"Where does one look for God?"
1/6/2006 St Jean the Baptiste, Warren, St Mary’s of the Bay, Warren,RI
Matthew 2:1-12 NLT | 1 Jesus was born in the town of Bethlehem in Judea, during the reign of King Herod. About that time some wise men from eastern lands arrived in Jerusalem, asking, 2 “Where is the newborn king of the Jews? We have seen his star as it arose, and we have come to worship him.”
3 Herod was deeply disturbed by their question, as was all of Jerusalem. 4 He called a meeting of the leading priests and teachers of religious law. “Where did the prophets say the Messiah would be born?” he asked them.
5 “In Bethlehem,” they said, “for this is what the prophet wrote:
6 ‘O Bethlehem of Judah,
you are not just a lowly village in Judah,
for a ruler will come from you
who will be the shepherd for my people Israel.’”
7Then Herod sent a private message to the wise men, asking them to come see him. At this meeting he learned the exact time when they first saw the star. 8 Then he told them, “Go to Bethlehem and search carefully for the child. And when you find him, come back and tell me so that I can go and worship him, too!”
9 After this interview the wise men went their way. Once again the star appeared to them, guiding them to Bethlehem. It went ahead of them and stopped over the place where the child was. 10When they saw the star, they were filled with joy! 11 They entered the house where the child and his mother, Mary, were, and they fell down before him and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasure chests and gave him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. 12 But when it was time to leave, they went home another way, because God had warned them in a dream not to return to Herod.
With Epiphany comes the question, "Where does one look for God?" This evening we focus on the surprising, sometimes shocking, nature of God’s presence in this world.
We begin with a story from a collection of the lives of saints which concerns a king of Balkh (now northern Afghanistan) named Ebrahim ibn Adam. Ebrahim was wealthy according to every earthly measure. At the same time, however, he sincerely and restlessly strove to be wealthy spiritually as well.
"One night the king was roused from sleep by a fearful stumping on the roof above his bed. Alarmed, he shouted: 'Who's there?' 'A friend,' came the reply from the roof. 'I've lost my camel.' Perturbed by such stupidity, Ebrahim screamed: 'You fool! Are you looking for a camel on the roof?' 'You fool!' the voice from the roof answered. 'Are you looking for God in silk clothing, and lying on a golden bed?' “The story goes on, according to Jesuit theologian Walter G. Burghardt, to tell how these simple words filled the king with such terror that he arose from his sleep to become a most remarkable saint (Still Proclaiming your Wonders: Homilies for the Eighties [New York: Paulist Press, 1984], 55).
The camel on the roof raises the Epiphany question, Where are you looking for God? This compelling question of life properly stands at the beginning of a new year, just as Where have you found God? nicely serves as a question to cap a year's closing. God is not to be found where the world's princes and powers reside. We are called to be like the king's friend, willing to make a fool of ourselves asking the camel-on-the-roof question to a world busy seeking God in all the wrong places, willing to rouse the world with the message of "Arise, shine, for your light has come." ///
There is another story of "Seventeen Camels" that tells of a Mohammedan who died and left his seventeen camels to be divided among his three sons. For you well versed in math acumen - One was to receive one ninth; one was to get one half; and the third son was to inherit one third of the camels. Seventeen camels, however, aren't evenly divisible by three. Hence the three sons argued long and loud about what to do. In desperation they agreed to let a certain wise man decide for them. He was seated in front of his tent with his own camel staked out back. After hearing the case, the wise man took his own camel and added it to the other seventeen camels. He then took one ninth of the eighteen, or two camels. To another he gave one half, or nine camels. To the third he gave one third, or six camels. On top of it all, he still had his own camel left.
Many of us try to find God and solve the problems of life by logical, calculating schemes that insure we receive our share. But God is to be found in receiving, not grasping; in giving, not claiming our rights.
All of these texts are emphatic: God's ministers and prime ministers, the friends and fools of the world, have a light to shine in the darkness, an illumination from God that can raise the roof of the world's kings and princes, presidents and prime ministers. As we turn over a new year, one thing is sure: more and more people are trying to find a way to God by climbing the ladders of success and power and respectability. In the twenty-first century, the pursuit of money and power has become one of the most powerful mystery religions ever to show its face in the history of humanity.
This makes it all the more imperative that the Epiphany News is that God is found in incarnation, in the humility of birth in a stable. As startling as a camel on a roof is the Christian message that the vulnerability of a life of homelessness, and the suffering of death on a cross, are heralded as marks of God's most powerful work in the human life. All these texts remind us that light has come upon the "little ones" to share with the "learned," a light more brilliant than the pillar of cloud by day or the pillar of fire by night, more brilliant than the "thousand points of light" shining in the darkness. Christians are called to offer a ministry of light and a message of illumination to those in power. In the words of Carl F. H. Henry, "The divine mandate is to beam light, sprinkle salt, knead leaven into an
otherwise hopeless world" (Christianity Today, 18 November 89, 26).
And what is this message? "Arise, shine, for your light has come." From what direction does it come?
Not from economics or the wealth of nations,
Not from education or the wisdom of the world. Not from science or technology. Not from star wars notions or war stars nations. The magi point us to where the world's best hope, the world's only salvation comes: bowing before the Christ who is found and served in "the places that stink and where no one loves," St. Theresa's definition of hell. It describes equally well the world of America's "great" cities and the world of the Smoky Mountains - not simply the beautiful Smoky Mountains of Tennessee, but the Smoky Mountains of Manila where thousands of people live, dine and die on the smoldering, stinking garbage dumps of the city.
May the wisdom of the wise men set you in motion on a quest of God's Son. May their gifts inspire in you a spirit of giving and self-giving -- not just in this season but all the days of your life.
May your pilgrim trek be lighted, like theirs, by a special star -- to keep you going when you are weary and to assure you that the Lord Jesus will be there for you, at the end of the road. Go in peace! Amen.