I would like you to take a moment and think of your favorite movie. On the count of three, I want you to shout the name of your favorite movie. One. Two. Three.
Excellent! I learned so much about you all just now! Do you want to know what mine is?
It’s Casablanca. While I could talk about why I’ll just highlight one important scene at the beginning of the film. For those who don’t know, Casablanca was set during World War II in a town where numerous Europeans are stranded after having sought refuge from Nazi occupation. Rick, an ex-pat from the US, is running his cafe, as he does, and is asked by Bougarti to hold two letters of transfer that will allow anyone safe passage to America.
Bougarti tells Rick that he hopes he will be more impressed with him after the lucrative sale of these letters of transfer. After Rick notes a recent murder of two German couriers carrying the same kind of letters, he says, “Why yes, Bougarti, I am rather impressed with you.” implying his new understanding of the depth of Bougarti’s depravity.
I share this with you because of the idea of having an epiphany, or a new understanding, about someone or something. I also think this scene illustrates something I believe our scriptures proclaim, which is the role of curiosity and expectation in our lives together and in our lives of faith. Regardless of our differences, abilities, and proclivities, a common thread of our human experience is that we are hard-wired to expect certain outcomes.
Philosophers have even argued that reality itself is made of two things: stimulus and response. That may be true, but I sure hope there is more to it than that. Stimulus and response – action and reaction – certainly take care of our lived experience of expectation. You might even say that, as technology continues to advance, we are training ourselves – mind, body, and soul – to focus on expected outcomes, perhaps even to force those outcomes by aligning with those that think like us rather than asking, “Why does that person think and feel the way they do?”
There are times when we need to align with like-minded and like-hearted folks. We need to be able to gather to call out injustice in the world. We need to gather to cry out to God together and to seek God’s mercy and encouragement together. We can do that on our own, but doing it together helps us to know that we are not alone in the universe.
Saying that reminds me of a mom I knew in a church where I served as an intern during seminary. She told me about her teenage son, a gentle-giant linebacker-sized kid, who would cry out in the night when he was a baby. One exasperated night she looked over and saw his hand sticking up out of the crib. She reached over and let him reflexively grab her hand, and he stopped crying immediately.
Sometimes all we need is to know we aren’t alone in the universe. Sometimes we just need to let someone else know the same is true for them. It takes curiosity on either end of that relationship, and curiosity requires us to value the struggle, or the comfort, of the other person.
Here’s where I see these things in the text. Isaiah chapter 60 is a part of the section of texts that scholars refer to as “third Isaiah.” This section was written around the time of the return of the Hebrew people from captivity in Babylon, and it was written with some expectation that things would be different. This time, other nations will come to Jerusalem because it will be as a light in the darkness!
“Arise,” says the prophet in v1, “your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you.” Isaiah goes on to make promises about what they can expect, and it includes the return of children – many of whom were born in captivity – and the gift of wealth by other nations. It’s important to note a few things here.
One is that this is all the Lord’s doing. This idea of shining is a literal reflection of being in conversation with God, much like Moses in the tent of meeting in Exodus 34. Listening and responding to God’s commands was expected to rub off on them like some kind of holy radiation that gave life and meaning to the world through them.
Another is to say that this did not exactly happen the way that the prophet promised. The people of Judah did return, but they found many of their lands ravaged by war and they remained a vassal state under various regional powers throughout the time of the writing of the Older and Newer Testaments.
For many of us, particularly in Western Christianity, this text has been reduced to a premonition about the birth of Jesus. Don’t get me wrong, it seems pretty clear that Matthew was well-versed in the law and the prophets, but I think we can get a little more mileage out of Isaiah if we take it for what it is. What it is, is an expectation of hope!
It is a reminder of identity and purpose for the people of Judah that is not based on their shortcomings but instead on the goodness of God. For those in the congregation who are under 50, the prophet is giving them the “Pink” treatment and reminding them how perfect they are in the eyes of God. If you’re over 50, I think there’s a story my mom used to tell me about someone saying, “God don’t make no junk.”
Whatever your point of reference is, I don’t want you to miss out on the voice of the prophet telling you that God can still be seen in and through you. God wants to be seen in and through you, and God will be seen in and through you. That is something that you can expect, and it is not dependent on your worth in worldly terms. It is all because of your worth in the eyes of God.
It may be that you never see it happen, just like the people of Judah, but it will come to pass. I think, and this part is my opinion, that since this was written to a people of faith we are more likely to see it in one another as a people of faith. In fact, the world around us is more likely to see it in our life together as a community of faith.
That doesn’t mean that the smallest gesture of kindness is any less valuable. It just means that there is a reason that we come together that is beyond our personal needs, even though it meets our need to be loved and to know we are not alone.
Mathew’s gospel was written with this in mind, and with full knowledge of the promise of Isaiah of light bursting forth from Bethlehem, the city of David. Isaiah called for camels and gifts of wealth from parts in the East, and the wise men came to a place bathed in light from what they believed to be a new star in the sky.
They were driven by expectation and curiosity. You might even say the same of Herod, who heard about these wise guys and asked them to do some reconnaissance. By the way, I’ve heard it said that you know they were men because women would have asked for directions and arrived on time to help deliver the baby and would’ve brought more practical gifts like extra swaddling clothes and some food.
Again, regardless of what they brought and how wise or foolish they might be, there is more to this than a fulfilled expectation. For starters, whether intended or not, they came in calling for political upheaval. In verse two they ask, "Where is the child who has been born king of the Jews?” and King Herod says, “King of the what? That’s my job!” Verse three goes on to say that he was frightened, “and all of Jerusalem with him.”
That’s probably in the category of things going with the nation as they go with it’s leaders. Even in a stable democracy, a twitchy hand at the wheel can create great harm, and those with less power are always the ones who pay the most for it. A nervous king means a nervous nation. We find out why in Matthew 2:16, but we’ll save the destruction of the innocent for another day.
For now, it’s important to know that the ones whose curiosity was motivated by reverence were the ones who found the Christ child. Their gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh are said to represent the revelation of God in the babe that was born.
Some say they recognize Jesus as Prophet, Priest, and King. Some say they represent the sovereignty of God, the restoration God provides, and the sacrificial love of Jesus. It strikes me that the gifts were somewhat practical since they needed resources to escape to Egypt. Frankincense and Myrrh were both said to have been used medicinally, so it may have benefitted them with a newborn babe and a postpartum mom!
What matters most to us and to our tradition of faith is this: God revealed God’s self in the most unlikely of ways, and yet it checked every box of expectation and anticipation. Those with power and wealth who held onto it for the sake of holding onto it were blind to the activity of God in their midst, but not so with those who remained curious and who gave what they had out of reverence and love.
Friends, this still happens today. While I’m not usually one to draw a line in the sand (because it means drawing a line between me and Jesus) it’s important to consider whether we are on the side of those who tremble with the powers that be or those driven by curiosity and the love that helps us to see God in you and God in me.
Stay curious, for you are God’s beloved, and there is yet more to be revealed – even here, even now. Amen. Amen. And again I say, Amen!
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