The Epiphany of our Lord Matthew 2__1-12 Sun, Jan 6, 2008
First: Is. 60:1-6 Epistle: Eph. 3:1-12 Gospel: Matt. 2:1-12 Psalm: Psalm 72:1-11 (12-15)
There is a story that I heard so long ago that I can’t remember who first told it. I strongly suspect that it is not a true story, but I don’t know that for sure.
There was a church that had a very cranky neighbor. This neighbor was cranky because he was an atheist. He considered the church to be a drain on society and he did everything in his power to irritate the members of the church.
Sometimes visitors to the church made the mistake of parking on his property. He would have the car towed away. When leaves fell from the church’s trees onto his yard, he complained to the city. During the summer, when the church windows were open in order to catch a breeze, he would play loud, obnoxious music during Divine Service.
The church prayed for this neighbor. They prayed that God would bring change into this man’s life. They asked God to soften his heart.
Well, God did bring change into this neighbor’s life. A tornado came through and destroyed all the buildings on this neighbor’s land.
Undeterred, this neighbor took the church to court. He charged that their prayers had caused God to send the tornado. He asked the church to rebuild all his buildings.
Naturally, the church did what they could to defend themselves. They claimed that their prayers had done no such thing.
The judge threw the case out of court, but before he did that, he remarked, "I have never seen such a strange case. Here is an atheist saying that God answers prayer and a church that says He doesn’t."
There is a moment similar to this in today’s Gospel. We’ve heard the story so often that we have a tendency to skip over this little spot of weirdness.
Last week we heard a little bit about King Herod’s personality. He was a big fan of political assassination and he had a lot of blood on his hands. We know that he wanted to find Jesus in order to kill Him. This is obviously not a god-fearing man. He is a demon-possessed monster.
Now, why would such a person turn to the chief priests and scribes of the people and ask them to search Holy Scripture for an answer to anything? Herod obviously didn’t care about Holy Scripture when it came to his faith or his life-style. Why would God’s Book suddenly become the authority when searching for the Messiah? Why would Herod take the prophecy seriously enough to send troops to Bethlehem to destroy the young boys in that village?
Perhaps James gives us the answer when he says, [James 2:19] "You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder!"
But Herod is not the only one whose actions are illogical. Consider the chief priests and scribes themselves. They are the ones who are supposed to believe in prophecy, but they take no action at all. You would think that they would make any excuse to leave Herod’s court and gather up their families and friends and follow the wise men to worship the Messiah. You would think that they would at least be curious and want to investigate. Think about it.
Holy men from far away have come to worship Him. They should at least check it out.
This all must have been very puzzling for the wise men. They had made what they thought was a reasonable assumption. If the Messiah were born, then the people who cared for God’s Holy Scriptures at the Temple in Jerusalem would certainly know about it. They had all the prophecies. They had the books of Moses. Surely they would want to coordinate the massive crowds that would undoubtedly gather to pay homage.
And the people in Judea should have known. On Christmas day we read in the Gospel that shepherds had spread the good news in Bethlehem. If we were to read on in the Gospel of St. Luke, we would learn that Joseph and Mary brought Jesus to the Temple to keep the laws and statutes required after the birth of a first born son. When Jesus entered the temple area Simeon and Anna both made announcements to everyone in the Temple that this was the Messiah. In fact, Simeon’s announcement is so elegant and edifying that we still repeat it today after we receive the body and blood of the Messiah in the Sacrament of the Altar. [Luke 2:29-32] Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word: For mine eyes have seen thy salvation, Which thou hast prepared before the face of all people; A light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of thy people Israel.
By the time the wise men arrived in Jerusalem, everyone should have known about the birth of the Messiah.
How puzzling it must have been to the wise men when the town reacted in terror instead of joy. How puzzling it must have been to them that they seemed to be the first to even show up to worship the newborn king. The Word of God was so clear to them. Why weren’t Jerusalem and her king excited over this powerful fulfillment of prophecy?
I wonder if the wise men began to think they were on a wild goose chase. Were they beginning to wonder if they had come all this way for nothing? No wonder that when they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy. They continued their journey, entered the home of the child savior and worshipped Him with gold, frankincense and myrrh.
You see, one of the facets of this story deals with the different ways people receive God’s Word. This story provides us with three possible responses to the Word of God. Herod was antagonistic, the chief priests and scribes were apathetic, and the wise men were enthusiastic.
We are born into this world as little Herod’s. We all start our life in rebellion against God’s Word.
As we grow up our rebellion against God changes. We learn that a rebellion like Herod’s produces the pain of punishment. We find other more subtle ways to rebel. We start to look more and more like the priests and scribes - the priests and scribes who taught the Word of God, but did not believe it themselves. We have changed the appearance of our rebellion on the outside so that we can avoid the pain of earthly punishment, but we still rebel on the inside. This rebellion continues to separate us from God.
Ultimately, it makes no difference how subtle our rebellion becomes for it still earns us the same punishment that Herod earned with his open rebellion.
The wise men demonstrate what happens when God’s Word takes root and the Holy Spirit works faith in us. Notice that they physically heard the Word of God from the mouth of the most wicked man in the kingdom, Herod himself. Never the less, the Holy Spirit used that word to establish faith in the wise men. The Holy Spirit moved them to continue their journey, to follow the star, and to worship the one, true king.
This child that the wise men worshipped is our only salvation from our rebellion against God. He is our savior, Jesus Christ. He is the human son of Mary and the divine Son of God. He never rebelled against God. On the contrary, he lived a life of perfect obedience to God’s law. He followed God’s law from the time he was born into a manger until the day he died on a cross. His obedience overcame the grave and he rose from the dead so that we could have new life. The benefits of his perfect life and sacrificial death are ours through the faith that we receive as a free gift from the Holy Spirit - the Holy Spirit who works through the word of God - even when that word of God comes from the mouth of a tyrant.
Today is the Festival of the Epiphany of our Lord. On this day and the weeks that follow it, we think about the various ways that Jesus Christ, the God-man and our savior, revealed himself. Today we remember the revelation to the Gentiles through the wise men. As the weeks go by, we will see His baptismal revelation, His revelation as God’s perfect sacrifice, His revelation to His disciples, and finally, His revelation as the fulfillment of the Law of Moses and the promises of the prophets. The Holy Spirit inspired the Apostles to record these revelations for us. They are written, as all of God’s Word is written [John 20:31] so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name. Amen.
Charles Scott
Church of the Good Shepherd, Indianapolis
http://www.goodshepherdindy.org
