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May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen.
Our meditation for this evening is based on all three of our Epiphany readings. You may be seated.
Why are you here? No, I mean, what are you doing here? Who warned you to flee from the wrath that is to come? Do you not know that this, this is Mount Zion, where God comes to dwell with his people? You’re not Jews, I assume most of you. You’re… Or perhaps you put your confidence in being a lifelong Lutheran or coming from a long line of Lutherans. Your ancestors were pagans, pantheists. They worshipped trees. That’s not really our problem, is it? Our false worship seems more sophisticated than worshipping flora. We trust in our retirement plans. We trust in science. We trust our own good health. We long for things that are pleasing to us, pleasing to our eyes, pleasing to our flesh. We meditate on the pain someone has caused us. We cling to our anger. We justify ourselves and our arrogance. We spend our treasures on ourselves or on those things that bring fleeting happiness.
So I ask again, what are we doing here? Clearly the condition of our hearts doesn’t give us any standing, any right to be in the presence of a holy God. We have no birthright to be here. After all, salvation comes through the Jews. We have no birthright to be here. And yet here we are, Gentiles all. Here we are in this light, basking in the light of this star, the Son, the Son of God. It is truly a mystery.
When I was young… I vividly remember a presentation at a planetarium. I think it was in Chicago. You know, one of those dome buildings where they project the stars on the ceiling so it feels like you’re outside. The topic of this particular presentation was the star that led the wise men to the Savior. Various theories about what that star might have been were presented. Perhaps it was a particular alignment of the planets. A new star appearing in some constellation, perhaps some unknown comet, or, the program concluded, perhaps it was a miraculous event in the sky.
And to my young mind, I always thought it must be some completely amazing supernatural phenomenon that brought these wise men so many miles, some incredible visual display that they simply couldn’t ignore. Think about it. The Bible records just a few magi from the east following this phenomenon, whatever it was. Had it been a bright shining beacon beaming down right onto Bethlehem, wouldn’t multitudes of people gone chasing after it? But there weren’t multitudes. The Jewish shepherds had an angelic invitation. But these Gentile wise men, why them? What did they see that apparently nobody else saw? Why were they there?
It’s interesting, isn’t it? The wise men didn’t actually know that the Savior was to be born in Bethlehem. Neither did Herod. The chief priests and the scribes found that piece of information in scripture. Why did the wise men come to Jerusalem seeking this king in the first place? Why were they there asking about a Jewish king? Notice the text doesn’t say they followed the star to Jerusalem. They saw the star. They saw the star and they recognized it as the star of the king, the king of the Jews. And so they went looking for him.
Theories abound, but most likely they knew of the Old Testament prophecies. Perhaps they were from Babylon, where the Jews had been in exile for 70 years. No doubt the Jewish scriptures were there, too. God’s word must have led them to see this star as something else, something more than some mere astronomical phenomenon in the sky, right? And God’s word with the star certainly led them to Bethlehem.
These are the first Gentiles to bend the knee and worship the Word made flesh, the first to bring Him their offerings. That’s why they were there. Jesus came to redeem His people, and now we see those people are not limited to the Jews, or only to the Lutherans for that matter, but all peoples. God reaches out through this word, this word made flesh in the person of Jesus Christ, the same word proclaimed and preached, the same word poured on your head in baptism, the same word touching your lips in Holy Communion.
Why are we here? We’re here because the thick darkness of sin has been lifted. The Lord has arisen upon us. His glory is seen on you. We Gentiles, too, have been drawn to the light. Look around and see. All the nations gather together, your sons and your daughters. It is a mystery why we are here and others aren’t. This mystery is that the Gentiles, we are fellow heirs, members of the same body, and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel.
Epiphany, it’s really our Christmas. Christmas for the Gentiles, I mean, when God demonstrates that he reveals himself in the person of his Son, not only to the promised Israel of old, but to us, the new Israel. This was always the eternal purpose of God, that through the church the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places, to those wise men, to all the…
You’ve been called by his word to be his holy people, called to be an heir. You were summoned by that word, by that same word that led the Magi to seek out the king of the Jews. There’s not a beaming beacon in the sky shining a bright light right on St. Paul Lutheran and Austin. It’s just a place. It’s an address on a map. It’s a place where God has called you to be so that you may meet him here. And you may worship him, and he may serve you.
It’s a place where God’s word is proclaimed and preached, a place where people are brought to faith and baptism, a people whose faith is nurtured in the body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. To be sure, these things look rather ordinary. People can see and hear what takes place here when we worship and easily dismiss it. It’s not a grand visual display that can’t be ignored. What happens here looks a little different than the rest of the world, perhaps, maybe a little off, probably not unlike that astronomical phenomenon that the wise men saw in the sky. It looked a little different, but so what?
But what that star was and what happens here, these things are illuminated by the word of God and faith. God says you are forgiven, and so it is. God says I make you my own in baptism. And so it is. God says, this is my body and my blood shed for you for the forgiveness of sins. And so it is. Even for us, whose ancestors worshipped goodness knows what. Even for us, who cling to past sins, hold on to past guilt, despair over past failures, or perhaps think of ourselves more highly than we ought.
Even for us, the light of Christ has shone. The light has shown that in the manger lies the King of the Jews and our King, our God, our Savior. He holds all of creation in his hands, born of the Virgin, born as a man among mankind, and yet God of God, light of light, very God of very God.
In Jesus’ name, amen. And the peace of God which passes all understanding will keep your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.