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.
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.
No comments:
Post a Comment