Sermon - Epiphany 2019 - Matthew 2:1-12

“Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the east came to Jerusalem, saying, “Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.”” Isn’t it interesting how God chose to work among the magi of the Gentiles? Here are these unbelievers, these Gentiles from eastern lands, probably Persia, they’ve seen a star in the sky revealed to them by the Lord so that they might come to Israel to worship the Christ Child. 

God worked a great extraordinary miracle for these men, revealing a bright light in the sky to lead them to the Messiah. But what’s most fascinating is that God didn’t lead these magi directly to Jesus through supernatural means. Instead, the star led them into Jerusalem in Israel, led them to king Herod. 

Once they arrived in Jerusalem, the extraordinary star left them for a while, and they relied upon the ordinary. “When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him; and assembling all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born. They told him, “In Bethlehem of Judea, for so it is written by the prophet: “‘And you, O Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for from you shall come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel.’””

God instead worked through His appointed ordinary means to direct the Gentiles in the right direction, He worked through His Word. This is no unusual thing, because this is the manner in which God likes to deal with people and lead them to saving faith: through His Word. God has given His Word to His church, to be proclaimed by His church unto all the world, so that all the world may receive the grace of Jesus.

Yes, Christians, God has given all of you, His church, the responsibility of proclaiming His Word unto all the World. When Jesus Christ took on human flesh at Christmas, He is making it incredibly obvious that He has come for all humans. “Have I any pleasure in the death of the wicked, declares the Lord GOD, and not rather that he should turn from his way and live?” Surely, “God our Savior desires all people to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth.” 

This is the great miracle and revealing of the Epiphany, that when Jesus the Christ was born, He was the light which enlightens the Gentiles. It’s not only God’s people Israel which were to be saved, but all people, all nations! “Nations shall come to Your light, and kings to the brightness of Your rising.” These magi, these Gentile unbelievers are those for whom Christ was born and died and rose again. For us, we Gentiles, Jesus was born and died and rose again. Jesus has come to save all peoples, all nations, all races, all tribes, all languages. 

Us Christians, we’re the ones who are to be about the business of proclaiming God’s Word so that all Gentiles, all unbelievers, may come to the knowledge of the truth of Jesus Christ and be saved. All of those foreign lands that don’t know Jesus, that haven’t heard of the Savior who came for them, those are people for whom Christ was born and died and resurrected.

God could shine a great light and bring these people to the Christ, He could do that, He’s done it before. But our Gospel reading today makes it clear that God desires to work through His church which proclaims His Word so that the Gentiles might believe and know Jesus. The only way this is going to happen is through proclaiming the Word. Which means you need to know the Word. 

Herod obviously didn’t know it, which is why he had to ask all the chief priests and scribes where the Christ was to be born. But when they answered him, they answered him by speaking God’s Word. The Word of God is going to grow His church because God’s Word reveals Jesus to our unbelieving neighbors. 

This is why it’s vital for our congregations to send out pastor missionaries to all the ends of the earth. I suppose this is also the easiest way for us to support the proclamation of the Gospel. Afterall, America is a land of many riches, most of us have more than what we need to survive on. We have gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh, gifts of great wealth which we can share to support the mission work in far away lands. Our congregation supports a missionary, so by default, you also support a missionary. I would also encourage you to personally, go above and beyond and support a missionary personally in addition to supporting one through the congregation. 

However, this is not the only way by which we Christians are to be sharing the Good News of the Gospel. Not all of us are called to be foreign missionaries, not all of us are called to be pastors and preach publicly in a pulpit, but all of us are Christians with neighbors we come in contact with regularly who are in need of hearing the Gospel. You don’t have to go to Indonesia or Africa or China or even Des Moines, when there are people in our neighborhood who don’t know the Gospel.

Consider this, if you saw your neighbor drowning in a pool of water, what would you do? Of course you run over to them, pull them from the pool, and do everything within your power to help them live. If you were to just standby and watch, or turn your back and walk away, when you could help, you would be guilty of their death. 

So why is it that when a great tidal wave of unbelief hits our neighbors, and they are drowning in their doubts and sins, we idly watch them die or turn our backs and walk away? For dying in a pool of water is a tragedy, but if the person had faith, they will still live in heaven. Dying in unbelief is the greatest tragedy known to man, for death without Christ is death forever, it’s eternal hell and damnation. Is it not the most unloving gesture to ignore your neighbor drowning in their sins and unbelief, when you could share with them the light of the Gospel of Jesus?

Even King Herod, who sought to destroy Jesus and murdered many innocent boys in his attempt, at the very least pointed the magi to Bethlehem. Let us not be worse than he! For afterall, how did you end up here in church, why do you have faith, how will you be saved? Was it not because someone taught you the Word, brought you to church, invited you to come? Perhaps it was your parents, and good for them, they did their job! Perhaps it was a friend who invited you to come, good for them, they did their job! 

So you are here, listening to the Word of God. You have been brought out of the deep darkness of unbelief and on you a light has shone. The Lord has risen upon you and His glory will be seen upon you! Though we are sinners, sinners afraid of speaking God’s Word to our neighbors, Jesus came for us because He wasn’t afraid of us. He came and made us fellow heirs with Him, members of the same body as He, and partakers of the promise in Him through the Gospel.

Jesus has come to deliver the gift of His grace to you! He has come to pull you out of the pit of doubt and unbelief, so that you might not drown in your sin but live to receive life everlasting. These are riches far more valuable than some gold, frankincense, and myrrh. These are riches far more valuable than our reputations and popularity. These are riches which cannot be bought nor sold, riches which endure beyond death and this life. 

Our sins of cowardice and selfishness and laziness to proclaim the Gospel to our neighbors are sins which Jesus has come to atone for and die. Jesus has come to forgive even you. To remove your burdens and guilt so that you might instead be bold and confident through your faith in Him. 

Therefore let us together proclaim God’s Word to one another and our unbelieving neighbors, whether they live 5 blocks or 5000 miles from us. So that we, together with them, may rejoice exceedingly with great joy at the sight of our mutual Savior. Let us together fall down and worship our God, for He alone has come to save us all, and be the light in this dark world.