Epiphany
Thank you to Pastor Keller for inviting me to preach at the Epiphany Divine Service at St. James Lutheran Church in Reynolds, IN. Pastor Keller presided and Pastor Mueller served as crucifer and Assisting Minister. You can listen to the service here.
The Epiphany Isaiah 60:1-6 Ephesians 3:1-12 Matthew 2:1-12
O Lord, let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable to you, my rock and my redeemer. Amen.
The identity and origin of the Magi, the Wise Men, is shrouded in mystery. We only know of their existence because of Matthew 2. The text says that they are from the East, but there is nothing more specific than that. But the one thing that we do know, that is essential for us to know, is that they are not heirs of the covenant that God established with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. They are unfamiliar with the specifics of Old Testament messianic promises. They do not reference Micah 5:2 which tells us where the Messiah will be born. Nor do they know to inquire about the suffering servant described in Isaiah 52 & 53. Familiarity with that prophecy would ask the obvious question of why would a newborn king be destined to suffer so grievously for His people? Nor is there is an awareness that the newborn king will grow up to fulfill the description of Isaiah 61. At this point, they do not inquire how it is that the newborn king will live out what Jesus will read in the synagogue of Nazareth (Luke 4) after He is baptized by John:
18 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, 19 to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor.”
The text of the Magi is the night sky. Their text is God’s natural revelation. God has revealed to the Magi through His creation that a mighty king of Israel is born. They only want to offer homage, to worship one who is greater than they, and present their gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh, gifts fit for a king; and then continue on their way and then disappear into the mists of history.
Unbeknownst to the Magi, God is using them to reveal a comprehensive scope of God’s salvation that includes the heirs of the Abrahamic covenant and Mosaic Law as well as the Gentiles. What was once separate, will now, in Jesus become one. Jesus is born for all sinners, Jew and Gentile alike. Through faith in Jesus Christ all people are included in God’s plan of salvation.
We are used to this reality. I imagine most of us in this church building do not come from Jewish families. As gentiles who are baptized into Christ we have grown up with the promise that Jesus dies on the cross for all sinners, Jew and Gentile. While this is familiar to us, it was certainly an epiphany to the first century Christians, especially the Jewish Christians. It was a startling event that the Holy Spirit would compel not only Simeon and Anna to recognize the baby Jesus as the Christ, but also these Gentile Magi from the east.
In the irony of ironies, the Apostle Paul, before encountering Jesus on the road to Damascus was a brutally vigorous advocate for the purity of the Jewish faith. But, after his encounter with Jesus on the road to Damascus, his baptism and instruction in the Christian faith, he would write this to the church in Colossae: “Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free; but Christ is all, and in all.” (3:11) In his letter to the church in Galatia, Paul says something similar: “27 For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. 28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29 And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to promise.”
In Jesus, all the cultural and ethnic divisions fall away. All the ways in which we distinguish ourselves from one another by gender, class, nationality, money, citizen status as freemen or noncitizen status as slaves; all those distinctions dissolve into two categories: sinner with no faith, or saint/sinner justified by faith in Christ Jesus. We are grateful that the Holy Spirit has created faith within us through the Word of the Gospel.
The Lord knew that it would not be easy for Jews and Gentiles to be united in Christ. Jews would claim the home territory and defend it vigorously. So, the Lord arranged for a number of Gentiles and other kinds of outsiders to recognize and confess Jesus as the Christ, the long-awaited Son of King David, the Son of God. It begins with the Magi from the east who properly interpret the signs in the heavens and obediently follow the star to Bethlehem. Before the baby Jesus and a mystified Joseph and Mary, they kneel and put their foreheads to the ground in humble submission to Jesus. They kneel to honor and worship Jesus the Christ. One far greater than they is before them. They present their gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh, gifts fit for a king, to the king who is born for the salvation of the whole world.
By their obedience and witness, the Lord reveals through the Magi, that the Christ child dwells among them.
The peace of Christ which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
Unbeknownst to the Magi, God is using them to reveal a comprehensive scope of God’s salvation that includes the heirs of the Abrahamic covenant and Mosaic Law as well as the Gentiles. What was once separate, will now, in Jesus become one. Jesus is born for all sinners, Jew and Gentile alike. Through faith in Jesus Christ all people are included in God’s plan of salvation.
We are used to this reality. I imagine most of us in this church building do not come from Jewish families. As gentiles who are baptized into Christ we have grown up with the promise that Jesus dies on the cross for all sinners, Jew and Gentile. While this is familiar to us, it was certainly an epiphany to the first century Christians, especially the Jewish Christians. It was a startling event that the Holy Spirit would compel not only Simeon and Anna to recognize the baby Jesus as the Christ, but also these Gentile Magi from the east.
In the irony of ironies, the Apostle Paul, before encountering Jesus on the road to Damascus was a brutally vigorous advocate for the purity of the Jewish faith. But, after his encounter with Jesus on the road to Damascus, his baptism and instruction in the Christian faith, he would write this to the church in Colossae: “Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free; but Christ is all, and in all.” (3:11) In his letter to the church in Galatia, Paul says something similar: “27 For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. 28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29 And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to promise.”
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