The Wise Men Reveal the King of Glory

Matthew 2:1-12 On the night of Jesus’ birth the heavens opened and an angels’ choir sang praises to the newborn Savior and the glory of God shown down upon that scene in the manger.  Anyone who was there that night could see the glory of God--they could hear the angels’ song.

But in fairly short order the angels departed- and heaven was closed- and the bright, shining glory of God gave way to the darkness of that night and the ordinariness of daily life.

From that moment on, the glory of the Lord in the human flesh of Jesus Christ had to be revealed and made manifest and would only be perceived by those who had faith in its signs. 

When the wise men finished their star-guided journey to welcome the king of the Jews, Jesus was already two or three years old.  There were no heavenly choirs.  There was no overwhelming glory resting as a bright shining cloud above Jesus’ head. 

And yet the glory of God in Jesus was still there.  The Magi’s visit and the guiding star revealed that the Christ Child is the God whom nature must serve.  He is the Messiah that the Scripture proclaims.  He is the hope of the nations.  And he is the Lord who will be worshiped.  St. Matthew wrote that:

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.”

            We have seen HIS star.  The great mystery revealed at Christmas is that little baby who was born in Bethlehem at a particular moment in time was also from everlasting for he is the second person of the Holy Trinity.  The tiny newborn who was held and fed by his mother is the same One who upholds the universe and meets the needs of all creatures for he is the God who called this world into being. 

These great truths are not the pious opinion of Jesus’ disciples-- but the testimony of creation about her Creator. 

There are different opinions about what kind of heavenly body it was that the wise men followed.  But it is the Spirit-inspired testimony of St. Matthew that reveals what we really need to know:  that it is Jesus’ star.  Jesus’ star!  It is Jesus’ star because he created it and it is Jesus’ star because it testified to him and reveals his glory.

Throughout the Epiphany season we will see this theme again and again--the glory of God revealed in Jesus.  We will see it as he commands water to become wine, and the seas to become calm, and the ill to become well. 

In the flesh of a newborn in Bethlehem- and a toddler in Egypt- and boy in the temple—and a carpenter in Nazareth-- is found the living God of the universe—a universe which must obey the voice of its Master and bear witness to him by a star that illumines his birth and a star that hides its face as he is crucified upon a cross. 

In the visit of the wise men we see that Jesus is the Savior of the world who is promised in the pages of Holy Scriptures.  St. Matthew writes that:

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.’”  Then Herod summoned the wise men secretly and ascertained from them what time the star had appeared.  And he sent them to Bethlehem, saying, “Go and search diligently for the child, and when you have found him, bring me word, that I too may come and worship him.”

            For so it is written by the prophet.  A number of years ago there was a popular bumper sticker that many people had on their cars.  It read:  “God said it—I believe it—that settles it”.  Even if the wise men didn’t have that sticker on the back of their camels it was certainly their operating theology.  They believed the word of God!

“Where would the Savior be born”?  That was the question of Herod and his court.  The answer of the wise men was:  “What does the Bible say?  It MUST be in Bethlehem because that is what God promised in his Word”!

The story is not only TOLD in the New Testament it is FORETOLD in the Old Testament, many hundreds of year before Jesus enters into history and takes on human flesh and so the purpose of the Advent and Christmas and Epiphany seasons in the church year is to reveal WHO Jesus is from the pages of the Bible.

During Advent we heard the prophecies concerning the Messiah:  that the Savior of the world will be a real human being; that he will be born of a virgin; that he will be born in Bethlehem; and that he will suffer and die and rise again for all people. 

During Christmas we heard of the faithfulness of God to all of these prophecies:  that Jesus is born of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Bethlehem and that a forerunner prepares his way.

Beginning today in Epiphany we see that the Gentiles also come to Christ just as was foretold by the prophets and that every messianic sign of healing the sick and raising the dead and setting the prisoner free was fulfilled by Jesus.

The magi were men of great learning but they were also men of great faith who simply took God at this Word.  God promised that the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem and so that’s where they were looking for the Messiah. 

That is still the purpose of the Bible:  to tell us about the person and work of Jesus Christ who is the Savior, not just of the Jews, but of all people.  St. Matthew writes:

After listening to the king, they went on their way. And behold, the star that they had seen when it rose went before them until it came to rest over the place where the child was.  When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy.

            The Gentile wise men rejoiced exceedingly with great joy.  During Christmas we heard the story of the Messiah’s birth set in concrete places and a very specific culture.

Zechariah and Elizabeth were pious Jews and Zechariah was taking his turn as a priest in the temple when they learned that their child would prepare the way for the Messiah. 

Mary and Joseph lived in a small town in Judea when they learned that the Savior of the world would be entrusted to them. 

Jesus came to earth in a particular place, to a particular people and culture.  He is truly the King of the Jews.

But the Messiah’s coming into the world and the work he would do was not just for a few-- not just for the folks with the right culture and customs—not just for the folks with the right ethnicity—but for ALL people—for every nation and tribe and people and language.

God had always promised that he would send a Savior for ALL of Adam’s descendants so that as many as were ruined by the first Adam’s sin-- could be redeemed by the second Adam’s obedience. 

The Gentile wise men rejoiced in the presence of Jesus because they knew that the one proclaimed King of the Jews was their Savior too.

The Jews of that day believed the wise men were cut off from God because they weren’t the right kind of people.  But the religious leaders had forgotten that the love of God extends to all people.

It is good for us to be reminded of that too.  We are still tempted to limit the love of God to those who haven’t committed this sin or that—to those who are like us in terms of culture and ethnicity—to those who have a certain lifestyle. 

But the guiding star and the visit of the wise men reveal the Good News that God’s love and the Savior’s work is for all people, to join everyone into the family of God as brothers and sisters in Christ who will one day sing their worship and praise around the throne of the lamb in his kingdom just as the wise men first worshiped the Christ Child.  St. Matthew wrote that:

going into the house the wide men saw the child with Mary his mother, and they fell down and worshiped him. Then, opening their treasures, they offered him gifts, gold and frankincense and myrrh. And being warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they departed to their own country by another way.

                The wise men did not merely honor Jesus or pledge their loyalty.  They did not simply acknowledge him as the rightful king of the Jews, though he was.  They worshiped him. 

For Gentile and Jew alike, worship is only given to God.  That was the faith of the wise men:  that Jesus was God and deserved their worship. 

It would take the disciples years of miracles and signs before they could really come to that confession, that one true God took on flesh in Jesus of Nazareth.  But already that day in Bethlehem, there were wise men with the gift of faith who gave Jesus the worship and offerings he deserved.

I pray that the guiding star and visit of the wise men would lead us to that same place:  that we would confess that in Jesus the Creator has become a creature—that we would believe what the bible says about him—that we would rejoice that his love extends to all people—and that we would offer him the worship that he deserves!  Amen.