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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. (Amen.)
Movie and T-V stars, professional athletes, and other celebrities share their opinions about current events, via social and other media, self-confident that people want and maybe even need their guidance. Astrologers offer their guidance based on their pseudo-scientific interpretations of the stars in the sky, in variously-distributed horoscopes, which reportedly are completely lacking any truly scientific support. As we heard in the Gospel Reading, the Holy Spirit working through God’s Word and a miraculous supernatural light guided “wise men” from the east, likely from Babylon, to Him Who had been born King of the Jews. And, considering the Gospel Reading, tonight we consider our “Guiding Stars”: how the Holy Spirit working through God’s Word and that Word with water, touch, bread and wine guides people, including us today, to that same King of the Jews now crucified, resurrected, and present with us in order to forgive us our sins.
In Old Testament times, the nations around the people of Israel reportedly worshiped both individual stars in the sky and groups of stars in the perceived patterns of constellations. For example, through the prophet Isaiah, the Lord of Hosts mockingly told Babylon to have their astrologers stand forth and save them (Isaiah 47:13). Yet, the Lord Himself through a non-Jewish prophet had foretold of His Savior as a star that would come out of Jacob and a scepter that would come out of Israel (Numbers 24:17; confer Genesis 49:10). Seemingly through the prophet Daniel, who was among the “wise men” of Babylon, that very prophecy about the rising star, but not the later one about where the Christ would be born (Micah 5:2), made its way to the Gentile wise men of the Gospel Reading who, in their observing of the stars, by the Holy Spirit working through God’s Word recognized a miraculous supernatural light as the Savior’s “star” when it rose. We do not know whether they acted as official representatives of their “king” or on their own, nor do we know whether they came out of idle curiosity or out of true repentance of their sin and faith in God’s forgiveness (confer 1 Kings 8:27-30, 41-43), but, regardless of how or why they came, we realize how and why God guides us.
Some may want celebrities’ counsel for their lives. Others may hide their genuine interest in horoscopes, or they may use other “satanic arts”, such as casting spells, calling up a spirit, using fortune-telling, consulting the dead, or otherwise practicing the occult in order to tell the future. Even we may be dissatisfied with the ways that God guides us through His Word and Sacraments: we may want more guidance than He gives us, or we may want God to guide us in other ways, such as speaking or appearing directly to us. We may recognize and seek the Christ not as the wise men arguably did for the forgiveness of their sins, but we may recognize and seek the Christ as King Herod did, falsely saying that we will worship Him, truly hoping to thwart His plans that we might wrongly see as a threat to us. We sin in these and in countless other, sometimes unspeakable, ways, for we are sinful by nature. On account of our sinful nature and all of our actual sin, we deserve both death here in time and torment in hell for eternity, apart from the Holy Spirit’s working through God’s Word and that Word with water, touch, bread and wine, to guide us to the repentance and faith through which He saves us, out of His love, mercy, and grace for the sake of His Son, Jesus Christ. Upon us who walked and dwelt in deep darkness has shone a great light, which we have seen (Isaiah 9:2). When we in sorrow turn from our sin and trust God to forgive our sin, then God does just that: He forgives us our sinful nature and all our sin for Jesus’s sake.
In the Hymn of the Day (Lutheran Service Book 395), we addressed Jesus as “Morning Star”, and we similarly address Him as “Morning Star” in the Closing Hymn (LSB 396:5). In His revelation to St. John, Jesus refers to Himself as “Morning Star” (Revelation 22:16), as other Divinely-inspired New Testament figures arguably likewise do elsewhere (2 Peter 1:19; confer/compare Luke 1:78). Yet, Jesus is not the miraculous supernatural light of the Gospel Reading, but Jesus is the One to Whom the Holy Spirit working through God’s Word and that miraculous supernatural light guided the wise men. The wise men worshiped the maybe then two-year-old Child in the house with Mary His mother—worshiped Him as the creator and ruler of the world in human flesh. Jesus is true God, Whose coming forth is from old, from ancient days (Micah 5:2). Jesus is the Son of David, born in Bethlehem, the city of David (Luke 2:4, 11; John 7:42), the Ruler Who shepherds His people Israel (confer 2 Samuel 5:2; 1 Chronicles 11:2). Jesus is the Good Shepherd Who of His own accord lays down His life for the sheep and then takes His life back up again (John 10:11, 17-18). He Who was born King of the Jews was crucified on the cross as the King of the Jews (Matthew 27:11, 37), but not for the Jews alone but for all people. We heard in the Epistle Reading (Ephesians 3:1-12), how St. Paul declared the mystery of Christ, that Jews and Gentiles alike are fellow heirs, members of the same body, and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the Gospel, and that includes us.
As God led the “magi” to Jesus by the “star”, so He leads us to Jesus by His Word and Sacraments, preached and administered by His under-shepherds, pastors, commissioned to make disciples of all nations by baptizing them in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that He has entrusted to their care (Matthew 28:19-20). The highest way of worshiping Christ is to seek the forgiveness of sins from Him (for example, Apology of the Augsburg Confession IV:154), in the ways that He promises to give that forgiveness. So, as we come to Him hearing His Word read and preached and seeing and experiencing His Word applied with water in Holy Baptism, with touch in Holy Absolution, and with bread and wine that are Christ’s Body and Blood in the Sacrament of the Altar, we have a personal relationship with our personal God Who forgives us our sins for our benefit. The miraculous supernatural light that guided the wise men may have come and gone, but our “Guiding Stars”, God’s Word and Sacraments, remain forever, leading us to repent and giving and strengthening our faith.
As arguably prophesied in the Old Testament Reading (Isaiah 60:1-6), the wise men, having fallen down, worshiped the Christ Child, and, having opened their treasures, they offered Him gifts of gold and frankincense and myrrh. The Gospel Reading gives no symbolism to those precious gifts, but we might expect that the Holy Family used the monetary value of those gifts, as, by an angel of the Lord’s direction, they soon fled to Egypt and remained there, in order to escape King Herod’s infanticidal machinations (Matthew 1:13-23). Like the wise men, having worshiped the Christ, we open our treasures and, as we are able, we offer Him our gifts of what He has entrusted to our use. We do not buy our redemption with our offerings, but our offerings are part of our response of thanksgiving and praise to our redemption.
The twelve-day season of Christmas gives way to what this year is the more‑than‑six‑week season of Epiphany. As on this day of the Epiphany of Our Lord, God, Who became flesh in the womb of the Virgin Mary, reveals Himself in that flesh. More than just a past event, there is ongoing action with present and future significance. This day, this season, and always, we respond as did the wise men, rejoicing exceedingly with great joy.
Amen.
The peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
+ + + Soli Deo Gloria + + +