First Presbyterian Church
Incarnation Celebration
Sermon for January 6, 2008
by Pastor Susan Barnes

Children's Time:

I just read a story about a Sunday School teacher 1 who said to the children in her class, "We have been learning how powerful kings and queens were in Bible times. But there is a higher power.”

I asked the kids what the children probably answered. They guessed God. I told them that one of the children said “Aces!"

Our psalm reading today is a prayer for a king. It's attributed to Solomon. You may follow along on page 533. We know from inscriptions on ancient monuments and buildings that kings and rulers claimed to be descendants from their gods. It's hard to argue with a king who has divine power. Listen for the word of God as it is found in Psalm 72:1-7 and 10-14.

1 Of Solomon. Give the king your justice, O God, and your righteousness to a king's son.

2 May he judge your people with righteousness, and your poor with justice.

3 May the mountains yield prosperity for the people, and the hills, in righteousness.

4 May he defend the cause of the poor of the people, give deliverance to the needy, and crush the oppressor.

5 May he live while the sun endures, and as long as the moon, throughout all generations.

6 May he be like rain that falls on the mown grass, like showers that water the earth.

7 In his days may righteousness flourish and peace abound, until the moon is no more.

10 May the kings of Tarshish and of the isles render him tribute, may the kings of Sheba and Seba bring gifts. 11 May all kings fall down before him, all nations give him service.

12 For he delivers the needy when they call, the poor and those who have no helper.

13 He has pity on the weak and the needy, and saves the lives of the needy.

14 From oppression and violence he redeems their life; and precious is their blood in his sight.

This ends our reading of the psalm. This psalm is chosen for epiphany, because of the kings from the east, Seba, part of eastern Arabia, who brought gifts to the Israelite king. The gospel of Matthew tells us of eastern visitors who brought gifts to Jesus. In the third century, the church father Tertullian called these visitors ‘almost king-like' – probably based on this psalm.

But the psalm isn't about the magi, the government advisors from the east; it's about justice and the responsibility of the powerful. I found a modern paraphrase of this psalm. It's by a man named Jim Taylor. Jamie's going to read it to you:

1 If only powerful people could be more like you, God. 2 They would apply the same standards to their own lives that they demand of those who depend on them.
3 Then office environments would help employees enjoy working; press releases would tell the truth; industrial wastes would not defile the world.
4 Powerful people would selflessly serve their constituencies; they would not exploit for short term profit those who have less money, less power, and less influence.
5 Such people would earn our long-term loyalty; they would deserve to prosper.
7 Their radical example would make others reconsider their own attitudes.
10 All the world would recognize this remarkable approach; 11 all the world would come to see how it is done.
12 Amazing–people in positions of power who do not manipulate events for their own benefit; they do what they do for the least of their customers;
13 they treat single mothers, natives, immigrants, and teenagers as people of worth, not merely as potential consumers.
14 For them there are no mass markets; every individual is precious as a person.

We need that kind of leadership. 2

Our unison reading from Isaiah is about hoping in that kind of leadership. Chapter 60 in Isaiah is about the glory of Jerusalem restored after the exile in Babylon. Our reading is found on page 690 in our pew Bibles. About fifty years after the city had been razed by the Babylonians, Persia conquered Babylon. Their king Cyrus had a policy to return exiles to their own countries. When the Israelites heard they would be returning to Israel, not all of them were happy about it. The temple was wrecked, the city was an old ruin, there was no government nor economy there. Anyone returning to Jerusalem would face a lot of work. Isaiah encourages the exiles to imagine the future after Israel is restored. Listen for the word of God as we read it together in Isaiah 60:1-6.

Arise, shine; for your light has come, and the glory of the LORD has risen upon you.

For darkness shall cover the earth, and thick darkness the peoples; but the LORD will arise upon you, and his glory will appear over you.

Nations shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your dawn.

Lift up your eyes and look around; they all gather together, they come to you; your sons shall come from far away, and your daughters shall be carried on their nurses' arms.

Then you shall see and be radiant; your heart shall thrill and rejoice, because the abundance of the sea shall be brought to you, the wealth of the nations shall come to you.

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 proclaim the praise of the LORD .

This ends our reading from Isaiah.

More visitors from the east will come; these will bring gold and frankincense. In Matthew, we read about the magi who come to Bethlehem, bringing frankincense, gold, and myrrh. But this text is not about predicting the magi's arrival. It is more about hope.

Jerusalem was rebuilt, and it did indeed become a marketplace; its leaders became wealthy and its kings became powerful. Any foreign politician traveling west would of course stop in Jerusalem. But these visitors went to Bethlehem, a backwater few foreigners would have heard of. It's just a few miles down from Jerusalem.

You may follow along on page 2 of your pew Bibles, but we'll be reading from my translation. Listen for the word of God as it is found in Matthew 2:1-12.

1Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the time of Herod the king, behold, magi from the East came to Jerusalem, 2 saying, "Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we have seen his star in the rising, and have come to worship him."

3 When Herod the King heard this, he trembled, and all Jerusalem with him; and assembling all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Christ is born. They told him, “In Bethlehem of Judea; for so it is written by the prophet:

‘And you, O Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the princes of Judah; for from you shall come a leader who will shepherd my people Israel.'”

Then Herod summoned the Magi secretly and ascertained from what time the star appeared; and he sent them to Bethlehem, saying, “Go and search diligently for the child; and when you have found him, bring me word that I too may come and worship him.”

When they had heard the king they went their way; and lo, the star that they had seen in the rising led them, till it came to rest over the place where the child was. 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. Then, opening their treasures, they offered him gifts: gold, frankincense, and myrrh.

And being warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they departed to their own country by another way.

This ends our gospel reading. Let's listen to the choir interpret the gospel.

Epiphany was originally a celebration of the incarnation, God's self revealed to the earth in the person of Jesus Christ. In Jesus, we see the sort of leadership psalm 72 talks about. Later on, the western church spoke of the visit of the magi during epiphany, and Christ coming to all the nations.

God came to earth to be Emmanuel, God with us. The incarnation is the doctrine that God became incarnate in a human, Jesus Christ. And so at Christmastime and epiphany, we speak about Jesus' birth.

Theologian Shirley Guthrie wrote about the incarnation in his classic book Christian Doctrine. I want to share with you what he wrote. I can't say it any better than he did.

He wrote:

“How many people first believe that Jesus is the son of God, born in a miraculous way, and then for that reason consent to listen to the story of his words and actions, his death and resurrection?” He answered the question, “Isn't it so that today most people are confronted first of all with the man Jesus, his teaching, his deeds, his suffering, and his living presence, and then finally confess him as the son of God, God …with us?” 3

“[People] do not come to believe in Jesus as the son of God by speculating about his ‘divine nature' or his origin. Faith comes by seeing, hearing and experiencing what he does.” Matthew and Luke “tell us the meaning of Jesus' birth not by theorizing about it, but by telling us the story of what happened after that. Jesus is the Son of God, God himself with us, because through his life, he does what God does.” 4

In New Testament times, there are plenty of stories about miraculous births and deaths of pagan gods and rulers. We don't believe in Jesus because of the story of his birth.

We believe in the stories of his birth because we believe in Jesus.

When we say in the Apostles Creed that we believe Jesus was born of the virgin Mary, the importance is not that Mary was a virgin, but that Jesus was born from his mother the way human beings are born.

He didn't spring full grown, as in the story of Athena being born full grown out of the forehead of her father, Zeus. Jesus came into being the way the world did in Genesis: God created all things - God spoke and it was done; the spirit hovered over the face of the waters; the spirit overshadowed Mary. Then Jesus “was born as we all are.”

Jesus experienced human need and appetite. Some people are bothered “that the son of God could be hungry and thirsty, need rest and sleep, suffer and die.” 5 But the gospels tell us Jesus did all those things. He was limited in his knowledge; he grew in wisdom (Luke 2:52), and admitted he did not know everything (Mark 13:32). He prayed to God, he didn't just talk to himself. He felt separated from God on the cross. ‘Physically, intellectually, emotionally, spiritually, Jesus lived the same life we all live. He hurt. He played. He had to learn. He could feel lonely and deserted not only by other [people] but by God.” 6

“This man was not just a great teacher of profound truths about God, humanity and the world, and the secret of a happy, peaceful, successful life. He wasn't a great moral hero for us to imitate… To know Jesus is not just to know a very great, very good, very wise man. It is to know God's self. Emmanuel, God with us, …the Christ, the messiah.”

“Ancient rulers were called [divine] because their majesty and power supposedly proved that they were the offspring of the gods. In the new testament period,… men …called themselves ‘son of god' because they claimed that they had miraculous divine powers. Some of them called themselves ‘savior' for this reason.” 7 Jesus never claimed these titles for himself; others said it about him.

This son of God was set apart from the others not because of “his strength, but his weakness, not his majestic power but his suffering, not his authority and rule but his obedience. He was a lowly son of God.” 8

In some card games, the ace is low, like in solitaire. But in some games, like poker, the ace is high. In some rummy games, the ace is both. Maybe that child's answer was right. The ace is more powerful than a king.

Jesus was a servant leader. He was born in Bethlehem. That's where the Magi came, these powerful foreigners who disobeyed King Herod's orders and worshiped Jesus instead

By becoming human, God put the “divine stamp of approval on human life… In Jesus, God took up the cause of humanity in order to judge, help, and renew human beings.” 9

What difference does that make to us? I've noticed that when we are grieving or suffering, the person we can easily listen to is the one who has been through it before. Compassionate Friends is an organization of parents whose children have died. They minister to other grieving parents. Twelve-step programs are made up of people recovering from addictions who help other people recover. We value the wisdom of those who've been there.

In the person of Jesus Christ, God has been there.

Guthrie said, “How it is that in this one person we meet both [a] genuine… human… and God Almighty, the church has never been able to explain. All its attempts to explain it have finally only affirmed that it is so. He is at once true man and true God, God with us and God with us.” 10

1 Peggy Neufled, quoted in ralphmiltonsrumors.blogspot.com/2007/12/preaching-materials-for-january-6th.html

2 ralphmiltonsrumors.blogspot.com/2007/12/preaching-materials-for-january-6th.html

From Everyday Psalms, Wood Lake Books. For details, go to www.woodlakebooks.com

3 Guthrie, Jr. Shirlie C., Christian Doctrine, Atlanta: John Knox Press, p. 1968, 236-7.

4ibid, 237.

5ibid, 232.

6ibid, 233.

7ibid, 237-238.

8ibid, 238.

9ibid, 239.

10ibid, 240.