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.