[Machine transcription]
Grace mercy and peace to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus
Christ.
Amen.
Brothers and sisters, using the gospel reading, the visit of the three wise men for the sermon
text, please be seated.
And that’s what we observe and celebrate on Epiphany Sunday, is the visit of the three
wise men.
But epiphany is a fancy word for revealing, and epiphany commemorates the revealing of
the Messiah of Jesus to the Gentiles or the non-Jewish people showing that God’s
gift of a Savior was for all people. In the gospel reading the Gentiles are
represented by these three wise men or the Magi as they’re called or sometimes
the three kings that traveled from the east guided by a star that revealed the
way to where Jesus was.
Now, a couple of things about the Magi, okay?
They probably weren’t kings,
but men who were well-educated in medicine,
science, probably astronomy.
Maybe they wrote the daily horoscope
for the paper back then.
And there may not have been three of them.
We use three because of the three gifts
that were given, gold, incense, and myrrh.
And they probably didn’t visit Jesus when he was in the manger there on the night of his of his birth
Because in the reading we just heard it says that they came to a house where Jesus and Mary and Jesus were
Perhaps as much as even two years after Jesus had been born
Now none of that means that you have to go home and change your nativity set, okay?
It’s not that important
What’s important is the revealing and the receiving of that revealing in this
event. First of all, the Magi, the three wise men. Their receiving of this
revealing was not easy. They came from the east, likely modern-day Iraq or Iran,
maybe even as far as India traveling that distance to Judea to Israel was
hard back then you couldn’t just say road trip throw a bunch of stuff
together and take off there weren’t smooth roads there were no travel agents
no MapQuest or GPS devices well they had the star I suppose that kind of counts
but travel then was slow and dangerous and uncomfortable.
I mean, having to ride on an animal with no shock absorption,
no temperature control, no emission control, for that matter,
just doesn’t seem like a fun thing to do.
But it is reasonable to think that they rode camels to get there,
and so that part of your nativity scene doesn’t have to change, okay?
but even with the difficulty and the danger of travel and not even being
exactly sure where they were going, the Magi, the three wise men, went. They
received that revelation with joy. And besides the star, it’s reasonable to
believe that the Magi, they had more revealing,
more that revealed to them about this person
to be born King of the Jews.
They learned it from the Hebrew Scriptures,
from the Old Testament, as we call it today,
from the Bible.
Again, these were educated men.
And it’s very possible that they had access to
and read the literary works of other cultures, especially literary works that
talked about and prophesied about a king and when and where he was to be born. It
was God’s Word that revealed to them about this king, about the Jewish Messiah.
in contrast there’s Herod at that time he was the king of the Jews and now
these guys come along asking where can we find the one who’s been born king of
the Jews and Herod’s like what am I chopped liver you know what what’s this
and his response his receiving of this revealing was he was troubled that’s how
he received the revealing but he’s troubled but he’s not surprised and he
shouldn’t be because he and all of the people of Israel have been looking for
this king of the Jews this Messiah to be born Herod knew this and it was revealed
to him in the same source that the Magi had the Scriptures the Old Testament
God’s word because that’s where Herod and the chief priests and the scribes
look for this revelation about this king and the prophet Micah spelled it out for
them where he would be born. Herod’s troubled because now the Messiah the
king of the Jews is here revealed in the flesh. Herod’s not just troubled in his
response to the revealing of the true King of the Jews eventually results in
him ordering the murder of many innocent children all trying to kill that newborn
King of the Jews. The three wise men and King Herod, they had the same revealing
just a different receiving. They had different responses to the revealing of
Jesus born to save all people from their sins and we have the same revealing
today God’s Word the Scriptures the Bible because it’s the Bible that reveals to
us from cover to cover about this one to be born King of the Jews and Savior of
all people Jesus. Now the Bible gets received in many ways today. People will
say this about the Bible. It’s not reliable. It’s not relevant. It’s a
fairy tale. It doesn’t apply to today or it doesn’t apply like it did years ago.
They’ll say, I don’t agree with the Bible and in fact I don’t even like what it
says the Bible can often trouble people and no wonder because some of the
things the Bible has to say about people are kind of troubling the Bible
says this about us it’s about you and me we’re filled with all manner of
unrighteousness evil covetousness malice envy murder strife deceit
maliciousness, people are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty,
boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, foolish, faithless, heartless,
and ruthless. The Bible also says there are none righteous, no not even one, and
all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.
Troubling stuff, but, true,
the troubling things of this world
are far too easy to see every day.
And the troubling things of this world
are too easy to see in our lives as well.
Yeah, in that long list I read,
I’m sure I hit you with somewhere in there,
and me too.
The Bible reveals things about us
that we don’t want to know,
much less anybody else know.
Again, what the Bible reveals
can trouble us,
but the Bible also reveals
good things.
It reveals God’s mercy
and grace and love
that even though we are sinners
of that degree,
of all of that list,
He still loves us.
and when we search the scriptures when we look at them we we find the same
thing that was revealed to Herod and to the wise men that the Messiah the king
of the Jews and Savior of all people has been born and he is the revelation of
God’s mercy and grace and love Jesus revealed all of this to us in the
forgiveness of our troubling sins by by dying and rising from the dead to give
us that forgiveness in all of those things Christ’s birth his life his death
his resurrection the Bible reveals to us that good news that’s what’s in the
Bible in the scriptures from from Genesis to Revelation is all pointing us
to Jesus, born to save all people from their sins.
Now, maybe you’re really troubled by cares in life,
and maybe you’re even troubled by your sins.
Of all those troubling things that you’ve done
that keep you from what God is revealing to you in Christ,
the trouble of sins can become a huge burden of guilt and shame and it keeps
you from receiving the revealing that God really wants you to have because the
Bible reveals differently yeah the Bible reveals the troubling sins that we
commit but it also reveals how much God truly loves you to label the Bible as
as not relevant, or it doesn’t apply today,
or even a fairy tale, that is so wrong.
We all need relief from the trouble of our sin.
I think all people want forgiveness,
especially for things that they’ve done
that really trouble them.
I think everybody wants that.
It’s just, where do they look for it?
Where do they try to, where is that revealed to them,
the forgiveness that’s why the Bible reveals to it to us it in Christ you had
to say the Bible is irrelevant no it’s not it’s got it’s got what everybody
really does want and really needs the Bible is completely reliable in that but
yeah I know it can be hard to receive that revealing because like the wise
men traveling in life according to God’s revealing is according to the Bible that
can be hard it can be uncomfortable and sometimes even dangerous because we meet
opposition along the way the Bible and people who follow it are often
criticized and even attacked but we still hold to it we hold to it as God’s
inspired, inerrant, and infallible word for us
because it reveals what we really need.
The Bible is that revealed word to us.
We don’t hold to our human opinions
or our own ever-changing minds or emotions.
We hold to the Scriptures.
All of our ideas, our theology, our outlook, our ideals,
our worldview are according to the revealing of Christ in the Scriptures.
We even say it in the Creed that we believe that Jesus rose from the dead
according to the Scriptures. It was revealed that way to Herod, to the wise
men, and to us today. It’s said sometimes, and rightfully so, that God works in
in mysterious and hidden ways.
Okay, fair enough, true enough.
But sometimes, God just lays it right out for us.
And He’s done that in Jesus.
He’s revealed Himself to us in ways we can relate to.
Flesh and blood, in humanity,
in suffering and in death, and in life.
in Jesus God just lays out his revealing to us of how he relates to us right
there he relates in dying for us and rising again and and and God lays it
out for us literally in black and white in the Scriptures that when we read it
when we hear it when we proclaim it that are those are his words revealing to us
us what his relationship to us in Christ. I pray that you’re active in in in
seeking God’s revealing to you in the Scriptures. In Sunday school class today
we Bible class we learned about the Bereans and how they diligently daily
search the Scriptures. It’s early in the year it’s still not too late to commit
to a new resolution, to be involved in studying the Bible,
or hearing it on a daily basis.
There’s all kinds of Scripture reading plans
and little devotions that you can be a part of each day,
seeking that revealing.
And like that wise man, receiving it with great joy.
What Christ has done for you in His life, death, and resurrection,
may you receive that revealing with great joy maybe even each day in Jesus
name amen now may the peace of God which passes all
understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus amen
