 St Alban’s Episcopal Church Bolivar, Missouri Monday, January 10, 2022  Yesterday revisited Final celebration of Christmastide  What Star is this? What Child is this? Long before the birth of Jesus the author of Numbers wrote about a future ruler, “I see him, but not now; I behold him but not near – a star shall rise out of Jacob, and a scepter shall rise out of Israel…” And Isaiah 60:1-6 includes this song of hope to the dispersed people of God: Arise, shine; for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you… Darkness will cover the earth, but the Lord will arise upon you.. and kings shall come to the brightness of your dawning. This is why the early church decided that the strange visitors form pagan lands were “kings.” Matthew doesn’t say that. Matthew is actually only interested in two kings – the helpless infant that the wise men call, “king of the Jews” and Herod, the puppet “king” who is intent of the murder of this child. Matthew only names Jesus in this way twice – here, and at the end of the gospel when he is crucified and a placard is placed above his head: “This is Jesus, King of the Jews.” He intends to say that Herod couldn’t destroy Jesus even when he was an infant; that foreigners and unbelievers honored and worshipped him despite Herod’s fears; and that in what looked like the end he was still “King of the Jews” – and that not even death could change or destroy that reality. His “rising” again after death holds the same meaning: He is the eternal Dawn: the Messiah – the everlasting King of the Jews. He is forever the Daystar, the morning star we await, continually arising in our hearts.(2 Peter 1:19) As John says, “the life was the light of all people – the light that shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.” And cannot… And this is what we saw –This is how we learn to see with the eyes of our hearts. We “act” it out -we practice childlikeness and vulnerability. It is how we come to understand the tremendous risk that God took to become one of us Eleanor Williams – asleep in the hay.   And it is how we show our children the real story – Rachel Grainger and Amelia  |
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