Epiphany Sermon

We’re going to talk about the wise men today.  We don’t actually know how many there were, as frustrating as that seems for all of us with nativities, but we know they made a spectacular journey in faith.  Traveling wasn’t easy in those days, but they set out because they were convicted that it was the right thing to do.  It was worth the risk to have the chance to worship the Savior and offer their gifts, however meager they might be in comparison to the God of the universe.  We’re going to journey with the wise men today and see what they have to say to us, and throughout, we’re going to focus on three things. 

First of all, they paid attention.  They observed the star at its rising.  Secondly, they took a risk, and finally, they gave generously, without condition. 

Matthew 2:1-12

The Visit of the Wise Men

In the time of King Herod, after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, asking, ‘Where is the child who has been born king of the Jews? For we observed his star at its rising, and have come to pay him homage.’ When King Herod heard this, he was frightened, and all Jerusalem with him; and calling together all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Messiah was to be born. They told him, ‘In Bethlehem of Judea; for so it has been written by the prophet:
“And you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,
   are by no means least among the rulers of Judah;
for from you shall come a ruler
   who is to shepherd my people Israel.” ’

 Then Herod secretly called for the wise men and learned from them the exact time when the star had appeared. Then he sent them to Bethlehem, saying, ‘Go and search diligently for the child; and when you have found him, bring me word so that I may also go and pay him homage.’ When they had heard the king, they set out; and there, ahead of them, went the star that they had seen at its rising, until it stopped over the place where the child was. When they saw that the star had stopped, they were overwhelmed with joy. On entering the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother; and they knelt down and paid him homage. Then, opening their treasure-chests, they offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. And having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they left for their own country by another road.

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There was a story, a few years back, about the city of London putting padding on their telephone poles.  Why?  Too many injuries were caused by people walking into them while they were busy playing with their phones.  It sounds crazy, but how many people do you see walking around with their heads bowed to the phone in their hand?  Starts to make sense, doesn’t it? 

We’re not a society that pays attention well.  When we do pay attention, it’s often to the wrong things.  How many people here have stories about times they’ve almost been killed by other drivers with their heads buried in their phones?  We’ve all been there.  If not, it might be because you were the one with your head buried in your phone.  We’ve stopped paying attention well.

So it’s noticeable that, in this story, the wise men are said to have observed the star at its rising.  I assume this wasn’t a hidden star, made secret only for these wise men.  It was probably in the night sky for all to see—only these men were the few who actually observed it.  They were the ones paying attention. 

Not only were they paying attention, noticing something that everyone else saw but no one else paid attention to, but they were also informed by Scripture.  When Herod asks them where the Messiah was to be born, they quote Micah, indicating that they know the Old Testament.  Not only were they paying attention, but they were informed by Scripture.

So, if we’re going to follow the example of the wise men, we need to pay attention.  We need to observe the world around us with different eyes, eyes ready to notice things that everyone else may see but no one else pays attention to.  I guarantee you that there are people in your life that are hurting, and many of these people wear their pain on their faces, only no one is really paying attention to them.  There are situations in our towns, in our church, that are crying out, but we’re too busy occupying ourselves with the wrong things, paying attention to our own selves rather than the world around us.  We need to pay attention, and when we observe the world around us, we notice things and people that everyone else misses.  When we do this as a people grounded in Scripture, we hear the Biblical call to bind up the broken-hearted, to care for the sick and the outcast, to feed the hungry and clothe the naked.  We notice the need and are compelled to meet it.  Pay attention, Matthew says.  Observe the world around you, and then let Scripture guide your response. 

So we have the observant wise men, grounded in Scripture, going to meet the Savior.  On the way, what do they encounter?

Evil.

That’s right—evil at work through the person of Herod. 

Herod lies to the wise men, telling them that he wishes to pay the Messiah homage, when the reality is that he wants to execute him.  Herod is driven by fear to rid the world of the threat to human power.  Evil is afraid of God’s kingdom, and so it lies to the wise men in the hopes of conquering the king. 

It will lie to you, too, in the hopes of preventing Christ from reigning in your heart.  Satan isn’t called the Father of Lies for nothing—he’s had a lot of practice, and he’ll busy himself lying to you, too.

Notice how he works here.  He takes something good, worship, homage, and will do something twisted with it.  He promises a good thing but then substitutes it for evil.  The game has not changed.

In today’s world, Satan is at work with the same tactics.  He doesn’t change, mostly because he doesn’t need to—the same lies still work.  Satan takes something like money, a fine thing that can be used to do much good, and convinces us to fall in love with it, to trust it with our lives, to build our security in it, and suddenly this thing that can be good is an evil thing, a dangerous thing of which we need be very careful. 

Or sex.  Sex is a good thing, a thing God uses to create life.  In today’s culture, Satan uses the promise and allure and pleasure of sex to convince people to have it freely, whenever and with whomever they want.  Taken out of the bounds of marriage, it has the potential to damage and destroy relationships, to become a weapon or a bargaining chip.  It can corrode relationships.  It’s a good thing used for bad.

So Satan lies to the wise men, but they pay attention.  They resist the offer of Herod, for they are guided by God.  They listen when God talks, in this case through a dream, and they return home by another way.

But how do you think Herod would feel when he found out he was deceived by the wise men?  I bet he was furious—remember, he’s being driven by fear.  Had the wise men not been from afar, he might have had them killed.  Roman rulers weren’t known for their restraint back then.  They took a huge risk by disobeying his order.

Following Christ requires risk.  Faith is not an easy guarantee of a risk-free life.  It’s a risky thing—if you speak up about wrong things going on at work, you could lose your job.  If you give God total control of your finances, you could lose your security.  If you let God lead you into a non-lucrative career, you may not have the control you had dreamed of.  If you let God be in charge, you don’t know where he will lead you or what he will ask you to give.  It won’t be easy.  You might lose friendships or a reputation.  There is risk.

So we need to pay attention and be wise, to trust God and not be afraid of risk.

And finally, we need to be willing to give.  We need to be willing to offer what gifts we have.  We need to trust that God will present opportunities to us to give, and we need to be ready to part with our gifts, whatever they may be.  The wise men had gold, frankincense and myrrh.  I don’t know what God may ask you to give.  For all I know, it might be gold, frankincense and myrrh.  It might be your time or your abilities.  It might be a lot of money.  It might be a particular love or passion you have.  God will ask you for your gifts, and if we give them honestly, God will use them in spectacular ways, ways we may not understand or grasp.  Mary, Joseph and Jesus probably didn’t leave these gifts in their treasure chests so they could look upon them.  They most likely sold them and converted them into money to support their lives.  In the same way, God will take your gifts and convert them into something amazing for his kingdom.  He will transform your gifts and use them to spread his name throughout the land.  But we have to be willing to give.  We have to be willing to trust that God will take care of us, that God is sovereign and that it’s all his anyway.  The wise men didn’t give these gifts with strings attached—they just gave it all to God.  We need to give the same way, and trust that God will use it for spectacular things, things we never could have imagined.  The wise men didn’t know exactly what Jesus would be when he grew up.  If they studied the Scriptures, they had an idea, but they couldn’t have imagined all that would have taken place.  They didn’t know that their gifts would help guide us, 2,000 years later.  They just trusted God.

Won’t you do the same?