January 7, 2007

Matthew 2: 1-12
“A Higher Authority”

All this talk of stars has me hankering for some REAL star-gazing…

[National Enquirer Headlines:]
Lindsay Blows Off Meeting With Gore
Lindsay Lohan's not only been a mean girl to Al Gore - she's been a rude one as well. The 20-year-old wild-child actress recently blew off a personal invitation...

Faith Hill Meltdown As Tim McGraw Parties With Boozing Buddies
The 10-year marriage of country superstars Faith Hill and Tim McGraw has hit a rough patch because of Tim's hard-partying ways, sources say....

'View' To A Kill! Barbara Told: Dump Rosie!
Barbara Walters is under pressure to boot Rosie O'Donnell from "The View" in the wake of Rosie's recent public face-off with Donald Trump, say sources....

Royal Prince Shocks Kingdom With Engagement To Servant Girl, Family Horrified
Josephine Hortenstein, known by her family nickname, Cinderella, enraged her step-sisters when she was chosen by the Queen’s son, Prince Mortimer, to wed after an odd but enchanting chase involving glass slippers.


I know I shouldn’t read these cheap supermarket rags, but they do provide some mindless distractions from life. And every now and then you get a tidbit of really helpful… well, let’s say interesting information. Like the last story I quoted.

I read the entire story, and it was captivating. It’s all about a rich and powerful family who has authority over a really poor woman and how they try to control her destiny, but when royalty get involve, they go crazy with the possibility their influence and power might be called into question. Eventually, after some crafty maneuverings, the poor woman and the monarch meet, he gives her a gift, and they all live happily ever after.

Wait… that sounds like another story I’ve read recently… a poor woman, crazy people in power, royalty, gifts given, sneakiness, exuberant joy.

Can you believe that your pastor is making connections between the sacred story of the magi, King Herod, and the Holy Family and Cinderella?! Well I am, and let me tell you why.

There are a couple things that fascinate me about both of these stories. The first is the divinely inspired topsy-turvy narrative that sees life, not in terms of the way we typically see relationships as happening, but in terms of how God, from a different vantage point sees them.

We continue to believe, even when we profess differently, that the more wealth and power you have the more authority you have. But the magi, and Cinderella, are wise to the troubled ways of those in power. In Cinderella, the step-mother and step-sisters wield their wretched ways upon the young girl, forcing her to stay home from the prince’s grand ball. Cinderella, through the love and magic of her Fairy God-Mother, usurps the step-mother’s power and is sent on her way, dressed to the nines and riding in an enchanted carriage.

The magi stop first at the palace of King Herod, doing what would be expected of visiting nobles. But once they are sent on their way they rethink Herod’s invitation to return and report on the newborn “king,” recognizing the one in power in the palace is not the true king. They recognize that there are authorities, and then there are Higher Authorities, and both stories remind us of the proper place and use of power and the respect we should have for the Ultimate Power.

But we’ve heard this realignment of the powerful already once during this holy season, haven’t we? In a speech almost worthy of Cinderella-come-princess, Mary, the mother of Jesus, sang…

He has shown strength with his arm;
he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts.
He has brought down the powerful from their thrones,
and lifted up the lowly;
he has filled the hungry with good things,
and sent the rich away empty. Luke 1:51-53

As much as I find meaning in this sacred reversal of fortune, there’s something even more compelling for me in the intersection of the biblical narrative of the Magi and the baby Jesus, and Cinderella and her wicked family members. I am even more inspired by the characters in both stories who are at risk of being dragged down to the level of those who are evil, or at least terribly mean-spirited, but who are able to rise above it all and see a vision of a world better than the hatefulness and power-politics around them. Both Cinderella and the magi stand up to truly malevolent forces, even if it means engaging in some creative cunning: the wise men decide to go home by another route and Cinderella is found by the persistent prince because of a lost magical slipper that only fits her foot.

And this rising above the noisy and distracting din of those who would keep them enslaved to the forces of fear, selfishness, angst, and hatred is risky business. Cinderella understands that if things do not go well, and her step-mother and step-sisters find out what she has done, there will be no end to her suffering – both physical and mental. They will make sure of it.

In a similar way the magi who refuse to take King Herod’s bate and return to him with specific information about this new born king probably do not fear for their lives, but they do recognize that Herod was perfectly capable of terrible retribution on somebody. After all, he was well-known for his vicious cruelty throughout his Roman protectorate. He was ruthless enough to have even had his young son murdered when he thought his own claim to the throne was threatened. And, sadly, he would eventually kill all the newborn boys in Bethlehem in his mad attempt to protect his power.

My question for you and for me is, “Who is it in your life that seeks to keep you down, mired in the everyday muck of life? Who or what prevents you from lifting your head above the walls of our little world so that you can’t see the stars and believe something else is out there bigger and better than everything we know? Who in your world pretends to be your authority and keeps you from seeking a Higher Authority?”

One of my standard warnings in my pastoral care is that diseased or unhealthy people will always seek to drag down healthy people. There is nothing more unnerving for a sick or unbalanced person than to have a healthy person try to improve himself or herself. They see it, rather than an invitation to lift themselves up, also (a rising tide lifts all boats) but as a threat and a challenge to drag the person seeking health down to their level. Like the creature from the black lagoon, diseased people seem to thrill at the thought of keeping someone down.

And this is evident nowhere more vividly than in the lives of addicts. Addictive persons, strangely like King Herod or the Evil Step-Mother, become enraged at the thought that someone else might improve themselves, as if it is seen as an outright challenge to their world assumptions.

Now, leaving the fairy tale behind and focusing on the gospel, we need to rise above those situations and those people who would hold us back, drag us down, limit us to the least common denominator. The magi, clearly wise not just in the ways of the stars, but also astute in the ways of the human heart, realized that Herod’s vision was limited to his own self-perpetuation, his own safety and security, his own power.

The Christ child, however, had a vision much grander, much more noble, much more healing. It is appropriate that the magi could look to the heavens and see the star, but Herod could not lift his sight to see anything beyond his own fears and fate.

As individuals, each one of us needs to look beyond the naysayers and the cynics to see the magnificent calling to which God has called us. This may mean standing up to those in power, with human authority. This may mean changing our plans and going home by a different path. It may mean trying to see ourselves through the eyes of those who love us more than we love ourselves, who really do see God at work in our lives, who believe in our dreams more than we do!

But we also need to ask the even tougher question: Are we Herod to someone else? Are we the person blocking someone else’s star journey? Is it possible that through our words or actions or attitudes we are hindering someone from reaching their full potential? Are we the Step-Mother in the Cinderella story, so intent on getting our own way that we are perfectly willing to step on or over another one of God’s children?

Finally, as a church, we need to be asking the same questions. We need as a congregation to be very wary of those who would limit our vision because of their own fears and limited vision. Who is holding us back because they cannot dream as big as God dreams for us? Who are the skeptics and pessimists who seem to shoot down every new possibility, each attempt to live into God’s blessed future? Do we need to return by another way, avoiding those whose fears keep them earth-bound and star-starved?

Many, many years ago God chose to come to us in a very real, but very unexpected way. We always seem to be anticipating something grander, something more startling, something with louder bells and brighter jewels, something more in keeping with what we are prepared for. But God came to us in a defenseless baby to two poor parents in an animal shed. Even so, there were those in the who world knew something wondrously different had happened. They began to come from the East and the West, the North and the South to experience this God-made-flesh manifestation. Rich and poor alike, they listened to angels and followed stars, and were tempted by flesh-and-blood detractors.

Years later, we, too, follow the same star because we have the same yearnings for a savior, one who will guide our hearts and rule our lives in love. We, likewise, will have those along our way who, for their own personal reasons, will attempt to distract us and stifle the divine birth. Let us be wise. Let us listen carefully to the call of God to us. Let us watch vigilantly and be guided by the true light. Let us neither stray nor cause another to stumble, but follow the light so that we all may worship the one who transforms all that we are and all that we will ever know into love’s pure light.

May it be so.
Amen.



Rev. Allen V. Harris
Franklin Circle Christian Church
www.FranklinCircleChurch.org


 

Copyright 2007 -- The Rev. Allen V. Harris

Franklin Circle Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)

1688 Fulton Rd., Cleveland, OH 44113-3096