and teach us. Prophets speak the Word of God and teach the people. Yet, it is also dangerous to be a prophet. Jesus even says that prophets are rejected in their own hometown, just as Jesus was driven out of his home town of Nazareth. Prophets are often killed, martyred. People don’t always want to hear God’s will. They don’t always want to hear God’s Word. In some church services, and sometimes what we use for our opening prayer, is what’s called a Prayer of Illumination, praying to God to open our minds and our hearts that as the Scriptures are read and proclaimed we might hear with joy what God says to us today. We have to get ready to hear God’s Word. Can you imagine hearing it and not being ready? It’d probably be like being hit with a 2x4 or run over with a semi. Or else it would just make no sense at all. One reason we come to church is to hear and read God’s Word together, to prepare ourselves together to read it and to receive it. And if you’re not in a posture to receive, it can virtually impossible to receive anything, you know? You’re in the middle of your shower and someone hands you a birthday present. What are you going to do with that? You’re not in a position to receive it. You’re liable to yell at the person who’s trying to be nice and give you a present! That’s why prophets often get their heads chopped off. That’s why you need myrrh. Not many prophets reach old age. The words they speak are sometimes a little too harsh, a little too hard, calling for too much more than we’re willing to change or sacrifice. Even Jesus gets crucified. The myrrh given to the baby foreshadows the cross on Good Friday. The last verse of the hymn we just sang (“We Three Kings,” UMH 254) says Jesus is “King and God and sacrifice.” Sacrifice is the Prophet’s role as they are often asked to give up a lot to speak God’s Word. Even Jesus made the ultimate sacrifice, giving his life for us.

John Wesley said that we are to preach Christ in all his offices, Prophet, Priest, and King, and to balance them. Yet, we don’t have a Christ the Prophet Sunday, or a Christ the Priest Sunday. I don’t know, maybe that’s what Good Friday and Easter are all about, and they just get a different name. We all have our favorite ways to think of Jesus, whether it’s friend or brother or shepherd or king or on the cross, or risen. We all have our preferred images of Jesus, whether the picture up here on the wall, or surrounded by children, or with sheep, or the picture from Revelation of “behold, I stand at the door and knock.” This Epiphany, I pray that a new way is revealed to you, that you are able to look at Christ in a new light, in a new role. Perhaps as priest, perhaps as prophet. Bring in the balance you were missing. It’d be like if you only ever read one of the four Gospels; it’s time to read the other three. Branch out a little bit, stretch a little. It may be uncomfortable at first. You may be ready to crucify Jesus again, or me. Find a different image or idea of Jesus than the one you usually think of, and see what happens. We don’t get to shape Christ, and we don’t get only our favorite parts of him. We get the stories we don’t like as much, either. Maybe you’re a bacon lover and you hate that Jesus cast a whole herd of pigs off a cliff. Or maybe it’s something else Jesus does that you just don’t understand. Overturning tables in the temple. Telling us to give all we have. To turn the other cheek, when someone slaps us. To forgive those who wrong us. To not repay back evil for evil but to love our enemies. Jesus says a lot of hard things, there’s gotta be at least one that rubs you the wrong way. If you need help looking for it, give me a call. One of the books I inherited from my Grandpa when he retired as a pastor is called “The Hard Sayings of Jesus.” Sit in an uncomfortable space. Find Jesus there. Find grace there. Let something new be revealed. In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.