Matthew 2:1-12 [Epiphany—CWS A]
Pastor Ron Koehler
Grace—Benson/Vail, AZ
January 5, 2019
In the name of our Savior Jesus, the Light of the world, dear friends, As I mentioned in the Welcome this morning, Epiphany means “appearing” or “appearance”. The Christian Church has celebrated Epiphany, the “appearing” of Jesus as the Savior of the whole world going all the way back to 361 AD at least! It seems that January 6 (or the equivalent date on ancient calendars) was used and it was set in stone as that date at a Church Council in 567 AD, which also established the 12 days between Christmas and Epiphany as the Christmas season. Instead of having church tomorrow on the 6th, we typically celebrate Epiphany on the closest Sunday. We want to remember and rejoice over the fact that, although Jesus was born a Jew, God says that the salvation he earned is for all nations and people. The historical account from Scripture that illustrates this best is the account of the Magi from the East—non Jewish wise men—coming to worship the baby Jesus. That is our lesson from God’s Word today. As we hear it, we’re interested in what happened then, and we also notice something interesting: THE PURSUIT OF THE CHRIST CHILD CONTINUES 1. SOME ONLY WANT TO PERSECUTE HIM (3-8) 2. GOD LEADS OTHERS TO WORSHIP HIM (1-2, 9-12)
The time had come for the Savior of all people to enter the world. The prophets had talked about this for centuries. You heard our First Lesson this morning from Isaiah say, your light has come, and Nations will walk to your light (60:1,3). A world enveloped by a thick, black cloud of sin needed the light of holiness and righteousness. Jesus is that light and he was born in Bethlehem, as the very first verse of our lesson reminds us. Notice that although Jesus was born in a manger, at this time, Jesus and his parents were in a house. They were still in Bethlehem, but at the time the wise men came to see the Christ child, he was anywhere from days or weeks old to even 2 years old. The Savior’s birth and some amount of time had passed without King Herod or most people even noticing. It was the wise men, the Magi, who brought it to Herod’s attention as they came looking for Jesus. Immediately Herod assembled all his advisors—the people who should have known something about this. He called on the Jewish church leaders—the chief priests and teachers of the law. They were the ones knowledgeable in the Hebrew Scriptures. They would know what the prophets had written about a king of the Jews who was to be born. And they did know! They quoted the prophet Micah who foretold that the Savior would be born in Bethlehem.
We heard already last week that Herod the Great was a ruler who was to be feared. He was paranoid about the idea of another “king” being born. When the Magi told him that they were looking for the king of the Jews, it says that Herod was “alarmed”. Other translations use words like “troubled” or “disturbed”. I don’t know that those words adequately describe what was going on with the king. The Greek word there is tarasso. It is used in Scripture to describe the stirred up waters at the pool at Bethesda. You should imagine Herod’s insides churning. You know what that’s like! The news of this baby king got his insides roiling because he felt threatened. And notice that all of Jerusalem was upset too! You have to understand—and maybe remember what I said about Herod last week—that he could be intensely cruel. He even murdered family members. When Herod was upset, EVERYONE was upset—and terrified of what he might do! You see, then, why after consulting with the religious experts, Herod went off secretly to find the Magi again. He wanted to know more about the star and to tell them to go and find the child. And notice what he said: Go and search carefully for the child. When you find him, report to me, so that I may also go and worship him. Isn’t that nice, Herod wanted to worship him too?! Without the intervention of the Almighty God, he may have duped those wise men, because Herod himself was pretty wise. Herod had no intention of worshiping this Jewish “King”. Look at the evidence: he was disturbed at the news, God warned the Magi to not go back to Herod, he ordered all babies age two and under to be killed in an attempt to get Jesus, and God had Mary and Joseph and Jesus hide out in Egypt until Herod was dead. No, there would be no worship of this little king. Herod PURSUED THE CHRISTCHILD ONLY TO PERSECUTE HIM! This still happens today. There are well-known battles over manger scenes in front of buildings and the displaying of the 10 Commandments in classrooms and courthouses. Many don’t want anyone praying to Jesus on government property. People stick little feet on the Christian fish symbol and shove the name “Darwin” into its belly. Then they slap it on their cars so that everyone will know they persecute Christ. Our schools and universities pursue Christianity in their courses only to try to discount it. Young people run to get tattoos of crosses or crosses to hang around their necks, but only mean it as a fashion statement. It is easy to find websites whose only purpose is to pursue Christ simply to persecute him and those who trust in him. Missionaries overseas are persecuted because they dare to preach Christ. Friends brush us off when they know what we believe—or they tell us its nonsense. Diversity of beliefs is okay in our society…as long as it doesn’t include Christian beliefs. We look at all this and we say, “God, why do you let this happen?” “It’s not fair! It’s awful!” “What’s wrong with these people!?” But as a popular sports commentator says, “Not so fast, my friend!”
Don’t you persecute him too? You say, “No”, but you do! You can’t get three steps out the church door and you gossip about someone from church—hurting the very body of Christ. You wear that cross around your neck, but your behavior isn’t always Christ-like. You’re supposed to be a Christian man, but family and friends have a hard time seeing it. You think, “If I wasn’t a Christian, I’d get her back!” not even realizing your thoughts condemn you. The unchristian behaviors that are obvious to others don’t put Christ in a good light for those who don’t love him. You think you’re so much better than the world that persecutes the Savior?! Yeah, the world is bad, but so are we. Our sinful nature persecutes him too. You know Herod went to hell when he died. You know all who have persecuted Christ through the centuries are in hell. God demands punishment and payment for sin. Hell is reserved for those who pursue and persecute the Savior with their sins. And you know that the devil is down there right now making out little name cards with our names on them and putting them around the little tables of hell because he knows how God punishes sin—eternal separation from God in hell. Oh, it wasn’t just Herod and his gang and it wasn’t just those who eventually did kill Jesus. It’s us too. But, This saying is trustworthy and worthy of full acceptance: “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners,” of whom I am the worst (1 Timothy 1:15). That’s what the Apostle Paul wrote to his friend Timothy. Hey, I’m no great writer, but I could have written the same thing. And I mean it when I echo Paul’s statement because I know my sins like no one else can—and they are terrible! You know your sin that way too, don’t you? You could write that too, couldn’t you? But notice what he said: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. That’s good news, isn’t it?! Remember why we celebrate Christmas and Epiphany! We etch in our minds the Savior’s birth and his “appearance” as such to all nations! God has led us to know Jesus as the Savior. What remarkable love on God’s part to give us faith to follow, faith to pursue that Christ child, and chase after his forgiveness and salvation! It is amazing how God leads people to him! That’s what our story is about today, isn’t it—how God leads people to Christ? It says that those wise men were led by God to Jerusalem by God’s star. I don’t know any more about that special star than you do because everything we know about it is written right here in these words of Matthew. “Why did God not send those men straight to Bethlehem?” we might wonder. Who knows what God had in mind. Perhaps their presence in Jerusalem was a witness to Herod, a reminder of God. Maybe this was his testimony to those church leaders that the Messiah had come into the world. We may have questions about how and why God led them, but the important thing is that he did it! He led the Magi; he has also led many other Gentiles, including you and me. After their meeting with Herod, this is what happened: They went on their way. Then the star they had seen when it rose went ahead of them, until it stood still over the place where the child was. When they saw the star, they rejoiced with
overwhelming joy. The star was once again their personal guide to the Savior’s side. God brought them there to worship Jesus and they did. That little child was true God, born as a human being in order to save sinners. Imagine their smiles as they looked at that little baby! Imagine the wonder and joy on their faces! When they looked at him, maybe they knew, maybe they didn’t, that those cute little eyes would one day see Satan face-to-face in a battle for souls; that those perfect, tiny hands would one day be split open by iron spikes; that that beautiful baby head would one day be streaming with blood as sharp thorns were jammed into it. It would have been hard to imagine all that little baby boy would grow up to do and what it would mean for the world. As we consider what he did, he is certainly deserving of our wonder and worship too. The wise men gave him gifts to show their love—gold, frankincense, myrrh—precious treasures at that time and place. They bowed in humility and reverence. Most importantly they gave him their hearts—after all, that’s what worship primarily is. God has led us to worship Christ too. The fact that those Gentiles came and could worship the Savior as their own gives us joy because we know that Jesus was not just for those of his race, but for all people. God uses “stars” in our lives to lead us to Christ just like he did for the Magi. God uses people, a church, a pastor as his stars. Those of us who have not been Christians all our lives can perhaps understand this in a whole other way than those who have. Credit often goes to the person who invited us, the friend that shared the gospel, the pastor who cared, the family that brought you to church, the church that welcomed you. But realize that they are not “stars” as in “stars of the show”, but “stars” like the one that led the wise men. You and I, the church, we’re tools that God uses to lead people to Christ. We’re all like that, really, after God leads us to Jesus. We didn’t look like stars before, but he has cleaned us up, forgiven our sins, promises that he loves us and will be with us and saves us. God then uses us to lead others to worship their Savior. It tells us here how God protected those worshiping wise men in order to get them home safely. You can be sure that they told people what happened and what they saw. God will use us and protect us too. He needs and wants us to share the good news of a Savior for all people—in a world that pursues him only to persecute him. I pray that God’s Holy Spirit, working through the Word, fills you with joy and thankfulness today and that you will be an Epiphany star for God in a world that needs to know their Savior so that they too might pursue him in order to worship him. Amen. Now the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.