Sermon for the Feast of the Epiphany of Our Lord - Mt 2:1-12

                                                        

                                                                                                    Epiphany

                                                                                                    Mt 2:1-12

                                                                                                    1:6:26

                                                                                               

 

 

          They were fortunate to catch Herod the Great in town.  Our text tonight begins with the words: “Now 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.”

          The magi came to Jerusalem looking for the king of the Jews who had been born. Instead of a young child, they found Herod the Great, and they interacted with him. There was actually a good chance that they could have arrived in Jerusalem and found no king there.  Herod had built a palace in Jerusalem. However, he had also built palace complexes at Caesarea on the Mediterranean Sea, at Masada in the Judean wilderness, and Herodium.  He ruled from these various palace locations in his kingdom.

          Matthew signals the unexpected character of the arrival by saying, “Behold! Magi from the east came to Jerusalem.”  Now you will note that I have not used the language of our translation by calling them “wise men.” Instead, I am using a word that is based on the Greek being translated here: “magoi.” We are used referring to them as the “wise men,” which since the Enlightenment of the 1700’s has had very positive associations.

          However, when Matthew wrote these words, Jews did not view the word “magi” in a positive way. Magi were people who were learned, but not in anything that really mattered. They were foolish men who were experts at nonsense, since so much of it was tied up with astrology and pagan religion.  The fact that Gentile magi showed up in Jerusalem looking for a newborn king of the Jews was shocking.

          We are probably not going to be quite so negative in our evaluation of the magi. Magi were in fact keen observers of the heavens – they were learned in matters that today we would call astronomy. But to be sure, this learning was mixed up with what we would now call astrology. It was a learning that was heavily involved in what we call the occult.

          The magi came from the east and said, “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.”  The magi said that their journey had been prompted by something they had seen in the sky – “a star at its rising.”  They had seen some kind of astronomical event which signaled to them that a king of the Jews had been born.

          Most likely the magi came from what we know as Iraq or Iran. These were the lands of the Babylonians and Persians, and after the events of the sixth century B.C. sizeable numbers of Jews lived there. In this setting a learned individual could come into contact with the Scriptures of the Old Testament.

          In the book of Numbers we learn that Balak the king of the Moabites hired Balaam a diviner and practicer of the occult to curse the Israelites. But Yahweh used Balaam instead to speak his words and to bless Israel. In fact in chapter 24 we learn that the Spirit of God came upon Balaam and prompted him to speak. In that chapter he said, “I see him, but not now; I behold him, but not near: a star shall come out of Jacob, and a scepter shall rise out of Israel.”

          God had spoken through a Gentile diviner. He provided something new and unexpected – a star at its rising. And now God used those words in Scripture to prompt Gentile magi to seek a newborn king of the Jews because of what they had seen.

          Through God’s providence, Herod the Great was in Jerusalem when the Gentiles showed up. He was not thrilled to hear that a king of the Jews had been born.  He was troubled, and so was everyone else because when Herod got troubled about usurpers of his throne, people died.

          Herod had spent great amounts of money turning the temple in Jerusalem into one of the wonders of the ancient world. However, this was not an action prompted by faith in God. Instead, Herod sought the favor of the Jews whose land he ruled. At the same time, Herod also spent money to build pagan temples in Gentile areas.Her

          Herod was not a man who had faith in the Lord. But in this case he thought the Scriptures might be useful. So he assembled the chief priests and scribes of the people and inquired of them where the Christ was to be born. They pointed to the prophet Micah as they answered: “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.’”

          We hear in our text that with this information in hand, Herod inquired secretly from the wise men about when the star had appeared.  After our Gospel lesson on Sunday, you know exactly what he was doing. He was determining the relative age of the child, if he in fact existed, in order to eliminate him. But Herod hoped that the magi would do the work of finding the child for him.  He said, “Go and search diligently for the child, and when you have found him, bring me word, that I too may come and worship him.”

          Herod sent the magi to Bethlehem to find the child. And it is at this point that Matthew again calls our attention to another unexpected event as he writes: “And behold, the star that they had seen when it rose went before them until it came to rest over the place where the child was.”  The magi said that their trip had been prompted by the sight of “a star at its rising.” However, they had not followed the star to Jerusalem. They believed that this astronomical event signaled the birth of the king of the Jews, and so they went to where you expected the king to be: in Jerusalem.

          But now, something new and different occurred. They again saw this star, but this time it behaved in a way that actually guided them.  Matthew tells us, “When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy.”

          We usually assume that the star guided the magi to Bethlehem. But it is helpful to recognize that the text never actually says this.  It says that the Christ had been born in Bethlehem, and that on this basis Herod sent the magi to Bethlehem, but it never actually says that the magi arrived in Bethlehem. It is also worth noting that Bethlehem is only six miles from Jerusalem. The magi certainly didn’t need a star to lead them there.

          It is possible that instead the star led them to Nazareth. This may explain why the magi rejoiced greatly when suddenly the star appeared and started to guide them. It also fits well with the information that Luke provides us in chapter two about the circumstances of Christ’s birth.  We can’t know for sure. The one thing that is clear that in a new and specific way the star that they had seen previously at its rising now guided the magi to the location of the Christ.  God acted through a star to reveal not just that the Christ had been born, but also to lead the magi to him.

          Matthew tells us: “And going into the house they saw the child with Mary his mother, and they fell down and worshiped him. Then, opening their treasures, they offered him gifts, gold and frankincense and myrrh.”  The magi came and offered homage to the king. They also brought valuable gifts.

          Epiphany is sometimes called “the Christmas of the Gentiles.” Jesus Christ is born, and on Christmas Eve the angels announce this good news to Jewish shepherds. But on Epiphany we celebrate how God revealed Jesus to the Gentile magi.

          On Epiphany we are reminded of a fact that we often take for granted: Jesus Christ is the Savior of those who are not Jewish. God called Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob. He took their descendants Israel into a covenant with himself. If you don’t descend from Israel – if you are not Jewish – then he did not make a covenant with you.

          In Isaiah’s prophecies we learn that that Servant of the Lord is Israel. Yet somehow, his is also not Israel – he is a figure other than Israel. In chapter 49 Yahweh says, “It is too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to bring back the preserved of Israel; I will make you as a light for the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.”

          God describes how his salvation must reach to the ends of the earth. We hear a description of this in our Old Testament lesson tonight in which God says through Isaiah: “Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you. For behold, darkness shall cover the earth, and thick darkness the peoples; but the Lord will arise upon you, and his glory will be seen upon you.”

          The darkness that covers the peoples is the sin and death that has enveloped us since the fall of Adam.  It is the sin that cuts us off from the holy God bringing his eternal judgment and damnation. At Christmas we celebrated how God sent his Son into the world to deliver us from these things. The Word became flesh as the Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit, and born of the virgin Mary.

          The Son of God became man, without ceasing to be God. He took on our humanity in order to take our place – to take our sin and receive God’s judgment as he died on the cross. He redeemed us from sin. And then God renewed our humanity by raising Christ from the dead with a body that can never die again. Jesus is the second Adam who delivers us from all that occurred in the Fall.

          God had worked through Israel, but his saving purpose was never limited to Israel. Isaiah says in the Old Testament lesson: “And nations shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising.”  In our Gospel lesson we see that God brings the magi to the Christ.  He shows that the salvation present in Jesus is for all peoples. They bring gifts to the Lord, just as Isaiah 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.”

          God’s salvation in Christ is for you.  All most none of you descend from Abraham and Israel, but God has acted in the death and resurrection of his Son to give you forgiveness and eternal life. And this raises the question: What is your response? The magi made the trip to Jerusalem. They then followed the star to the place where Jesus was located. Finding the Christ was a priority for them.

You have come to the Divine Service on a Tuesday night because you are doing the same.  You have come to the place where Christ is present through his Word and Sacrament. This is the pattern that needs to continue to guide your life. It is the pattern that you need to encourage in your family members and friends.

The magi came to the place where Christ was and brought gifts: gold, frankincense, and myrrh. They brought valuable things and gave them to the Lord. This causes us to consider how we respond to the blessings God has given us. Do you bring gifts to the Lord that reflect sacrificial giving?  Do you give what is valuable, or something quite small that allows you to go through the motions? The offering we give is a response to the blessings God has given to us. It we are walking by the Spirit, then it will be an offering that is proportional to the way that God has blessed us. It is what we return to the Lord to support the proclamation of the Gospel in this place.

The Feast of the Epiphany of the Lord announces that the Gospel is for all people. God has acted in his Son Jesus Christ to free us from sin and death. He worked through Israel to accomplish his saving purpose for all nations. Through the good news of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ we have forgiveness and resurrection on the Last Day. This is light we share with all those around us. 

 

 

         

           

 

 

Sermon for the Second Sunday after Christmas - Mt 2:13-23

                                        Christmas 2; Mt 2:13-23; 1/4/26

            You don’t expect good news when the phone rings in the middle of the night.  No one is going to call you at 3:00 a.m. to let you know about some good thing that has happened. Instead, a call at that time is almost certainly going to be prompted by an emergency – by something that is bad.

            When my phone rings at such a time, there are in fact two possibilities. First, it may be that something has happened in my family – to my parents; to my children; or to my brother and his family. Second, it is possible that something has happened to a congregation member. There are in fact more of you than there are of my close family members, and so the odds lean that way. This was the case last Sunday when I received a call at 4:00 a.m. that Sue Linenberger was at the ER because of tightness in her chest caused by blood clots.

            When your phone rings at a time like this, you are startled.  You often feel rather foggy as you try to wake up and listen to what is being said in order to understand what has happened. I find myself repeating back what I have heard, in order to make sure that I have it right. And then when the phone call is over, if the news doesn’t require me to leave immediately, I am awake and have trouble going back to sleep.

            In our Gospel lesson this morning Joseph is startled in the middle of the night. He receives news of an emergency. In this case the information comes not from a phone call, but from an angel in a dream. The result is the same because when he is awake there is no question of trying to get back to sleep. Instead, he immediately swings into action.

            This morning we have things a little out of order.  Our Gospel lesson describes the flight to Egypt by Joseph, Mary, and Jesus that took place after the visit by the magi. Of course, we won’t celebrate visit by the magi until this Tuesday – the Feast of the Epiphany of Our Lord. You will notice that the magi have not yet arrived in our chancel. But here at the end of Christmastide, our text is the last thing we learn about the events involving Jesus in the time after he had been born.

            Just before our text Matthew reports, “Now 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.’”

            The magi showed up in Jerusalem looking for the king of the Jews who had been born. What they found instead was King Herod the Great. Herod was not, in fact, a descendant of Israel. He was from Idumea – the land south of Israel that had been the ancient enemy Edom. People in Judea would have considered him, at best, to be a “half Jew” since this land had been conquered by the Jews during the time of the Jewish Hasmonean leaders. In fact, he was not a true believer in Yahweh at all as he gave money to build to build pagan temples in Gentile areas.

            Herod had no interest in the Scriptures.  But when he heard about the possibility of a competitor for his crown being born, the Scriptures suddenly became something that could be useful. He summoned the chief priests and scribes who told him on the basis of Micah’s prophecy that the Christ would be born in Bethlehem.

            Matthew reports that Herod instructed the magi to find the child, and then send him word so that he too could go and worship him. But before doing that we are told: “Then Herod summoned the wise men secretly and ascertained from them what time the star had appeared.”  Herod was particularly interested in how long ago the star had appeared. He wanted to determine how old this child might be.

            Herod the Great had risen from being an Idumean outsider to king ruling a kingdom that was as large as David’s.  He did it by sheer determination, and the remarkable ability to convince whatever Roman was in control of Palestine at that time that Herod was their man.

            He also succeeded because he was absolutely ruthless. He beheaded the last king from the Hasmonean line. Then he executed forty five of that man’s richest supporters, and he took their wealth as his own. He had his wife executed. He had his mother-in-law executed. He had his brother-in-law executed. He had three of his own sons executed. If Herod thought that you were a threat to his throne, there was no question about what he was going to do.

            Our text begins with the words, “Now when they had departed, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, ‘Rise, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you, for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him.’” God sent an angel to warn Joseph, and to send him into action. We learn: “And he rose and took the child and his mother by night and departed to Egypt and remained there until the death of Herod.”

            There is so much planning, bustle, and excitement that leads up to Christmas. There are decorations to put up and gifts to buy. There are parties to attend and travel to plan. It reaches a crescendo on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.  And then there is an afterglow between Christmas and New Year’s. The kids are still off from school. It is a time that leads into the New Years Eve celebration, and then New Years day which for many people is a day off that is filled with football.

            But now there is no avoiding that it is back to the regular grind of life. The problems and challenges from which the Christmas season helped to distract us are still there.  The health problems have not gone away. The financial challenges and career uncertainty are still present. The marital and family difficulties continue to trouble us.

            We have passed through Christmas, and we may be tempted to ask what difference it makes. We wonder where God is in all of this. Today’s Gospel lesson speaks to this. Matthew tells us about the conception of Jesus by the Holy Spirit in the virgin Mary: “All this took place to fulfill 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 Christ is God with us. He is God in the flesh. And he is with us in the midst of the danger and fear of this world. We find that he is rushed out of town in the middle of the night as his parents flee with him to Egypt. He is the target of a tyrant who wants nothing else but to kill the child.

            The Lord Jesus understands our existence. He understands not simply as the omniscient Son of God, but as the One who has been God with us – the One who has lived our life. The writer to the Hebrews tells us, “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”

            Joseph took Mary and Jesus in the middle of the night to Egypt, and they stayed there until the death of Herod. Matthew says in our text, “This was to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet, ‘Out of Egypt I called my son.’”  Matthew tells us that Jesus went to Egypt and then returned in fulfillment of God’s word.

            Jesus is God with us. His parents have to flee their homeland and go to Egypt in order to protect him from death. But we learn that God is at work in the midst of this hardship.  Jesus has gone to Egypt in order to return from there, just as Israel had done so. Matthew quotes Hosea 11:1, “Out of Egypt I called my son.”  This is not what we would normally call a “prophecy.”  It is not a statement about the future. Instead, it is Hosea recounting Israel’s unfaithfulness in the past.

            But Matthew tells us that Jesus’ experience of fleeing to Egypt and then returning fulfills Hosea’s words because God was intentionally creating a correspondence between Israel and Jesus.  Jesus is the Christ – the Messiah.  He is the fulfillment of God’s promises about the descendant of David.  He is Israel reduced to One. And we begin to learn that where Israel failed God’s purposes, Jesus will fulfill them.

            Like Israel, Jesus is God’s Son whom he calls out of Egypt. Like Israel, Jesus will pass through the water of the Jordan when he is baptized. But where Israel was unfaithful when they entered the promised land, Jesus was faithful in carrying out the Father’s will.  At his baptism Jesus the sinless One took on the role of bearing our sins. He said, “the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” Jesus was called out of Egypt and passed through the Jordan in order to hang on the cross for you. He received God’s judgment against your sin in order to give you forgiveness before God.

            The magi were warned by God not to return to Herod.  Eventually Herod realized that he had been tricked by them. Matthew tells us that he became furious, and he sent and killed all the male children in Bethlehem and in all that region who were two years old or under.  Herod had been very interested in when the star had appeared.  And now he used that information as he left nothing to chance. He had all the boys two years and younger in Bethlehem and the surrounding area killed.

            Herod kills children in Bethlehem. But then Matthew says something that seems surprising. He reports: “Then was fulfilled what was spoken by the prophet Jeremiah: ‘A voice was heard in Ramah, weeping and loud lamentation, Rachel weeping for her children; she refused to be comforted, because they are no more.’”

            Matthew quotes from Jeremiah chapter 31. Jeremiah’s words are a reference to the exile that occurred in 587 B.C. when the Babylonians took the people of Judah away. But this verse is the only note of sadness in the whole chapter as God promises that he will bring the people back. He will return the people, and this action points to something even greater. Yahweh goes on to say through Jeremiah, “Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the Lord.”

            The murder of the children in Bethlehem was an act of evil by Herod. But Matthew tells us that God’s saving work occurs in the midst of evil and suffering.  It occurs as God himself submits to evil and suffering in the person of Jesus Christ.  The reason that we can trust and believe this is true is what happened on Easter. Christ died as the One whose blood was shed to establish the new covenant – the new covenant about which Yahweh said through Jeremiah, “For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.”

            Good Friday was a scene of humiliation, suffering, and death. But on Easter God raised Jesus from the dead. He vindicated Jesus and showed that the cross had been far more than it appeared to be.  It had been God redeeming us from sin.  Jesus passed through death for us, and then in the resurrection God defeated death.

            We live in a world where we experience hardships and difficulties. We see in the news senseless suffering and death.  It can make us ask: “Where is God in all of this?” Our Gospel lesson teaches us that Jesus Christ is God with us. We have seen God act in the death and resurrection of his Son.  He worked in the midst of suffering and death in this world to give us forgiveness and resurrection life.

            Now we believe in the crucified and risen Lord. But this faith is not only about salvation. It is faith that carries us through the things we can’t understand. It is the reason we can trust that God is at work even when we don’t see any indications that this is so.  This is what provides the grounds for Paul’s statement in Romans: “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.” This is not wishful thinking or naïve optimism that somehow the forces of the world all even out. 

Instead, it is based on what God has already done in the death and resurrection of Jesus. We have seen God work in the midst of suffering and death to carry out his saving purpose for us. In the resurrection of Jesus we find assurance that God’s intentions go beyond what we are able to perceive and understand. And in the resurrection have find confidence that the suffering and death will come to an end when Jesus Christ returns in glory.

 

           

           

 

 

  

           

             

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mark's thoughts: Mary and Joseph weren't immigrants, illegal, or rejected

 

This year there has been an intense national focus on immigration and what should be done about illegal aliens who are now living in the United States. Therefore it’s not surprising that in the days leading up to Christmas there have been a number of individuals who have tried to drag Mary and Joseph into the discussion by comparing their experience to these modern situations. However, any attempt to do so reflects a lack of understanding about the historical setting in which they lived.  These same historical facts help us to understand how God was at work in the birth of Jesus Christ.

 

When Mary and Joseph travelled from Nazareth to Bethlehem, they never left one country and entered into another. They were, in fact, within the kingdom of Herod the Great the entire time. The Romans under Pompey had conquered this area in 63 B.C. However, their typical practice on the eastern end of the empire during this period was not to take direct control over lands. Instead, they established client states that served as a buffer zone that separated the Romans from the Parthian empire`.

 

These client states were ruled by petty kings, and Herod the Great was one of these kings. Herod ruled a kingdom that rivaled the one over which David had been king. In an impressive display of being a survivor, Herod had managed to ingratiate himself to whichever Roman leader happened to be controlling Palestine at that time. Herod ran the affairs of his kingdom and had his own army, but there was no doubt about who controlled him. He answered to the Roman emperor.

 

As Luke 2:1 indicates, at the time when Jesus was born, that man was Augustus.  For more than fifty years, the Roman Empire had been racked by wars as leaders vied for control. Augustus had come out on top, and he took actions which transformed the Roman Empire into something that was truly ruled by one man – by him.

 

Luke states, “In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered” (2:1). Augustus ordered a census, and normally a census led directly into Roman taxation.  The available evidence indicates that usually a census was done for lands that were under direct Roman rule and therefore under direct Roman taxation. But in this case, it apparently also included lands that were under their indirect control – a land like the kingdom of Herod the Great.

 

This probably helps to explain what Luke describes: “And all went to be registered, each to his own town. And Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the town of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David” (2:3-4).  Typically, a Roman census was done according to where a person lived. But there apparently could be some accommodation to local settings (as seen in Egyptian papyri), and so in the Jewish land of Herod it was done on the basis of family lineage.

 

Joseph and the pregnant Mary had not travelled to Bethlehem for the purpose of living there. They weren’t “immigrants.”  There was certainly nothing illegal about their activity. In fact, quite the opposite, the only reason they were in Bethlehem was because they were obeying what the government had told them to do.

There was no doubt that the timing of the decree was terrible for this young couple. We learn in our that Mary was pregnant (2:5), and it turns out that when they made the trip she was close to giving birth. When they arrived in Bethlehem they didn’t find the normal accommodations. They probably expected to stay in an extra room at the home of extended family. The ESV provides the translation: “And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn” (2:7). The Greek word translated as “inn” (ἐν τῷ καταλύματι.) doesn’t mean a place where travelers rent a room. There is a different word for that, and Luke uses it in the Parable of the Good Samaritan (εἰς πανδοχεῖον ;10:34).

 

Instead, the word used refers to an extra room in a house that is available for use. It is the same word used by Luke in 22:11 to describe the room where Jesus celebrated the Last Supper with his disciples (ποῦ ἐστιν τὸ κατάλυμα ὅπου τὸ πάσχα μετὰ τῶν μαθητῶν μου φάγω;). The influx of people for the census probably meant they weren’t the only extended family who showed up looking for housing. When Mary and Joseph arrived, there was no more room in the house, and so they were given the next best thing available – a stable where animals were kept.  The setting of Jesus’ birth did not indicate that Mary and Joseph were rejected or mistreated.

 

Rather than trying to use Marry and Joseph to comment on modern issues, we should see in their situation how God carried out his plan of salvation and fulfilled his word.. Mary and Joseph were in Bethlehem because of forces over which they had no control. An emperor had issued a decree.  A king was obeying by implementing it. They had to obey. But what we now know, is that the emperor was subject to the One who controls all things.  St. Paul told the Galatians, “But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son” (Galatians 4:4).

 

God acted at the right moment according to his plan. He, the Creator of all things, had used empires in the past as the tools by which he carried out his purposes. He had used the Assyrians, the Babylonians, and the Persians. He had used Sennacherib, Nebuchadnezzar, and Cyrus. Now he was using the Romans and Augustus. He used them to cause Mary and Joseph to be in Bethlehem at the time when Mary gave birth to Jesus.

 

Emperor Augustus was God’s instrument through whom he brought Mary and Joseph to Bethlehem at the time when Mary was to give birth to Jesus the Christ – the Messiah. He had done so because this fulfilled his word that he had spoken through the prophet Micah: “But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, who are too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose coming forth is from of old, from ancient days” (Micah 5:2; Matthew 2:3-6). 

 

 

Sermon for the First Sunday after Christmas - Isa 11:1-5

 

   Christmas 1

                                                                                                Isa 11:1-5

                                                                                                12/28/25

 

           

            Around the middle of the third century B.C., the land that had been Israel was ruled by the Seleucids. These were descendants of one of Alexander the Great’s generals, and they were adherents of Greek culture and pagan religion. For reasons that are not entirely understood, in 167 B.C. Antiochus IV began a religious persecution of the Jews.  The sacrifices in the temple were suspended.  The cult of Zeus was set up in temple and swine’s flesh was offered there.  Antiochus ordered that the Torah be burned.  He forbade circumcision and ordered Jews to eat pork.  The death penalty was administered to those who refused to comply.

            In response, in 166 a rural member of a priestly family, named Mattathias, began an uprising. It has come to be known at the Maccabean revolt after one of Mattathias’ sons, Judas Maccabeus. They gained control of Jerusalem and in 164 B.C. the temple was rededicated to God – the event celebrated at Hannukah.  In the years that followed during 167-141, what had begun as an uprising about religious freedom and restoration became a war of national independence.

The Hasmoneans - those who descended from Mattathias - gained control over Palestine and ruled it during the years 141-63 B.C as they established their own kingdom.  They expanded rule over what had been Israel’s enemy Edom in the south, and over Galilee in the north. The Hasmoneans weren’t from the line of David, and made no claims to being the Messiah, but the Jews were glad that they ruled themselves.

All of this came to a crashing end in 63 B.C. when the Roman general Pompey conquered Palestine. Herod the Great, who was himself from the land that had been Edom, was appointed by the Romans as the petty king who ruled in their stead. The Jews could see that they no longer ruled themselves. Instead, the Geniles were in charge.

Some time after Pompey’s conquest, a Jew wrote a work that we now know as the Psalms of Solomon. There he responded to what had happened, and asked God to raise up the Messiah to deliver his people.  He wrote, “See, Lord, and raise up for them their king, the son of David, to rule over your servant Israel in the time known to you, O God.”

This writer used language from our text – Isaiah chapter eleven – as he asked God to work through the Messiah – the Christ as he was known in Greek.  He added: “Undergird him with the strength to destroy the unrighteous rulers, to purge Jerusalem from Gentiles who trample her to destruction; in wisdom and righteousness to drive out the sinners from the inheritance; to smash the arrogance of sinners like a potter’s jar; To shatter al their substance with an iron rod; to destroy the unlawful nations with the word of his mouth.”

This text gives us a good idea about what some Jews hoped God would do through his Messiah – the descendant of King David.  It’s not hard to understand why they thought this way. In our Old Testament lesson this morning we hear Isaiah’s prophecy about this One. He begins by saying, “There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit.”

Isaiah wrote in the eighth century B.C. at a time when most of the kings who descended from David – men like Ahaz – were a great disappointment. They did not trust and believe in Yahweh. But God promised that he would raise up a descendant from the line of David. This descendant would not be just another king. Instead, God would place his Spirit upon him – he would be the Messiah of the end times.

God says through Isaiah, “And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.” Through his Spirit, God would endow this One with all that he needed to walk in God’s ways as ruler. His delight would be in the fear of the Lord and he would judge righteously. The poor would be treated fairly. And he would act with decisive judgment against the wicked.  Isaiah says in our text, “he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked.”

This Messiah would mean victory for God’s people as he enacted God’s will. But he would bring more than that.  He would bring peace. He would be the Prince of Peace as Isaiah had described in chapter nine. He would bring a peace that would extend to all creation. Just after our text Isaiah goes on to say, “The wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the young goat, and the calf and the lion and the fattened calf together; and a little child shall lead them.”

This One would be the instrument through whom God would bring the peace of the end times. Isaiah added: “They shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain; for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.”

Just as the peace that the Messiah would bring was cosmic, so his work was not limited to Israel.  Isaish said of the Messiah in this chapter, “In that day the root of Jesse, who shall stand as a signal for the peoples—of him shall the nations inquire, and his resting place shall be glorious.” This would be the time when as Isaiah said in chapter two, “they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore.”

Instead of war, all nations would come to the God of Israel.  Isaiah said, “It shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established as the highest of the mountains, and shall be lifted up above the hills; and all the nations shall flow to it, and many peoples shall come, and say: ‘Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob, that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths.’”

There is little doubt that this is what Simeon expected God to do.  Luke tells us that Simeon was righteous and devout Jew who was waiting for the consolation of Israel. But he was more than just a faithful Jews. We learn that the Holy Spirit was upon him – he was endowed with the Spirit like the prophets of the Old Testament. And indeed, the Holy Spirit had revealed to him that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Christ.

When Mary and Joseph came to the temple with the infant Jesus in order to redeem their first born son, and to offer a sacrifice for the purification of Mary, Simeon was prompted by the Spirit to meet them. He took Jesus in his arms and praised God because he had fulfilled his word in revealing the Christ to him. He spoke the words that we know so well from the Nunc Dimittis: “Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace, according to your word; for my eyes have seen your salvation that you have prepared in the presence of all peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and for glory to your people Israel.”

And if I stopped there, everything would be wonderful.  We have the prophecy of Isaiah about the Messiah – the One endowed with the Spirit who brings peace and God’s salvation. We have Simeon holding the fulfillment of God’s Word, saying he can depart in peace because he has seen God’s salvation.

But then Simeon goes on to say: “Behold, this child is appointed for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign that is opposed (and a sword will pierce through your own soul also), so that thoughts from many hearts may be revealed.” This is the Christ – the Messiah. And yet Simeon says that he appointed for the fall of many in Israel.  Simeon reveals that he is for a sign that is opposed.  He even says that a sword will pierce Mary’s soul.

As we read our Old Testament lesson in light of our Gospel lesson, we learn that the subject of the Christ is not quite what it appears. Now there is no doubt that Jesus is the Christ – the Messiah.  As Isaiah describes he will go forth and have the Spirit rest upon him.  At his baptism he is anointed with the Spirit and will walk in the ways of the Lord.

But rather than striking the earth with the rod of his mouth and killing the wicked with the breath of his lips, he meets resistance and rejection. Luke indicates this by beginning his account of Jesus’ ministry with his visit to Nazareth. There Jesus reads the words of Isaiah chapter 61: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

When he had rolled up the scroll and given it back to the attendant he sat down and said, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” And the people’s reaction to this and what Jesus said afterwards? Luke tells us: “When they heard these things, all in the synagogue were filled with wrath. And they rose up and drove him out of the town and brought him to the brow of the hill on which their town was built, so that they could throw him down the cliff.”

The Scripture lessons for the First Sunday after Christmas set a paradox before us. Jesus is the Christ – the Messiah – promised in Isaiah chapter 11. And yet he is merely an infant in Simeon’s arms – an infant appointed for the fall of many in Israel; an infant appointed for a sign that is opposed.

Jesus is indeed both of these things. In fact, he can only carry out the role given to him by Father for our salvation by being both.  Jesus is the Christ.  But our Lord was not only the fulfillment of God’s word about the Christ. He was in fact the fulfillment of all of God’s word in the Old Testament.  He is the Christ, but he is also the suffering Servant who bears the sins of all.  He is One to whom all of the sacrifices in the Old Testament pointed.

There can be no peace where there is sin.  There can be no peace where there is death. At Christmas, the One conceived by the Holy Spirit was born of the virgin Mary in this world. As Paul tells us in the Epistle lesson, “God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law.”  Christ redeemed us from sin by taking our sin and dying for it. Paul said of God that, “By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh.”

Jesus died and was buried in a tomb. But Christ was also the One through whom God was working to defeat death. On Easter, God raised our Lord from the dead.  In the resurrected body of Jesus he overcame death and began the resurrection of the Last Day. Because of this we now have peace. Paul told the Romans, “Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

We have peace with God now, for we already know the verdict of the Last Day. And we have peace because we know that bodily death is not the end. Instead to die is to be with Christ. And on the Last Day when he returns in glory, we will share in his resurrection.  Paul told the Corinthians, “For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ.”

All of us have been baptized into Christ. This means that we have received Christ’s saving work. But it means more than just that.  Paul told the Corinthians, “For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body— Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit.” Through baptism we are the Church – the Body of Christ.

As the Body of Christ in this world, the Church now reflects the same character as Christ during his ministry. On the one hand we are the saints of God who are justified before him. But on the other, we too are for a sign that is opposed.

The last twenty five years have seen a dramatic change for the Church.  Church attendance and membership have declined. At the same time, those who identify as having no religious beliefs – the “nones” – are increasing.  As she follows the teaching of God’s word about sexuality, we in the church find ourselves opposed by an ever increasing tide of sexual immorality in our culture. To say that sex should only occur in marriage; that couples should not live together until married; that homosexuality is sinful; and that marriage is between a man and woman for life, is to invite the world’s disdain and rejection.

This is discouraging and it certainly gets old. But in our Old Testament reading this morning we receive encouragement.  Baptized into Christ we are walking the way of Christ who suffered and died for us.  But Christ who was anointed with the Spirit and died is also the One who was raised from the dead, and exalted to the right hand of God in the ascension.

He is the Lord who will return in glory on the Last Day – the One who will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth and kill the wicked with the breath of his lips. We will share in Christ’s vindication when he returns, and at the name of Jesus every knee will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. The victory that Christ has already won will be ours for all to see.

And then we will live in the new creation with our Lord. We will live in the world where the wolf will dwell with the lamb. There will be no pain, or suffering or death, for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.