Sermon by The Rt. Rev. Susan Brown Snook

January 4th at St. Barnabas Episcopal Church

"I read a story about a group of atheists who put up huge billboards to celebrate Christmas. Well, maybe not celebrate, but comment on Christmas. The billboards featured a large picture of Santa Claus with the words “Keep the merry” and a picture of the crucified Jesus with the words “Dump the myth.” “Go ahead and enjoy a happy winter holiday,” these billboards seem to say, “but don’t fool yourself with any fantasies that a god might be involved in it.”

Infuriating as this may be, sometimes you can almost understand why atheists would look at some of our Gospel stories and decide that they seem fantastic, mythical, unrealistic.

Today’s beloved story of the three Wise Men, for instance, evokes outlandish, improbable pictures in our minds of men on camels wearing exotic turbans and silken robes, carrying bejeweled boxes full of inappropriate baby gifts.

And looking at this very odd story, we too might even be tempted to throw up our hands and say, “Such a strange story couldn’t possibly be true.” But before we dismiss this Wise Men story as quaint pageantry, we should maybe explore what’s here and why Matthew wanted to tell us the story.

So we have four Gospels, one of which doesn’t tell us a Christmas story at all, and three of which tell the Christmas story in very different ways. And we need to understand that while all three versions carry truth, each of these Gospel writers chose to tell us about different things to make points of their own.

On Christmas Eve, we hear Luke’s Gospel story with angels and shepherds and a manger, with all the soft edges and sweet carols that we associate with Christmas. Luke’s Gospel is Christmas for the poor and the lonely and those who are aching for love. On Christmas Day, we hear John’s version, which doesn’t mention Bethlehem or Mary or Joseph or the birth of a child at all, but rather soars off into the doctrine of creation and the divine light that existed with God before time began, the light of and for all people. This is Christmas for theologians.

Well, today, we come crashing down to Earth again with Matthew’s version of how Christ was born…

That’s why Jesus was born. That’s why the whole world brings gifts to his door. That’s why God lives among us still and empowers us to change this world. That’s why God rose from the dead and still lives in us today. And that story is true."