​     Once, when we were kids, my sister Kellie hid inside a clothes rack at Kmart. We were pretty little, so I don’t remember if I knew where she was. And, I don’t know if she was trying to hide or was just curious about what it was like in behind all the denim dresses.  I do remember that my mom clearly didn’t. Kellie was only out of sight for a few minutes and Mom was never more than 15 feet from the clothing rack she had tucked herself into. But, it was really scary! It came up several times in our childhood as a warning: “You all better not hide in anymore clothes racks in here.” I imagine some of you listening today have been in a similar position, be it as the kid who is somewhere they not supposed to be or the parent who can’t find them. It’s scary! Now, imagine your child is Jesus. And, you realize that you haven’t seen him for a whole day. And, then it takes 3 days to find him. Three! Days!

     I mean, yes. Jesus’ parents probably had a more “free-range” parenting style than most of the parents I know. And, yes, scholars remind us that Jesus’ family probably assumed that the other adults in the traveling party were keeping an eye on him. Still, it would have been terrifying to realize that you had left your child in a large, busy city that was more than a day and a half walk away. There are no cell-phones to call to ahead to your family in the city and ask them to go looking. And, you can only travel as quickly as you can walk or run. I can imagine them running.

     The story tells us they don’t find Jesus for three days. Three whole days in a city where he probably had some relatives but didn’t live. It was a city more full than typical, of both pilgrims and dangerous soldiers, because of the festival. The Bible story doesn’t give us a lot of detail about what Mary and Joseph must have been thinking as they searched. But, I bet you can fill in the blanks. Is he safe? Has he eaten? Has he found somewhere to sleep? Has some kind adult noticed him and taken care of him? Hopefully, someone was watching out for him.

     At some point, his family went to the temple. And that’s where they found him. Sitting with the teachers and learning from them. Thank God this child is safe. His parents are reasonably upset: “Child, why have you treated us like this? Your father and I have been searching for you in great anxiety!” He’s lucky that’s all they said. He had the gall to say to them, with all the wisdom and confidence that only a 12-year-old can muster, "Why were you all searching for me? Did you not know that I must be in the house of my Abba?" His parents were flabbergasted. Can you imagine saying that to your parents after being gone for three days? Can you imagine your child saying that to you after being missing for three days. Scripture tells that they didn’t understand what he was saying.

     Were they so gobsmacked that this... this... was his only explanation that they just couldn’t even wrap their heads around it? Or, did they understand the events of the previous three days to be some foreshadowing of something they didn’t yet comprehend. This child who had been a miracle was now found learning from the elders and teachers of their community. He wasn’t running around with his buddies for three days. He was listening and learning. He was becoming steeped in the religious teachings of his people. He was asking good questions.
Rev. Niveen Sarras, in her commentary on this text, tells us that this story is crafted this way to show us how Jesus is cultivating the experience he needs in order to be the leader he will become. He seems to be living into his calling already at age 12, even if it puts him in conflict with the expectations of his parents and his broader community. This won’t be the only time they’ll wonder what happened to him for three days. But, they don’t know that yet. Mary seems to know that this event is important though. Scripture says that she “treasured all of these things in her heart.” And, they went home, where Jesus grew in wisdom and in years, and in divine and human favor. 

     Right now, I imagine a lot of you are thinking not just about Jesus, but also the children in your life, the ones who don’t always tell you where they are running off to, who are eager to learn, who can be exasperating. How do we read this story about Jesus as a child, the only story about Jesus’ childhood after his birth in any of the four Gospels, alongside the experiences of the kids we know today and our concern for their health and well-being in the midst of Covid. When I think about Jesus as a kid in a situation that is full of both danger and potential, I can’t help but think about the adults who didn’t know him who, nevertheless, took care of him while he was learning at their side.

     This is a time when we can be like those adults, teachers who were probably Pharisees, and tend to the well-being of the vulnerable ones right before us. Whether that means making sure our schools have adequate funding and policies to mitigate Covid as much as possible or making sure that on-line education is an option for kids who aren’t safe at school or taking our own precautions, on a community level, to slow the spread of Covid so kids and school staff are less likely to get sick. We probably need to do all these things. We are not living in normal times, as much as we wish we were. It is, as you know, the responsibility of the adults to help the kids navigate these times as safely as possible. Jesus could get to follow his calling because he had people to support him, even as a child. Now is our time to tend to the safety of the kids before us. Christ lives on in them. May we recognize him, and respond as our faith demands.
​
Resources consulted while writing this sermon:
Caroline Lewis: https://www.workingpreacher.org/craft.aspx?post=5269
Naveen Sarras: https://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=3930
Ron Allen: http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=2708
Fred B. Craddock, Luke: Interpretation- A Bible Commentary for teaching and preaching (Louisville: John Knox Press, 1990).
Fred Craddock, John Hayes, Carl Holladay, and Gene Tucker, Preaching the New Common Lectionary: Year C, Advent, Christmas, Epiphany (Abingdon Press: Nashville, 1985). 

Matthew 2:1-12 The Visit of the Wise Men 
In the time of King Herod, after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, asking, ‘Where is the child who has been born king of the Jews? For we observed his star at its rising, and have come to pay him homage.’ When King Herod heard this, he was frightened, and all Jerusalem with him; and calling together all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Messiah was to be born. They told him, ‘In Bethlehem of Judea; for so it has been written by the prophet: “And you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for from you shall come a ruler who is to shepherd my people Israel.” ’ 
Then Herod secretly called for the wise men and learned from them the exact time when the star had appeared. Then he sent them to Bethlehem, saying, ‘Go and search diligently for the child; and when you have found him, bring me word so that I may also go and pay him homage.’ When they had heard the king, they set out; and there, ahead of them, went the star that they had seen at its rising, until it stopped over the place where the child was. When they saw that the star had stopped, they were overwhelmed with joy. On entering the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother; and they knelt down and paid him homage. Then, opening their treasure-chests, they offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. And having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they left for their own country by another road. ​

     Even though it’s a little early, today, we’re going to celebrate Epiphany, which for those of us who are Protestant and Catholic, is the day to commemorate the arrival of the Magi to meet young Jesus. There is only one Gospel that tells us this story. It’s the Gospel of Matthew. The person who wrote Matthew wants to make sure that we know at least two things about the Messiah: One is that Jesus is a fulfillment of the promises God made to God’s people and two, that Jesus is coming to not just his own ethnic and religious group: Jesus is coming to the whole world. And, people outside of their community will see God in Jesus just as clearly, and sometimes more clearly, than the people in his community. We have an entire special day set aside on the church calendar dedicated to one of the stories of outsiders knowing just exactly who Jesus was, even though he was a child. And, the powerful people in Jesus’ community, well, one powerful person, in Jesus’ community is not excited, in the least, to hear that a Messiah has come.

     Christian traditions around the backstory and identities of the Magi abound. We’ve given them names. We decided there were three of them. We’ve also decided that they each might also come from a different ethnic background. And, we turned them into kings. But, as you heard from our reader today, none of that is actually in the story from Matthew. Matthew simple calls them wise ones, or in Greek, Magi. They were scholars, and priests from the Zoroastrian faith. Zoroastrianism is one of the oldest continuing faiths in the world and was once the official faith of Persia, the region we now call Iran. In her commentary on the text, Rev. Niveen Sarras tells us that the priests were consulted to interpret dreams and write horoscopes, based on their immense understanding of the stars, for powerful people, including the Persian emperor. They would be called wise because their training helped them give good advice to powerful people.

     According to Rev. Sarras, the prophet for whom Zoroastrianism is named, Zoroaster, was said to have been born from a virgin. Part of his teachings included predictions that other women would become pregnant as his mother had, bringing more divine prophets into the world. The priests believed that they could tell when one of these prophets was going to be born by reading the patterns in the stars. The Persian priests, like their Jewish neighbors, were waiting for someone holy to be born. The star that they would have seen would have been a great and wonderous sign for their people.

     At the same time as they and everyday Jewish people were hoping for a Savior, there was a king in Israel who was anything but. Herod was known to be a paranoid, brutal, and cruel king. In her commentary on the text, Elizabeth Johnson notes that he killed one of his wives and several of his sons because he thought they were plotting against them. His power was tenuous... he only got to call himself king because the Emperor of Rome let him do so. Remember, his people believed that God would bring up a leader from their people. Herod was not a leader from their people. And, he knew it. He grew afraid and, in his fear, did great harm. Fearful, powerful people are dangerous.

     The Magi show up in Herod’s palace mostly out of politeness. Magi often greeted new kings in neighboring countries. They weren’t trying to cause trouble. They were just making sure to celebrate the prophet, whom they might have expected to become king, that they’d been looking for. Maybe they even may have thought the baby was Herod’s. In the story, it seems like they just followed the star and found themselves right in the middle of a tyrant’s dangerous intrigues.

     Herod tried to wrap the magi up in his schemes. He thought he could manipulate them into helping him harm a potential threat to his power. He told them about the Jewish prophecies that the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem. He sent them ahead, asking them to let him know when they found the baby, so he could pay homage as well. Thank God these Magi saw through his machinations and chose to protect the child instead of coddle the powerful.

     They find the baby, following the divine star. And, they receive a dream that warns them of returning to Herod, so they go home a different road. They could have decided to return to Herod out of courtesy or respect for his position.  But, instead, they trusted their dream and their God and they left without seeing him. They saved the one special child born under the star. They could not save the other children in Bethlehem. Herod’s fear made him dangerous and he harmed children in order to shore up his political power. He wasn’t the last tyrant to go to such measures either.

     Before they leave, the Magi give the child Jesus gifts. The gifts are important. Typically give to royalty and religious leaders, they are details that show us that 1) Jesus will be a leader to his people and 2) that people outside of his community will know it. According to Rev. Sarras, gold is a symbol of royalty; frankincense a symbol of wisdom; and myrrh a symbol of long life and healing. For Jesus, who we will learn had a ministry that was rooted in healing, guided by wisdom, and who represented a new kind of God-ordained leadership in the world, these three gifts are tantalizing clues of what is to come in this story.

     Throughout the rest of his life, everyday Jewish and Gentile people will meet Jesus, be changed by their time with him, and come to know that he was the Messiah. They will also realize that he is the Messiah in a different way than they expected. He won’t be a military leader or king. He will be a homeless teacher who heals the wounded and cares for the downtrodden. He will remind his people of their core commitments to love God and neighbor. He will never sacrifice someone else, as Herod had, to maintain power.  He will eat with his enemies and be kind to people from other religious communities. And, he will call out powerful people who continue practices that harm the powerless.

     The Magi show us something important about following Jesus. They show us that sometimes you follow God by taking a different road home. They show us that cruel people do not deserve our cooperation in harm. We are called not to conspire with the powerful but to humble ourselves in the face of Emmanuel, the Messiah we hoped for who enters into the world in the form of a vulnerable child from a simple family. The star shines on, showing us the way to the Messiah. May we follow it with a sense of faith, justice, and care inspired by the Wise Ones who went ahead of us. And, may we never help the wicked do more harm. 
                                                                                                                        
Resources consulted while writing this sermon:
Niveen Sarras: http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=3931
Karoline Lewis: http://www.workingpreacher.org/craft.aspx?post=5271
Elizabeth Johnson: https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/epiphany-of-our-lord/commentary-on-matthew-21-12-11