Church of the Holy City

Finding Jesus

Finding Jesus
Rev. Dr. David J. Fekete
January 8, 2012

Isaiah 60:1-6 Matthew 2:1-12 Psalm 72

We seek out Jesus for different reasons. This Sunday is called Epiphany, and on it we celebrate the arrival of the wise men to the manger. When the wise men found baby Jesus, they were overjoyed and gave Him expensive gifts. But they had to search for Jesus. They had to seek out where Jesus was. When they arrived in Jerusalem from the east, they had to ask where Jesus was. This Matthew tells us in 2:1-2, “Behold, wise men came from the east came to Jerusalem, saying, ‘Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we have seen his star in the East, and have come to worship him.’” Acting on the counsel from the chief priests and teachers of the law, Herod told them to go to Bethlehem. They then followed the star to the manger. When they saw baby Jesus they were overjoyed. They worshipped and gave Jesus precious gifts.
The story of the wise men plays out in our lives. We, too, have to seek out Jesus in order to bring Him into our lives. We cry out for Jesus to come to us from different places in our lives. There are times when we seek him out to give thanks for all the joy that has come our way. These are the times when we are filled with a holy happiness from God and we thank God from the bottom of our hearts. This is what the wise men represent in our lives. Then we also cry out to Jesus sometimes when we are in darkness and want to be brought into the light. In our Isaiah passage for this morning, we heard about a time of darkness. Isaiah 60:2 reads, “For behold, darkness shall cover the earth, and thick darkness the peoples.” This is our condition when we feel distant from God. Yes, there are times in our life when the heavenly joys of God’s kingdom seem distant. There are times when we seem to be sinking into darkness, and we need God’s loving hand to lift us up. As the Psalmist says,
Rescue me from the mire,
do not let me sink;
Do not let the floodwaters engulf me
or the depths swallow me up
or the pit close its mouth over me.
Answer me, LORD, out of the goodness of your love;
in your great mercy turn to me.
Do not hide your face from your servant;
answer me quickly, for I am in trouble.
Come near and rescue me (Psalm 69:14, 15, 16, 17, 18).
But we have God’s assurance that when we do call out to Him, He will come. Isaiah 60:2 reads, “For behold, darkness shall cover the earth, and thick darkness the peoples; but the Lord will arise upon you, and his glory will be seen upon you.” When we hear that darkness covered the earth, we think about the time of Jesus’ birth. Then the world was in great darkness then, and needed Jesus to come and show humanity the way back to God. On a personal level, we think about those times when we seem distant from God. We may feel lost or overcome with problems. In the midst of our distress, we seek God. In the darkness we look for that guiding star. We say with the Psalmist, “Answer me, Lord, out of the goodness of your love; . . . answer me quickly, for I am in trouble.”
There are times indeed darker than this, when we question our very spirituality. I have known times when the world closes around me, and I become immersed in my own selfish desires. I almost feel like Herod. He sought out Jesus, too, but with a different motive than that of the wise men. He wanted to find Jesus in order to get rid of Him. Now in the depths of my heart, I am fully committed to Jesus. But I do admit that there are times when I don’t want Jesus to disturb my worldly pleasures. Or I may be taking credit for the achievements in my life and do not want to acknowledge that it was all God’s work. During these times, I don’t even cry out, “Answer me, Lord, out of the goodness of your love; in your great mercy turn to me. Do not hide your face from your servant; answer me quickly, for I am in trouble” (Psalm 69:16-17). For when I am too involved with the world, Jesus and His heavenly kingdom are a threat. Jesus was a threat to King Herod because He was called the King of the Jews. Herod took this literally, and saw Jesus as a threat to his rule. When the world is too much with me, Jesus is a threat. I know that He will break up the pleasures I am enjoying.
But no matter where we are in our hearts, God is always with us. God is always close to us, no matter how we feel and no matter what state of mind we are in. Though we may reject God–perish the thought!– God will never reject us. Though we may try to escape God’s love, God will love us still. Psalm 139 speaks about this in lovely poetry:
Where can I go from your Spirit?
Where can I flee from your presence?
If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
if I settle on the far side of the sea,
even there your hand will guide me,
your right hand will hold me fast.
If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me
and the light become night around me,”
even the darkness will not be dark to you;
the night will shine like the day,
for darkness is as light to you (Psalm 139:7-12).
When I was mad at the church years ago, I deliberately tried to rebel against the teachings I grew up with. In my AA program, they told me to make a list of people and institutions I could forgive, people and institutions I could forgive but it would be hard, and people and institutions I would never forgive as long as I lived. At that time in my life, I was so angry with the church that I put it on the list of people and institutions I would never forgive as long as I lived. And look at me now! An ordained minister in the church I said I would never forgive as long as I lived! My life is an example of our reading from Isaiah 60:2, “For behold, darkness shall cover the earth, and thick darkness the peoples; but the Lord will arise upon you, and his glory will be seen upon you.” God came to me in my thick darkness and His glory arose upon me. He brought me home as a good shepherd does a wandering sheep.
Now my life is like the wise men. Now I give thanks to God with every breath I breathe. I am so grateful that God did not leave me in the pit. I am so grateful that God did not leave me to wallow in my self pity and bitterness. He lifted me out of the pit. He made his light shine upon me. In my night, God shone like the day.
The wise men brought gifts to Jesus. They were expensive gifts–gold, incense, and myrrh. How can we bring gifts to Jesus? What would we do that would be like bringing these gifts to baby Jesus? I suggest that the answer to this question is your very self. I suggest that you, yourself, are the gift. Each one of us is a unique individual. Each one of us has a personality that is like no other. Each one of us has a gift, a talent that we do best. I minister to this church first and foremost and then in every other opportunity I have to do so. Sometimes it is with the youth, sometimes it is with the members of the interfaith centre, sometimes it is with a couple I marry. I minister wherever God calls me to do so. Some people are plumbers. They keep the water systems running in our houses so we can shower, keep our home clean, and in many homes it is the plumbers work that keeps our homes warm in the winter. Some of us work with people in need. Some give care to people with special needs. Some work in hospitals. Some work with mental illnesses. Some people are construction workers. They build the houses we live in or the buildings we shop in or where businesses have offices. Some people give off their love for God through their personal interrelations. They make the people they know feel better. They give off the love that God has for us all. The poet Walt Whitman tried to capture the vastness and diversity of each individual in the world in a poem called “Leaves of Grass.” The poem goes on at great length and the sheer number of verses makes the impression that the world and its individuals are infinite. No one of the few vocations I have mentioned is more valuable to society than another. No one of these vocations is more valuable to God. Was gold more precious than myrrh? Not at all. Was the worship of the wise men more pleasing to God than that of the shepherds? Of course not. It was the humble shepherds who saw the angel Gabriel, and it was the humble shepherds who heard the angelic choir praising God.
Let your light shine, Jesus tells us. Let your light shine in whatever way is uniquely yours. Jesus tells us that whatever we do for the least of His children we do to Him. However we treat our neighbor, whatever good we do him or her is our gift to Jesus. When we seek Jesus to bring Him a gift, we are also seeking out who we are. Take stock of who you are. Consider the goods that you bring to the world. Thank Jesus for every opportunity He gives you to serve. Thank Jesus for the gifts you can give to the world. Thank Jesus for who you are. For only you can be the person you are. Only you can bring forth the gifts you do. You, and only you, manifest the image of God that you do. We each one of us are one shining spark showering forth from the Sun that gives life to heaven and earth.