The Beginning?

Passages: Titus 2.11-15; Matthew 2.1-12; Luke 2.8-14
Ընթերցուածքներ՝ Տիտ. Բ11-15; Մատթ. Բ 1-12; Ղուկ. Բ 8-14

Քրիստոս Ծնաւ եւ Յայտնեցաւ. Օրհնեալ է Յայտնութիւնը Քրիստոսի:
Krisdos Dzunav yev Haydnetzav +Christ is born and Revealed+
Orhnyal eh Haydnootiunun Krisdosi +Blessed is the revelation of Christ+

In the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, Amen!

“Let’s start at the very beginning
A very good place to start
When you read, you begin with A-B-C
When you sing, you begin with Do-Re-Mi…”
– Julie Andrews, Sound of Music

When we begin a story, as the iconic song says, we need to start at the very beginning. The beginning sets up the rest of the story and a good beginning captures the audience’s attention and forms a deeper connection. And so it might seem strange to us, that tonight being the Nativity, the birth of Christ Jesus, our Church Father’s did not designate the birth of Christ Jesus, the beginning of his earthly life, as the Gospel story. Rather, today’s reading begins with Matthew 2, “After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem” (v. 1) This might feel strange as we are reading about after Jesus being born, while today we are celebrating his birth. My dears, what do we know or don’t know about the Magi, or as they’ve come to be known the Three Wisemen or Three Kings?

We don’t know how many of them there was. Nowhere in scripture do we read of 3. The tradition of 3 comes from the 3 gifts that were given. If 3 of our friends come over for our birthday, we expect 3 gifts, right? We don’t know their names. The tradition of Melkon, Kaspar and Balthazar come to us far later from the West. We know they were not necessarily kings but rather Magi from the East. East, traditionally would mean Persia and Parthian Empire and all the way into India and rest of Asia. Magi are priests, astronomers, leaders from the desert. That is why, they had read the stars and followed the star to Christ Jesus as we read “We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.” We know that they brought gifts of Gold, Frankincense and Myrrh. St. John Chrysostom teaches us that the gifts were fit to be given to not only an earthly king but also to be presented before God as a sacrifice. Not only that but each gift symbolized who Christ was to be. Gold for the Kingship of Christ Jesus, Frankincense the Holy Priesthood of Christ Jesus, and Myrrh which is used to make the oil used in burial and final anointing foreshadowing of Christ Jesus to die on the Cross.

So knowing these things, the still question remains why do we read this Gospel account today, when we are celebrating of Jesus being born? My dears, the Heaven’s and Earth declare God’s majesty. The heavenly hosts witnessed God becoming man, taking on weakness, being born into this world as prophesy declared. Meaning from before the beginning, Christ coming into this world for us was planned and whether the magi would come, whether the shepherds in the field would hear the news, God was with us. Yet, we read the shepherd did receive the good news and the Magi did come, recognizing who the babe born in Bethlehem was. Meaning the story of Christ Jesus being born into this world for each one of us, today’s story, begins from us. The Christmas story is God’s love story about us; what God in His love did for us.  Thus the story of the Magi, asks an important question to us – if we are smarter in today’s society, if we have all the means of technology, of cars, and buildings, if we have the use of our smartphones, and the internet and we are free to worship as we will, if we recognize all these years later of how God is with us – what is our excuse to not learn, to ask, to not search for God in our life? The Magi being desert people did not have the means and comfort we do; they read the stars, not the Holy Scriptures; they risked their lives and came to a foreign King, not to a priest of the Church. Yet, they came with a heart of hope, of love and awe recognizing who Christ was, and we know this because they came to worship the King that was born in Bethlehem.

Therefore my dears, when we come, why do we come? What brings us to Church? The music, the smells, the food, the cultural traditions, or the love of God, the very real presence of God in our lives? Do we come to recognize God being born not just 2024 years ago but every day into our lives?  That is why the beginning is here in our hearts, in our soul, in our mind where we recognize God. God from the beginning of beginnings planned to come into this world to save each of us from sin, from darkness, from pain, from suffering. But just as a doctor cannot force medicine on us, likewise, God will not force His love on us. Healing, life, love and hope in God begins with our choice to come to Him, to kneel before the Holy Altar, repent and confess our sins, read the Holy Scriptures, ask the priest questions and desire to worship the Lord by being in Communion with Him. Meaning its not the frequency of when we come to Church, though that is important but rather, the why we are here? Who is it we are desiring?

Today, as is tradition every Christmas and Easter eve, we celebrate Jrakalooyds (Ճրագալոյձ) Badarak. We conclude this service by lighting candles and lanterns to take the light born into this world, Christ Jesus, with us, to our homes. But my dears, that flame will not light by itself.  That flame, which we take home with us, the light of God, needs care or it will extinguish. We need to choose to come before our Lord, for it is here that we receive that warm embrace, the revealing and healing light. It is here we learn to care for the flame, that light, our faith; it is here we learn why and where today’s story begins – here we recognize God. Yes, God began the story, it is for us to choose to begin our year, our every day with Him.

Let us pray my dears for one another, pray for healing, pray for peace, pray for love and hope, faith and compassion. But pray with not only with words but with the very life we live, with the choices we make of how we treat one another, how we treat ourselves. Let us, like the Magi, seek out, desire and want the Lord, come and worship before Him, lay before Him all that we have to offer and know that God will take what we have and use it to illuminate and heal us and this world. Because the Christmas, Nativity, Christian story is God’s love story that begins with us. And when we love our Lord, when we come with that hope and love that the Magi had in their hearts, then just as the Magi asked to find Christ, the world will come and ask us, where is Christ and we will victoriously with love and hope declare Christ is Born and Revealed, Blessed is the Revelation of Christ in us. Amen!