Epiphany [Matthew 2:1-11] (3-Jan-2015)

This sermon was preached at St Mark's Lutheran Church, Mt Barker, 8.30am, 10.30am.

Click here for PDF file of sermon for printing.

Grace, mercy and peace be to you from God our Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ.

Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the eat came to Jerusalem, saying, “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.”

Prayer: Let the words of my mouth, and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen.

Today, we celebrate the Festival of Epiphany, which is where we commemorate the wise men coming to visit the baby Jesus. So who were these wise men? In Greek, Matthew calls them “μαγοί”, or as we might say in English: “Magi”. And this word could mean all kinds of things. In those times, the ancient Persians and Medes often had particularly learned men called magi from whom they chose their rulers. Ancient Persia is modern-day Iran, and the ancient Medes lived in modern-day Iraq, and might be the ancestors of the modern-day Kurdish people. This is the area in northern Iraq close to where ISIS has taken over.

In the Old Testament there are actually a couple of prophesies about Epiphany. First, we read in Psalm 72:10: May the kings of Tarshish and of the coastlands render him tribute; may the kings of Sheba and Seba bring gifts. Let’s have a look at this verse and see what it says about our reading today. In the Gospel reading, the wise men are not called kings, but we often sing “We three kings of Orient are”, and if we have a nativity set, the wise men often sometimes have crowns. However, Tarshish is the area around the Mediterranean Sea. Sheba is what we might call modern-day Yemen, and Seba is said to be the royal city of Ethiopia.

The wise men in our Gospel reading are called “magi”, and it doesn’t seem as though these places had people called “magi”. This was the Persians. Also, the Gospel reading says that they were from the east. Sheba, Seba, and Tarshish aren’t really east, they are more west and south. However, because Ethiopia is mentioned in this prophecy, you might have noticed that often in nativity sets there is a black African wise man. This is because people thought that maybe there was a wise man from there.

But then, there is another prophesy in Isaiah 60:6, which says: A multitude of camels shall cover you, the young camels of Midian and Ephah; all those from Sheba shall come. They shall bring gold and frankincense, and shall bring good news, the praises of the LORD.

In our Gospel reading, it doesn’t say that the wise men rode camels. No camels are mentioned, but Isaiah mentions camels, and this is the reason why we often picture the wise men as riding camels. Midian is the area up the top of Arabia, and Ephah is the area to the south of Arabia, close to Yemen, or Sheba again.

Even in this prophesy it mentions gold and frankincense. However, it is still probably the case that the wise men came from Persia, in the east. But Arabia was known for its gold and frankincense. Even today, the best frankincense comes from Yemen and Oman, and they also grow myrrh there.

But what do we make of these prophesies of these wise men from the east, if Psalm 72 and Isaiah 60 mention Arabia and other places which are not really east? Well, the visit of the wise men gives us a little taste of what is going to happen later in Christian history. We know that these wise men were from an exotic land, a strange land. They were not part of God’s people, the Jewish people, but they were Gentiles, outsiders. And the wise men give the first taste of all the thousands of nations and kings and gifts that would be brought to Jesus.

I think in light of what has happened in the Middle East in the last year, with ISIS invading Iraq and Syria, this also gives us a lot of comfort. We might look at these verses from Psalm 72 and Isaiah 60 and think: isn’t it amazing that they both deal with Arabia, a part of the world which doesn’t seem nowadays to have any Christians very much at all? In early times there were Christians there, but not many. And now, Arabia is the centre of the Islamic religion, and is home to many people who are very hostile to the teaching that Jesus is the son of God.

However, we have to realise something very interesting. What ISIS are doing in the Middle East is being watched on TV by everyone at the moment. But it’s also being watched on TV by many Muslims—and many Muslims are not happy with what they see and some have even converted to Christianity in great numbers, sometimes openly, sometimes secretly. There is a Lutheran Church in Berlin in Germany which has baptised over 500 Muslims from Iran. In recent weeks I saw a video on the internet of their Iranian choir singing Christmas carols. There are also many reports of individual Muslims turning up to churches and saying that they were told in a dream to ask the pastor to tell them the truth. These pastors then tell them about Jesus, the way, the truth and the life.

We know that oil in the Persian Gulf, near Arabia, has meant that there are some grand cities that have been built there, like Dubai and Abu Dhabi. And these cities have had some of the world’s greatest architects build beautiful mosques, which are where Muslims pray. But what if it happened sometime in the future that some of these mosques became churches? What would happen if the marble, the gold, the riches of Arabia, were brought into the service of Christ? What would happen if one day a Christian altar was set up in one of these mosques with candles and a crucifix, and then people from far and wide came to be baptised and to receive the Lord’s Supper and hear a Christian sermon? Is this the kind of thing that you pray for? If not, why not? Don’t you know that nothing is impossible with God? How does what you see on the TV and on the news effect the way you pray and what you pray for? The prophecy in Isaiah 60 says: All those from Sheba shall come. They shall bring gold and frankincense, and shall bring good news, the praises of the Lord. The wise men from the east are just a little taste of the wonderful way in which Christ continues to gather people by the Holy Spirit from all kinds of strange places to worship him.

One other thing we know about these wise men is that they were learned men. They were smart people. They read a lot of books and they tried to learn as much as they could. This teaches us something very important about the church too. After Jesus was born, we read that there were simple shepherds in the fields who came to Jesus—simple, uneducated people. But they weren’t the only ones who came to see this baby: there were also educated, learned people who came. And in the church, Jesus is for both the unlearned and learned, he is for simple people and he is for the lofty and high-brow people too.

Often in the church today, Christians don’t seem to want to use their brains very much. They say: Pastor, you’re just talking about “head-stuff”—what’s most important in the heart. Also, there are plenty of atheists who think that Christianity is for stupid people. But Jesus calls us to use our hearts, but also to use our brains, our heads. He says: You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your mind, and with all your strength. Jesus created every piece of you, and if you want to keep your mind, your brain somewhere outside of his kingdom, then you are a traitor, and you are withholding something from Jesus which he wants you to offer to him. There are plenty of people in the church who are highly educated, who have masters’ degrees and PhDs and yet they when they come to church, they don’t want to know anymore than a Sunday School child. This is shameful. It is often the case that people who had no opportunities in education are far wiser in the Christian faith than those who spent 10 years at uni and think they know everything. Look at the wise men—they use all of their learning, everything that they have, to go and find Jesus. And yet, so many people just don’t care or they are just plain lazy. Jesus gave up everything for you, he gave up his very life for you. What will you offer him in return?

Now, let’s look at our text: After Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the east came to Jerusalem, saying, “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.”

Now how do you think the wise men knew that the king of the Jews was born? How did they know that this star had to do with him? And how did they know that that they should worship this king?

This is such a mysterious passage, and there are so many questions. This shows us just how rich the kingdom of God is, and just what wonderful things the Holy Spirit can do with people.

It’s important for us to realise that these are the first Gentiles that came to worship Jesus. Jesus didn’t just come for his own people, the Jewish people, he came for the whole world. And after his resurrection, Jesus sent his apostles out to all nations. The Jewish people were different to other people. They worshipped in a different way, they had special laws and regulations, and even today many people think that a lot of customs and practices of Jewish people are a bit odd. However, they were God’s chosen people. But right back when God called Abraham, he didn’t say that only one nation would be blessed, but that through Abraham’s offspring all nations would be blessed. And so, here is Jesus, born from the Jewish people, and he is worshipped by people from other nations, other people, just like us.

So the wise men coming to Jesus is about us. Most of us are not Jewish, and yet the Holy Spirit has called us just like these wise men to come and bow down and worship Jesus. Mary and Joseph must have thought that these men with their exotic clothes must have been very strange. And yet, if Mary and Joseph had met us, wouldn’t they think we would be even stranger? What a wonderful gift that just as these men met Jesus, we meet Jesus still today in his word, and in baptism and in the Lord’s Supper. And we even speak to him in prayer!

But how did these wise men know what they knew? Many Jewish people had travelled east before – Queen Esther was Jewish and she lived in Persia. Maybe the Persians got some of the books of the bible for their libraries then. Or when the people of Israel went to exile, we read about Daniel being there with King Nebuchadnezzar. There are all kinds of ways in which these wise men may have come across the prophesies of a coming King of the Jews that they should come and worship.

Even in the Book of Numbers, we read about a man called Balaam. He was from Moab, which is to the east of Israel, and wasn’t a Jew. And yet the Holy Spirit gave him a wonderful prophecy saying that a star shall come out of Jacob and a sceptre shall rise out of Israel. He speaks of a star and a sceptre. A sceptre is what kings have in their hands. It could have happened that this prophecy was passed on for centuries in those regions, which the wise men knew about. In many ancient cultures, many things are passed down from person to person, and they have a very rich oral tradition. We might think of Aboriginal culture and the knowledge and stories which they pass down.

In our culture, some things are passed down without us even thinking about it. In Australia, it’s common for people to swear and say: Jesus Christ! Or Christ Almighty! Isn’t it funny how God has kept the name of his Son in the households of so many people? And it’s a testimony to them. Maybe one day someone will wake up like these wise men, and ask the question: Who is this Jesus that I talk about every time I drop a hammer on my toe? Who was he? What does he want me to believe and what does he expect of me? If things like this get passed on without us even thinking about it, how much more could some ancient cultures carefully pass all kinds of things on if they were intentional about it!

However, we shouldn’t say that the wise men were astrologers and were following horoscopes. All kinds of people in our country read their star signs, and think that the stars govern and influence their lives. But it’s not true—and if they think that they do, the messages come from the devil. There are plenty of Christians who read Mystic Meg in the newspaper, and yet can’t seem to read the bible. God cannot be mocked. He wants people to reject this rubbish. We also shouldn’t use the stars to plant our crops or for healing—it’s forbidden in Scripture and it’s not God’s power at work. It says in Isaiah 46: Behold, they are like stubble… those who divide the heavens, who gaze at the stars, who at the new moons make known what shall come upon you.

In Mount Barker, we have a lot of people interested in Rudolf Steiner, who founded the Waldorf education system. He founded his own religion, and a method of farming called “Biodynamics”, which tells people to plant their crops by the phases of the moon, as if each phase gives some special power. Even if it works sometimes, it is a trick of the devil. If we want a good crop and a good harvest, we should pray to God for it, and let him provide the rain and the sunshine and everything we need.

The stars don’t govern our lives. God does, and he made the stars. The star of Bethlehem which the wise men saw was sent by God. Jesus’ life is not governed by the stars—if he really was born in December, we don't talk about how Jesus was a Capricorn! That’s blasphemy. Jesus is true God—and the wise men don’t seek messages from the stars, they seek the word of God as it was spoken through the prophets.

So what happens to the wise men is that they show up in Jerusalem, rather than Bethlehem. The star leads them there, and they don’t know where the baby is.

We read: 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: -- see, they consult God’s word in the bible, in the prophets – 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.

Once the wise men have heard God’s word, then they can go to Bethlehem, and the star can lead them there. This strange star is in service of Jesus, it shows the wise men the exact house, which must mean that it is something completely supernatural, that has never happened before and may never happen again. All this shows us what a wonderful baby this Jesus really is—how many things will Jesus do that had never happened before? We might think of his conception and birth, his wonderful miracles and healings, and of course, his resurrection, and his ascension… The list just goes on and on. And we are gathered here today in this humble church to bow down and worship him.

It’s strange that when the wise men go asking about Jesus, King Herod and the people of Jerusalem are not excited and happy about his news at all. They are scared and worried. We read: When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him. We also read where Herod tried to trick the wise men saying: Go and search diligently for the child, and when you have found him, bring me word, that I too may come and worship him.

Yuk! Yuk! There’s nothing worse than the kiss of Judas: someone says all kinds of nice words, but behind the words is a trick and a nasty scheme. Herod has no intention of worshipping Jesus, but we read later that he ended up slaughtering all the baby boys in Bethlehem so that he could kill Jesus too. At the end of our reading we read that being warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they departed to their own country by another way. God gave them a special warning.

And so here we learn something very important. Before Jesus, the chosen people were the Jewish people, and the Gentiles were outside of God’s kingdom. But now, the Gentiles are brought in, they are grafted into God’s kingdom through Jesus, like branches on a tree. And instead of the separation being between Jews and Gentiles, a new separation begins: those who worship Jesus and those who hate him. The wise men from the east do worship Jesus, and King Herod tries to kill him. Those who worship Jesus are new Jews, the new chosen people, they are built as spiritual stones like a house into Jesus. And those who reject Jesus are outside of God’s kingdom, even if they are descended from the Jewish people.

But we are all sinners, we have all tried to kill Jesus at some point. It is our sins which nailed Jesus to the cross. But now he calls us to follow him, to worship him at his manger, to listen to his word and to receive the Holy Spirit in Holy Baptism, and eat and drink his body and blood. Jesus forgives us for trying to kill him—because this is exactly what our sinful flesh always wants to do. And yet, we pray: Jesus, let your kingdom come. Build us into your kingdom, and make us living stones in your temple. Chip away and do whatever you need to do to make us useful! And bring all kinds of other people to be part of this temple too!

Finally, we read about the wise men: 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.

These treasures, gold, frankincense and myrrh, were found most commonly in Arabia. But this doesn’t necessarily mean that these men were from there, because gold, frankincense and myrrh were traded all along there throughout the Middle East. In fact all the way from Iran, right through Yemen, Ethiopia and into Sudan, people still light incense in their houses, because these countries were on the frankincense trade route. The wise men didn’t offer Jesus cheap local stuff, but they offered him their treasures. In the same way as these men offered Jesus their whole minds and all their learning for his service, they also offered him the best of their treasures. We might think of the woman who poured a jar of precious ointment on Jesus’ head. She offered him her precious treasures.

They offer him gold—gold for a king. They offer him frankincense—incense was used in the temple in Jerusalem in worship of God. And this baby Jesus is true God. And myrrh was a special spice used in burying people. It helped to stop decay. Jesus would die one day and would be placed in a tomb, and given a rich man’s burial, anointed with expensive spices, like myrrh. John tells us: Joseph of Arimathea came and took away the body [of Jesus]. Nicodemus…came bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy pounds in weight. And on Easter morning women would come to the tomb to with spices and ointments, just like Nicodemus.

Jesus is our heavenly king. He is our true God. And he has died for our sins. What can we bring of ourselves, our minds, our hearts, our treasures in service of this wonderful Jesus?

The kingdom of God is so wonderful. It is so rich. So like the wise men, let’s not just rejoice, but as the bible says: they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy. That’s a lot of joy! Amen.

Dear Jesus, we thank you for your wonderful miraculous birth, and we thank you for calling us together with so many other people including the wise men to come and meet you and worship you. Inspire us by your Holy Spirit to bring our hearts, minds, and treasures in service of you. Amen.


Click here for a map of the Middle East.
Click here for article about Iranian Lutherans in Berlin.
Click here for a information of the recently built Sheikh Zayed Mosque in Abu Dhabi.