The Star stops here.

Sermon Notes, Sunday, Jan 3, Christmas 2 2021 When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy. And going into the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother, and they fell down and worshiped him. Maybe we miss the real significance of this familiar story because it is so obvious to us. It is obvious, but it should also be mysterious and of great wonder. It is what sets Christianity apart from all other religions. The Magi set off chasing an idea, a portend, and found a human being. What began as a spiritual journey ended with real people in a real environment. No other religion has ever laid claim to such a grounding in the real world. That is what we celebrate in this season of Christmas. That is why this story of the visit of the Magi finds its place in both the season of Epiphany and the Season of Christmas. Epiphany because it is a story of discovery. Christmas because it is a story of incarnation. God became man. And while he was a little man, he lived with Mary his mother and Joseph his father for a time in Bethlehem, the city of his birth. Jesus was man and he was also God. His humble human birth caused angels to sing and lifted a star in the heavens to be followed by foreign astrologers to his very home. Where they met him, face to face, and presented him with gifts befitting a king. Now that is a wondrous story is it not? Wondrous, but not startling. For its happening had long been prophesized by the prophets of Israel. Isaiah looking well beyond his years wrote of this event, "A multitude of camels shall cover you, the young camels of Midian and Ephah; all those from Sheba shall come. They shall bring gold and frankincense, and shall bring good news, the praises of the LORD." Is 60:6. The prophet Micah was precisely accurate when he prophesized, "But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, who are too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose coming forth is from of old, from ancient days." Mi. 5:2. The travelers from the East, who knew nothing of the prophetic word given to Israel, nonetheless saw the star and followed its lead in complete accord with the prophetic message. Meanwhile, the sages of Israel, who should have been on watch because they knew the prophecies, missed it happening completely. Gentiles from a foreign land had to stir them awake. A ruler, fearful of his own kingship, had to goad them into action. As an aside, it needs to be said that Herod at least got one thing right in his horrid reaction to the birth of Jesus. Because Herod at least realized correctly that his enemy was no longer an idea or even a religious tradition. His enemy was a real person, flesh and blood, come into the world. We affirm Jesus as man and God. To Herod he was just man. To him a dangerous man who needed to be killed before he could become a real threat to him. But to us who believe he is both man and God, he is not a threat but the means by which we are saved. Hear what the church believes in the words of the Athanasian Creed: (pg 771 in BCP) "For the right Faith is, that we believe and confess, that our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is God and Man; God, of the substance of the Father, begotten before the worlds; and man, of the substance of his Mother, born in the world;" Begotten before the worlds, born in the world. That is our Lord Jesus Christ. We place him in human history, in the city of Bethlehem. Then we follow his life across the province of Galilee as a minister to the poor and weak, a teacher to those who would listen, a healer and proclaimer of the Kingdom of God. And finally to his end on the hill called the place of the skull, and that also well documented by both believers and non-believers alike. Every Christmas we celebrate anew the human legacy of God. If it all ended at Calvary, we would not be celebrating. We would be lamenting. The joy of Christmas, from the carols we sing to the trees we decorate to the gifts we give is because Jesus' human life did not end on the cross. His human life overcame human death. How do we know? What is the proof of that? Look around you right now. Look at the people sitting next to you this day in church or watching this service with you at home. We are the church and the church is the proof of the resurrected Jesus. The story that Matthew begins with the visit of Gentile astronomers drawn to the home of the child Jesus, ends with the resurrected Jesus sending out his disciples to all the world. He commissions them to be his presence in the world after he is gone from the world. Matthew 28:18-20. "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age." We aren't there yet, at the very end of the age. There is still time for Jesus to be in the world through the church. This is the time he has given to each of us. It's also the time he's given to the rest of the world to follow the star and come to find him, a real presence in the real world. When they come following, they will come to us, his commissioned ambassadors. We are the human link that will point the seekers to the eternal Son-of-God. So I say with great confidence in the faces I look out at right now, we are ready for you. The star you are following is right atop this church, these people, St. Brendan's. Everyone here has accepted the commission to show you who Jesus is. To paraphrase President Harry Truman, "The star stops here." May our doors be open. May we welcome those who stand outside and knock. And together may we fall down with the Magi and worship Him. Amen.