A Sermon for the Second Sunday after Christmas Day
The Rev. Patricia A. Gillespie

Jeremiah 31:7-14
Psalm 84
Epehsians 1:3-6,15-19a
Matthew 2:1-12

So. What'd you get for Christmas? Do you still remember? Sometimes I'm better at remembering the gifts I found to give others than the ones I got. We put a lot more energy into the giving than the receiving. After all, we know that "It's more blessed to give than to receive" (Acts 20:35). So most of us work hard on the giving part. People start months before Christmas Are you glad it's over now? All the planning and shopping.

Then a week or so after Christmas, when we think we're done with the gift stuff, we read about the wise men and more gifts. These guys have done their planning and shopping and the gifts are ready. Unlike Herod, they are ready for the king.

We know the story, we sing the song every year. Christmas is one time of year when everyone suddenly is a Bible trivia expert. Can you answer the questions? How many kings? Of course everyone knows that there are three. Some folks even know their names: Casper, Balthasar, and Melchior.

Trouble is, that's not what the Bible says. It says simply "wise men from the east came to Jerusalem." No names, no head count. Wise men, "magi" were astrologers, the scientists of the day. The people to whom the powerful turned for advice. If they were bringing kingly gifts to a baby, Herod was right to be frightened. These powerful people recognized someone even more powerful. They brought gifts suitable for a king. At least we do know they brought. That's where we get the "three" -- the gospel says they brought three gifts.

So here's another trivia question: what gifts? One child answered "Gold, frankincense, and mermaids." Another suggested that Jesus would probably rather have had a puppy. Whatever the treasures they brought, the wise men remind us of the importance of gift giving.

From the magi, however many there were, we learn to give of ourselves to God and God's work; we give our money and our time, our problems and our pain, to God. The wise men remind us that Christmas is about giving.

Most of us are pretty good at giving. We spend months shopping for just the right gift. Then Christmas itself -- the receiving part -- lasts for about an hour on Christmas eve in church and then another hour opening gifts. Maybe we add on a few visits with family. Often by the second day of Christmas everything is over and some folks even take down their trees.

For most adults Christmas, the joy and the hassle, has to do with preparation and giving. There's nothing wrong with that -- with finding just the right gift. We all have at one time or other known the joy of giving. That's what the magi have done. They arrive with joy to celebrate a new king. And they have the right gifts for a king, even one born in a stable. (Though maybe he really did want a puppy.)

The wise men remind us that Christmas about giving. . . . Or is it? Is there something else going on in this story? Actually in today's gospel it seems that the gift giving that the wise men do is something of an afterthought. They don't tell Herod that they saw the star and came to give gifts to the new king. It says they came to pay homage to the king. It is only AFTER they have knelt before the child that they offer gifts.

They "pay" Jesus homage. They are indebted to him. They, the wealthy and powerful wise men, pay the child homage because of the gift the child offers them. For the Jews the gift of the messiah is obvious. This the Christ who comes to save them. This is the one who, as Jeremiah tells us, gathers and cares for the people, comforting them, and even giving their "priests their fill of fatness." (I like that part.) In return the people are "radiant with joy" -- they dance and sing aloud and are merry; and their whole life overflows with goodness. In the messiah, the Jews certainly expect to receive an awesome gift.

But what of the wise men? They aren't Jews. They are foreigners. Foreigners weren't popular with Jews. They were not acceptable. After all, it's foreigners that the Messiah comes to conquer, isn't it? So the birth of the king of the Jews may not be good news for them. And yet they are not turned away from this new king. Perhaps this new king of the Jews offers them an even greater gift: he welcomes them, the unacceptable strangers, into his kingdom. Perhaps the wise men were wise enough to foresee a time when the Prince of Peace would break down the barriers between nations, when our differences fade in the light of one bright star.

They greet the child with joy, pay him homage, and offer gifts. The gifts -- gold, frankincense, and myrrh -- are just the thank you notes. The real gift was a king who welcomed unacceptable strangers. A savior who came to bring new life to ALL the world.

The story of the wise men is not about giving but about receiving. The gift for us is that we, however unacceptable, "foreign," or estranged from God we may feel, are welcomed and literally ‘gifted.'

This can be a difficult gift to receive -- to accept God's welcome and to recognize our own giftedness -- when we know our own unworthiness. But this child is the one who gathers the blind and the lame, the young and the old, those who weep and those who wander astray. This child is the one who gathers us all from afar and turns our mourning into joy.

When God is the one giving the gift, it is indeed blessed to receive. The gift has been given once and for all. But we are continually receiving that gift. Christmas receiving lasts for more than the twelve days.

So. What are you getting for Christmas? A glimpse of the light of the star? A vision of peace and welcome in a broken and divided world? The certainty that you, just as you are, are welcomed and loved by God? The gift has been given. Those who are wise continue to receive it with thanks.

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