What Can I Give Him?
This sermon was first given at our Epiphany service on Sunday 7th January 2018. The gospel was Matthew 2:1-12 . I am quite sure you’ve heard the joke about imagining if, instead of three wise men, there’d have been three wise women in our reading today? They would, of course, have planned their journey well ahead, got directions to the stable instead of to King Herod’s gaff, turned up in time to actually see the child as a baby, rather than – as is currently assumed – roughly two years later, made a casserole, and brought useful gifts, like nappies, baby clothes and a Moses basket. Gold, frankincense & myrrh - the more traditional gifts of the magi... Things would have all gone that much smoother for the holy family in those early days if that were the case, wouldn’t they? That’s not how the story goes, though. No. Instead of that, we are told about the visit of the magi; mysterious astrologers from a pagan religion (probably Zoroastrianism), with their...