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Carla Adsit’s bulletin cover using the uncredited image found here.
+ + + In Nomine Jesu + + +
Please join me in prayer: May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be pleasing in your sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen.
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.
The Gospel Reading’s account of the wise-men’s visiting the child Jesus is probably familiar to many of us. Probably also familiar are all sorts of traditional additions to St. Matthew’s Divinely‑inspired account. If you saw today’s Kilgore News Herald, you may have read Chelsea Katz’s article debunking some of those traditional additions (the article was based on an interview with Father Dower from Christ the King Roman Catholic Church and an interview with me). Tonight let us focus on what St. Matthew tells us about the actual visit: he tells us that the wise‑men did three main things, each preceded by the wise‑men’s doing something arguably of lesser importance. Although not translated quite this way in the English Standard Version that was read, St. Matthew says that the wise‑men: having gone into the house, saw the Child; having fallen down, worshiped Him; and having opened their treasures, offered Him gifts. Or, more simply, as we have printed on the bulletin cover: They saw the Child, worshiped Him, and offered Him gifts. This evening we apply their actions to ourselves and reflect on the Gospel Reading under the theme “See, Worship, Offer”.
First we consider “See”. St. Matthew says that some time after Jesus was born in Bethlehem in the days of Herod the king, somewhat surprisingly, wise‑men from the east came to Jerusalem asking for the location of Him Who had been born King of the Jews. Perhaps Babylonian astrologers (confer Revelation 18:13), these wise‑men had seen the King’s star when they were still in the East and came to worship Him. Probably thanks to Old Testament Scriptures such as Balaam’s final oracle about a star coming out of Jacob (Numbers 24:17) left in Babylon some 600 years earlier, as when Daniel was over all of the wise-men of his time (Daniel 2:48; 5:11), these wise‑men knew that this was not some natural star but a supernatural star indicating the long-prophesied King’s birth. Seeking a King, they came to the capital city, where Herod, the chief priests, and scribes, who all may have had a more‑complete set of Scriptures to search, paraphrase the point of Micah’s prophecy (5:2) and send the wise‑men to Bethlehem (confer John 7:41-42). And behold, the star that they had seen when they were in the east went before them until it came to rest over the place where the Child was. And, having gone into the house, they saw the Child.
What many churches put on their marquees this time of year is true: “Wise men still seek Him”, but no one is that wise apart from God’s first giving us wisdom to seek Him. By nature we are not able to seek Jesus from anywhere, whether from hundreds of miles away or from just outside the house. Even in the house, apart from the supernatural leading of God’s Word, we are unable to see Jesus, for we are spiritually blind, even dead in our trespasses and sins (Ephesians 2:1, 5). The original sin that leads to our spiritual death also leads us to commit all sorts of actual sins, things we do that we should not do and things that we do not do that we should do. On account of our original and actual sin we deserve death now and torment for eternity. The wise‑men saw the Child, but, on our own, we cannot see Him.
Having considered “See”, let us next consider “Worship”. St. Matthew says that, having fallen down, the wise‑men worshiped the Child. They fell down, prostrating themselves before the Child, undoubtedly knowing both Who He was and who they were in relationship to Him. Such a falling down can be done when one is overcome by terror or grief, which to some extent we all should feel in the presence of the Lord, but such a falling down can also be done by those begging or petitioning in worship (ESL #4098). In this case, St. Matthew connects the wise‑men’s falling down with worship, one of the three times worship is mentioned in the Gospel Reading. But, this worship is not first and foremost something we do, but this worship is first and foremost something God does. The Almighty God and King Himself comes to be present in the flesh of the child Jesus, the wise‑men arguably confess His Lordship and their sinfulness and so seek and receive God’s mercy and grace, for the sake of the King Who came to die for them and for us.
God in the flesh of the child Jesus certainly deserves such worship of being asked for mercy and grace. The Gospel Reading’s paraphrase of the prophet Micah leaves out the fact that the coming forth of the Ruler is from old, from ancient days (Micah 5:2). As paraphrased in the Gospel Reading, Micah’s prophecy also seems to draw on statements that the tribes of Israel made to King David, referring to his shepherding of Israel (2 Samuel 5:2; 1 Chronicles 11:2). In the case of Jesus, the Eternal God comes to be present in human flesh as the Good Shepherd of His flock (Micah 5:4), the Good Shepherd Who, on the cross, lays down His life for His sheep and then, after parts of three days in the tomb, takes His life back up again. No matter how humble the Child might appear to their human eyes, the wise-men with the eyes of faith perceive that He is and by their actions confess Him to be the ruler and savior of the world, not just the people of the Jews but also the nations of the Gentiles.
Most likely all of us are Gentiles, that is, not ethnically Jewish. As we repent of our sin and trust God to forgive our sin for the sake of Jesus’s death on the cross, we receive the very forgiveness we seek. Jew and Gentile alike, all who repent and believe are part of the same body of Christ, that is, the Church, as we heard in tonight’s Epistle Reading (Ephesians 3:1-12). The Holy Spirit Who comes to us in the pure preaching of the Gospel and the right administration of the Sacraments, here in God’s House, uses those same supernatural means to lead us and all people to repent and believe, unless they refuse to do so. So Jesus commissioned His apostles and their successors to make disciples of all nations, by baptizing them in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit and teaching them to observe all that He had commanded them (Matthew 28:19-20), including eating bread that is His Body and wine that is His Blood, which are given and shed for the forgiveness of sins (Matthew 26:26-29), and so also for life and salvation. The wise‑men worshiped Him, and so do we worship Him, with repentance and faith seeking and receiving His forgiveness through His Word and Sacraments.
Having considered “See” and “Worship”, let us next briefly consider “Offer”. St. Matthew says that, having opened their treasures, the wise‑men offered Him gifts. In tonight’s Psalm (72:1-15; antiphon v.18) and in tonight’s Old Testament Reading (Isaiah 60:1-6) we heard prophecy that there would be such a response of faith from God’s presence and forgiveness that kings would come offering gifts of such things as gold and incense. Of course, all that we have is already His, but, as we sang in the Gradual, we also bring an offering and come into His courts (Psalm 96:8), opening our treasuries, that is, our savings (confer Hauck, TDNT 3:138), and giving back first‑fruits of what He has given us. We offer our praise, thanks, and honor to Him Who has done everything for us and given us all we need, especially all we need for eternal life.
The wise‑men saw the Child, worshiped Him, and offered Him gifts. Likewise we “See, Worship, Offer”. “See, Worship, Offer”—they sound like things that we are doing, but clearly they are things that we only do after God has worked through His supernatural means to reveal Himself to us in the flesh of the child Jesus, Who died on the cross for us and Who is present here for us. Surely this God, Who came in the flesh at Christmas and revealed Himself at the first Epiphany will, as we prayed in the Collect, lead us who know Him by faith, to enjoy in heaven the fullness of His divine presence.
Amen.
The peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
+ + + Soli Deo Gloria + + +