Epiphany / Farewell Sermon [Matthew 2:1-11] (6-Jan-2019)

This sermon was preached at St Matthew's Lutheran Church, Maryborough, 8.15am, and Grace Lutheran Church, Childers, 10.30am.

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

And going into the house they saw the child with Mary his mother, and they fell down and worshipped 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.

Today we are celebrating a wonderful festival on the church calendar called “Epiphany”. Epiphany is exactly 12 days after Christmas, and it marks the occasion where the wise men—or sometimes we call them, the “Magi”—came from the east to Bethlehem to worship the baby Jesus.

There are a number of things that happen in this reading. Firstly, we read about the wise men coming to Jerusalem, and they ask Herod about the king of the Jews, who has been born. We don’t really know much about these men, or exactly where they were from. Secondly, they tell Herod how it happened that they came to Jerusalem. They said, We saw his star. And thirdly, they tell Herod why they have come: we have come to worship him.

Next, we read that Herod and the whole city of Jerusalem became troubled when they heard the news. The reason for this, of course, is that they didn’t know about the birth—it wasn’t public news. But Herod then summons the Jewish priests, and they consult the Scripture, as to where such a king would be born. The answer they find is: Bethlehem. This is a very important point. The wise men weren’t simply lead by a star to Bethlehem—somewhere along their journey, not far from where Jesus was actually born, they had to consult the Scripture. The star only led them as far as Jerusalem, but the Scripture pointed them to Bethlehem.

Next, we read about Herod’s jealousy—he didn’t want another Jewish king around the place. So he asked the wise men all about it, and tricked them by giving them the false impression that he wanted to worship Jesus too—in actual fact, he wanted to kill him. This is almost a bit like Judas—Judas gives the impression that he is a friend of Jesus by greeting him with a kiss, as men used to do in those days. But in actual fact, he meant to give Jesus away to the soldiers, so that they would know which one Jesus was and arrest him.

Then, we read about how the wise men leave Herod and continue to follow the star which miraculously rests right above the place where Jesus was. We get the impression that the star pointed the wise men not just to the town, but to the exact address. We read that the wise men rejoiced exceedingly with great joy. They didn’t just rejoice, and they didn’t just rejoice exceedingly, but they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy! And we also read about how they bowed down before the baby Jesus and worshipped him.

And then of course, we read about the wonderful gifts that the wise men brought: gold, frankincense and myrrh. Now, many of our Christmas carols mention the meaning of these gifts. Gold was given to Jesus in recognition of the fact that he was a king. Frankincense seems like a very strange thing to us—frankincense is a product which comes from resin in trees, and was famously grown in the south part of Arabia, which is modern-day Yemen. Frankincense was burned on coals and made a sweet-smelling perfume—the Jews also used it in worship, as a reminder of the people’s prayers ascending to heaven. So this frankincense was given to Jesus in recognition of the fact that he was God. And lastly, myrrh was given to Jesus. Myrrh was another resin, but was often made into an oil. It was also used as a burial spice. Even today, people can by myrrh from a health-shop as a mouth-wash, because it hinders decay. So also people used myrrh for embalming a dead body, because it hinders decay. So this gift was given to Jesus in recognition of the fact that one day Jesus would die.

At the end of our reading, we read about how an angel of God came and communicated with the wise men in a dream and warned them about Herod’s evil motives, so instead of going back and reporting to him, they went back home on a different route, without Herod’s knowledge.

So we can see that this reading, and this occasion, so many years ago, when the wise men came to visit Jesus was a quite an amazing event—we have these exotic people from foreign countries, with their exotic gifts—we read about stars, and prophecies, and dreams. All of these things come together and demonstrate to us the great richness of God’s kingdom, and just what an unexpected and glorious and wonderful thing it is to be in this kingdom. When we consider all the times we’ve come to this place, or in other places throughout our lives, and bowed our knees and our hearts in worship before our Lord Jesus, we should remember all the other weird and wonderful people who have done the same thing over many centuries, and also the amazing way in which God orchestrated everything and brought everything together in such a way that they got to that point. Just imagine if we’d all shown up at the house of Mary and Joseph 2000 years ago with our Queensland rubber thongs and shorts, and bright shirts and sun-glasses. Who would have seemed more exotic? The wise men from the East or us?!

And yet, if we think about how each of us got here this morning—and where we were born, there are many stories to be told—not necessarily involving stars and dreams and prophecies, but still amazing nevertheless. Maybe your ancestors migrated to this region on a ship over a hundred years ago. Maybe you’re a lady who came from a foreign country to marry some local fellow. Maybe you came on holiday from another state, and bought a house here on a whim, and the rest is history. Maybe you don’t really know how you ended up here. But if we stand back and look at everything, we realise that none of us would have ever planned to have these particular people in any Christian congregation. The Holy Spirit is the one who has gathered us together. The book of Proverbs says: Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths. Listen to those words: In all your ways acknowledge him. We look back on our lives, and it’s often only in hindsight that we can see the steady hand of the Lord guiding us through everything, even though sometimes at a particular time, we had no idea what was going on. In all your ways acknowledge him.

There’s a wonderful verse in Psalm 119, that is also very well-known. Your word is a lamp to my feet, and a light to my path. I remember a couple of years ago, when we drove up here to Maryborough, I was driving on the “Hay Plain” in New South Wales at night. I don’t know if many of you know that road but it’s a very long and boring road. Something that I did to pass the time was that I would take notice on my speed-o how many kilometres it was from when I would first see the lights of truck on the horizon to when they passed me. I remember seeing one truck from over 10kms away. But often in our life, we don’t have the benefit of seeing things from that kind of distance. Often the reality is that God only lights our path with his word one step in front of us at a time. On one hand, we see heaven in the distance like a shining light, but often, we don’t know what God’s doing in the next 100 metres, 10 metres, or even one step ahead. The wise men would have had a journey like this—they get to Jerusalem. No-one knows where to send them. The priests tell them about Jerusalem. The star leads them directly to Bethlehem. They are warned in a dream—only one step at a time. And it was not simply a star that led them, but God’s word which led them to Bethlehem, since it was prophesied many years beforehand. It was God’s word which was a lamp to their feet and a light to their path.

Now today also marks another occasion, which is much less significant than the visit of the wise men to Bethlehem—which is that today is my final service among you as your pastor. It is often said that the wise men came from Persia—it’s strange that the distance from Persia to Jerusalem, is about the same distance as Maryborough to Adelaide!

At the beginning of December, I celebrated my 10^th anniversary of my ordination as a pastor. It was a strange occasion, because I was on sick-leave at the time. I always wanted to be a pastor from about the time I was 14-years-old. Over the last 20 years, I’ve grown up a lot, I’ve met many people, and done many different things. I also remember when I was about 17, there was a Catholic priest that I knew in Adelaide that I liked a lot. But he died suddenly, and it turned out that on his way to a medical appointment he had doused himself in petrol and set himself alight. This event had a profound effect on me, because it hit me: how is it that a priest, and such a jovial, happy one at that, could be plagued by such darkness?

I remember when I was at the end of my first year of seminary, there was an old pastor, Pastor Noel Weiss, who came up to me, and said: So, Stephen, did you have a good first year in seminary? I said, “Yes, I did”. He said, “Did you meet the devil?” I thought about it, and I said, “Yes”. He said, “Then it was a good year!”

I want to tell you that being a pastor is a wonderful thing—it is a great joy. But it has its darkness—but the darkness is not a punishment, or some victory of the evil one—but it is a training. It’s the same for every Christian—being a Christian is the best thing in the world, but we also have sufferings as Christians. St Paul says in Acts that it is through many tribulations that we must enter the kingdom of God.

Now, I’ve spoken a bit about myself just now, and I don’t often like to do that. Sometimes we pastors can end up talking too much about ourselves if we don’t watch out, instead of talking about Jesus who has saved us. But I want to tell you something: I always talk about myself in sermons. I don’t often tell you that I’m doing it. But there is a wonderful passage about the ministry in 1 Timothy 4, where St Paul writes: Keep watch on yourself and on the teaching. Persist in this, for by doing so you will save both yourself and your hearers. When I first became a pastor, I realised that I wasn’t hearing anyone else’s sermons anymore. All the sermons I heard were mine! Paul says to Timothy that he doesn’t just give sermons for other people’s benefit, but also for his own. Keep watch on yourself, says Paul, and on the teaching. Because you will save both yourself and your hearers.

So often as a pastor, I have often tried to preach to myself, because actually, I’m the sinner that I actually know the best. So when I preach, I’ve always tried to apply the texts to myself. But over the years, I’ve noticed something very strange. When I preach to myself most strongly, it’s often those weeks when someone comes to me at the door and says, “Pastor, you hit the nail on the head today. It was as if you were speaking just to me.” And here I am thinking, “I wasn’t talking about you, I was talking about me!”

But then this shows to us that the sufferings that we pastors go through aren’t for us pastors. They’re for you, and for your benefit. The Holy Spirit shapes and forms us so that we can bring the exact message that he wants to be preached into your ears at a particular time, just when you need it. You might not have noticed the stars, the prophesies, the dreams, the frankincense, the myrrh, but there were all kinds of things that the Holy Spirit orchestrated so that this church, this service, this sermon, and whatever, would be just as it is. St Paul wrote about this as an apostle: We have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us. We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies. For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. So death is at work in us, but life in you.

As I’ve been preparing for today, one thing that has hit me is an overwhelming sense of failure. But whatever sense of failure has been at work in me, I pray that it would serve to your encouragement, just as Paul say: Death is at work in us, but life in you. I remember when I was in confirmation, and my pastor told me about how he had failed Greek at the seminary, and he thought, “Oh no! I’m never going to be a pastor now!” But his old grandmother said to him, “Don’t worry. Failure isn’t always what it seems. Look at Jesus on the cross.”

There’s a very interesting passage in 2 Corinthians 2, where Paul writes: When I came to Troas to preach the gospel of Christ, even through a door was opened for me in the Lord, my spirit was not at rest because I did not find my brother Titus there. So I took leave of them and went on to Macedonia. It’s a strange thing. St Paul says that the Lord opened the door for him to go to Troas, but because his spirit was not at rest, he left and went to Macedonia instead. It’s strange—I would think that maybe Paul would feel quite some sense of failure too, since he says that he turned his back on a door which the Lord opened for him.

But in actual fact, he says in the next verse: But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere. Doesn’t this take you by surprise? St Paul says, that even though he turned his back on a door which the Lord had opened for him, he didn’t fail Jesus at all, but instead Christ continues to lead him in triumphal procession. It isn’t a failure at all, but we are clothed in gold, and frankincense and myrrh, and led in a procession with music and camels to worship the baby Jesus on bended knee, not only in Maryborough or Childers, but wherever we happen to be in life. It’s just as that pastor’s old grandmother said: “Failure isn’t always what it seems. Look to Jesus on the cross.” When Jesus gave up his spirit and said, “It is finished”, it wasn’t his failure, but it was his glorious atonement, his wonderful payment, where he lay down his life for the sin of the world, and he burst from the empty tomb on Easter Sunday. And for us, even though we walk through the valley of the shadow of death, we will fear no evil, for Jesus is with us, his rod and his staff, they comfort us.

And so, as Jesus comforts us, and brings us into his presence to worship him on bended knee, he shapes us and forms us through whatever experiences he led us through to get us there, so that when he sends us back home, we can also help and strengthen those we meet who need it. Paul says in 2 Corinthians 1: Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. For as we share abundantly in Christ’s sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in his comfort too. If we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation; and if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which you experience when you patiently endure the same sufferings that we suffer. Our hope for you is unshaken, for we know that as you share in our sufferings, you will also share in our comfort.

And so, as we come here today to celebrate Epiphany, we remember the wonderful and miraculous way in which God brought all of us unlikely people here together to worship the Lord Jesus. You might remember the story of Jacob, when he woke up from his dream about the angels and the ladder, he said: Surely the LORD is in this place, and I did not know it! It’s just like the wise men must have said when they saw the humble home that Mary and Joseph lived in! Jesus didn’t live in Herod’s palace, but in a humble house in Bethlehem, even having been born in a humble stable.

We have a humble Saviour, who is pleased to meet unlikely sinners like us, and is pleased to forgive us, to meet us, to baptise us, to encourage us, and even to feed us with his body and blood! And so, as we remember these things today, let’s also remember what it was said of the wise men all those many years ago: 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.

Amen.

Dear Jesus, you have drawn us too to meet you today, and what a great joy it is to be with you here in your house. Bless us and our congregation both now and into the future, and lead and guide us through the light of your holy and pure word. Amen.