Historic First Lutheran Church of Pasadena

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.

Thirty-two years ago, during the summer of 1978, the Schaar family, along with Grandma Thorsen, climbed into our mini motor home in front of our home on Elm Drive in Hazel Crest, Illinois, for a 4-week trip to California. Along the way, we visited Trail Ridge Road in Rocky Mountain National Park; we visited the Mormon Temple in Salt Lake City; we toured the Redwoods and Big Sur; we visited Aunt Ginny and Uncle Carl in Sacramento and they took us to San Francisco for a day; we visited the San Diego Zoo. It was quite the trip for a family from Chicago! But, to this day, if you ask me or my sister the real highlight of the entire trip, we will both without a doubt answer “Going to Disneyland.”

Now in some ways, that’s a funny answer when you stop to think about it. It’s funny because it makes it sound as if our family traveled over 2,000 miles to go to an amusement park. But to me and to Julie, that’s exactly what we did. The rest of the trip to us, while enjoyable, of course, was stuff we had to put up with to appease the adults so that we could get to Disneyland, so that we get those little ticket booklets with tickets labeled “A” and “B” and “C” and “D” and “E”, so that Grandma could buy us the promised Mickey Mouse stuffed animal. It sounds very funny – laugh all you want -- but it is very true.

We see a similarly funny situation in our Gospel today. Some astrologers – we don’t know how many, but tradition holds there were three – we call them “Wise Men” or “Magi” – some people erroneously call them “kings” – traveled from the East – probably from Persia or Southern Arabia – to visit a newborn baby. This baby was not a relative. In fact, the Magi didn’t even know the Child’s name or where He would be found. They just simply saw a bright, brilliant star appear in the sky and set out following it on camel, carrying with them pricelessly unusual gifts that would have easily exposed them to robbery.

But the story gets even more funny. This was before the day of the Automobile Club, so being visitors to the region, their first stop was King Herod’s palace. They stopped there and actually obtained a royal audience to ask for directions to the newborn King of the Jews. That’s like knocking on the door of Buckingham Palace in London and asking Queen Elizabeth where a tourist might find Prince Charles.

Anyway, to make a long story short, based upon some esoteric writings from the Prophet Micah, the Magi got directed to Bethlehem and the bright, brilliant star did the rest of the work, leading them right to the house where the Child was and, after bowing down and worshiping Him, they presented their gifts of gold and frankincense and myrrh. And then they went home, never to be heard from again.

When put like that, the entire situation seems very funny, doesn’t it? You mean there were no other stars that captivated the attention of those astrologers? You mean that simply the appearance of that star somehow communicated to them that a child was born somewhere? You mean the Wise Men couldn’t find any children born closer to home? You mean there were no worthy potential welfare recipients say two miles from home? Try explaining this journey to family members, especially a wife, as you’re saddling up the family’s camel – “No, honey, I don’t know where we’re going; I don’t know when we’ll be back; I don’t even know why we’re going, but we have to go.” Now that’s funny!

So why did the Magi really make that trip? Now that’s the question of the ages!

Living some 2,000 years after the birth of the Christ-Child and the visit of the Magi, we can venture an answer. There must have been something to set that message-bearing star apart. There must have been something conveyed, even in their own traditional writings, that the appearance of such a star meant something of importance happening to the West. There surely must have been something impressed upon their minds that this Child was worth all the effort and energy and expense and danger and potential embarrassment. And, because of the fact that they seem to have accomplished their purpose and returned satisfied to their own country, we can only guess that meeting the Christ-Child was worth it, that the Magi didn’t regret for even a moment everything this Child put them through.

Of course we also know that the visit of the Magi was direct fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy, something that had to happen to prove that this Child born in Bethlehem was the Messiah –

“Arise! Shine! For Your Light has come, and the Glory of the Lord rises upon you. See, darkness covers the earth and thick darkness is over the peoples, but the Lord rises upon you and His Glory appears over you. Nations will come to your Light, and kings to the brightness of your Dawn. Lift up your eyes and look about you: All assemble and come to you. [Isaiah 60:1-4]

Why? Because God is able! YES! HE CAN! IN 2010! And because He can, you and I can do all things THROUGH CHRIST, Who strengthens us [Philippians 4:13].

You see, the Magi got it right. This little Child was no ordinary child. This newborn was God Himself, God-in flesh-made-manifest. He wouldn’t stay in that manger in Bethlehem. After a sojourn in Egypt, He grow up in Nazareth. He would live a perfect life. He would heal the sick and raise the dead. He would captivate thousands at a time with His teaching, making the hidden things of God easily understood by even the most simple of people. He would be arrested. He would be wrongly accused. He would be marched out of Jerusalem, instantly nailed to a Cross, with no hope of appeal or human justice. But even that wasn’t the end. Three days later, He would raise Himself from the dead. Forty days later, He would ascend back into Heaven. But, before He did, He would promise His Spirit, Who not only would be with His followers every moment of every day, but Who would allow and empower His followers to do even greater things than He did [John 14:12].

And because He has done all those things and because He can continue to do all those things even today, you and I can do all things THROUGH CHRIST, Who strengthens us [Philippians 4:13].

Now that’s the message this world needs today! That’s the message you and I need today! It’s the message learned by the Magi, that this Child, the Babe of Bethlehem and the Christ of Calvary, is worth the effort, is worth the energy, is worth the sacrifice because in Him is something that is not found in anyone else, anywhere else in the world. In Christ Jesus is found the power and the strength to conquer all adversity, to shed light into dark world, to bring peace into our warring world, to change lives, to impact this world like nothing else can.

So, join with me this year on a journey, a journey not unlike that of the Magi, a journey that may even sometimes seem funny, but a journey that will lead us ever closer to the Christ, to that source of temporal and eternal power so needed by each of us, so needed even today by all people in our world.

YES! HE CAN! IN 2010!

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.

Pastor Christopher Schaar
Historic First Lutheran Church of Pasadena