But at our house we always keep our tree up through Jan 6th. It’s Kurt’s Birthday. It’s also a holiday in Puerto Rico, one of the places he lived when he was growing up as a Navy brat. The holiday is: El Dia de los Tres Reyes – The Day of the Three Kings – also known as Three Kings Day, or Epiphany on the Church calendar.
January 6th is the day we celebrate the day the three kings, or the wise men, from the East arrived at the home of Mary and Joseph and Jesus to bring gifts to the baby. Now in all the Christmas pageants, we see these wise guys showing up at the manger with the shepherds and the angels, but actually we think Jesus was about 2 years old by the time they got there, and the family was living in a house in Bethlehem by this time.
This is how the story goes. These men were scholars, probably astronomers from a country to the East of Israel. They had read in books, about a prophecy of a king that would be born, and a star that would point to this king. When they saw a bright star in the sky, one they had never seen before, they felt compelled to follow that star and investigate.
They went to see Herod, who was the identified King, living in Jerusalem, placed there by the Roman government. They said, “We are here looking for a child who has been born King of the Jews.” Herod tried to hide his anger at this affront to his authority. He pretended that he also wanted to worship this newborn King. He consulted with his religious scholars and told the wise men that the prophets said the child would be born in Bethlehem. Then he told them that once they found the child they should let him know where they found him, because he wanted to go worship the child too. Of course, that was a lie. Herod was an evil man. The wise men were on to him. They knew not to trust him.
They found their way to Bethlehem. This is when the story gets really good. You see, those wise men are just like us. They were looking for the Messiah. They were looking for a Savior. They were looking for someone who would bring hope and healing to their broken world. Isn’t that what we are looking for?
Isn’t that why we come here to The Village every week? Let’s just pause here a moment and consider that question. What are you looking for today? When you come here, to this holy place, to this community of Jesus followers – what are you looking for? The answers we got in worship were peace, belonging, fellowship, hope, hugs, encouragement, guidance, to be reminded that God’s grace is enough.
The wise men went to see the baby, because they wanted to encounter the holy presence of God on earth. And guess what! That’s just what they got. “Instructed by the king, they set off. Then the star appeared again, the same star they had seen in the eastern skies. It led them on until it hovered over the place of the child. They could hardly contain themselves: They were in the right place! They had arrived at the right time! They entered the house and saw the child in the arms of Mary, his mother. Overcome, they kneeled and worshiped him.”
They were overcome with joy. And do you know what they did? They kneeled in humility and worshiped Jesus. That’s what God invites us to do today. We get one more chance at Christmas today. We don’t have to let go of our Christmas joy quite yet. (We even got to sing one last Christmas carol today.) We can kneel at the baby bed of Jesus, and imagine what it means that God wants to come into our lives.
You see Herod was the political King of that time and place, and he was outraged that Jesus came. He went crazy, because he wanted all the power. He could not fathom that God was more powerful than him. He could not comprehend that vulnerability, compassion, generosity, and forgiveness were values that would out over political power, selfishness, greed, and judgment. But those wise men, understood. They had great status in their own right, but they chose to give up their power and status. They knelt in humility and were awestruck by a baby. They were filled with wonder at God’s promises.
God wants us to be awestruck today. What does it mean to you, for Jesus to come into your world today? We’ve prepared a little space up here where we can kneel and pray. I want to invite you to come up here and open your arms or hands and pray in an attitude of humility or vulnerability.
I think that’s what Three Kings day is about. It’s about the contrast between Herod, who was not humble at all, and the Wise Men from the East, who were completely humble. They traveled across a vast distance, and had really no clue if they would find anything. But they had hope. They wanted to believe.
We want to believe in Jesus too. We want to believe Jesus can change our lives. Other people might laugh at us for getting out of bed and driving across town to come to this humble little church on this dreary January day, thinking this will change our lives. But we have seen a star. We have seen the light of God. We have seen God transform broken lives into healed, strong amazing examples of new life. We know Jesus can make something of us too.
So I want to invite you to come kneel beside the baby today. We had a baby basket up by the stage in worshp, to represent, the bed where baby Jesus might have slept. We to received Holy Communion and after we were invited to come and kneel, somewhere near the basket. You can imagine a simple baby’s bed. Come kneel down where you are. Open your arms or hands in a position of vulnerability and humility.
We all need Jesus, and God sent Jesus to the world to be here for all of us. So today, I invite us to ask Jesus to come to you again, and be your hope. Amen.
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