The Feast of the Epiphany of our Lord
6 January, Anno Domini 2017
St. Matthew 2:1-12
Pr. Kurt Ulmer
In the Name of the Father, and of the +Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
For those of us not born as Jews, I think Epiphany could rank right up there with the most important feast days of the Church Year. With the rising of the star in the east and the visit of the magi, God definitively declared that the Savior born in Bethlehem is the Savior of all mankind, not just Jews! The magi come looking for the one born king of the Jews so that they, Gentiles from a far away country, could worship him, so that they could submit themselves to Him and count themselves among His subjects. Jesus is not just the king of the Jews. He is King of all kings and Lord of all lords. He is the ruler over all things and all people. The distinction between Jew and Gentile has come to an end in Jesus because He bears the flesh of all men – slave and free, male and female, Jew and Gentile. All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. All are equally sinners. All are in need of the same mercy and grace that will bring them from the far reaches of their sin and back into fellowship with God.
And this is exactly what God desires! He wants all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. He wants east and west, north and south to come pouring into the Church to stand in His presence and receive the gifts of the Christ child that He has come to bring them. Look at the extraordinary lengths our God went to to bring the Gentiles to Jesus. He appoints a star, something that could not be missed, to lead the magi to exactly where they need to go. They would not have found Him on their own. They wouldn’t even have know about Him. Like the shepherds, they needed to be led to the house where Mary and the child were, not only because there were lots of women who had babies in the last two years, but because this king is not where a king should be. Apart from the prophecy of Micah made nearly 700 years before, there would be absolutely no reason for anyone to imagine that Israel’s next king, the promised Messiah, the Son of God, would be born to a lowly virgin in podunk Bethlehem. Is that where you would look? Logically, the king would be in Jerusalem, if not born there, then at least living there. Kings live in palaces. That’s why the magi head to Jerusalem.
But this king has not come to take over for Herod. He is not the worldly king of the Jews. Jesus has come to set up a kingdom that supersedes all geographic borders, ethnicities, and languages. He has come to establish an eternal kingdom. He has come to overthrow sin, death, and Satan. He has come to remove the veil that has covered all peoples and to give life and salvation to everyone. And so the magi hear again the Word of God, from the mouths of those who don’t believe, the word that led them away from Jerusalem, away from the king, away from the unbelieving chief priests and the scribes, to Bethlehem where the star came to rest over the very house where Christ was living. “This is the Lord’s doing and it is marvelous in our eyes.”
If God had not desired the salvation of the Gentiles He would have never provided them with His Word. But He DOES desire their salvation and so He DID cause them to hear His Word, to believe it, and to follow the star in faith so that they might find their Savior who had come for them. And in the events you have heard again this evening, by the very fact that you are here hearing them, God has declared His desire to save you. He wants you to hear of Jesus and to be drawn to Him. Jesus is your Savior. That Gospel is the eternal shining light of all Holy Scripture. That is the whole purpose of Scripture – to lead you and everyone else to Jesus. As St. John wrote of his Gospel account “…these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.” (Jhn 20:31)
How absolutely incredible is that?! God wants to save each and every one of us. And He wants to save you. He didn’t leave the magi to blindly wander around in hopes that they would eventually figure things out. He made sure they knew there was a Savior and He made sure to bring them to the exact house where that Savior was. There was no other Christ. There was no other house. And the very same is still true today. There is no other Christ and no other house. And God doesn’t leave you to figure out your eternal salvation. He doesn’t leave you to find Jesus on your own because He knows that sinners will always look in the wrong places. He shows Him to you.
It doesn’t matter how wise a person you are or you think you are, your salvation must be revealed to you by God and that is exactly what He has done. He has caused His saving Gospel to be proclaimed in your hearing. The whole purpose of all of Scripture is to serve as the bright star that draws you to Jesus, not so that you can bring Him gifts, but so that Jesus may give you the gifts of life and salvation which He and He alone can give you, gifts He purchased, not with silver or gold but with His own Blood. The Scriptures lead you nowhere else. If they do, you’re reading them wrong as Herod and the Jews did. God has caused the Scriptures to be written and preached for the singular purpose of drawing you to the precious means of grace – Holy Baptism, Holy Absolution, Holy Communion. These are Jesus’ gifts to you. With them, through them, this King delivers to you all the blessings of His kingdom – the forgiveness of all your sins, the peace that passes all human understanding, the promise of reconciliation with God.
Dear fellow Gentiles, the coming of the magi to worship Jesus is truly wondrous news for us. Let us rejoice this night because our King who saves us, has revealed Himself to us in His Word and drawn us to Himself that we might receive His gifts. May God the Holy Spirit ever keep us so that we do not ignore the bright star of the Holy Scriptures but always follow as it leads us to Jesus who has come to save us.
In the Name of +Jesus. Amen.