The Epiphany of Our Lord - Sermon Text and Video of Divine Service

Video of Divine Service at St. Luke, Rensselaer


Epiphany of our Lord 

Ephesians 3:1-12 
Matthew 2:1-12

The Necessity of Revelation

O Lord, your Word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path. Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable to you, my rock and my redeemer. Amen. 

If we were in Bethlehem on the night that Jesus was born, would we have recognized Mary as the mother of God and her newborn son as the Savior of the world? Or would we have seen a poverty-stricken family who is relegated to the hard luck of staying in the manger?  If we got to know Joseph and Mary and the infant Jesus as they waited in Bethlehem for what comes next, would we discern something special, something unique about Mary or Jesus? The honest answer is probably not. 

In order to appreciate the gift of God that is before us, we need revelation. We need God’s revelation to open our eyes and ears to see and hear what is happening before us. The angels appeared to the shepherds.  The shepherds then spoke with excitement about what they heard and saw. If you can believe the witness of the shepherds, then you could see God at work in your midst. We are told in Luke 2:17-18 that the shepherds told everybody what they saw and heard in the night sky. “And all who heard it wondered at what the shepherds told them.” 

Apparently, the people’s wondering stayed in Bethlehem. Jerusalem is only 6 miles away from Bethlehem. Herod was clueless about what was happening in his own backyard until the Magi came and started asking questions. The Magi did not come immediately after Jesus’ birth. An undisclosed amount of time has passed. Still, Herod and his advisors were clueless. 

Herod and his advisors did not even know where the Christ child was supposed to come from. He assembled the Jewish religious authorities. They pointed to the Word of God, the prophet Micah. Micah 5:2 reveals the place as Bethlehem. 

The Magi followed a star. This is long before light pollution was an issue, even in big cities. No one else was alerted, concerned, or alarmed by what they saw in the night sky. Only the Magi saw the significance of the star that they were following. God revealed the star to the Magi. God opened their eyes to see His sign in the heavens that the Christ child is born. When the Magi came to Bethlehem proper the star led them right to where the holy family was staying. There are no reports of a crowd gathering or that the people were astonished by the closeness or directness of the star. But, the Magi saw the star just fine. This is another case of God opening the eyes of the Magi so they could go to where they need to be. 

When I read through Matthew 2, the Magi appear to me to bear a certain naivete when they approached Jerusalem and Herod. Is it wise to go into a palace asking a ruler about a potential competitor being born in his district without first learning from the locals the lay of the land? Could they really be so naïve to think that Herod also wants to worship this newborn king too? Apparently. God saw it necessary to warn them in a dream to avoid Herod and leave the country in a different way. 

God’s revelation comes through nature, the Bible, the reports of eyewitnesses, and dreams. If it were not for God’s revelation, no one would know that the Christ is near them. God has to tell us what He is doing. God opens our eyes and ears to see and hear what is essential to our faith. 

God’s revelation also tells us that God chooses to use the unconventional, the unexpected, to communicate his profound truth. The Magi are gentiles. Yet, the gentiles are the first to worship Jesus as the Christ. They offer gifts appropriate for a newborn king.  Through their adoration and their gifts they bear witness that Jesus is the king who is born to save the world. 

Revelation continues to be necessary for us. We need our eyes opened to the spiritual darkness around us. We need God’s revelation to teach us how to pray, what to hope for, what to believe, how to act in a God pleasing manner. We need God’s revelation to lead us from the newborn babe in Bethlehem to the adult Christ dying on the cross for our sins. Without God’s revelation, all we would see is three men executed on the cruel cross. But, God’s revelation allows us to see that the one in the middle is our Lord Jesus Christ and that he dies to free us from the destructive power of sin, death, and the devil. 

The peace of Christ which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen. 

 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Letter from LCMS President Harrison about Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service and Recognized Service Organizations

  A Letter from LCMS President Harrison about LIRS and LCMS RSOs    FEB. 6, 2025 LCMS.ORG A letter from President Harrison about LIRS and LCMS RSOs Dear Saints of the LCMS, Grace and peace in Jesus! For this reason, because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints, I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of Him, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which He has called you, what are the riches of His glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His great might that He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above ev...
Read more

2022-12-19 Vespers - Commemoration of Adam and Eve

 2022-12-19 Vespers - Commemoration of Adam and Eve - Isaiah 40:1-17 & Revelation 7:1-17 As we commemorate the first man and woman today, we recognize that Adam and Eve were endowed with great gifts from God. Adam is created in the image of God. And from Adam came Eve. Adam is given dominion over all the earth. A tremendous responsibility of stewardship is entrusted to him.  When they succumbed to the temptation to be like God, and fell into sin, their sin impacts us all to this day.  When Adam and Eve chose to disobey God’s command, they inaugurated a cycle of life and death that we have no choice but to participate in.   Creation is constantly changing. There is nothing steady.  The seasons come and go.  The sleep and inactivity of winter leads into the new birth of spring which is followed by a summer of growth which is then followed by a time of harvest and a slow dying as all of creation returns to its winter death waiting for the new life to ...
Read more

Vigil of Easter

Image
The Lutheran Church of Our Saviour hosted the Vigil of Easter this year. We were joined by the congregations of St. John's, Rensselaer; St. Luke, Rensselaer; Trinity, Goodland; St. James, Reynolds; and St. James, Logansport. I was blessed to serve at the Altar with the pastors of these congregations. May the Lord continue to bless all of our ministries in the coming days and years! Here is my brief homily for the Vigil. Easter Vigil  O Lord, let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable to you, my Rock and my Redeemer. Amen.  Not long ago I read the Odyssey. Book 14 relays how, after many challenges and delays, Odysseus finally lands on his homeland of Ithaca. Aware that he has been gone a long time and that he is walking into circumstances that are not as he left Ithaca to fight the Trojans, he comes disguised. His first human encounter is with his loyal swineherd Eumaeus. Eumaeus does not recognize him. He says to Odysseus.  Come, old soldier, t...
Read more