Preached to the Congregational Church in Exeter, U. C. C., on Epiphany, January 6, 2002, by Michael L. C. Henderson, pastor.

Isaiah 60:1-6; Matthew 2:1-12

They were overwhelmed with joy.

                      -Matthew 2:10

     Or in the 400-year-old King James Version, They rejoiced with exceeding great joy. That's a lot of joy. When was the last time you were overwhelmed with joy? Have you ever been overwhelmed with joy?

     Maybe I shouldn't start out like that. It's kind of . . . overwhelming. So let's begin again here, a less provocative beginning, a less interesting beginning - let's face it, a duller beginning! - and instead of hitting ourselves in the face with it baldly, Have you ever been overwhelmed with joy? let's meander around for a while and see if we can sneak up on it quietly.

     We three kings of Orient are. A fine hymn. It's in three-eighths time, like a speeded-up waltz, with that swinging swaying rhythm to it that reminds me of riding a camel. Mind you, I've never actually ridden a camel and I'm not especially interested in riding a camel, but I can imagine that if I rode one it would be sort of like singing We Three Kings.

     And I can see them singing it, the three kings, as they follow the star to Bethlehem, can't you? Riding on their smelly, foul-tempered camels, all dressed up in their fine colorful silk robes, with crowns on their heads - or should it be turbans on their heads? I checked our nice olive-wood crèche at home, and it has one with a crown, one with a turban, and one with a thing that could be either a crown or a turban. Cleverly straddling the fence on that important issue.

     It actually is an important issue, believe it or not. Most of us have been going along dumb and happy, swinging and singing We Three Kings all these years, but some more discerning folks haven't been singing. They've been asking, "Where does it say they were kings? And where does it say there were three of them? " Party poopers no doubt, but they have a point. The second chapter of Matthew is the only place in the Bible where there's any mention of them at all, and Matthew calls them "wise men from the East " - no numbers, no kings.

     So how'd we get the idea there were three of them and not two or four or even a multitude, since Isaiah predicted a multitude of camels? That's easy: They brought three gifts: gold, frankincense, and myrrh. So there were three of them, one for each gift. That's the way it is at children's birthday parties, isn't it? Don't laugh; that really is how it got to be three.

     And what makes us think they're kings? That's easy too. You heard it yourself a few minutes ago. Isaiah said, "Nations shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising. " The early Christians believed all these Old Testament prophecies were actually coming true in the life of Jesus; therefore, they figured, Isaiah's kings coming to the brightness of your dawn are the same as the wise men following the star from the East, and that means the wise men were kings! See?

     It may not be the kind of evidence that would convict them in court. It may not even be enough to convince you if you're feeling skeptical today. But that's really how sacred traditions take shape in the shared imagination and collective memory of a people.

     So now that we've debunked the myth by exposing the pious fraud that underlies it, shall we resolve never again to sing We Three Kings of Orient Are? Not even in a pageant? I notice they left it out of the New Century Hymnal, so if we hadn't hung on to the Pilgrim we couldn't have sung it this morning. Is that a good thing or a bad thing?

     We're supposed to be Bible-believing people. We belong to a tradition that went to considerable trouble to get free from all that ecclesiastical hocus-pocus that had gotten encrusted onto the Roman church that had nothing to do with the Bible, it just got in the way of Biblical faith.

     Ah, but what's faith? When people ask me that, I always go back to the wise old lady who said, "Faith is believing in something when you know it ain't so. " I think you could spend a lifetime trying to figure that out, and it would be time well spent.

     You could also spend a lifetime trying to figure out what the wise men really were and how many of them there really were and what really happened in the events that we call the Epiphany. It's been done. But how important is it?

     I did an experiment: I went through this whole story about these guys following the Star from the East, and I asked myself, What's the most important thing that's going on here? Is it the Star? If that's what's important, then you've got another whole mess on your hands. You wouldn't believe how many astronomers have theorized and argued and calculated for years on end to determine whether the Star in the East was a planet, or a conjunction of planets, or a comet, or a meteor, or a nova, or what. Which might be entertaining, but what does it have to do with faith? What does it have to do with the way we live and die?

     No, the important thing in the story is what happened to the wise men. They were overwhelmed with joy. To be overwhelmed is to be caught unprepared, surprised, swept away.

     But what could be so overwhelming about finding the exact thing they set out to find? I just figured it out, with a little help from the Old Testament scholar Walter Brueggemann. They went to the logical place to find a king, Jerusalem, the holy city, the capital. But they discovered, with the help of Herod's own Old Testament scholars, that they'd come to the wrong place.

     And then they learned about a different prophecy from Isaiah's, the obscure prophecy of a minor prophet called Micah about some godforsaken place called Bethlehem, and they had to climb back on their camels and go nine miles south from Jerusalem to a dusty little peasant village, and offer their treasures to a kid with no credentials at all and none of the trappings of wealth or power that they had every right to expect. It's amazing that they were willing to do it.

     It is overwhelming, for us as for them, and we're just as likely as they were to be looking in the wrong place. We've benefited so much from wealth and power and worldly wisdom and security and prosperity that it's hard to imagine us looking anyplace else for salvation. I wonder if we will be able to rejoice with exceeding great joy when we find it naked, humble, unguarded, unsafe, innocent, tender and mild. That would be amazing. I pray for it.

     Amen