Peter J. Gomes - "We Are the Gentiles" (January 5, 1997)
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Transcript
Transcripts may contain inaccuracies.
- | Holy Gospel of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ | 0:26 |
according to Matthew. | 0:30 | |
"Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea | 0:34 | |
in the days of Herod the king, | 0:39 | |
behold there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem. | 0:42 | |
Saying, where is He that is born King of the Jews? | 0:47 | |
For we have seen His star in the east, | 0:53 | |
and are come to worship Him. | 0:56 | |
When Herod the king had heard these things, | 1:00 | |
he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him. | 1:04 | |
And when he had gathered all the chief priests | 1:08 | |
and scribes of the people together, | 1:11 | |
he demanded of them where Christ should be born. | 1:14 | |
And they said unto him, in Bethlehem of Judaea: | 1:19 | |
for thus it is written by the prophet, | 1:24 | |
and thou Bethlehem, in the land of Juda, | 1:27 | |
art not the least among the princes of Juda: | 1:31 | |
for out of thee shall come a Governor, | 1:35 | |
that shall rule my people Israel. | 1:39 | |
Then Herod, when he had privily called the wise men, | 1:43 | |
inquired of them diligently what time the star appeared. | 1:48 | |
And he sent them to Bethlehem, and said, | 1:54 | |
'Go and search diligently for the young child; | 1:58 | |
and when ye have found Him, bring me word again, | 2:02 | |
that I may come and worship Him also.' | 2:06 | |
When they had heard the king, they departed; | 2:12 | |
and lo, the star, which they saw in the east, | 2:16 | |
went before them, till it came and stood | 2:20 | |
over where the young child was. | 2:24 | |
When they saw the star, | 2:28 | |
they rejoiced with exceeding great joy. | 2:30 | |
And when they were come into the house, | 2:35 | |
they saw the young child with Mary His mother, | 2:38 | |
and fell down, and worshiped Him: | 2:42 | |
and when they had opened their treasures, | 2:47 | |
they presented unto Him gifts; | 2:49 | |
gold, and frankincense, and myrrh. | 2:53 | |
And being warned of God in a dream | 2:58 | |
that they should not return to Herod, | 3:02 | |
they departed into their own country another way." | 3:05 | |
This is the Word of the Lord. | 3:16 | |
- | Thanks be to God. | 3:19 |
- | Help us Lord to become masters of ourselves | 3:27 |
that way may become the servants of others. | 3:30 | |
Take our hands and work through them. | 3:34 | |
Take our minds and think through them. | 3:37 | |
Take our lips and speak through them. | 3:40 | |
And take our hearts and set them on fire, | 3:44 | |
for Christ's sake. | 3:49 | |
Amen. | 3:52 | |
Before I enter into the substance of this sermon | 4:02 | |
I want to say what a pleasure it is again to be apart | 4:07 | |
of the great company of worshipers and believers | 4:12 | |
here in Duke Chapel. | 4:15 | |
Coming as I do from the Duke of the North, | 4:18 | |
it is always a wonderful experience | 4:23 | |
to see the great original | 4:26 | |
and to be apart of your fellowship. | 4:28 | |
I have often commented on the fact | 4:32 | |
that Dean Willimon and I have maintained | 4:34 | |
a strong and sturdy friendship over many years, | 4:36 | |
because neither of us ever has to hear the other | 4:40 | |
preach | 4:43 | |
(laughing) | ||
- | But the Dean has taken it | 4:46 |
to an excessive measure this time. | 4:47 | |
Taking not only himself but the entire choir off to China. | 4:50 | |
(laughing) | 4:55 | |
- | He may be trying to tell me something | 4:57 |
but I am glad I have an opportunity to try to tell | 4:59 | |
you something this morning. | 5:02 | |
And this is what I now propose to do. | 5:04 | |
There are two texts this morning | 5:09 | |
to which I want to direct your attention, | 5:11 | |
and you heard them both. | 5:15 | |
In the Old Testament lesson from Isaiah chapter 60, | 5:18 | |
you heard those familiar words, | 5:22 | |
"And the Gentiles shall come to thy light, | 5:25 | |
and kings to the brightness of thy rising." | 5:29 | |
And from Paul's letter to the Ephesians, | 5:35 | |
you also heard these words, | 5:39 | |
"For this cause I Paul, | 5:42 | |
the prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles." | 5:46 | |
I want you to remember if you remember nothing else, | 5:54 | |
from this sermon this morning, | 5:58 | |
that you are the Gentiles. | 6:00 | |
We are the Gentiles. | 6:05 | |
We are the subjects both of Old Testament prophecy | 6:09 | |
and New Testament instruction. | 6:15 | |
And this day, The Feast of the Epiphany | 6:19 | |
is the feast day of the Gentiles. | 6:24 | |
This day has your name on it. | 6:28 | |
So pay attention. | 6:33 | |
Listen up. | 6:35 | |
Now if there were Epiphany cards, | 6:38 | |
and I haven't noticed any lately | 6:41 | |
but if there were Epiphany cards in the stores | 6:43 | |
rather than Christmas cards, | 6:47 | |
mine would have on it | 6:50 | |
these lines from W. H. Auden's Christmas Oratorio | 6:52 | |
For the Time Being. | 6:57 | |
It'll be a large card | 6:58 | |
but this is what it would say. | 7:00 | |
"Well so that is that. | 7:02 | |
Now we must dismantle the tree, | 7:06 | |
putting the decorations back into their cardboard boxes. | 7:09 | |
Some have got broken | 7:13 | |
and carrying them up into the attic. | 7:15 | |
The holly and the mistletoe must be taken down and burnt. | 7:18 | |
And the children got ready for school. | 7:24 | |
There are enough leftovers to do, | 7:26 | |
warmed up for the rest of the week. | 7:29 | |
Not that we have much appetite, | 7:32 | |
having drunk such a lot. | 7:34 | |
Stayed up so late. | 7:36 | |
Attempted, quite unsuccessfully, to love all of our | 7:38 | |
relatives." | 7:42 | |
(laughing) | ||
"And in general grossly overestimated our powers. | 7:44 | |
Once again as in previous years | 7:49 | |
we have seen the actual vision and failed. | 7:51 | |
Failed to do more than entertain it | 7:55 | |
as an agreeable possibility. | 7:57 | |
Once again we have sent Him away. | 8:00 | |
Begging though to remain, | 8:03 | |
His disobedient servants. | 8:06 | |
The promising child who cannot keep His word for long. | 8:08 | |
The Christmas feast is already a fading memory | 8:13 | |
and already the mind begins to be vaguely aware | 8:18 | |
of an unpleasant whiff of apprehension | 8:21 | |
at the thought of Lent and Good Friday, | 8:25 | |
which cannot after all now be very far off. | 8:28 | |
But for the time being, | 8:33 | |
here we all are." | 8:36 | |
For the time being, | 8:40 | |
here we all are. | 8:43 | |
For those of us sick of Christmas, | 8:48 | |
I suspect there may yet be a few among you | 8:51 | |
out here this morning. | 8:54 | |
Those of us who were never really ready for Christmas. | 8:56 | |
Who got lost in the tinsel | 8:59 | |
and the extorted cheer of the season, | 9:02 | |
characterized by that most dreadful of all inventions, | 9:06 | |
the office Christmas party. | 9:09 | |
Those of us who have been surrounded by | 9:13 | |
mountains of unidentifiable Christmas family photographs. | 9:16 | |
Do you get those colored Christmas cards, | 9:20 | |
with generations of children whom you can't recognize | 9:24 | |
and don't identify. | 9:27 | |
And people don't sign their last names | 9:29 | |
but they say Bill and Sue and you say | 9:31 | |
who are Bill and Sue? | 9:34 | |
(laughing) | ||
- | And who are these children? | 9:36 |
(laughing) | ||
- | And why are they | 9:38 |
sending this stuff to me? | 9:38 | |
(laughing) | ||
Equaled only by the Christmas letter, | 9:41 | |
which accompanies Bill and Sue's cards, | 9:44 | |
which tell us more | 9:47 | |
than we ever wanted to know, | 9:49 | |
(laughing) | ||
- | about their paroles and their sojourns and even worse, | 9:51 |
their triumphs and their victories in the proceeding year. | 9:55 | |
For all of us who are tired of all of that. | 9:58 | |
Who can't wait to take this tinsel down, | 10:01 | |
get on with the serious business of life. | 10:04 | |
Our holy mother the church | 10:08 | |
has given us, to us, for us the Feast of the Epiphany. | 10:11 | |
January 6th belongs to us. | 10:18 | |
Bing Crosby is not interested in the Feast of the Epiphany. | 10:23 | |
There is no national Epiphany tree. | 10:28 | |
There are no Epiphany songs blaring out in the malls | 10:32 | |
and in the shopping districts. | 10:35 | |
The world has passed it by and so, | 10:37 | |
the Feast of the Epiphany remains | 10:40 | |
a private gem for us now. | 10:43 | |
To savor and to cherish | 10:46 | |
and to worship the new born King, | 10:50 | |
un-surrounded, unaccompanied, and un-intimidated | 10:54 | |
by that throng of strangers | 10:57 | |
who took your seats in this chapel on Christmas Eve, | 11:00 | |
who elbowed you out of the way | 11:04 | |
at the Messiah performances. | 11:06 | |
Where are they today? | 11:08 | |
They're not here but you are, | 11:10 | |
(laughing) | ||
because you know that this Feast of the Epiphany | 11:13 | |
is for you and for me. | 11:18 | |
Now the world does not care about Epiphany | 11:22 | |
and more is the pity. | 11:25 | |
That is one reason why it belongs to us | 11:27 | |
and we are the richer for it. | 11:31 | |
Here is our season. | 11:34 | |
Here is our day. | 11:38 | |
Here, in some sense, is our real Christmas. | 11:40 | |
Now the thing that most people remember | 11:46 | |
about the Epiphany story if they remember anything at all | 11:49 | |
from the lesson, the Gospel which I read this morning, | 11:53 | |
is the arrival of the most exotic of all visitors | 11:56 | |
to the manger. | 12:02 | |
And I hope you have all noted very carefully | 12:05 | |
that the lesson begins | 12:08 | |
and "There came wise men from the east." | 12:10 | |
I hope that hasn't | 12:16 | |
fact hasn't been lost upon you here in North Carolina. | 12:17 | |
(laughing) | 12:22 | |
- | Wise men from the east. | |
Now what the east means of course | 12:26 | |
in the simple geography of our Biblical friends | 12:28 | |
is any place other than from here, | 12:31 | |
that's what it really means. | 12:34 | |
The east means any place other than where you are. | 12:36 | |
As they say in Maine "Are you from here or away?" | 12:41 | |
Away is the east. | 12:46 | |
Any place other than where you are. | 12:48 | |
So the point that our Gospel writer is trying to make | 12:51 | |
is that there came people from far distant, exotic, | 12:54 | |
alien, foreign, strange places. | 12:59 | |
And they came in all of their splendor and in their glory. | 13:04 | |
Now we all remember the Christmas Pageants of our youth. | 13:09 | |
And we have to go to them now in old and middle age as well. | 13:14 | |
But we remember them and we remember this I think | 13:17 | |
that any Tom, Dick, or Jane, or Mary | 13:20 | |
could be a shepherd or an angel. | 13:23 | |
That's the sort of the Democratic Party. | 13:25 | |
Everybody has wings. | 13:27 | |
Everybody can lean on a crook or befriend one. | 13:28 | |
Everybody can have that particular part, | 13:32 | |
that's no great claim to fame. | 13:35 | |
And of course Mary and Joseph, all they had to do | 13:38 | |
was look holy and say nothing. | 13:40 | |
They have the easiest parts in the pageant. | 13:43 | |
But the part anybody with any imagination, | 13:46 | |
any skill, any ambition, any ego wanted | 13:48 | |
was to be one of the kings. | 13:52 | |
Why? | 13:55 | |
Because you got to dress up in the best stuff. | 13:56 | |
You wore a turbans, you had your mother's jewelry kit, | 13:58 | |
people got out of the way where you came, | 14:02 | |
and you arrived on those most exotic of all beasts, | 14:04 | |
a camel. | 14:09 | |
Now would you believe on my way to this chapel this morning | 14:11 | |
I discovered a camel, | 14:14 | |
out here. | 14:16 | |
(laughing) | ||
- | There is a camel, | 14:17 |
(laughing) | ||
- | on the Duke campus. | 14:18 |
(laughing) | ||
- | Now I know that everything here is done to perfection | 14:21 |
but a camel at Duke. | 14:24 | |
(laughing) | ||
- | I was impressed. | 14:27 |
That is an illustration I shall use every time | 14:30 | |
I preach this sermon so. | 14:33 | |
Camels, exotic kings from away | 14:35 | |
coming to the manger. | 14:39 | |
A class act. | 14:41 | |
We can all identify with that. | 14:44 | |
But in choosing our parts in the tableau, | 14:46 | |
our parts in the Christmas Pageant, | 14:50 | |
our parts in the manger story | 14:52 | |
we have to remember | 14:56 | |
that none of those assigned parts | 14:58 | |
truly, really belong to us. | 15:01 | |
The Christmas Story is a Jewish story. | 15:06 | |
The shepherds are Jews. | 15:10 | |
Mary and Joseph are Jews. | 15:12 | |
Jesus is a Jew. | 15:14 | |
The angels in heaven are probably Jewish on that hillside. | 15:16 | |
The cattle are all Jewish. | 15:20 | |
(laughing) | ||
- | It's a very Jewish enterprise. | 15:22 |
That means you and I aren't in it. | 15:25 | |
We look on at somebody else's story, | 15:29 | |
somebody else's Messiah. | 15:32 | |
We are the excluded ones until, | 15:34 | |
until the kings, the wise men, the Magi, the foreigners, | 15:39 | |
the Gentiles come to the manger. | 15:45 | |
Only on today do you and I get to play a part in the pageant | 15:51 | |
because only today does it become clear | 15:56 | |
that this Jesus is not just for the Jews | 16:00 | |
but is for everybody. | 16:06 | |
The un-included, un-remembered, the marginalized, | 16:08 | |
the excluded, the people on the fringes, | 16:14 | |
the people from the east, the people from away. | 16:17 | |
Today is our time, our moment at the manger | 16:22 | |
and we are represented there by the three kings. | 16:28 | |
The first lesson we need to remind ourselves | 16:35 | |
is that when God chooses to come into the world | 16:38 | |
God does not choose to come in parochial, | 16:43 | |
tiny minded, particular little form or place. | 16:48 | |
God chooses to come into the world, | 16:54 | |
for the world, | 16:57 | |
beyond the world, | 16:59 | |
in which you and I live and are comfortable. | 17:01 | |
And the arrival of the kings in our behalf | 17:06 | |
reminds us that we are the Gentiles, | 17:11 | |
we are the foreigners, | 17:15 | |
we are the ones who have been afar off | 17:16 | |
and who are now drawn close in. | 17:21 | |
We are the Gentiles. | 17:25 | |
And that means that we who have been outside | 17:30 | |
are now invited inside. | 17:35 | |
Now think of what these representatives | 17:40 | |
of ours at the manger do. | 17:43 | |
Think of these three kings. | 17:44 | |
Go beyond their costumes and their exotic personalities | 17:46 | |
and character and their legends that surround them. | 17:50 | |
Think of what it is that they do | 17:54 | |
which the Gospel records for us so carefully. | 17:55 | |
First they have no right to Christ. | 18:00 | |
You ever thought about that, they have no legitimate claim | 18:05 | |
on Christ. | 18:09 | |
He is not their Messiah predicted by their scriptures | 18:10 | |
and by their prophets and yet they seek Him. | 18:15 | |
They go after Him and how do they do that? | 18:19 | |
With their minds, with their intelligence, | 18:22 | |
with their scientific calculating skills. | 18:26 | |
Do you know that the wise men | 18:30 | |
don't simply sit down and pray about it? | 18:31 | |
Now I'm not against prayer | 18:34 | |
but I'm saying that there's a good deal more to praying | 18:36 | |
than mere prayer. | 18:39 | |
They don't just sit down and pray about it. | 18:41 | |
They use their minds. | 18:43 | |
They calculate. | 18:45 | |
They sort things out. | 18:46 | |
And they get up and act about it. | 18:48 | |
They actually get up, think, and act. | 18:52 | |
That is not a bad set of role models | 18:56 | |
for Gentiles such as you and such as I am. | 18:59 | |
So they have no right to Christ but they act. | 19:04 | |
The second thing that we remember about them | 19:09 | |
is that they come into conflict with worldly power. | 19:10 | |
They meet the great and wily Herod, | 19:14 | |
not a nice man as you may understand but a smart man. | 19:18 | |
They ask Herod what they need to know | 19:25 | |
but they are smart enough to know | 19:28 | |
that while he can be used | 19:30 | |
he cannot be trusted. | 19:33 | |
They are shrewd in the ways of the world. | 19:37 | |
Not naive are these kings, not your usual intellectuals, | 19:40 | |
these intellectuals have mother wit. | 19:44 | |
They know what's going on. | 19:48 | |
Not a bad role model for Gentiles such as we are. | 19:49 | |
And then we discover that they are seekers. | 19:55 | |
They're not contented, they're not self satisfied. | 19:58 | |
They are not complacent. | 20:01 | |
They are seekers, remember the bumper sticker that says | 20:04 | |
"Wise men still seek Him." | 20:06 | |
So they do. | 20:09 | |
They move not by sight but by night and by insight | 20:11 | |
to follow a star. | 20:17 | |
And to follow a star is not as easy as it seems, | 20:19 | |
it requires calculation, imagination, | 20:23 | |
a sense of adventure, and great persistence. | 20:28 | |
Not a bad role model for Gentiles such as you and I are. | 20:30 | |
And something that appeals to me in this story, | 20:37 | |
those of you who know me will know why it does. | 20:40 | |
The wonderful thing about the Magi with all of their | 20:42 | |
adventure, and their shrewdness, and their brains, | 20:45 | |
and their intelligence, they're late. | 20:47 | |
(laughing) | 20:49 | |
- | They're late. | 20:50 |
They don't get there on time, they're late. | 20:51 | |
The legends tell us that they were three years late. | 20:56 | |
Now that's a little late indeed. | 20:59 | |
(laughing) | 21:02 | |
- | But the glorious thing about the Gospel is | 21:03 |
that's it's never too late. | 21:06 | |
It's never too late. | 21:08 | |
There are some of you who sitting here | 21:10 | |
who feel you have heard it all, done it all, been | 21:11 | |
been everywhere, said it, there's nothing new for you, | 21:14 | |
and it still hasn't clicked and you're ready to | 21:18 | |
sign off to spiritual retirement. | 21:20 | |
It's not too late for you. | 21:23 | |
You can still go there. | 21:25 | |
You can still get there or still be there for you. | 21:27 | |
And then there are others who feel you're too young, | 21:30 | |
too immature, too inexperienced, you lack what you need, | 21:33 | |
you'll never be able to do it, it's not too late for you. | 21:36 | |
Your moment has not yet come. | 21:39 | |
There's a religious tradition in this part of the country | 21:44 | |
which loves to harp upon the notion that | 21:46 | |
you better come now because it'll be too late if you don't. | 21:49 | |
Almost persuaded, almost but lost. | 21:51 | |
I don't think they sing that here anymore but there are some | 21:55 | |
of you who know that hymn, Almost Persuaded. | 21:57 | |
Well that's completely out of whack | 22:00 | |
with this dimension | 22:02 | |
of the Gospel, they were late but they got there. | 22:04 | |
And what they sought was there ready and waiting for them. | 22:06 | |
I like that part of it. | 22:09 | |
And finally, they worship. | 22:11 | |
They fall on their knees, they're smart enough | 22:14 | |
to recognize that they are in the presence of greatness. | 22:17 | |
That is what worship is. | 22:24 | |
When the lesser acknowledges the greater. | 22:26 | |
That's what this building is meant to do to all of you. | 22:31 | |
It is meant to drive you to your knees, | 22:34 | |
although Methodist don't kneel, you're supposed to kneel. | 22:37 | |
That's why they build this great soaring cathedral, | 22:41 | |
so that you would be aware | 22:44 | |
that you are in the presence of greatness. | 22:45 | |
This is not a lodge hall or a masonic hall | 22:48 | |
or a fellowship hall. | 22:52 | |
This is the temple of the living God. | 22:54 | |
Fall on your knees | 22:57 | |
like the wise men, | 23:00 | |
the lesser in the presence of the greater | 23:02 | |
and offer the best that you have. | 23:05 | |
Your gold, your frankincense, and your myrrh. | 23:10 | |
Now scripture can never properly be understood | 23:19 | |
outside of the teaching of the church of which it is apart | 23:23 | |
from whence it comes and to which it points. | 23:28 | |
And so we must always be prepared when we hear lessons | 23:33 | |
like this to ask the question, | 23:36 | |
not is it true nor even how did it happen | 23:38 | |
but the only question is what does it mean? | 23:43 | |
The lessons of Epiphany are meant to remind us | 23:51 | |
that God's gift of Himself comes to us | 23:55 | |
who have no claim on it, | 23:58 | |
who do not deserve it, | 24:00 | |
indeed who may not even recognize it when it comes. | 24:01 | |
God's love for the world of His own creation is so great | 24:06 | |
that He sends neither a message nor a messenger | 24:10 | |
but comes Himself. | 24:15 | |
And He comes to us all. | 24:19 | |
Those of us who are from away, | 24:23 | |
who are from the east, who are foreign, | 24:26 | |
who are not Jews, who are not heirs of the promises. | 24:28 | |
He comes to us. | 24:32 | |
The good news of the Gospel | 24:33 | |
is that the Gospel is inclusive. | 24:35 | |
We are all in it, it has your name on it. | 24:38 | |
We are the Gentiles. | 24:44 | |
We have no claim on the manger. | 24:48 | |
We celebrate with the kings, | 24:50 | |
the great and mysterious feast however, | 24:53 | |
that the manger has a claim on us. | 24:58 | |
And who is it that makes this claim? | 25:04 | |
Who is it that asserts that we are His | 25:10 | |
and He is ours forever and ever? | 25:14 | |
Who is it? | 25:17 | |
"He is the way. | 25:19 | |
Follow Him through the land of unlikeness. | 25:21 | |
You will see rare beasts | 25:25 | |
and have unique adventures. | 25:28 | |
He is the truth. | 25:31 | |
Seek Him in the kingdom of anxiety. | 25:33 | |
You will come to a great city | 25:36 | |
that has expected your return for years. | 25:38 | |
He is the life. | 25:43 | |
Love Him in the world of the flesh | 25:46 | |
and at your marriage | 25:50 | |
all it's occasions shall dance for joy." | 25:53 | |
"And the Gentiles shall come to thy light, | 26:01 | |
and kings to the brightness of thy rising." | 26:05 | |
"For this cause I Paul, | 26:09 | |
the prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles." | 26:12 | |
We are the Gentiles. | 26:19 | |
Thank God for that. | 26:22 | |
Let us pray. | 26:28 | |
We praise Thee oh God that in flesh | 26:34 | |
Thou has come to us, | 26:37 | |
that we who are afar off, far removed, and excluded | 26:40 | |
are now drawn to Thy manger on bended knee. | 26:46 | |
That we may live forever by Thy grace. | 26:51 | |
Amen. | 26:56 |