Your Kingdom Come, Your Will Be Done!

Matthew 2:1-13

Epiphany

 

It is good to be here today.  Some of you were gone over the holidays.  Welcome home.  Others of us stayed here for Christmas.  Tanya and I had 23 of us here for Christmas.  I thought we had two good holiday Sunday services.  Our Christmas service on Christmas day was special.  Zee read Mary’s Magnificat and then we sang it.  That was a touching moment.  Last week on New Year’s Day Bill Redmond did a good job updating us on China and then passionately encouraged us to be whole with our lives.  We are not pieces parts that can be reduced, but we are to offer all of ourselves as sacrifice. Of course the best part of the last two Sundays was… sticky buns, posole and tamales.

 

I am sure all of you had a great celebration of Epiphany on Friday; the Feast of Theophany?  No?  That is the third highest holiday for the Greek Orthodox Church right behind Easter and Pentecost.  That is an odd thing.  You have heard the 12 Days of Christmas…  That is the 12 days between December 25^th and January 6^th.  It was Christmastide; the 12 day celebration between Christmas and Epiphany.  “Did you have a good Epiphany?”  I don’t think I have ever heard that sentence before.

 

Perhaps our Christmas traditions are not as good as other traditions.  We start Christmas too early, with decorations up before Thanksgiving, and then we stop it too quick.  Christmas is one day… actually about 2 hours.  Christmas is the time we open our presents and eat turkey.  We did Christmas from 4 to 6 Christmas day.  And now the tree is back in the attic.  Bam it is over and the mess needs to be cleaned up.  Other Christian traditions do it for 12 days, climaxing on Epiphany; January 6^th.  That sounds like a better way to celebrate the birth of our Lord.

 

So, this morning I want to do Epiphany.  Since all of us skipped it, let’s do Epiphany for the next 20 minutes.  It is not 12 days, but I guess we do everything in a hurry.  Epiphany is the story of Matthew chapter 2.

 

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Matthew 2:1-2   After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem and asked, "Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews?  We saw his star in the east and have come to worship him."

 

Epiphany begins with a star and the Magi.  We call these Magi, the Three Wise Men or the “We three kings of orient are”.  And they are the coolest people in the Nativity scenes.  They have their camels and cool robes and great gifts.  If you want to be anybody in the Nativity you want to be the Wise men. 

 

These Wise Men were most likely priests from Persia.  They were as pagan as you could get.  They were astrologers, who typically worked for kings.  The Magi, short for our word magicians, advised kings about what to do.  According to how the stars were aligned they would tell what is going to happened.  Today, we would have taken the Magi about as serious as a fortune cookie.  But in the days of Jesus, most kings would have had their cabinet full of Magi giving them advice about all of their decisions.  Epiphany begins with Pagan magicians coming to worship Jesus because the stars were aligned.

 

The Old Testament condemns divination, including astrology.  God strictly told the Jews not to use astrology.  Jewish law forbade the whole Magi thing.  Yet, God sent a star to these pagans to tell them about the birth of his son.  The stars were aligned and they pointed to Jesus. 

 

This brings up a really interesting question, “Why would God send a star to these Persian Pagan Priests?”

 

Let’s go on with Epiphany and see what happens next.

 

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Matthew 2:3-8  When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him.  When he had called together all the people's chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Christ was to be born.  "In Bethlehem in Judea," they replied, "for this is what the prophet has written: "'But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for out of you will come a ruler who will be the shepherd of my people Israel.'“  Then Herod called the Magi secretly and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared.  He sent them to Bethlehem and said, "Go and make a careful search for the child.  As soon as you find him, report to me, so that I too may go and worship him." 

 

The story gets even stranger.  In olden days, kings would send representatives to congratulate other kings on the birth of their sons.  Maybe, the Persian king sent these Magi to King Herod to congratulate him on the birth of a new son.  Naturally, the Wise Men would have gone to Jerusalem, the capital of Judea, to find the newborn king of the Jews.  I don’t think this was three guys showing up on their own.  It is more likely, the Magi were ambassadors of Persia come from their king to honor King Herod.  It would have been a big deal; foreign dignitaries coming to honor King Herod on the birth of the next king of the Jews.

 

You can picture this royal caravan; lots of camels, lots of guards, lots of riches, a big parade coming in the gates of the city of Jerusalem.  The whole town was stirred up.  “What’s going on?  Is there a newborn king?”  The people of Jerusalem would have understood, “This can’t end well.  There are foreign dignitaries showing up to worship a new born king.  But Herod doesn’t have a newborn son.”  Herod would have graciously received these foreign ambassadors.  But Herod didn’t have a newborn son.

 

This King Herod is Herod the Great.  He is called Great because he ruled Judea for over 40 years.  He played his politics well and stayed in power a long time in tough place to stay in control.  King Herod is known as great because of he built many grand buildings, including the Temple there in Jerusalem and the fortress of Masada, and palaces in Caesarea.  Many of the archeological places, sill in Israel, were commissioned by Herod the Great.

 

But he was also Herod the Terrible, terrible because of the ruthless ways he stayed in power.  He killed members of his own family whenever they threatened his control.  He strangled a wife when she crossed him.  He arranged for a drowning of a brother-in-law.  Herod even put a hit out on two of his sons.  He eliminated all those who threatened to take power from him. 

 

So, the news of a star signaling the birth of a new king of the Jews would have set off the Herod the Terrible.  Herod comes up with a plan.  He checks with Scripture and finds out Bethlehem is the where the Messiah is predicted to be born.  Then, he tricks the Magi into telling him when they first saw the star, "Go and make a careful search for the child.  As soon as you find him, report to me, so that I too may go and worship him… or not!”

 

Political intrigue at the birth of Jesus leaves me with another question, “Why did God involve Herod in the birth of his Son?”  He could have directed the Magi straight to Jesus and skipped the whole Jerusalem scene.  Why tell the paranoid King Herod a new king was born?

 

Let’s see what happens next in our Epiphany.

 

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Matthew 2:9-12  After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen in the east went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was.  When they saw the star, they were overjoyed.  On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him.  Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold and of incense and of myrrh.  And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route.

 

Now, the star appears, again, and guides them straight to Jesus.  Our nativities are wrong.  The shepherds who came on the night of Jesus birth are no longer hanging around, this is a couple of years later.  I assume Joseph has found them a place to live.  Jesus is a toddler.  The little family is making do as best they can, perhaps living with relatives in the small town of Bethlehem; which is only 6 miles from Jerusalem. 

 

Imagine the scene in little town of Bethlehem, when this caravan of foreigners show up on Joseph and Mary’s doorstep.  If the Magi had made a big splash in Jerusalem, imagine the caravan parking on main street Bethlehem.  Imagine the surprise on Mary’s face as she answers the door.  “Excuse me”, the Magi say, “We are looking for the King of Jews.  Is he here?”  Perhaps, Jesus is standing behind Mary holding on to one of her legs.  The Magi smile, “Is this little guy the king of the Jews?”  What does Mary say?  “Sure, I guess.  What?”

 

The Magi must have told Mary about the star and them being ambassadors from the King of Persia.  Does Mary tell them about how Jesus was conceived?  Does Joseph tell about the angel in a dream?  Do they swap notes about all the know about toddler Jesus being, Immanuel; God with us.  I kind of suspect they did  exchanged notes on who Jesus is.  Maybe toddler Jesus even talks to them. I would have liked to have been watching on a webcam.  It must have been a strange and wonderful visit.

 

Anyway, the Bible does tell us the Magi are overjoyed!  They give Jesus gifts worthy of a king.  I suspect there was a ton of gold and chests full of incense and myrrh.  Gazillions of dollars’ worth of gifts are laid at the feet of the new king of the Jews!  You don’t make the trip from Persia as ambassadors of a king and then give cheap gifts.  I’m sure these first Christmas gifts were not white elephant gifts, but kingly, magnificent gifts!

 

This part of the story may be the strangest yet.  Here in a little peasant’s shack, sit Persian astrologers giving enough treasures to buy most of Bethlehem.  Then they do something even stranger.  Royal pagan magicians bow down and worship this little Jewish boy.  It is hard to imagine a stranger scene.

 

Here is a question I haven’t asked yet about Epiphany, “Why did the Magi come?”  Why take a couple of years to organize this caravan, collect the treasures, travel from Persia to Bethlehem… why would these pagans go to this much trouble to worship a baby Jewish king?  That is a head scratcher.

 

They did not go back and tell Herod.  The Magi had their own dream and skipped Jerusalem on their return trip to Persia.  We will find out next week what Herod did.  Don’t worry, he doesn’t kill baby Jesus.  But I want to end this sermon by taking a shot at our questions.

 

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We have at least four questions on the table;

-Why did God send the star to a bunch of pagan astrologers? 

-Why involve King Herod in the intrigue? 

-Why did the Magi bother to come? 

-And a bigger question, why did Matthew tell the Epiphany story?  Luke does not mention anything about the Magi.  Luke’s gospel is all about this kind of stuff.  Why does Matthew take the entire second chapter to tell the Epiphany story?

 

Let’s answer the Matthew question first.  I think the answer gets back to the Old treasures and the New Treasures.  Remember Matthew is going to bring out the connections of Jesus to the Old Testament.  Matthew wants his people to know Jesus is the fulfillment of the old prophecies.  But Matthew also wants his people to see that Jesus is something altogether new.

 

First the Old…

 

Psalm 72:1-11  Of Solomon. Endow the king with your justice, O God, the royal son with your righteousness.  He will judge your people in righteousness, your afflicted ones with justice.  The mountains will bring prosperity to the people, the hills the fruit of righteousness.  He will defend the afflicted among the people and save the children of the needy; he will crush the oppressor.  He will endure as long as the sun, as long as the moon, through all generations.  He will be like rain falling on a mown field, like showers watering the earth.  In his days the righteous will flourish; prosperity will abound till the moon is no more.  He will rule from sea to sea and from the River to the ends of the earth.  The desert tribes will bow before him and his enemies will lick the dust. The kings of Tarshish and of distant shores will bring tribute to him; the kings of Sheba and Seba will present him gifts.  All kings will bow down to him and all nations will serve him.

 

Wow.  Matthew is saying Jesus is a king like Solomon.  Other kings came to present gifts to him!  Jesus will be another Solomon.

 

Isaiah 60:1-6  Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the LORD rises upon you.  See, darkness covers the earth and thick darkness is over the peoples, but the LORD rises upon you and his glory appears over you.  Nations will come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your dawn. Lift up your eyes and look about you: All assemble and come to you; your sons come from afar, and your daughters are carried on the arm.  Then you will look and be radiant, your heart will throb and swell with joy; the wealth on the seas will be brought to you, to you the riches of the nations will come.  Herds of camels will cover your land, young camels of Midian and Ephah. And all from Sheba will come, bearing gold and incense and proclaiming the praise of the LORD.

 

Matthew is remembering Isaiah.  Jesus is the glory of the LORD and kings bring him gold and incense!

 

Both the passages are connected to 1 Kings 10 and the visit of the Queen of Sheba to Solomon.

 

1 Kings 10:1-2  When the queen of Sheba heard about the fame of Solomon and his relation to the name of the LORD, she came to test him with hard questions. Arriving at Jerusalem with a very great caravan-- with camels carrying spices, large quantities of gold, and precious stones-- she came to Solomon and talked with him about all that she had on her mind.

 

Matthew is bringing out this old treasure.  The toddler Jesus, in Bethlehem, is the new King Solomon.  Matthew wants us to make this connection.  Matthew must convince us that Jesus is KING of the Jews.  These Magi, by giving their gifts to this little boy, are pointing to him as King, as sure as the star of Bethlehem pointed them to him.  Could Matthew have made this point any more dramatically?  Kingly gifts are given to the newborn king of the Jews!  Wow.

 

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That is the old.  But Matthew also brings out a new treasure.  Yes, Jesus is the king of the Jews, but Jesus is also the King of All.  This is good news for us.  Jesus is king of pagans… too.  Jesus can be our king.  The Magi are the first gentiles to respond to King Jesus.

 

God sent the star to these pagan priests because that is what Jesus came to do.  God came to this world to spread his new kingdom, to make disciples of all nations to the very end of the age.  Oh, that’s us.  God send his son to be king of the entire world!  God sought out these Magi and brought them to his son just like he does for each one of us! 

 

Guess what, the Magi came and worshipped.  Just like us.  We can bring our gifts of worship to the newborn King.  We celebrate Epiphany!  Epiphany is all about pagans worshipping the newborn King of the world.  Am I right?  It is good to be here this morning because we came to worship this King of Kings!  That is the new Treasure.  God’s kingdom is spreading over the entire world!  “Oh, oh Pick me to be a part of this new Kingdom!”

 

What about King Herod?  Why involve the political intrigue of Herod?  We are going to answer that question next week.  I can’t wait… the Herod answer will amaze you.  It needs a whole sermon.

 

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January 6^th is the Epiphany.  Epiphany is the revelation of Jesus, as not only the king of Jews, but much bigger.  Jesus is the king of all nations to the end of the ages.  As pagans, perhaps, Epiphany should be our favorite holiday.

 

 

Tim Stidham

Los Alamos Church of Christ

January 8, 2012