Ss Peter & Paul, Kettering
Covered with Camels
A Multitude of Camels shall cover you
Beginning with a text like that, you can tell I’ve been struggling with the link between Epiphany and Benedict’s baptism - but the camels will do very well. For we do want Benedict to be covered with camels - that is our expectation!
For we share with Alison and Dominic the great joy of his arrival after much waiting. He has a marvellous start in life - gifted parents for whom he is the supreme gift. A collection of godparents who look like the saints in heaven. An environment of totally non-suffocating faith. He will want for very little in material terms; he will be surrounded by books and learning facilities. We long for all that to prosper with Benedict, that he may be covered with camels!
Matthew must have known this wonderful poetry from Isaiah - for it had been recited to and by the Jews from about 580BC. It was the sign of hope in those days of an oppressed people, exiled in Iraq, with their beloved Jerusalem devastated by the violence of war and occupation. Arise, shine, for your light is come... you will be the rich centre of the commercial world. It was cause for celebration, and it was linked to the coming of a Messiah, who would fulfil their expectations of leading Israel to overcome the pagan nations around them.
The wise men had expectations too. They knew about Isaiah 60 and that they were to go to Jerusalem bringing spices and iconic gifts to welcome a new king of peace for the Middle East. Herod hears all about this, and he is hugely threatened - it is not part of his expectations. Then an extraordinary thing happens. Herod seeks the advice of some scholars of the scriptures - "What’s all this about camels and spices and a new king?" And the scholars tell Herod - and the wise men who are listening - that they have the wrong text!
Isaiah, they say, will mislead you, because it’s all about camels - about power and wealth - "You really should be looking at Micah, Chapter 5" But you, O Bethlehem of Ephrata...from you shall come forth for me one who is to rule Israel...
That is what Matthew quotes, and it is the voice, not of powerful dominance of the known world, but the cry of a peasant hope for the future - a voice that is not impressed with high towers and great areas, banks and urban achievements. Micah anticipates a leader who will bring well being to his people, not by great political ambitions, but by attentiveness to the needs of the people.
So the wise men listen to the scholars and head off for Bethlehem. Maybe that’s the key - they were prepared to set aside their own assumptions and totally reorganise their wealth and learning and go to rural, dusty, unpretentious Bethlehem. The story of the Epiphany is about these two human communities: Jerusalem and Bethlehem.
Like the wise men we who hear this narrative today have a choice of triumphalism, self-sufficiency which has within it its own seeds of destruction. Or we can choose an alternative that comes with innocence and a hope that confounds our usual pretensions. We can receive life given in vulnerability.
I believe Benedict is showing us that today. Simply because others have to articulate his Turn to Christ. Bethlehem, not Jerusalem, does not negate what wisdom Benedict is receiving today and what wisdom, by his vulnerability and innocence, he is pointing the way to for us.
Bethlehem is nine miles south of Jerusalem. The wise men had a long intellectual history of erudition and mastery of literature and astronomy. But they had missed their goal by nine miles. Their ‘turning round’ and humbly going to Bethlehem makes theirs a powerful story about the meaning of Jesus, Emmanuel. How appropriate it is that Dominic and Alison should have invited us to give a thanksgiving for Benedict to the Holy Family Hospital in Bethlehem. In that way we are already pointed to that place. As parents and godparents will say in a moment - "We are turned to Christ as Saviour - We submit to Christ as Lord - We come to Christ who is the way, the truth and the life."
That governs our expectations, hopes and ambitions for Benedict as we pray for him that he should not be ashamed to confess the faith of Christ crucified.
And if, on occasions, we as his friends and supporters are privileged to travel parts of the way with Benedict, to turn with him from the glitter of Jerusalem to the humility of Bethlehem, from the triumphalism of Isaiah to the meekness of Micah, maybe not covered with camels, but simply taking a few steps with him along the road, then we will remember the Feast of the Epiphany 2008 with deep gratitude to God, who is the Father of us all. Amen.
Bishop Michael Turnbull, January 6th, 2008
Office Address:
The Rectory
Church Walk
Kettering
NN16 0DJ