A Matter Of Trust (Rev. David R. Heise)

Matthew 2:1-12

Who were these travelers from the mysterious East, who sometime after the birth of the baby Jesus, arrived in Bethlehem with expensive gifts?  They appear for a moment and then are quickly gone. The text calls them wise men. They are often known as magi, soothsayers, stargazers, philosophers, mystics or scientists traveling far from beyond Israel.

Who were these men? They came carrying gifts showing they came with trust.  Trusting in that ‘star’.   Folks they were seeking the light.  Like all of us they were on a quest, hungry for light in a dark world, eager to find that which is greater than ourselves.

They had to trust as they traveled.  If they had trusted Herod, Caesar’s puppet king, history might have been very different.  But they trusted their inner voice which came to them in a dream.

The wise men left Herod, still intent on their mission, but disquieted with their visit and his instructions.   Now and then I run across individuals who make me slightly uneasy.  I cannot always define why I am on edge.  It is not what they say, but something about the tone of voice, or the look in their eyes.   They seem way too curious about what I am up to. They want my trust, and for reasons I cannot always articulate, I do not trust them.

The magi arrive in Bethlehem to visit the Christ child. Offering their gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh.

Having completed their mission they are ready to head home, taking a back road out of town, and make their way across the desert.  Also Joseph, told of Herod’s anger by an angel, packs up his little family and makes tracks to Egypt. One wonders if the magi were God’s angels in disguise.

My friends, Jesus brought a new ethic into the world, a new way of doing things to a world mired down in the old ways.   He will teach,

“turn the other cheek,”

“go the second mile,”

“give good when all you get is evil.”

All the Herod’s of this world will not understand Jesus or what He teaches.   Wherever Jesus is followed He will befuddle the powers and the principalities.  They may try to use his followers, to enlist them in the cause of blood, but he will always elude them.

Jesus’ message comes to us in the quiet inner voices which speak of peace and non-violence.   And, as you all know, our world is so steeped in violence, so ready to prove we are right because we can hit harder than anyone else, we cannot hear or understand what Jesus is about or has to say.

Jesus and his messengers — the Bible calls them angels — still summon us to a way of living in a world that does not understand.  And we must decide whom we shall hear and whom we shall follow.   Shall we trust the voices of this world?  Shall we give over our consciences to those who tell us that an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth is the only moral belief possible?  Shall we heed those voices which demand that if we hope to survive we will hit back twice as hard as we are hit, or find a bigger gun?

As many of you know, my wife Barbara and I work with folks who live in the urban part of Schenectady.   Many of these folks live on the edge of society who have been dis-enfranchised so many times to where they have lost their trust in society.  Or their fellow human beings!   It is out of this concern we are able to minister to the needs of our community!

Are ‘we’ ready to settle for a system which tell us that the slaughter of 600 innocent Panamanian civilians or American servicemen is a price worth paying even if what we have bought with all this blood is unclear?

Or shall we listen to another voice which tells us that for some things — the most important questions of life and death — Herod cannot be trusted? Perhaps wise men and women will hear that other voice which calls them to the back roads of life, roads which lead to peace on earth, good will among the world’s people.

Tell me what you hear and who you are willing to follow.  Tell me what you trust — what ethic,   what world view,   what system.  Most of your neighbors will hear that marshal music which justifies the losing of innocent blood when the cause seems right.  But there will be a few, one or two here and there, who will hear another voice which comes to them in a dream — a dream of a peaceful world — and will step in time to the beat of that drum.  The safety and survival of the world depends, now as it always has, on those who hear and respond to that quieter voice, no matter how measured or far away.

Amen!

Trust and Obey,   for There’s No Other Way!

 

Rev. David R. Heise, is a retired United Methodist pastor appointed in the Albany District of the Upper New York Conference of the United Methodist Church. Rev. Heise is appointed to serve in urban ministry in Schenectady for the Capital District.