A gift from the Gentiles, a gift for the Gentiles at Epiphany

Sermon for the Epiphany of Our Lord

Isaiah 60:1-6  +  Matthew 2:1-12

An epiphany is a manifestation or a revelation of something hidden from plain sight. During this season of Epiphany, the Church celebrates various epiphanies of Jesus’ hidden divinity. He appeared as a Man. He was and is a Man! That’s what the eye could see from the time Jesus was born. But throughout His life, He revealed that which was hidden from sight. He revealed that He was also divine, that He was God, with all the significance that carries. On this festival of the Epiphany, the Church actually celebrates three such revelations: the Epiphany of Jesus’ divine kingship as the wise men came from afar to worship Him; the Epiphany of Jesus’ divine origin and nature at His Baptism; and the Epiphany of Jesus’ divine power displayed in His first miracle at the wedding of Cana. Since we’ll focus on the wedding at Cana two Sundays from now, let’s take a few moments this evening and focus on the visit of the wise men and on Jesus’ Baptism. In the one, Jesus, true God and true Man, received a precious gift from the Gentiles. In the other, the same Jesus, true God and true Man, gave a priceless gift to the Gentiles (and to the Jews).

Wise men from the east were the Gentiles who brought their gifts to Jesus, who recognized the hidden divinity of the Child whom they found in Bethlehem. We know little about them, except that they were Gentiles who were familiar with the Old Testament Scriptures and with the promise of the birth of a very important King in Israel. Not just any king, but the promised royal Son of David who would sit on David’s throne. Not just a man, but a man whose goings forth are from everlasting, who would reign as King forever. Not just King of the Jews, but a light to the Gentiles and the Ruler of all nations. What else the wise men may have known about the Christ, we have no idea. But they knew that much. And they knew somehow that His birth would be announced by a special kind of star.

There was Balaam’s prophecy in Numbers 24: “I see Him, but not now; I behold Him, but not near; A Star shall come out of Jacob; A Scepter shall rise out of Israel…Out of Jacob One shall have dominion.” Beyond that, we don’t know what else led them to identify this star that they saw with the birth of the promised King. The important thing is that they took what they knew from Scripture and believed. They took what they knew and acted upon it, as if it mattered. As if it mattered enough for them to spend weeks or months traveling across the desert to find and to worship the Baby who was also their King and their God.

They saw the star and headed toward Jerusalem, the royal city of the Jews, thinking that the King had to be found there. But all they found was wicked King Herod, who had no idea that another supposed King had been born. From their description, he knew they must be talking about the Christ, but he had to call in the priests to find the passage in Micah chapter 5 identifying the place of His birth: Bethlehem. But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah…Out of you shall come forth to Me the One to be Ruler in Israel, whose goings forth are from of old, from everlasting.

One would hope that in the capital city of the Jews, there would have been great rejoicing over even the possibility of Christ the King of the Jews having been born. But Matthew writes that Herod was “troubled” and “all Jerusalem with him.” Why? Because they were just settling into the status quo of Roman occupation. There was relative peace in the land. Apparently not many were waiting for the Christ at that time. Not many were looking for redemption in Israel, certainly not of the spiritual kind.

Today’s world isn’t much troubled any longer about the coming of Christ. They’ve already redefined Him and written Him off. They’ve invented a Christ who lets them believe whatever they want, a Christ who is just one holy man among many, one teacher among many, one path to salvation among many. But when Christians speak truly about Christ, when Christians worship and follow Christ according to His actual teachings in the Bible, when Christians confess Christ as the only God and King who calls all men to repentance and faith and who threatens judgment and destruction on those who reject Him, then the world is troubled again. But Christians troubling the world in that way is the only way for the Gospel to reach those who will believe.

Herod hid his troubledness from the wise men, though, and sent them on their way, ordering them to return and tell him the whereabouts of the Child, which, thankfully, they didn’t do. And the special, miraculous star reappeared after they started off for Bethlehem, leading them the rest of the way to the house where Jesus was.

And finding Him, they worshiped Him. Imagine these scholarly officials, falling down on their knees before a baby, in a humble house in a small town, cared for by a humble mother and father. And yet they did bow down, in true humility and awe and worship. To the eyes, He looked like any child. To the eyes, their worship appears very strange. But the Scriptures and the star and the Holy Spirit Himself had revealed the Child for what He truly was: the Ruler whose goings forth are from of old, from everlasting, as the promised Son of David, as the King of the nations. So they presented Him with the costly, kingly gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.

These were the first Gentiles to find out about Christ and to seek Him, but they were only the beginning. You heard the prophecy in Isaiah 60 this evening: The Gentiles shall come to your light. Not just three of them (or however many wise men there were), but many of them. They all gather together, they come to you; Your sons shall come from afar, And your daughters shall be nursed at your side…The wealth of the Gentiles shall come to you; the multitude of camels shall cover your land; all those from Sheba shall come. Isaiah doesn’t mean that every single person from every nation will come to Christ. But he does mean that many of the Gentiles, people from all nations will come and worship Him in faith, just like the wise men did, will come and offer up their costly treasures to Him, just like the wise men did, even their very bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God.

Now, just as a few of the Gentiles presented their costly gifts to Jesus in this epiphany of His divine office as King, so, in about 30 years or so, the King would present His own priceless gift to the Gentiles in the form of Holy Baptism.

What was Jesus’ very first official kingly act as He stepped forth to begin His ministry? Matthew writes in chapter 3, Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan to be baptized by him. And John tried to prevent Him, saying, “I need to be baptized by You, and are You coming to me?” But Jesus answered and said to him, “Permit it to be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he allowed Him. When He had been baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened to Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting upon Him. And suddenly a voice came from heaven, saying, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”

Pay attention to the words of Luther’s Baptism hymn that we’ll sing after the sermon. It explains so well what was going on at Jesus’ Baptism and what still goes on when people are baptized in His name. He looked just like any of the Jewish men who were going to John to be baptized. But the hidden reality was that, unlike those men, who brought their sins to Baptism to receive God’s forgiveness from Baptism; Jesus brought His righteousness to Baptism to receive the sins of mankind from Baptism as the Lord laid on Him the iniquity of us all. Even as Jesus took on the role of a sinner in this Sacrament, so He also planted His own righteousness into it—righteousness which serves as the basis for the forgiveness of sins, righteousness which He would soon give as a priceless gift to all Gentiles—to all nations. As He told His disciples, Go and make disciples of all nations—of all Gentiles! —baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. All three Persons of the Holy Trinity are there at every Baptism, beginning with the Baptism of Jesus, so that God is the true Baptizer, as we’ll sing. And all who are baptized are counted together with Christ, who was declared the beloved Son of God the Father, in whom He is well-pleased.

Circumcision was the Sacrament for the Jews, for the physical descendants of Abraham. But Baptism was never restricted to a certain nation. It’s Christ’s gift to all the nations, where it works forgiveness of sins, rescues from death and the devil, and gives eternal salvation to all who believe this, whether Gentiles or Jews. In this way, He has offered us all a way to be incorporated into Him.

Of course, none of that is seen when a person is baptized. It’s hidden from our sight, but revealed in this glorious epiphany.

And so we celebrate today these two epiphanies of Jesus’ hidden divinity. God calls upon you to imitate the wise men in the only way you can: to seek Jesus where the bright light of His Gospel reveals Him to be: right here in the preaching of His Word and in His holy Sacraments, to believe in Him as the Christ, the Son of the living God, even though you don’t see Him as such; to worship Him as your King, which includes obeying Him as your King, even though His rule is hidden from sight; and to offer Him your life as an offering. But all of that you can do, only because He has already found you with His gift of Holy Baptism and there has given you the right to become children of God. Think about your Baptism and wear it every day as a garment and as a bond that links you to Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews, the King of the wise men, and the King of all. Amen.