Gifts

Charlotte Collins Reed

Christ Church Episcopal

January 6, 2019

Epiphany

On Christmas Eve, after the evening service had ended, I walked into the clergy vesting room to find an enormous pile of baby diapers.  Early in December, we had been in contact with the Battered Women’s Shelter in Akron to see what they might need.  Their response was diapers in size 5 and 6.  Last year, we collected baby food for the same organization and literally filled a shopping cart with bags of baby food.  However, diapers seemed a bit more challenging, so I had no idea what kind of response we would get.  I should never have doubted the generosity of Christ Church!  I loved watching the congregation come forward during the offertory at each service, singing “Now bring him incense, gold, and myrrh; come peasant, king, to own him” carrying cases of baby diapers as gifts for the baby Jesus.  The moment was both joyous and tender with both smiles and tears as we offered our gifts at the manger.

On this Epiphany morning, we hear the soaring words of Isaiah "Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen round you."  The people who walked in great darkness, both in exile in Babylon and upon their return to a burned out, shattered Promised Land, are promised that better days are ahead, when people will be gathered back together from all over the earth, drawn by the glory of God that will arise over them.  And we see the camels bringing those people together, bearing gifts of gold and frankincense.  The day will come, says Isaiah, when you shall see and be radiant, and your heart will thrill and rejoice.  The psalm this morning also longs for the time when the King will come who will rescue the poor and the needy, and kings from all the nations will come bearing gifts.

According to Matthew's gospel, that day has come with the birth of Jesus.  This morning, the Magi arrive with those very gifts of gold and frankincense for Jesus. The story does not tell us how many Magi arrived, or whether they arrived by camel or on foot.  The traditional assumption has been that there were three Magi since they brought three gifts-gold, frankincense, and myrrh.  The story also says nothing about a manger. Instead, the story tells us that the Magi entered the house where the saw the child with Mary.  They knelt and paid Jesus the homage due a king, then opened their treasure chests and offered him their gifts.

 The story does not tell us a lot about the Magi, other than that they have come a great distance and are from the East.  Since they followed a star, they may well have been astrologers, or followers of a religion that studied the stars in their courses.  Clearly, they were people who believed in the power of dreams, since they altered their course home after being warned in a dream not to return to Herod.  And they were people with deep respect for royalty, since they went to a good bit of trouble to pay homage to the child born King of the Jews.  But while we are told that the Magi brought Jesus gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh, I think the Magi had three other gifts which are gifts we, too, might offer this child.

First, the Magi had curiosity.  They saw the star in the heavens and wondered what the star could mean.  They might have chosen the wrong person to ask, since Herod was somewhat sensitive about who else might be the king of the Jews, and Herod's motives for giving the Magi the information they needed were ill intended.  But their curiosity led them to follow the star, to be filled with joy, and to pay homage to Jesus.

Secondly, the Magi were adventuresome.  They saw the star, and rather than think about how far they might have to travel, whether there would be clean restrooms along the way, or what they would eat on their journey, they apparently picked up and left.  They did not have benefit of a map much less a GPS.  They followed a star.  When, in a dream, they were warned not to return to Herod, they changed their plans on a dime and went home by a different road.  The change of route meant finding a different path through the desert, going a different direction, and encountering different obstacles.  But the Magi did as the dream directed.

Lastly, the Magi were generous. They were generous with their time, spending no telling how long on the road getting to Jesus, and generous with their treasure, opening their treasure chests to offer the gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh.  Apparently the Magi did not travel lightly and did not carry just the three gifts with them.  Once they found the child, they wanted to be able to offer the best and most appropriate gifts.

 Curiosity, a spirit of adventure, and generosity. I wonder if these gifts might be the gifts Jesus would like from us as well.   What could happen if we were as curious about what God is doing in the world as the Magi were about the stars?  What could happen if we were as adventuresome as the Magi, willing to set out into the unknown to find the child Jesus without really knowing where we were going?  And what could happen if we offered our time and opened our treasure with the generosity of the Magi?  The Magi were overcome with joy when they arrived at the house where they found Jesus and his mother and offered gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh.  We arrived at the manger on Christmas Eve, and with great joy offered our gifts of diapers.  What might happen if, in addition to those gifts and other typical Christmas gifts, we offered Jesus the gifts of deeper curiosity, a more adventuresome spirit, and greater generosity?  Isaiah’s words “Arise, shine, for your light has come” might come more alive for us and for a world desperate to see a light shining in the darkness, and hearts will thrill and rejoice.                                   

                                                                                         Amen.