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Good Shepherd Lutheran Church Today's Frontline Devotion Sunday, January 11, 2004 |
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Frontline Devotion for Sunday, January 11, 2004, by Mike Martine
Note - Today’s message is the sermon delivered by Pastor Mike Martine at Trinity
Lutheran in Mount Joy, PA. Thanks Mike
If you haven’t lived in Washington, D.C., you would never realize this. But
the city hides an awful truth. For living and working in this city, appearing as
“normal” as the other citizens of our nation’s capital, there exists a group of
people that seem to confound logic and reason. A group of people as out of place
as a Christmas tree at a Fourth of July barbeque. A group of people called…Dallas Cowboy fans.
In a city that bleeds red and gold, where children can sing, “Hail to the
Redskins” before they can recite their address and telephone number, how can
there be so many people who don the star of the team’s arch enemy? The answer is
quite simple, and truthfully, not very funny. Out of all the teams in
professional football, the Washington Redskins were the last to allow black
players on their roster.
So, understandably, not everyone in Washington loves the Redskins. But
something happened this week that brought many who sometimes sit on the fence
back. For D.C. it was like suddenly saying that John, Paul, George and Ringo
would be holding a concert at the MCI Center. The man, the legend, the coach,
Joe Gibbs came back.
Joe Gibbs won three super bowls the last time he was in D.C., but, as
importantly, he unites the people of the city - even to the point that some of
those cowboy fans cross the line and come home. How come? As David Aldridge, an
African American commentator on ESPN (who grew up in D.C.) puts it, “you know
when someone judges you on the basis of race, Joe Gibbs truly, honestly, sees
people for who they are and what they do. That’s why everyone speaks so highly
of him.”
We have an interesting lot visiting us in today’s gospel. They’re not Jewish;
they’re from Persia…you know where Persia is…it’s called Iraq. They’re also
“wise” in some way. Certainly astrologers, certainly historians who appear to
have some in-depth knowledge of the Jewish people. The Jewish people who, 600
years earlier, lived as unwilling captives in their land. They most likely have
a knowledge of Isaiah, the prophet who ministered to those exiles, because,
among other things, they have followed the star, not to Bethlehem, but to the
city promised restoration by Isaiah…the seat of power, the other City of David,
Jerusalem. They have come seeking the messiah, the newborn king, and they are
about nine miles off.
They get help from what we would consider the most unlikely of sources, King
Herod. Or, more specifically, his scholars. They ask, “Where is the child who
has been born king of the Jews?” And the answer comes back in the prophecy of
Micah, “And you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among
the rulers of Judah, for from you shall come a ruler who is to shepherd my
people Israel.” Herod, of course, sends them out with anything but worship in
his heart…but without him, they might not have made that 9 mile correction and
come to Bethlehem. Without him, they might have always been 9 miles off.
Can you see the wonder of this moment? Here we are, 2000 - not 200 - 2000 years
later and we still haggle over race…we still harbor the scars of prejudice. We
only recently have gotten over the whole matter enough to recognize that we
should be able to play football on the same team and look at this…Wise men, from
Iraq, come to Jerusalem. A land their ancestors spit upon, plundered and carried
into exile. They come, not with swords, but with gifts. And they lay those gifts
at the feet of a boy from the working class. A boy from an uneducated family. A
boy who, to them, is every inch a child of another race, and proclaim him Son of
God.
This is truly a wonder, for nearly all religions, to this point in history, had
emphasized not the shared humanity of people, but rather the differences. Most
had not proclaimed the unity of humankind but rather the importance of “us” over
“them.” The blessed vs. the infidel and yet…here are wise men making this
improbable journey and proclaiming in their actions an idea that, for this
ancient time, is even more improbable…that ”there is but one God, and all people
are his children.”
Don’t miss the wonder. Don’t miss the mystery. Look at this and take it into
your life and your being. We are called to kneel with the magi. We are called to
see the truth proclaimed in the birth before us. The truth that we are all
brothers and sisters. We are called to recognize that what unites people is far
greater than what separates us. We are called to look beyond skin color and
nationality and religion and realize our savior calls all people—even weird guys
on camels who speak strange languages and study stars. We are called to
recognize that God’s love traverses every line and flows to all his children,
and we are called to love all those children as well.
Because if we don’t we won’t be quite following our savior. If we don’t, we
won’t be treating the folks around us, much less those who seem different, the
way that we should. If we don’t, we won’t recognize our Christian mission. We
will even be failing in a very real sense, to realize God’s great love for us.
We will be, if you will, about 9 miles off.
Why do the people of Washington D.C., different races though they may be, unite
behind a football coach named Joe Gibbs? Because of the way he acts. Why does he
act in such a way? Because he is a Christian. Because he realizes that when you
treat others as anything less than a child of God, you’re nine miles off. Come,
kneel with the magi, hail the king who unites every people, every land. Strive
to show that love to all, and leave here today knowing that each of us is
precious in his sight. AMEN.
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