Monday Morning Preacher-ing

As it goes with the whole Redskins nation, so it goes with me.  The day after we wonder: did we make the right calls?  Did we complete the plays?  Any penalty flags thrown to which we must pay attention?

I had a lot of fun in preparation for yesterday's sermon.  The texts unraveled themselves into some threads I'd never properly observed before.

At first I thought I would be preaching Isaiah 60 -- a classic poetic/prophetic text.  An emphasis here would have landed us solidly in verses 4-6 where Isaiah create a linguistic version of concentric circles:
We respond
- First, you look.
- Then you and all around you look.
- Then you and all around you and your children look.
With the result of radiance, joy, etc. being illuminated in the light which has come not simply for you but for MANY.
Aside from the imagery of light and stars, it is the inclusionary nature of this text that lends itself so properly to Epiphany Sunday and a pairing with Matthew 2.

But we'd been in Isaiah so much through Advent, I was ready for the Gospel text.

So Matthew 2:1-12 became the focus of my study.  And I discovered at least five valuable and intriguing sermon ideas. But I am, as yet, unwilling to try your patience by trying to preach a 5-in-1.

First, the one I preached -- an attempt to "get real" about the primary players in the text: Herod, Magi & Christ.  This direction won out for two reasons:
1) I think a lot of schmaltz has attached itself to the pictures we've made in our heads for various Biblical stories.  We've made Herod so terrible that we can't find ourselves in his sin.  And we send one another Christmas cards with the phrase: "Wise men still seek him."  Gender exclusivity aside, I don't think this phrase does justice to the thrust of the text.  I'd much rather print a bumper sticker that says, "God still tracks down outsiders," which leads me to reason ...
2) Aside from sentimentality (which I am willing to concede may be a personal irritant) I am deeply concerned when we read the Bible in such a fashion that anyone except for God gets to be the hero. It's humanism, really.  And we do it a lot. We get to be good enough and smart enough and, doggoneit, Jesus loves us! When the people of the Bible become our heroes, we are either not good enough or similarly capable of earning/deserving God's salvation/blessing in our lives.  That's a serious temptation, I think.  It is also exegetical malpractice and I will not stand for it! (So much more I want to say on this.  Say the word and I will try to work up another blog post along these lines.)
And it is only when we contend rightly with Herod and the Magi that we again see Christ as the Hero.  Christ as the one who came to seek and to save all who are lost.  Christ as the instigator of faith & salvation.

Second, the text made me wrestle with issues of inclusion.  In a sense, I could feel Israel's frustration at God seemingly changing the rules.  Even if you contend the Magi were lovely, moral god-fearers of their day, if THEY are included in the covenant than maybe Herod is too.  And if Herod could be included in the grace of God, well, that's scandalous.  (This line of reasoning worked better before I realized that Herod was "a Jew" in some sense.) But there is the thread of common grace I had never seen before, that is ...

Third, I had never caught before that the star led the Magi to Jerusalem.  And it was in Jerusalem that Herod's court advisers read out the prophecy from Micah pointing the Wise Men to Bethlehem.  So they traveled to Bethlehem and the star met them over Mary & Joseph's place. Bad, mean, terrible Herod gave the Magi the last piece of the puzzle.  They would not have found the Christ-child (according to this narrative) without Herod's help. And, in this, you can find a worthwhile rabbit-trail into the relationship of General Revelation (the stars, science, etc.) and Special Revelation (the Word of God revealed.)

Fourth, not surprisingly, Stanley Hauerwas' commentary on Matthew demonstrated that this tiny baby born in out-of-the-way Bethlehem sent the political world into chaos.  It is simply not enough to coo and cluck over sweet Baby Jesus asleep on the hay if we are simultaneously unwilling to reckon with the political nature of his birth -- and the ensuing massacre of the innocents. Bruner also points out a clever trick in the text.  The first two times he is mentioned Herod retains the title "King."  But after the Magi leave to find & worship Christ, Herod is only ever just that.  Herod.  The appearance of the child-King demotes Herod.  Well played, Matthew.  Well played.

Fifth, several commentators make the link between this chapter at the beginning on Matthew's Gospel and the last few chapters of the same.  The Gentile Magi are the first to refer to Jesus as "The King of the Jews" and they worship him.  The next Gentiles to call him that also place a crown of thorns on his head and lashes across his back.  The Magi are sent back to their home country after they have visited the Christ-child.  And Matthew 28 ends with the Great Commission "Go into all the world and preach the Gospel."

But Ephesians 3 was also a lectionary text and I wanted to weave it through.In part, I chose the idea that I did because it got us to Ephesians 3 with the least amount of textual wrangling. As we looked to Christ in the end, Ephesians 3 reminded us that God's grace is bigger.  God's mercy runs deep.  God's grace is wide.  I still think it's a pretty big leap from this statement into some kind of universalism.  I'm just saying that we oughtn't be in the business of limiting and restricting when the weight of Scripture demonstrates a God who is pushing and reaching.

I'm never sure I've made the right calls on any given Sunday. And I'm happy to hear from you if you might like to spin out an alternate sermon along one of these other, justifiable, paths.  I'd be more than happy to hear that. Because it would mean that you are joining me in contending with the text.  Priesthood of all believers, baby!  

All I can say is that, unlike the Redskins, I'm grateful that, by the grace of God and God's people, there is no such thing as single-elimination preaching. I always get to suit up and hit the field next week.