ROCKEFELLER CHAPEL
LUTHERAN SCHOOL OF THEOLOGY AT CHICAGO
JANUARY 9, 1994 - 4:00 P.M.
JOHN M. BUCHANAN

FouRTH PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, CHIcaAGo, IL

IN THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH OF MY
YOUTH IN CENTRAL PENNSYLVANIA WE NEVER
SAID WORDS LIKE EPIPHANY. IN FACT,
UNTIL THE SONG CAME ALONG I DIDN'T KNOW
THERE WERE TWELVE DAYS OF CHRISTMAS.
FOR ME, ALL THE ACTION WAS PRE-DECEMBER
25; PARTIES, CAROLING, SHOPPING, THE
DELICIOUS ALMOST UNBEARABLE WAITING, AND
THEN LATE IN THE MORNING, A TREMENDOUS
LET DOWN, ALL THE AIR OUT OF THE BAL-
LOON.

WITH A LITTLE PLEADING I COULD

ALWAYS PERSUADE MY PARENTS TO ALLOW THE

TREE TO REMAIN FOR A FEW DAYS, BUT BY
JANUARY 1 CHRISTMAS WAS, AS THEY SAY,
HISTORY.

I SUPPOSE IT IS THE ULTIMATE PRE-
EMPT. THE CULTURE, WITH AN ASSIST FROM
US LOW-CHURCH TYPES, CONVINCING US OF
THE IRRELEVANCE OF ONE OF OUR OLDEST
TRADITIONS - THE FEAST OF CHRISTMASTIDE,
THE TWELVE DAYS BRACKETED BY THE BIRTH
AND THE ARRIVAL OF THE WISE MEN TWELVE
DAYS LATER.

IN MY CHILDHOOD IMAGINATION THEY
ARRIVED ON CHRISTMAS EVE, SHORTLY AFTER
THE SHEPHERDS LEFT. THAT'S HOW IT
HAPPENS IN THE SUNDAY SCHOOL PAGEANTS.
THE SHEPHERDS CAN'T STAY LONG: THEY
HAVE TO GET BACK TO THEIR SHEEP. THE
MAGI, MORE SOPHISTICATED AND ELEGANT,
ARRIVE FASHIONABLY LATE, AROUND MID-

NIGHT.

RAYMOND BROWN REMINDS US THAT THE
EARLY CHURCH PREFERRED AND CELEBRATED
THIS STORY. SHEPHERDS, AFTER ALL, WERE
COMMON, ROUGH, RUDE - THE CONTEMPORARY
EQUIVALENT OF PARKING LOT ATTENDANTS,
GARRISON KEILLOR SAYS. STRANGERS FROM
THE EAST, MYSTERIOUS ASTRONOMERS, BEAR~
ING EXOTIC GIFTS WERE INTRIGUING.

BROWN TRACES THE GROWTH OF THE Maat
TRADITION... APART FROM SCRIPTURE -
ROYALTY, THREE IN NUMBER... WITH NAMES,
RACIAL IDENTITY. THEIR RELICS HAVE
TRAVELED MORE THAN THEY EVER DID, FROM
PERSIA TO CONSTANTINOPLE, TO MILAN, TO
COLOGNE, WHERE YOU CAN PEER DOWN THROUGH
AN OPENING IN A METAL BOX AND SEE THEM
TODAY. YOU CAN READ A PLAQUE THERE THAT
TELLS YOU THAT THEY MET IN 54 A.D. IN

ARMENIA AND CELEBRATED CHRISTMAS AND

THEN ALL DIED; MELCHOIR ON JANUARY 1,
BALTHAZAR ON JANUARY 5 AND GASPAR ON
JANUARY 11.

THERE IS NO REASON, OF COURSE, WHY
ONE HAS TO DECIDE BETWEEN MATTHEW AND
LUKE, COMMIT TO BEING A MAGI PERSON OR A
SHEPHERD PERSON. SHEPHERDS SEEM SO MUCH
MORE ROMANTIC, SHEEP SO CUDDLY, AND AS
CHARMING AS “AMAHL AND THE NIGHT VISI-
TORS" IS, IT CAN'T BEGIN TO COMPARE IN
SHEER HAIR RAISING EXUBERANCE WITH
GEORGE FREDERICK HANDEL’S ANGEL CHORUS
FOR MESSIAH, “GLORY TO GoD IN THE HIGH-
EST” AND "HARK THE HERALD ANGELS SING"
VERSUS "WE THREE Kinas?" No CONTEST.
"WE THREE KINGS” WHICH NOT ONLY GOES ON
FOR EVER IN 3/8 TIME, HAS THE AUDACITY
IN STANZA FIVE TO DRAG INTO OUR CHRIST-

MAS CELEBRATION -

BITTER PERFUME - GATHERING GLOOM -
SORROWING, SIGHING, BLEEDING, DYING
SEALED IN THE STONE COLD TOUCH.

No WONDER WE PREFER THE SHEPHERDS.
IN HER WONDERFUL BESTSELLER, DaKxo-

TA, A SPIRITUAL GEOGRAPHY, KATHLEEN

NORRIS TELLS ABOUT BEING INVITED TO
SERVE AS A LAY PREACHER IN THE TINY
CHURCH SHE ATTENDED, AND REFLECTS ON
LEADING WORSHIP IN A WAY THAT SOUNDED
FAMILIAR TO ME.

"EVERY TIME I READ THE SCRIPTURES
ALOUD IN THE SUNDAY SERVICE, I BECAME
AWARE OF SPARKS IN THOSE TEXTS THAT I
HAD MISsseD." [p. 172]

THAT'S EXACTLY WHAT HAPPENS TO ME
WHEN I READ MATTHEW 2 OUTLOUD.

SPARKS! THE GLORIOUS UNIVERSALISM
OF IT ALL, RIGHT HERE, AT THE BEGINNING,
AT THE MANGER, THE BASIC INTENT AND

CAPACITY OF THIS STORY, THIS NEWS, THIS

VENTURE, TO TRANSCEND CULTURE, RACE,
ETHNICITY, NATION, TO AFFIRM IN ITS
ADVENT THE UNITY OF HUMANKIND. THESE
ARE NOT HEBREW PROPHETS: THEY AREN'T’
JEWS. THEY ARE ARABS. EAST MEANS IRAN,
Trad, Sauprt ARABIA. AND THE JOURNEY,
THE DECISION TO LEAVE WHEREVER THEY WERE
AND FOLLOW A STAR AND THEN TO BE FORCED
TO ACKNOWLEDGE THAT, HAVING BEEN THERE,
HAVE SEEN, THEY MUST NOW TRAVEL HOME
ANOTHER WAY.

Mr. ELIOT, AS PROFESSOR SITTLER
ALWAYS AFFECTIONATELY CALLED HIM, CAP-
TURES IT:

"A COLD COMING WE HAD OF IT,

JUST THE WORST TIME OF THE YEAR

FoR A JOURNEY, AND SUCH A LONG
JOURNEY:

THE WAYS DEEP AND THE WEATHER
SHARP,

THE VERY DEAD OF WINTER...

THERE WERE TIMES WE REGRETTED

THE SUMMER PALACES ON SLOPES, THE
TERRACES,

AND THE SILKEN GIRLS BRINGING
SHERBET.

THEN THE CAMEL MEN CURSING AND
GRUMBLING

AND RUNNING AWAY, AND WANTING THEIR
LIQUOR AND WOMEN,

AND THE NIGHT-FIRES GOING OUT, AND
THE LACK OF SHELTERS,

AND THE CITIES HOSTILE AND THE
TOWNS UNFRIENDLY

AND THE VILLAGES DIRTY AND CHARGING
HIGH PRICES;

A HARD TIME WE HAD OF IT.

AT THE END WE PREFERRED TO TRAVEL
ALL NIGHT,

SLEEPING IN SNATCHES,

WITH THE VOICES SINGING IN OUR

EARS, SAYING

THAT THIS WAS ALL FOLLY."

TT WAS A HARD JOURNEY... AND THE
HARDEST PART OF ALL WAS THEIR OWN DOUBT,
THEIR SENSE THAT IT MAY BE FOLLY. YEARS
LATER ONE OF THEM LOOKS BACK AND SAYS:

“ALL THIS WAS A LONG TIME aAGo, I
REMEMBER,

AND I WOULD DO IT AGAIN, BUT SET

DOWN
THIS SET DOWN
THIS: WERE WE LED ALL THAT WAY FOR
BxrrRTH OR DEATH? THERE WAS A BIRTH,
CERTAINLY,

WE HAD EVIDENCE AND NO DOUBT, I HAD
SEEN BIRTH AND DEATH,

BUT HAD THOUGHT THEY WERE DIFFER-
ENT; THIS BIRTH WAS

HARD AND BITTER AGONY FOR US, LIKE
DEATH, OUR DEATH.

WE RETURNED TO OUR PLACES, THESE

KINGDOMS,

BUT NO LONGER AT EASE HERE, IN THE
OLD DISPENSATION,

WITH AN ALIEN PEOPLE CLUTCHING
THEIR GODS.

I SHOULD BE GLAD OF ANOTHER DEATH.”

{T. S$. E_zroT, “JOURNEY OF THE
Macr," THe WASTELAND AND OTHER POEMS,
P. 69-70]

WE DON’T KNOW MUCH ABOUT THEM. THE

NOUN IS PLURAL; THERE WERE MORE THAN
ONE. THEY KNEW ABOUT STARS, THEY HAD
THE CAPACITY TO TRAVEL AND TO GIVE AWAY
EXPENSIVE GIFTS. FORGET ALL THAT -
LISTEN TO THEIR STORY WHEN IT SAYS THEY
ARRIVE IN JERUSALEM, ANCIENT CAPITAL OF
THE JEWS, NOW OCCUPIED BY THE ROMANS AND
THEY CALL AT THE ROYAL PALACE WHERE THEY
ASSUME A ROYAL BIRTH HAS TAKEN PLACE.
PRESIDING IN THE PALACE IS HEROD, WHO IN
ORDER TO CONSOLIDATE HIS OWN POSITION

WITH THE ROMANS, HAS MURDERED MEMBERS OF

HIS OWN IMMEDIATE FAMILY. WHEN THE
EMPEROR CAESAR AUGUSTUS HEARS ABOUT IT,
HE SAYS, "I’D RATHER BE HEROD'S PIG THAN
HIS SON.

HOW INEXCUSABLY INNOCENT THEY ARE,
THESE WISE MEN. PROFESSOR BROWN SAYS
THEY ACT LIKE NOTHING SO MUCH AS ABSENT
MINDED PROFESSORS - ASKING HEROD WHO
MURDERS HIS OWN BABIES TO PROTECT HIS
FLANKS - WHERE THE NEW KING WAS BORN.

"BETHEHEM,... FROM YOU SHALL COME A
RULER..." "It's BETHLEHEM, MICAH SAID
so."

JOHN DomiIntc CROSSAN WHOSE NEWEST

BOOK Time MAGAZINE DOESN’T LIKE AT ALL,

COMMENTS:
“THERE ARE IRONIC REVERSALS...
PAGAN WISE MEN READ THE STARS AND COME
FROM AFAR TO ACCEPT JESUS, WHILE HEROD
READS THE JEWISH SCRIPTURES AND SEEKS TO

KILL HIM.” [p, 15, Jesus, A REVOLUTION-

10

ARY BIOGRAPHY!

THINK OF THE IRONY. THE CHILD
MURDERING TYRANT GETS FROM THE SCHOLARLY
COMMUNITY THE INFORMATION THE PAGAN
ASTRONOMERS NEED TO FIND THE MESSIAH.
THE KING SENDS THEM - FIVE MILES DOWN
THE ROAD - TO BETHLEHEM. THINK OF THE
IRONY - THE SPARKS. WHEN FINALLY THEY
GET IT, WARNED IN A DREAM MATTHEW SAYS
DIPLOMATICALLY; WHEN THEY MAKE A DECI-
SION TO PROTECT THE CHILD'S IDENTITY,
THEY BECOME UNWITTING ACCOMPLICES TO THE
SLAUGHTER OF THE INNOCENTS. THERE'S A
LOT GOING ON IN THIS WONDERFUL SHORT
story!

MEANWHILE THEY GO TO BETHLEHEM. IT
WAS PROBABLY THE ONLY INN IN TOWN. THEY
PROBABLY STAYED THERE. AND MAYBE WHEN
THEIR SERVANTS TOOK THEIR CAMELS OR
HORSES OR DONKEYS OUT BACK TO THE BARN

THEY WERE STARTLED TO SEE A FAMILY AND

11

WHEN THE CURIOUS FACT WAS MENTIONED,
MAYBE A SPARK WENT OFF FOR THEM, AND
LIKE THE MYSTERIOUS LIGHT OF THE STAR
THEY HAD BEEN FOLLOWING, MAYBE ONE OF
THEM CONCLUDED THAT HAVING COME SO FAR
TO FIND A CHILD AND HAVING STUMBLED ON
TO ONE, HE SHALL HAVE THE GIFTS. AND
THEN THEY LEAVE FOR THEIR COUNTRY BY A
DIFFERENT ROAD.

IF THE ---n--- IS THE PLACE WHERE
THEMES ARE FIRST ENUNCIATED, IF THE
PROLOGUE IS THE TIME WHEN AN ACTOR MAKES
A SPEECH BEFORE THE DRAMA BEGINS, AN-
NOUNCING THE MOTIFS UPON WHICH THE PLAY
IS GROUNDED, OR AT LEAST HINTING, EVOK-
ING, INVITING INTELLECTUAL COMMITMENT TO
THE REST OF THE STORY, MAY I INVITE OUR
ENCOUNTER WITH THIS PRECIOUS FAMILIAR
AND SLIGHTLY WORN STORY.

“ABOUT OUTSIDERS DISCOVERING THE

CHRIST WHILE THE RELIGIOUS ESTABLISHMENT

12

IS FALLING ALL OVER ITSELF TO PLEASE THE
KING.

~A STORY ABOUT WISE ONES, WHO ARE
FROM THE WRONG RACE, THE WRONG COLOR,
THE WRONG RELIGION, FALLING DOWN ON
THEIR KNEES WHILE THE CHOSEN ONES, THE
MAINLINERS, ARE BUSILY KEEPING PUBLIC
ORDER.

-A STORY ABOUT INSIDERS HAPPILY
SUPPORTING THE STATUS QUO POLITICALLY
AND ECONOMICALLY, IN THE VERY HALLS OF
POWER AND AUTHORITY; WHILE OUTSIDERS ARE
EMPTYING OUT THEIR SADDLE BAGS, GIVING
LAVISH GIFTS TO A BABY.

“A STORY ABOUT SEEING THE CHILD,
KNEELING BEFORE THE CHRIST, AND NO
LONGER BEING ABLE TO TRAVEL THE OLD
ROADS.

"WE RETURNED TO OUR PLACES, THESE

KINGDOMS

13

BUT NO LONGER AT EASE HERE, IN THE
OLD DISPENSATION

WITH AN ALIEN PEOPLE CLUTCHING
THEIR GODS."

Ir tT 1S JESUS THE CHRIST WE HAVE
SEEN, WE ARE NO LONGER COMFORTABLE WITH
THE STATUS QUO. IF IT IS THE CHRIST WE
HAVE WORSHIPED, THERE IS BUSINESS TO
ATTEND TO, WORK TO BE DONE, DECISIONS TO
BE MADE.

AT THE END OF THE PROLOGUE TO JOHN
DOMINIC CROSSAN’S NEW BOOK, JESUS, A

REVOLUTIONARY BIOGRAPHY, THERE IS AN

IMAGINARY CONVERSATION BETWEEN THE
AUTHOR AND THE HIsTorRIcaAL JESUS. JESUS
SAYS:

"I'VE READ YOUR BOOK DOMINIC, AND
IT'S QUITE GOOD. So NOW YOU'RE READY TO
LIVE BY MY VISION AND JOIN IN MY PRO-

GRAM?"

14

"I DON'T THINK I HAVE THE COURAGE,
JESUS, BUT I DID DESCRIBE fT WELL,
DIDN'T I, AND THE METHOD WAS ESPECIALLY
GOOD, WASN'T IT?"

"THANK YOU, DOMINIC, FOR NOT FALSI-
FYING THE MESSAGE TO SUIT YOUR OWN
INCAPACITY. THAT AT LEAST 15
SOMETHING."

"IS IT ENOUGH, JESUS?”

"No, DOMINIC, IT IS NOT."

You CAN’T WORSHIP THE CHRIST AND BE
COMFORTABLE WITH THE KIND OF RELIGIOUS
TRIBALISM THAT IS EITHER BEHIND OR
STANDING COMFORTABLY ALONG SIDE THE
ETHNIC VIOLENCE WHICH CONTINUES TO CURSE
OUR ERA.

You CAN’T BOW BESIDE THESE STRANG-
ERS FROM THE EAST AND CONTINUE AT EASE
WITH THE SMUG THEOLOGICAL CERTAINTY THAT
DEFINES OUR MISSION AS CHRISTIANS IN

TERMS OF CONVINCING EVERYBODY TO BECOME

15

LUTHERANS OR PRESBYTERIANS OR BaPTIsTs
oR CaTHoLics. YOU SIMPLY CAN'T BE ON
YOUR KNEES BETWEEN MELCHOIR AND GASPAR
WITHOUT AT LEAST PONDERING THE INTRIGU-
ING POSSIBILITY THAT WHAT GOD WANTS IS
SOME CROSS ACTUALLY KNEELING BEFORE THE
TRUTH RATHER THAN THEOLOGICAL AND ECCLE-
SIASTICAL CONFORMITY.

AND YOU CAN'T KNEEL HERE KNOWING
WHAT IS ABOUT TO HAPPEN TO THE CHILDREN
OF BETHLEHEM AND BE AT EASE, OR FIND
TOLERABLE THE MURDER OF SIXTY CHILDREN,
MOST OF THEM AFRICAN AMERICAN, MOST OF
THEM KILLED IN GUNFIRE.

IT REQUIRES A LITTLE EFFORT, A
LITTLE CURIOSITY TO GO TO BETHLEHEM.
BUT ACTUALLY, THE CROWD, THE CULTURE,
WILL SWEEP YOU ALONG SO THAT YOU MORE OR
LESS ARRIVE THERE WITHOUT MUCH INTEN-

TIONALITY.

16

But IF, LIKE THOSE VERY WISE PER-
SONS, YOU SEE AND KNOW THE CHRIST WHILE
YOU ARE THERE, THE ROAD HOME WILL BE
DIFFERENT AND YOU WILL BE STRONGER AND
MORE COURAGEOUS - AND MORE GENEROUS, AND
MORE OF A PILGRIM THAN EVER BEFORE.

May SARTON WROTE A POEM, THE BiRTH-

DAY, WHICH APPEARED IN A LITTLE DEVO-
TIONAL I TRY TO USE AND I HAVE BEEN
READING IT EVERY MORNING SINCE CHRIST-
MAS.

"WHAT SHALL WE GIVE THe CHILD THIS
DAY,

ON THIS SHINING DAY

IN A STARVING WORLD,

WHAT GIFTS, WHAT TOYS, FOR THIS,
LOVE'S DEAREST BIRTHDAY?

FOR GOLD, GIVE THE HEART'S HUNGER,

THE HEARTS’S WANT GIVE FOR MYRRH,

FOR HUNGER AND WANT ARE STRONGER

AND PURER AND DEEPER THAN ANYTHING

L7

WE HAVE, THAN ANY JOY WE SING.
THESE AND ONE MORE, THE THIRD,
THESE AND ONE SAVING GRACE,
THE BALSAM-SCENTED WORD,

GREEN IN THE DESOLATE PLACE;
Give To Hrs INNOCENCE

QUR HOPE FOR FRANKINCENSE,

Now LAY DOWN THIRST AND HUNGER
THERE IN THE LONELY MANGER,
AND IN THE DESOLATE PLACE

LAY THE GREEN SAVING GRACE,
THE BOUGH WITHOUT A THORN,

Fork Gop IN MAN IS BORN;

OuT OF ALL GRIEF AND PAIN,
LOVE, BE RENEWED AGAIN!

[SARTON SELECTED-AN ANTHOLOGY OF

THE JOURNAL, NOVELS AND POETRY OF May

SARTON]

AMEN,

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