Thank God for Darkness

Isa 60:1-6
Matt 2: 1-12 (visit of the magi)
Sermon: Thank God for Darkness

They followed a star, but ended up in a stable.
That, my friends, is the risk of faith in Christ…
That is the risk of becoming a disciple of Christ…
Follow a star; discover a stable, a little hole in the wall cave.
As we stand at the cusp of a new year,
A New Year in Christ,
A New Year to discover
God’s vision for his people here at Mt. Pleasant
As we stand expectantly at the New Year
And hope for a better year,
Hope that if we approach Christ with the diligence
And the perseverance that the Magi, the Wise Men had
That our year will be better,
That our faith will come easier,
That we will earn a little grace
That our problems will go away
That our hopes will fall out of the sky into our laps
That the shadows and fears of our lives
Will dissipate,
We had best remember that they
Followed a star and ended up in a stable
Following Christ in the New Year
As a church,
And as individuals,
Might take us places we have never been
Might teach us things
Might challenge us
Might put us in uncomfortable situations
Challenge us to believe things we never thought possible
Or things that aren’t’ popular…
That is what happened to these
Wise men, as they followed a star…

We tend to look at these wise men
Astrologer’s from Iraq,
Learned men,
Wealthy men,
And we may romanticize,
Begin to think that for them,
Faith was an easy thing.
We may wish that life for us were as easy
As it was for the Wise Men.
All they had to do was look at the star
The future, the path, the will of God
Was as plain and apparent and brilliant
It was a neon sign twinkling in the dark night sky…
If only faith could be that way, we might think,
If only, this year, I could know the path, as did the wise men
If only God would make it crystal clear,
How I am supposed to live,
If God would make it obvious
About my job, or lack of work
About my family,
How I am to parent,
How I am supposed to be single parent,
Where I would find love,
How I might talk to my teenagers,
Overcome stress,
Overcome addiction
Save my marriage,
Live with disappointment
Live alone for the first time in years
If only God would make it obvious
Like God did for the wise men…

But here is the kicker,
If we read this story carefully,
The Wise men aren’t that wise…
I read the comments of one of my favorite scholars and preachers,
And he suggested that the wise men knew Isa 60
that we read this morning.
The wise men,
Based on their reading of the stars
And perhaps their reading of the Prophet Isaiah
Thought they had God’s will for their future all figured out
They thought it was as plain as the star in the sky…

Isaiah 60 is a poem of hope to a discouraged nation of Israel
They have had a bad year, as we; in some ways have had a bad year,
They had been overtaken by a military power stronger than their own
Separated from family and friends,
Rulers and influential people taken into exile
The government was in ruins
Their economy was in ruins
Their temple was destroyed
Their entire way of life gone
They felt, like we do sometimes
As if there is no future,
They didn’t know how to go on
Without family, or faith, or jobs
They didn’t know how to raise their children
Or care for their elderly
And they didn’t know whom to turn to help or hope,
Surely if God existed,
this terrible thing wouldn’t have happened…
Then this Isaiah shows up
And says, it may seem dark now,
But a light is coming,
A light is coming that will bring back our families
And will teach us how to be a loving family again
A light is coming that will bring back our towns and communities
A light is coming that will bring back a just government
And a thriving economy
And jobs for everyone
And we will no longer be cursed we will be blessed
We will no longer feel alone and abandoned and without hope…
For our light will come

Well, the wise men read this
And they felt sure that this light had finally come
That the ruler who would do all of these things had been born
And where else would a ruler be born, but in the
Capital, Jerusalem?
So they go to the castle, that is where
Princes are born
And they talk to the king Herod
Who they assume will be a proud father
But he has no idea what they are talking about
So he goes to his wise men and they say,
Well, these wise men have miss-interpreted the scripture…
They thought the Messiah, the light of the world, would be born in Jerusalem
But Micah, the prophet Micah, says Bethlehem…

Imagine the shock of the Wise Men,
They had been wrong!
They thought, they assumed that they knew the will of God
They knew what the future would hold
And they thought the future was in the splendor
Of great halls,
In riches and prominence and opulence
In society, economy and military might…
But that was not the plan of God,
God did not plan to support, condone, or disseminate
This kind of righteousness or justice or hope
God sent Jesus to subvert all of that.
Imagine the shock, the surprise,
Perhaps the disappointment
Of the Wise Men
That God was not doing things the way they thought
That God was not acting the way they expected,
That God was not giving what they had hoped for…

That is our lesson, not only for today,
But for the New Year,
As we hope and dream, and pray and expect
For our lives
And for the life of this church…
We must be prepared to follow the star,
To a stable…
We must be prepared for God to do some new and strange things
We must be prepared to be challenged by God
We must expect that God will put us in some strange and uncomfortable places
Not a palace of ease, but a stable of work
Not a dream of the past, but hope for the future…

That is the mistake so many made,
And so many still make today,
Looking to the past,
If only God would bring us a king like David of old
If only God would make us a nation
Like we were in the past
And because they looked to the past,
They missed Jesus,
We too, many churches look to the past
If only it was like yesterday,
Like the wise men, and the disciples and the religious rulers
If we look to the past, our eyes are not on Christ…
Our light comes by moving ahead, not going back


What impresses me most about the Wise Men, in closing
Is that despite their disappointments, they kept moving
Despite the fact that God did not give them what they expected,
They were persistent,
They did not give up,
They did not turn aside
They did not give in
When God placed these
Very well-off,
Well dressed, cultured educated wise men
In a smelly, somewhat dirty cave with livestock
And simple shepherds instead of kings and rulers and influential people
They didn’t stop believing in the light…

That is our challenge for this coming year,
For every one of us, you and I…
For God will challenge us this year,
God will take us to places we have never been
God will ask us to do things we never thought of doing
God will not always give us what we want
Or present us with the ministry or mission
Or education opportunities that we want
God will present us with what he needs done…
And that might make us uncomfortable,
The disciples were uncomfortable when Jesus talked to children
It might disappoint us
The disciples were disappointed that Jesus would not
Lead them into battle
It might challenge our beliefs
When Jesus ate with prostitutes and sinners
He challenged people’s beliefs
It might even be unpopular
When he spoke with women
And touched lepers
And saved a woman from being stoned
He certainly wasn’t popular…

The further challenge is, will we journey on
As did the Wise Men,
Or will we turn back
To what is more comfortable
And what we know and expect
It requires diligence on our part
Faith will not just fall out of the sky
We must seek it,
Chase it
Journey toward this faith in Christ…
Toward God’s will for us
Will we be diligent in the coming year?

Finally, let us pray for darkness…
The wise men could see all too well,
They thought that they knew what too expect
They thought they could see the plans of God
And they ended up in the wrong place
Let us pray for darkness
So that we would not lean on our own understanding
But grasp tightly to God’s hand
Leaning entirely on his will and way
It is only in the darkness
That we will see our star…
Let us pray for diligence and darkness…
Amen…