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Epiphany, 01/06/2012
Sermon on Matthew 2:1-12, by David M. Wendel
1 Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, saying, 2 “Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we have seen his star in the East, and have come to worship him.” 3 When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him; 4 and assembling all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born. 5 They told him, “In Bethlehem of Judea; for so it is written by the prophet: 6 ‘And you, O Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for from you shall come a ruler who will govern my people Israel.’”
7 Then Herod summoned the wise men secretly and ascertained from them what time the star appeared; 8 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.” 9 When they had heard the king they went their way; and lo, the star which they had seen in the East went before them, till it came to rest over the place where the child was. 10 When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy; 11 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. 12 And being warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they departed to their own country by another way.
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Epiphany is About Two Kinds of "Seeking"
The Festival of the Epiphany of our Lord, is about seeking. In fact, in our gospel account, we hear of two different kinds of seeking. On the one hand, we hear about the wise men from the East, who, having heard the ancient Jewish prophecies that a Messiah would be born who would be King of the Jews, follow the star that has arisen proclaiming his birth. So, seeking this new king, they travel from afar, to find him, and to worship him. On the other hand, we hear about Herod, the Roman puppet king, who is, by Roman authority, king of the Jews, although not a Jew by birth, but the son of Antipater, an Idumean. And we hear that this King Herod, king of the Jews, by decree of Caesar, not God, is also seeking for the newborn king—and though Herod also says that he wants to find the Christ child to worship him—the truth is, Herod has ulterior, self-serving motives. And here, between these two different kinds of seekers, and their two different kinds of seeking, we see ourselves, and many people in the church and in the world today. And how do we distinguish between the two kinds of seeking? At the heart of it, it has to do with worship—and whom we really seek to worship—God in Christ Jesus, or ourselves.
The Goal is Worship of God, or Self
The fact is, both the Wise Men and Herod, had as their goal, worship. The Wise men, upon entering Jerusalem, the place they naturally assumed they would find a newborn King of the Jews, ask around, saying, “where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we have seen his star in the East, and have come to worship him.” And the Wise men, truly, had traveled far, and come sincerely seeking to worship. And this worship would be, adoration, reverence, homage. The Greek word for worship used repeatedly by Matthew in this text, means literally, “to kiss one’s hand”, to kneel or prostrate oneself before another. In this sense, it suggests the medieval image of a vassal kissing the hand or the ring of the greater king, kneeling in his presence, or lying on the floor before the one who is greater. And the Wise Men, and Matthew are clear, that the Magi came for this reason, and this reason only…to worship the new king.
It is equally clear, that Herod, has no such intention, in spite of his lies and deception. For Herod, worshiped—himself. He was a cruel and selfish king, who killed his own wife, brothers, sons, just to protect his throne and his skin, so that he would remain in power, and in favor with the Romans. It was said it was better to be Herod’s pig, than his son! And in this instance, Herod would do whatever was necessary to find any pretender to the throne, not to worship him, but to kill him, and end any threat to his power and position. Herod was indeed, seeking the Christ child, but not to worship him, not to kiss his hand, not to kneel before him, and prostrate himself before the Messiah—but to have him put to death, before he could do anything to subvert or interfere with Herod’s controlling kingship. All of which, as we said, presents us with the choice, as well, whether we seek Christ to worship Him, or whether we seek to be worshiped, ourselves!
Whom Do We Seek to Worship?
And of course, most anyone in churches today, would say, “we are here because we’re seeking Christ! Why else would we be here?” And yet, there are many in our churches today, who say, with Herod, they are here looking for the Christ child to worship him, when truly, they are looking more, to be worshiped! In an article published by some folks in the Church of the Brethren, they lay out what they call the current fad that models the so-called “seeker-sensitive” strategy of evangelism and worship. They state that this model maintains that the church exists for the benefit of those who are not its members, so that the slogan or motto of the seeker-sensitive church would be, “We exist to serve you.” And that’s the difficulty, according to this article, with the seeker-sensitive mentality—the end is not worship of God, but the serving of self, and the wants and desires of self. If a church is built on, organized around, founded on, serving its members, then its members come to understand the church, as existing to serve them. And this consumer mentality, then takes over as the mission of the church.
Os Guinness, a Christian social critic, writes,
“Meeting needs doesn’t always satisfy needs: it often stokes them further, and raises the pressure of eventual disillusionment. What people are looking for when they ‘shop for a church’ is a full-service mall that will provide for every member of their family.”
The Rev. D. Martyn Lloyd –Jones, pastor of Westminster Chapel in London wrote,
“Any teaching…that starts with us and our needs, rather than the glory of God, is unscriptural, and seriously unscriptural. That subjective approach, is what has led many astray for so many years.”
This is not to say the desires and goals of the seeker-sensitive movement are inherently wrong, or aim to lead people away from worshiping God. It’s that we seekers, we who come looking for God, we who are often uninformed, and unformed in faith and the spiritual life, misunderstand, and are misdirected. Because unlike the prophet Isaiah who said, “Here am I, Lord, send me!” we are all too ready to say, “Here am I—SERVE me!” And that’s what the account of the Wise Men, and Herod confront us with, today.
Are we here to worship the Christ, or do we seek to be worshiped and served? Have we come to the stable looking for the Christ, so that we may humble ourselves before Him, and kiss His hand, and lay ourselves down before Him, in sacrifice and service, or do we come, hoping to get something out of church, expecting to be served by the church and its ministry, looking for a full-service church that will provide for my every need and desire? The reality is we often come expecting to be served, without realizing it! Christians often come to church thinking they are here to worship God, but are more concerned with whether we like the music, are welcomed by the people, are made to feel at home, aren’t asked to do anything, or give anything, and leave feeling uplifted and well, better about ourselves. But Christians really are to come to Church, seeking, not our own satisfaction, not our own comfort or pleasure, but we come to seek Christ, and once we see Him here, we offer Him all that we hold most valuable—our greatest treasure! For the Wise Men, it was gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh—gold, because that’s the gift for kings; frankincense, because that’s the priestly offering; and myrrh, to anoint his body for burial—as Jesus’ crowning act would be to give himself, to die on the cross. And what is it that we come to give? What is our offering?
What is Our Offering of Worship?
Of course, people have brought wonderful gifts and offerings of all kinds to the Christ, who incarnates Himself here, among us. Through the years, members have brought money, stock, property, gold as in the gift of our chalice, certainly, our time and our talent. But Martin Luther suggests we view the gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh, in a different light. Luther writes,
“The Wise Men presented unto Christ, gifts: incense is a live confession, full of faith, by which we offer all that we have and are to God. The gift of gold is that we should confess Christ as King, laying aside our own esteem and the dictates of our reason and good intentions, that we should present ourselves as foolish, naked, and ready to be ruled. Thus we see that incense is faith and gold is hope, because faith believes that all things are and ought to be of God, and hope accepts and sustains what faith believes. The myrrh is love. Faith takes us from ourselves, that we should refer everything to God with praise and gratitude. Hope fills us with the concerns of others, that we may endure all in patience without resentment. Love reduces us to that nothing which we were in the beginning, so that we desire neither goods nor anything outside of God, but simply that we should commit ourselves truly to his good pleasure.”
So, for Luther, the greatest gifts we can give are faith, hope and love. These are our gold, frankincense and myrrh. And let us pray that we have come, seeking to worship the object of our desire, not ourselves, but Christ, and His presence among us. Let us pray that as the star has led us here, Christ will be revealed to us, in Word, and Sacrament—the very incarnate presence of Christ, who is God with us. And let us worship Him, by offering to Him, faith, hope and love—the gifts of the heart, that we may serve Him in all things, in all ways, at all times!
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.