A Light shining in the darkness

Sermon for the Epiphany of Our Lord

Isaiah 60:1-6  +  Matthew 2:1-12

In the midst of chaos, in the midst of a world gone mad, in the face of great evil that threatens to snuff out all that is true and all who are righteous, in a time when wickedness flourishes and the wicked seem to be unstoppable, the Holy Spirit would draw our eyes away from the darkness and toward the light.

Epiphany is a season of light. An epiphany is a bringing to light of something that is hidden from sight. And what could be more hidden from sight than the divinity of the One who was born in Bethlehem, than the fact that Christ Jesus, even now, is victorious over sin and death and reigns over this world’s darkness for the good of His beloved Church?

For now, turn your thoughts to the visit of the wise men as they were guided by the light to the One who is the light, which is the Epiphany after which this whole season of the church year is named.

We’re told that there came wise men from the East to Jerusalem, 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.” Where were they from in the East? Who were they and how many? Scripture doesn’t say any more than what Matthew tells us right here. That’s because the important thing in this account isn’t who they were, where they were from, or how many there were. The important thing about them is that they were Gentiles—non-Jews—from a foreign land, non-Jews who evidently had access to at least some of the Jewish Scriptures and the understanding to perceive that a special light they had seen in the sky over Judea was the fulfillment of a prophecy about the birth of the King of the Jews. Not just “a” king, but “the” King of the Jews, whose dominion would extend over the Gentiles, too, and whose kingdom would reach to the ends of the earth.

Maybe it was Balaam’s prophecy in Numbers 24 that they had seen: “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.” Or maybe it was Isaiah’s prophecy that you heard this evening about the glory of the Lord rising upon the land of Israel, and how Gentiles and kings would walk in their light, bringing treasures of gold and incense and declaring the praises of the Lord.

In any case, the wise men revealed themselves to be men who believed that God is real and that He acts in the world. They were men who believed the Old Testament was reliable, so reliable that they were willing to make the long journey to the foreign land of Israel, convinced that a special child had been born there. They were men who believed that that child was worthy of their treasures and of their worship, acknowledging Him as God in the flesh. And they were men who believed that that child had come to bring light to this dark world and a place in His kingdom, for any and all who believed in Him, that He would combine Jews and Gentiles into one great kingdom, made up of all who kneel before Him in faith.

The star they followed was no ordinary star. It appeared for a while, whether at or before the birth of Jesus, we don’t know. And then it disappeared as they journeyed. So they headed toward Jerusalem, the royal city of the Jews, thinking that the King had to be found there, surely expecting that all Israel would be celebrating the birth of the King. But all they found was a city going about their business as usual, and wicked King Herod, who had no idea that the prophesied King had been born. From their description, he knew they must be talking about THE King, the Christ. So he called in the priests to find out where the Christ was to be born, and they quickly cited the passage in Micah chapter 5 identifying His birthplace as 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.

Instead of celebrating the birth of the King, instead of giving thanks to God for revealing His birth to them through these Gentiles, Herod and all Jerusalem were “troubled” at the news. They had grown too accustomed to a world without obvious divine intervention. They had made peace, to some degree, with their political situation under the Romans. They had begun to view life on earth from a purely humanistic, secular perspective, even as they outwardly practiced their religion. Their faith in the God of Israel had become an empty shell.

And so their reaction to the wise men’s visit and the revelation of the birth of Christ ranged from apathy, to fear, to hostility. Neither the scribes nor the people of Jerusalem nor King Herod felt like accompanying the wise men to find or to worship the newborn King of the Jews. Some apparently didn’t care; others were surely frightened of their own government, afraid to be found worshiping the King of the Jews because of what they already suspected King Herod would do to them if they did; and we know from the verses we considered last Sunday how hostile Herod actually was to this child. This is how the Jews reacted to news of the birth of their own King.

Such a contrast with the reaction of the Gentile wise men! As soon as they learned where the child was to be born, they headed straight for Bethlehem. It didn’t matter to them that Bethlehem was an insignificant little town. Nor did it matter how uninterested everyone else seemed to be in worshiping this child. They were convinced that He was worthy of their worship, and so they went.

And suddenly the star reappeared and led them straight to the house where Jesus was—again, no ordinary star or planet, but a miraculous light, an epiphany from God which only these men perceived. They arrived. They found Jesus, and Mary. They fell down and worshiped Him. And they presented him with their treasures of gold and frankincense and myrrh. Because He was worthy of their worship, worthy to receive their treasures, worthy to be praised, because of who He is: true God and true Man; and because of what He would do: make atonement for the sins of the world and welcome all sinners, of every race, into His kingdom of grace, by calling them, through the Gospel, to repentance and to faith in Him.

That light of Christ, that light of the Gospel about Christ still shines in the darkness of this world, a darkness that has always been there and is only getting darker. And people react to the light now the same way they did 2,000 years ago. Some, including many Christians who should know better, have become apathetic, indifferent toward it. Others are too governed by fear to seek it. Others are hostile toward it. But a few are like the wise men, who know that the Scriptures are reliable, who know that Jesus is the Christ, who believe in His promise to unite all who seek Him into a Church that may well appear ravaged in this world, and unsophisticated, and backward, but a Church that, in reality, is the beautiful, brilliantly shining Bride of Christ, a Church that even now holds out the light of Christ to the world, and that will one day have its own epiphany, when the sons of God are revealed in glory.

The marks of the Church are the star and the light that Christians must now follow to Christ: the Gospel rightly preached and the Sacraments rightly administered. Where those marks are seen, that is where Christians should go, for there they can be sure that Christ and His Church will be found. And when they find Him, they will find a Savior who is worthy of their worship, both because of who He is, and because of the grace He has given and promises to give.

So whom will you imitate when confronted by that light? The apathetic? The fearful? Those who are hostile toward Christ? Or the wise men? May God grant you to imitate those wise men: their faith, their joy in being guided by God to Christ, and to God through Christ, and their humble worship of Him who was born to be King of the Jews and of all who put their trust in Him. Amen.