Matthew 2:1-12

Nine Miles Wrong
January 6, 2008
(With homage to Walter B who inspired this approach)

It was a logical mistake. The Wise Men have come to Jerusalem. They have come following a star and a story. They have read Isaiah 60...they've read what is supposed to happen...and so they've shown up...to find the new king. They've shown up in the court of the old king. This is how we know that they may be three wise men...but they are NOT three kings...Any king worth his salt knows not to go asking the current king about who this new king that's going to replace him will be. No, they've made a mistake alright...for they will not find the new King in Jerusalem.

Instead of finding a king, they find that THEY have created turmoil in the halls of power. "Here in Isaiah 60 and in the stars, we read and see signs concerning your new king that has been born and we've come to meet him...," they say...and Herod panics....The first thing he does is send for all the preachers. He calls in the heads of all the denominations, the Bible faculty from all the seminaries and says..."okay fellas, now I didn't pay all that much attention in Sunday School, what's all this about Isaiah 60 and a new king?"

And they explain it to him....They explain how things were 500 or so years before...the Babylonian Exile was over...the people had come home...to a bombed out mess... Jerusalem...the former jewel of Judah...now looked a bit like Baghdad back in the fall of 2003 after weeks of bombings....all of the palaces are destroyed...Solomon's great structures are in ruins...including the temple...And the Poet/Prophet of Isaiah 60 offers them words of hope....lifts up a vision of a restored Jerusalem for them...and of a greatness that is to come...of the homage that will come from the east...the gold, the frankincense...And perhaps Herod isn't feeling so bad after all...Maybe he's this king...maybe he and his ties to the Roman occupying force will bring about this new golden age...until someone--someone who clearly didn't care if they ended up on Herod's Christmas Card list next year--someone speaks up and says...."Um…wait a second...That’s the wrong text." They’ve got it wrong...Nine Miles Wrong...

And the scholars turn and hear one in their midst suggest to Herod that the Wise Men have it wrong...that they've made a mistake coming to Jerusalem looking for the king--that the right text is Micah 5:2-4:

But you, O Bethlehem of Ephrathah . . . from you shall come forth for me one who is to rule in Israel, whose origin is from of old . . .

And all of the church leaders of the day sheepishly turn back to Herod and shake their heads..."Yes, he's right...that's what the prophet foretold.” The new sovereign coming for Israel will come not from the centers of power and wealth in Jerusalem....but from 9 miles away...in the humble peasant village of Bethlehem...

As Biblical scholar Walter B. puts it...in this moment, Herod comes face to face with "the voice of a peasant hope for the future, a voice that is not impressed with high towers and great arenas…It anticipates a different future, as yet unaccomplished, that will organize the peasant land in resistance to imperial threat. Micah anticipates a leader who will bring well-being to his people, not by great political ambition, but by attentiveness to the folks on the ground."

And NOW Herod has good reason to be terrified...for this King prophesied in Micah is NOT him...it's definitely not anyone associated with Rome...And so Herod does what political leaders have been doing with the church off and on for the 2000 years since...He tries to USE these religious pilgrims for his own purposes....to cement his own power...He wraps himself in the cloak of their faithfulness....so that he might discover and eliminate the threat to his power.

Thanks be to God the wise men are truly wise and they are inspired to see through his schemes. They pay homage to the Christ child and they return home without reporting back, without become tools of Herod's fearful lust for power--though Herod will not be content, of course. He will slaughter the innocents, like Pharaoh all those centuries ago back in Egypt. Many children will die because of his fear that his power has been threatened.

Today we stand in an interesting time--11 months from a Presidential election--and I don’t know about you, but I’ve been hearing a lot of promises that sound a lot like Isaiah 60—visions of the land we live in restored to greatness and power--being restored to our stature as the beacon of the world, the light of the world. And it makes me nervous. And I’ve been hearing more than a few folks, in both parties, sometimes sounding a bit too much like Herod--Wrapping themselves up in their faith in ways that make me wonder. Surely some speak of their faith lives to help us understand who they are--but there also seem to be those who, when they speak of faith, it just seems too clearly to be a way to market themselves--to attract voters with their religious piety--and I can’t help but hear the echo of Herod in their statements. One of them has gone so far as to suggest that his rise in popularity has been God's response to the prayers of his followers, essentially claiming the title of God’s favored one.

It's not my place to name names here, and you'll never hear me advocate for or against any candidate or party from this pulpit--it's both unethical and against the law--But here's what I do want us to remember as we enter the fevered fray of this election year. Let's make sure as we prayerfully seek to be good stewards of our citizenship--while remaining first and foremost citizens of God's coming commonwealth, and that when we decide who we are looking for to lead us that we don’t end up Nine Miles Wrong.

The truth about this day is that the sages from the east found the king of the world not in the center of political and economic power, but nine miles away in a peasant town. The truth that echoes from the writings of the Prophet Micah through that humble child's life and ministry and death and resurrection all the way up to the words of Walter B, is that the central message of God's good news is not always welcome in the Jerusalem's of the world--in the centers of political power and economic wealth. Because a central message of the gospel is lifting up those who are oppressed and downtrodden--making a way for the widow and the orphan--setting the prisoners free--in Walter’s words…seeing to the needs of the folks on the ground.

And may that be our focus as well as we seek to minister to one another's needs and the needs of our community and our world--sharing the good news that lifts up the downtrodden and the oppressed. May we resist the temptation to see our Jerusalem's as the ultimate goal. May we instead be comfortable in the Bethlehem's of the world, paying homage to Emmanuel, and joining him on the way. And one day--pray God--the Jerusalem's and Herod's of the world will see the light and join us too. To God be the Glory, now and forever. Amen.