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THE EPIPHANY OF OUR LORD, JANUARY 6, 2007 |
Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the east came to Jerusalem, saying, “Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him. When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him; and assembling all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born. They told him, “In Bethlehem of Judea, for so it is written by the prophet: ‘And you, O Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, Then Herod summoned the wise men secretly and ascertained from them what time the star had appeared. And he sent them to Bethlehem, saying, “Go and search diligently for the child, and when you have found him, bring me word, that I too may come and worship him. After listening to the king, they went on their way. And behold, the star that they had seen when it rose went before them until it came to rest over the place where the child was. When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy. And going into the house they saw the child with Mary his mother, and they fell down and worshiped him. Then, opening their treasures, they offered him gifts, gold and frankincense and myrrh. And being warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they departed to their own country by another way. (English Standard Version) FOLLOW THE STAR WITH GIFTS IN HAND The average worshiper in the early twenty-first century enters the sanctuary as though everything that will be confessed and done during the hour for which he / she came was clearly understood from the day of Pentecost. Who is Jesus? Well, that must have been clear enough, was it not? Why did he come from his eternal throne to become man? Surely that was never questioned, was it? For whom did he come? Most assuredly that could never have been under question, could it? We have answers to all these questions today . . . and many more besides! . . . as though they had never been serious questions at all. We confess the creeds as though they virtually fell from the lips of the first apostles and we celebrate all the great church holidays as though they were “in place” as soon as Christ returned to his royal throne in heaven, leaving us with Christmas, Epiphany, Ash Wednesday, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, Easter, the Ascension, etc., all laid out in a neat liturgical fashion. We celebrate them all in an almost indifferent manner, observing them in a perfunctory fashion as though it mattered little whether we experience them or not. We are observing “The Epiphany of our Lord” today. So what? You have very likely seen the Wise Men come to the manger in two or three Christmas pageants already. You have also sung “We Three Kings of Orient Are” several times already. So why hear about them again? MAINTAINING AN AWARENESS OF THE IMPORTANT THINGS Consider why Matthew included this account in his Gospel: Our early Christian ancestors had to struggle very hard to establish the faith that the church proclaims today. It took centuries in some cases to clearly define that which is proper to teach and preach in the church. Keeping the Gospel of Jesus Christ clearly at the center of all church teaching was of prime importance to those early confessors of the Gospel. There were a variety of teachings floating around, however, that proposed and pretended to be unadulterated presentations of the Gospel. Some of those proposed teachings were downright dangerous to the teaching of the Gospel, but they were certainly appealing, to say the least. So the men and women in the early church were forced to “sort through” all those teachings in order to maintain the Gospel in its proper place in the teaching and preaching of the church. Some of those counterfeit teachings raised their heads very early. The apostles themselves had to “sort through” questions and problems from the earliest days after Jesus returned to heaven. They were entrusted with handing on a correct account of the Gospel they had seen and heard in Jesus. The Four Gospels were written with the intention of clearly establishing this centrality of the essential teachings while rejecting teachings that threatened the heart of the Gospel. The authors were quite deliberate about addressing questions that had arisen through the way they wrote their accounts of Jesus’ ministry and his work of salvation. That is why each of the Gospels has its own distinctive “flavor,” its own way of confessing who Jesus was and what his mission was all about. The Gospels are really confessions of faith rather than biographies of Jesus. They wrote their accounts of Jesus’ ministry in very unique ways. While Matthew, Mark and Luke all generally agree in their various accounts, each of them tells what Jesus did and taught in ways that clearly address particular concerns. They gave “twists” and placed the events into “contexts” uniquely their own, furthering the particular way of confessing the faith their writings were intended to present to their readers. THE EPIPHANY STORY: MATTHEW’S EARLY SUMMATION OF THE CHRISTIAN GOSPEL With this in mind, it is significant to note that only Matthew of all the Gospel writers tells us that the holy family was visited by “wise men from the east,” as they are called in the translation we are using – “kings” in some translations, “magi” in other translations, and perhaps even “astrologers” in still other translations. Why did Matthew tell about this visit while the others ignored it completely? The answer seems to lie at least in part because Matthew was writing specifically to Jewish readers. That is quite apparent in many ways as one examines this Gospel closely. So why is the story of the wise men from the east important to these readers in ways they may not have been to the readers of the other Gospels? One of the earliest questions encountered in spreading the “Good News” of God’s saving work through his Son Jesus Christ was this: Is this “Good News” for Jews only or is it for Gentiles also? After all, Jesus was a Jew, born to a Jewish mother, identified through the writings of Jewish prophets as the Messiah, quite self-consciously maintaining a basic ministry to and among Jews. Although he addressed Gentiles in a variety of ways when pressed to do so, he made plain that “it is not right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs,” as he so brusquely said to the Canaanite woman who sought an exorcism for her possessed daughter. (Matt. 15:26) Jesus was clearly Jewish, though, so should the proclamation of the Gospel not be basically offered only to Jewish hearers who would understand him from within their own culture? The entire book of Acts is responding to this question. Peter is forced to recognize that the Gospel is also intended for Gentiles when he is sent to Cornelius, the Roman centurion. (Acts 10) This initial foray into Gentile country, however, was met with severe criticism by those who considered the Gospel to be intended only for Jews. (Acts 11:1 ff.) After Paul’s conversion and subsequent call to take the Gospel to the Gentiles the question intensified and a major council of the leading Christians had to be called in Jerusalem to establish once and for all whether it was proper to take this Gospel of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles or to limit its spread. Some wanted to at least insist that Gentiles must first convert to Judaism and only then become Christians. We read about this serious conflict in Acts 15. Even after the decisions there were handed down in favor of taking the Gospel to the Gentiles without requiring them to first become Jews difficulties were encountered in a variety of ways. Paul calls Peter to task for favoring Jewish Christians over Gentile Christians. He tells about this in Galatians 2:11-14. Although this was only one of many hard decisions that had to be made and conflicts that had to be resolved, it was a very significant one – one, in fact, that was decisive even for us since we are Gentiles who have received the Gospel through generations of faithful witnesses from that time to this. It was to people who were part and parcel of that uncertainty, though, that conflict of opinion concerning the Gospel’s proclamation to Gentile people, that this Gospel of St. Matthew is addressed. THE EPIPHANY STORY: A CALL TO PROCLAIM THE GOSPEL TO THE GENTILES Do you see, then, how this story was important to Matthew – and for us? He tells about a star seen in the east by the “wise men.” That is why they are often thought of as “astrologers,” not “astrologers” like those of which we speak today, though.. They were closer to “astronomers” than to “fortune tellers.” They were students of the heavens where people of that time thought that world events were reflected among the stars . . . or, perhaps more accurately, where they thought heavenly events were first enacted and then conveyed to the earth in the form of world history. What happened in the heavens was “reflected” in some way on earth. The heavens were divided in such a way by these astrologers that different parts were believed to suggest events in certain parts of the world. In that part of the heavens where the history of Israel was “being written” a star of special significance appeared, signifying an important event in Israel – very likely a royal birth. It beckoned to them so powerfully that they undertook an arduous journey to that nation in order to find and pay homage to this newborn king. They were not Jews. They had no particularly special interest in Judaism. They were “foreigners” and Gentiles so far as the Jews were concerned. Yet God, from the time of the young years of Jesus (he is never spoken of as an infant in this narrative) not only invited Gentiles to give the child honor -- he insisted that they make this long and perilous journey to see his newborn Son! From the very beginning of Matthew’s Gospel he makes it plain that this Jesus is for the world, not simply for the Jews. His life and ministry would take place among the Jews, but he was the Savior of the whole world. Let that be known clearly from the time of his birth. With this same story, however, Matthew answers yet another question: Who is this Jesus? He is a royal Son. Even Gentiles recognize this, for God, in calling them to this youngling, calls them to one who “has been born king of the Jews.” They do not question this in the least. They only want to know where he is to be found, and after some inquiry of people who should know, they are sent Bethlehem-way. Again the star appears, leading them directly to his place of abode. The star, the Scriptures introduced through Herod’s inquiry of the chief priests and scribes, the gifts they present to him, the place of his birth – the city of David . . . all are clear signs that this child is of royal blood. Young he may be, but there can be no denying from the way Matthew tells the story that this is an account of a king born to the virgin who had inquired about “how this was to be” and was told that the Holy Spirit would take care of that problem. Not just a king, then, but a divine king! Royalty from heaven! Joseph finds that hard to believe, but an angel reassures him, “that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit . . . and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” How much more clearly could Matthew have signaled his readers what and who he was going to tell them about? He makes it plain from the beginning of his narrative who Jesus is, what he is coming for, and for whom he is coming! It is all “written into” this story of the visit of the wise men. In recognition of this child’s kingship they bring gifts -- gold and frankincense and myrrh. Gold is a proper gift to give a king. Frankincense, the spice of prayer (“Let my prayers rise before thee as incense”), tells the reader that the child is a priest, one who opens complete access to God. Both of these are mentioned in the First Lesson for today as gifts which the Gentiles would bear when they came to a renewed Israel “proclaiming the praise of the Lord,” acknowledging and recognizing the Lordship of God. The “Renewer” is present, Matthew says, and the Gentiles come bearing their gold and frankincense. Isaiah’s words are filled full with new meaning in this text. But the myrrh . . . . what a way for Matthew to signal the fate of this child! It is an additional gift to those mentioned in the First Lesson. For what purpose? The author of “We Three Kings” put it well: “[Nicodemus] came bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-five pounds in weight. So they took the body of Jesus and bound it in linen cloths with the spices, as is the burial custom of the Jews.” (John 19:39, 40) Through this gift the fate of this child to whom the Magi came was sealed from the beginning. Did the Magi know it? It is not likely, but God has his own distinctive way of signifying that for which the child was born. He signed this through the last mentioned gift of these visitors from the east. When it was all said and done, then, the child was destined for the cross. Did he come to merely be a fine example of godliness? There had been many fine examples of godliness. Did he come to merely be a great teacher of righteous living? There had been many such teachers throughout the time of the prophets in whose train he followed. Did he come to merely show the way to the Father? Many have shed light on the way of virtue, justice and uprightness required by God. Had he been only one of these and not more, there would be little reason to celebrate the coming of this child. He was, himself, however, “the way.” He was, himself, “the truth.” He was, himself, “the life.” He was going to the “land of myrrh,” to the cross, to a sacrificial death by which the sins of the world would be taken up into his very own being. “You shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins,” the angel had told Joseph. From the time of his birth his way was established. He had left his divine throne as the Father’s gift to the world by which the very brokenness of death itself, the wages of sin, would itself be broken apart. But that would take place only through the death of the innocent for the guilty. The love of God was breaking through the darkness of the fallen world. “Behold, darkness shall cover the earth, and thick darkness the peoples; but the Lord will arise upon you, and his glory will be seen upon you. And nations shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising.” Thus the words of Isaiah, read as the First Lesson, sliced through the ages and shone with all the brightness of God’s promise fulfilled in this child. Kings came to the brightness of this rising that broke the darkness. They brought gifts signifying who this child was and the mission for which he had come. Matthew opens the narrative of his Gospel by setting all this before us so that we can watch how all this unfolded in the life, suffering, death and resurrection of Jesus, the Savior, who would hold front and center of the story now to be told by the apostle. FOLLOW THE STAR WITH GIFTS IN HAND The star still shines. It is the star of the word of the Lord proclaimed through the ages according to that which Matthew and others like him recorded it. It is the star that shines over the waters of baptism, breaking into the darkness of our lives with the light of the life that broke death apart in the resurrection of Jesus. It is the star that shines over the altar where bread and wine are set aside with the words of our Lord and then offered to us as the life sustaining body and blood of him whom the wise men visited in Bethlehem long ago. It is the star beckoning to us, urging us to follow its beams breaking through the darkness of this world’s brokenness and leading us to the house where God’s Son is to be found. Its shining breaks through the darkness of our wars, our poverty, our hunger and thirst – through all the miserable sufferings gripping the world like a boa constrictor strangling the life out of a world designed by God and intended for his glory. The star leads to the one hope in the midst of all this agony. It does not halt the anguish in an immediate fashion, but it leads us to this one named Savior whose strength is given to all who look to him for aid in enduring the great tribulations of life. Were it to immediately end the onslaught of despair there would be no need for faith since its effect would be seen straight away, no longer requiring us to believe it since it would be ours by sight. The strength and power of the God whose overarching reign over all things is part and parcel of his presence in all these debilitating things also. It stands behind and underneath this account of Jesus. This presence of God who sent his Son is not seen any more clearly today than they were seen when that beloved Son of his hung on the cross. There, too, there were those who scoffed in unbelief, trusting only in their immediate sight. How could God be present in a moment like the crucifixion of the innocent man Jesus? “If you are who you say you are, come down. If God favors you, why are you hanging there?” It is only faith that sees in the lowly and suffering cross the love of God. It is only faith that “sees through” the suffering and struggles of this world to the God who sets his star in the heavens and bids us follow it, bearing our gifts – the gold by which we honor the King who has come to reign over us, the frankincense of our prayers to him who carries them to the heavenly throne in our behalf, and the myrrh of his death to which he bids us also to “take up our cross and follow him.” Is it not strange that Herod, who trembled with fear when these wise men came inquiring about the newborn king and who would shortly send soldiers to kill all those two years old and younger, did not come with these visitors from the east? Why depend on their word to determine whom he would kill? He could have come with them so that he could plot his dirty work cleanly and swiftly! Is it not strange that the chief priests and scribes who knew that the place of this birth would be Bethlehem did not accompany these Magi on the last leg of their trip, eagerly hoping to find the Hope of the World whom they knew would be born in the City of David? Why did they stay behind? Why did they not recognize in this inquiry itself the new thing that God was bringing to pass in the world? Why did they not follow the star with the Magi? For whatever reason, they stayed behind. Many people stay behind. They see the star of Christmas and go about their business as though it were neither shining nor beckoning to them, urging them to join the Magi in seeking the King. Are you also staying behind? Or do you find this star so strikingly extraordinary that it leads you to the death-bound child so urgently that you can do nothing other than to follow it? It is true that the joy of finding the child over whom the star shines will eventually turn into the sorrow of seeing him on the cross -- and to the necessity, in turn, of giving up your own life to this child. You must know that from the beginning if you follow this star for we, quite differently from the Magi, know the end of this man from his beginning. Unless you are willing to lose your life in his behalf, there is no point in following this beacon of the heavens. It is also true, however, that if your life is caught up into his you will not only share in his death, you will also share in his resurrection to a life filled with unimaginable bliss. After all, he is, himself, the opening in the clouds of this world where all the darkness of our earthly existence is broken apart, making it possible for the light of the eternal star to shine through! He came to save the world – the whole world! – and you! Jesus is his name! In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Hubert Beck
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