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The Festival of the Epiphany, 01/06/2017
“On Seeking”
Sermon on Matthew 2:1-12, by David M. Wendel
St. Matthew 2:1-12
After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem 2 and asked, “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.”
3 When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him. 4 When he had called together all the people’s chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Messiah was to be born. 5 “In Bethlehem in Judea,” they replied, “for this is what the prophet has written:
6 “‘But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,
are by no means least among the rulers of Judah;
for out of you will come a ruler
who will shepherd my people Israel.’[b]”
7 Then Herod called the Magi secretly and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared. 8 He sent them to Bethlehem and said, “Go and search carefully for the child. As soon as you find him, report to me, so that I too may go and worship him.”
9 After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen when it rose went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. 10 When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. 11 On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. 12 And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route.
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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.
Worshiping 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 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 would give almost 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 control or kingship. 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!
To Serve or to be Served?
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.
The Myth of “Meeting Needs”
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. Its 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 to ready to say, “Here am I—SERVE me!”
Seeking Christ, our Greatest Treasure
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.
Our Offering—Faith, Hope and Love
And what is it that we come to give? What is our offering? Of course, people have brought wonderful gifts and offerings of all kinds to the Christ, who incarnates Himself here, among us. Through the years in the Church of Jesus Christ, many have brought money, property, gold as in gifts of gold chalices, crosses and certainly, in every place, 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.