Grace, mercy and peace be to you from God our Father, and
from our Lord Jesus Christ.
Text: (Matthew
2:1-12)
Where is
he who has been born King of the Jews?
For we saw his star in the east and have come to worship him.
For we saw his star in the east and have come to worship him.
Prayer: May
the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable in your
sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen.
Epiphany is the church festival that marks the end of the
twelve days of Christmas. Particularly, it commemorates the visit of the wise
men—sometimes they are called the three kings, or the Magi.
These wise men also signify something very significant to
us: that the Christian faith is for all nations and all peoples. Often we
celebrate this aspect of the church at Pentecost, when the apostles received
the gift of the Holy Spirit and spoke in many different languages. But all the
people present at Pentecost were Jewish. At that time, the Holy Spirit and the
gift of holy baptism hadn’t yet reached the Gentiles.
In our reading today, the wise men come from the east.
They were not Jewish—they come from other places. Just before our reading today,
we read about an angel appearing to Joseph in a dream. And St Matthew writes:
All this took place to fulfil what the Lord had spoken by the prophet: “Behold,
the Virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name
Immanuel” (which means, God with us.)
Jesus is not simply “with” the Jews as their God only. But
he is with all people as their God, just as it says at the end of Matthew’s
gospel, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.” He has
power over all nations and peoples on earth, and also over the heavens. And he
says, “Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the
name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” Don’t just go and
baptise Jews, but all nations. And Jesus says, “I am with you always to the end
of the age.” Just as at the beginning of Matthew, Jesus is called “Immanuel”
(God with us), so also at the end of Matthew, Jesus says that he will be with
us always.
So also with the wise men, we read about how, as soon as Jesus
was born, people of all nations now come to worship Jesus, their God—who is not
simply with his parents, or with the Jewish people, but he is with them as
their brother in the flesh, and a member of the human race together with them.
Jesus is truly our Immanuel, our God who is with both Jews and Gentiles, our
God who is with us.
+++
Every country, and nation and culture has certain gifts
that it brings. And often when different cultures meet, there are often certain
differences that come to light. For example, Australian aboriginal people often
take particular notice of their dreams, and many of the Lutheran pastors in
Northern Territory went to train for the ministry because of something in a
dream. But in western culture, children are often told from a young age that
dreams are not real, or not significant, so we take very little notice of them.
But what this means is that Aboriginal people would find
the first chapters of Matthew much more significant than other people, because
they are full of dreams: the angel speaks to Matthew in a dream, the wise men
are warned not to return to Herod in a dream, Joseph is told in a dream to flee
from Herod and go to Egypt, and then to return to Israel, and then another
dream to settle in Nazareth rather than Bethlehem.
What do we make of all of this? The baby Jesus calls all
people to worship at his manger, and he draws us through all kinds of different
ways of thinking and of looking at the world. No one nation is more superior
than another. Every nation has its strengths and its weaknesses. In our society
today, children are often brainwashed from a young age so as to be very weak
and dismissive in perceiving spiritual realities.
But every group of people has its own proverbs and
sayings, its own handicrafts, its own music, its own knowledge of herbs,
plants, gardening and agriculture. Jesus created all these people with his own
hands, and draws us all to his manger to offer these gifts back to him.
Look at the wise men here, how they examine the stars so carefully,
and how they would have relied on the wisdom of the past and of their culture.
I don’t know anyone today who has such knowledge of astronomy, who would
suddenly embark on a long journey because they saw something in the sky that
was so significant.
We read: “Where is
he who has been born king of the Jews? For we saw his star when it rose and
have come to worship him.” Today we look at this sort of thing as a fairy
tale. But it’s not a fairy tale. Our culture is simply just so far removed from
the culture that is being described here that it makes very little sense to us.
Have we ever given thought to the fact that if these wise men were transported
2000 years forward and were given a glimpse of our culture, how odd they would
find us? We’re simply not interested in the stars in the way that these people
were. In fact, many people today are not interested in birds, animals, plants,
and many things as people were long ago. And much of our knowledge from those
past generations has been lost. Much of our inquisitiveness is lost, and so
much of people’s desire for truth and goodness is lost, and also their desire
for God has also been lost.
The star led the wise men to Jerusalem. They thought that
this star meant something, like a king was to be born, and since they were in
the land of the Jews, they probably thought that a special Jewish king had been
born. They may have known more than this and had some Hebrew scriptures in
their libraries in their own country, and known that the Jewish people were waiting
for a Messiah. Whatever was going on here, these wise men from the east thought
that what they saw in the sky was so significant that they followed the star
all the way to Jerusalem.
+++
But Jesus is not to be found in Jerusalem. But the Holy
Scriptures are. And so, without the Scriptures, the wise men come a dead end,
and simply have to ask King Herod, “Where?” “Where is he who has been born King
of the Jews?”
Of course, at this time, King Herod had no knowledge at
all of this birth. It says, He was troubled,
and all Jerusalem with him. The wise men were probably asking lots of
people the same question, and eventually after they had searched and searched
and searched, they came to King Herod in all their helplessness. They don’t
know where else to go.
We read: And
assembling all the chief priests and scribes of the people, [King Herod]
inquired of them where the Christ was to be born. They told him, “In Bethlehem
of Judea, for so it is written by the prophet: And you, O Bethlehem, in the
land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for from you
shall come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel.”
The priests and scribes give the wise men the answer they
are looking for from the Scripture. The same goes for us: if we are looking for
God, or even looking for Jesus, without the Scripture, it will always be a
futile search. Our star-gazing, our day-dreaming, our traditions, our history,
our culture, our whole society is nothing without being firmly grounded in the
Scripture. Even our desire for God, our desire to be religious, to be holy,
without a firm grounding in the Scripture, is just silly superstition.
The Scripture teaches the wise men where their God, their
Immanuel, their Jesus, is to be found. And the Scripture puts all their wisdom
to shame, by pointing them to a manger in Bethlehem. Today, the church is house
where the baby Jesus lives. And the church always needs to be firmly grounded
in the Scripture, or it will always run the risk of wanting to take Jesus out
of preaching, out of baptism, out of the Lord’s Supper, and trying to put him
somewhere else, where he doesn’t belong. Most of time, people want to find
Jesus in their own works, their own feelings, and their own wisdom. But he’s
not there. Instead, he’s in his word and his sacraments, just as at the time of
his birth, the Scripture showed the wise men that he was in Bethlehem.
+++
And now, even while Jesus is a baby, a great separation
begins between those who confess him to be their King, and those who want to
kill him. The wise men seek to go and worship Jesus, but Herod seeks to kill
him. Herod is jealous: he doesn’t want a rival king. He even pretends to the
wise men that he is interested in worshipping Jesus.
And so, we have the situation that has always been there
throughout the history of the church. Wherever the gospel is preached, there is
always some dodgy politicians trying to silence the gospel. Sometimes it is
governments who try and silence the gospel, sometimes it is organisations and
institutions, sometimes it is church organisations, and sometimes Jesus’
closest friends even try to silence the gospel, and therefore try to silence
Jesus’ own voice.
It is not just King Herod and his family who tried to
silence Jesus, but also the high priests Caiaphas and Annas in the church, and also
Judas in his close company of friends. This needs to be a warning to all of us,
that we make sure that we follow the star-gazing wise men with their knowledge
of the Scripture, than the comfortable, scheming, politically-savvy King Herod.
+++
Meanwhile, the star moves and the wise men follow it. The
Scripture gives new life to their searching: the Scripture has given them the
answer to their question, and the stars themselves confirm it. It’s not the
other way around: the Scripture does not confirm the star, the star confirms
the Scripture.
So also for us, if we think something is significant—a
dream, a coincidence, or some event—we don’t twist the Scriptures in such a way
to support our thinking and our reason and our interests. But our thinking, our
interests and our reason bow down and conform to the Scripture. As St Paul
says: “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of
your mind.”
And we read: When
they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy. And going into the
house they saw the child with Mary his mother, and they fell down and
worshipped him. Then, opening their treasures, they offered him gifts, gold and
frankincense and myrrh. And being warned in a dream not to return to Herod,
they departed to their own country by another way.
Still here at the end, we see things from faraway
countries and ancient cultures: we see following stars, exotic treasures, and significant
dreams. But there is also great joy, bended knees, and worship of the baby
Jesus. Are these things also foreign to us today?
But one thing that often strikes me in this text year
after year is the words: they rejoiced
exceedingly with great joy. This is the great treasure that Jesus offers to
the wise men. Jesus brings heaven and earth together. On one hand, on the
earth, people are being moved from place to place because of the Roman census.
And on the other hand, in the heavens, the stars are being moved to show these
wise men where they are to find the baby Jesus.
Let’s also come to him today and bring our gifts to him,
and all the things that we value most highly! Let’s also come and find him in
those places where he promises to be found, especially in the water of baptism
which has been washed over us, and through his body and blood given to us in
the Lord’s Supper! Let’s also rejoice exceedingly with great joy, as Jesus
draws us to himself through his Scriptures and perfectly fulfils all of our
desires!
Amen.
Lord Jesus Christ, God of God and Light of Light, draw us
to yourself, day after day and hour by hour. Inspire us constantly by your Holy
Spirit to kneel down and offer the most precious treasures of our hearts to
you. Send us that heavenly joy, that together with the wise men, we also may
rejoice exceedingly with great joy! Amen.
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