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+ + + 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.
Merry Gentiles’ Christmas! Or, better, Blessed Epiphany! Christmas’s Twelve Days are over, and we have come to the Epiphany of Our Lord, His revelation especially to Gentiles, non‑Jews, like us. Instead of the somewhat ironic Gentile St. Luke’s Divinely‑inspired account of Jesus’s birth announcement to likely Jewish shepherds and their response of glorifying God (Luke 2:8-20), we concentrate on the somewhat ironic Jewish St. Matthew’s Divinely‑inspired account of Jesus’s birth announcement to likely Gentile “wise men” (or “magi”) and their response of worshiping Jesus. And, in so concentrating on today’s Gospel Reading, this morning we realize that, like the magi, we “Come to worship the King”.
Through a combination of His Word and the miraculous means of the star, God led the magi to the Child Jesus. Apart from God’s Word through Balaam that a star would come out of Jacob and a scepter rise out of Israel (Numbers 24:17), the wise men from the east would have had no real reason to understand that the miraculous star that they had seen when it rose had anything to do with the King of the Jews. And, apparently, for God’s own purposes, the miraculous means of the star did not right away guide the wise men to the place where the Child was, but instead it let them stop in Jerusalem, the capitol city with God’s priesthood and Temple, where one might expect to find the One born King of the Jews, but where they instead found a non‑Jew whom the Roman Senate had appointed king over the Jews. Another Word of God, this time through the prophet Micah (Micah 5:2), a later prophet whose record the magi probably did not have in their library, and then the magi were on their way to Bethlehem, the birthplace of shepherd boy King David’s royal line, and this time the star took up its position right over the place where the Child was. And, having gone into the house, the magi fell down and worshipped Him, as they said that they had come to do. They and we “Come to worship the King”.
I am not a huge fan of the American alternative rock band “10,000 Maniacs”, though I do like at least a couple of their songs. For example, “These Are Days” off the group’s 19‑92 album “Our Time in Eden” sings of seeing the signs and knowing their meanings, of hearing the signs and knowing that they are speaking to you. As I mentioned, apart from God’s Word and His miraculous means, neither the magi, nor King Herod, nor we would find the King to worship, if we even would worship Him at all. We may see and/or hear the signs, but on our own we do not know their meanings or that they are speaking to us. As today’s Old Testament Reading describes (Isaiah 60:1-6), darkness covers the earth, and thick darkness the peoples. Even with the Light in the world, Jesus says, people love the darkness rather than the light, because their works are evil; for, He continues, everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light (John 3:19-20). In the darkness of our evil and wicked sin, we deserve nothing but death now in time, and torment in hell for eternity.
Yet, like He did with the magi, God does not leave us in the darkness of our evil and wicked sin to experience the death that we deserve, but, by His Word and miraculous signs, He calls and enables us to turn from our sin, to trust Him to forgive our sin, and to want to do better than to keep on sinning. When we so repent, then God forgives our sin—all our sin, whatever our sin might be—God forgives our sin for the sake of His Son, Jesus, the Christ.
All the times I have studied and taught and preached today’s Gospel Reading, I had never noticed, before this past week as I was preparing this sermon, that the magi ask about Him Who had been born King of the Jews, refer to His star, and say they had come to worship Him, and, having heard that, the non‑Jew appointed king Herod concludes that they were seeking the Christ, God’s long‑promised Messiah, the Anointed One Who would save His people from all that oppressed them but especially from their sins. God in human flesh, that Christ deserved Herod’s worship, but instead Herod tried to kill Him ahead of schedule. Years later, Herod’s son Antipas would have the opportunity to kill Jesus accused of being King of the Jews but essentially declared Him innocent (Luke 23:6-15). Humanly speaking, Jesus’s claiming to be and actually being King of the Jews was the reason that the Jewish leaders and Pontius Pilate and his soldiers accused and mocked Jesus and ultimately put Him to death (Matthew 27:11, 29, 37). Yet, out of His great love for us, God reveals to us, so that we know, that Jesus was crucified for us and for our salvation. Jesus lived the life that we fail to live, and He died the death that we deserve, in our place. By grace through faith in Him, we Gentiles and ethnic Jews are members of His body, as we heard in today’s Epistle Reading (Ephesians 3:2-12); we are partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the Gospel, so we can be bold and confident in worshipping Him, especially the highest worship of seeking and receiving the forgiveness of sins, which forgiveness God gives us through His Word and His miraculous means.
For the magi, the Word on ancient scrolls was connected with the miraculous means of the star, but for us the Word is read and preached to all and is applied to us individually as that Word is connected with the miraculous means of water in Holy Baptism, of the touch of the pastor in Holy Absolution, and of bread and wine in the Sacrament of the Altar that are Christ’s Body and Blood given and shed for us for the forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation. In all of these ways, God forgives us our sins as He Himself makes disciples of all nations (or “Gentiles”) and also is Himself present with us always to the end of the age (Matthew 28:18-20).
When the Word and miraculous means of the star guided the magi to the place where the Child was, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy. In that narration, the Divinely‑inspired St. Matthew piles up a verb for rejoicing, a related noun for joy, an adjective for great, and an adverb for exceedingly—it is hard to imagine an expression of any greater joy! As God’s Word and His miraculous means guide us to our King, we also rejoice exceedingly with great joy! No matter what is going on at school or work, no matter what is going on at church, no matter what is going on at home, and no matter what is going on with ourselves, we rejoice exceedingly with great joy. We rejoice exceedingly with great joy as we, like the magi, “Come to worship the King”.
Now, admittedly we do not know to what extent the magi were acting only on their own part or perhaps also on behalf of the ruler they likely served. In the past, rulers of the east had been led to act favorably towards God and His people, and the same could be true in this case. The magi were not themselves kings, but they likely served a king or ruler on whose behalf they could have presented their gifts to the service of the Child Jesus, as we in our time present our gifts to His service, from the riches that He has entrusted to us. We also submit our wills to His will, and we serve Him however we can by serving our neighbors in our various callings in life. And, God uses us, our invitations to those neighbors to “Come to worship the King”, to guide them here, where the King is, so that they can fall down before Him, Who alone saves them and saves us. And so may be fulfilled what we prayed for in today’s Psalm (Psalm 72:1-15; antiphon: v.18), which from the beginning of this Divine Service set the theme for this Gentile’s Christmas, this Epiphany of our Lord—what might be fulfilled is that all kings fall down before Him, and that all nations serve Him!
Amen.
The peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
+ + + Soli Deo Gloria + + +