A Tale of Two Cities

Matthew 2:1-12

January 6, 2008, Epiphany

Epiphany, revelation, illumination, star light, star led, pagan astrologers, wise men, gifts, gold, frankincense, and myrrh, kneeling, adoration. There is much about this story that is pretty spectacular, but perhaps what are most spectacular – in terms of our lives today – are the two cities, Jerusalem and Bethlehem. For I doubt that two cities could say more about a story and its meaning than these two do.

Isaiah 60, written around 580 BC, which is about Jews who had come back to Jerusalem from exile in Babylon and what they found, would probably be somewhat the equivalent of a bombed out city. They were in despair – no one wants to live in a city of ruins and where there is basically no economy, and little understanding about what to do about the situation.

Into this scene steps the third prophet of the book of Isaiah, and he talks about light once again shining on the city and the people of Jerusalem. He shares that the world will come to Jerusalem again as the city retakes its place as one of the major marketplaces of the world. A marketplace that is effective and at peace, but that will also become an urban power in the world.

Biblical scholar Walter Bruggemann writes of the wise men:

Like Matthew, the wise men know about Isaiah 60. They know they are to go to Jerusalem and to take rare spices, gold and frankincense and myrrh. Most important, they know that they will find the new king of all peace and prosperity. But when Herod (the current king in Jerusalem) hears of these plans, he is frightened. A new king is a threat to the old king and the old order.

Herod panics, and calls his leading Old Testament scholars together and asks about Isaiah 60. But his scholars tell him that he and the wise men have the wrong passage. The one they should be looking at is Micah 5:2-5a

But you, O Bethlehem of Ephrathah, who are one of the little clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to rule in Israel, whose origin is from of old, from ancient days. ³Therefore he shall give them up until the time when she who is in labor has brought forth; then the rest of his kindred shall return to the people of Israel. ⁴And he shall stand and feed his flock in the strength of the LORD, in the majesty of the name of the LORD his God. And they shall live secure, for now he shall be great to the ends of the earth; ⁵and he shall be the one of peace.These are words of hope for a poor town – as you have heard me say before Bethlehem – nine miles south of Jerusalem – is a backwater town, it is the other side of the tracks. Bethlehem does not presume to anything because it doesn’t have anything to presume to.

The magi did not find the child in the urban market powerhouse, but in the unpretentious peasant community. The incarnation happened not to build up and strengthen the powerful, but to strengthen and give hope to the vulnerable. Thus Herod tried to stamp out this new birth that threatened everything he believed in and had accomplished. By following the voice of Micah and not that of Isaiah the magi found the new king. God was revealed to them in the vulnerable baby. Because of this they realized that the Jerusalems of the world are not places of the blessings of God, but of the machinations of humanity. The blessings of God are to be found in the vulnerable alternate places of the world and of life.

The late Scott Peck wrote in his book A Different Drum:

How strange that we should ordinarily feel compelled to hide our wounds when we are all wounded! Community requires the ability to expose our wounds and weaknesses to our fellow creatures. It also requires the ability to be affected by the wounds of others… But even more important is the love that arises among us when we both share, both ways, our woundedness.This is about community as much as it is about woundedness. In the tale of two cities before us today where do we find community? Vincent van Gogh once said, “Because I see so many weak souls trampled underfoot, I am reluctant to believe in the truth of much that is called progress and education. I do believe in education, but only in the kind that is based on a genuine love of humankind.” As we begin this new year, how can we best foster the idea of community in this church, in this community, and even in the world? Which city will we seek to live in, Jerusalem or Bethlehem? Remember, Christ was born in one and killed in the other.

Amen

© 2008 Rev. Dr. Thomas T. Peters