Bible Passage: Matthew 2:1-12
Pastor: Joel Jenswold
Sermon Date: January 2, 2022

Bulletin January 2, 2022

In the name of, and to the eternal glory of, Jesus,

Two times in our Bible, we have the record of people who travel to see Jesus when he was just a child.  You all know the first time it happened!  It happened on the night Jesus was born.  Some shepherds came.  They were the “night shift.”  They had been out in the fields watching their sheep.  After the angels gave them the good news about Jesus’ birth, they hurried into Bethlehem to see the baby.  And this visit seems perfectly fitting.  These were Jewish shepherds who hurried into the Jewish town of Bethlehem to see a baby who descended from the most famous Jewish king, David.

But the second one is the one we see today.  Who are these guys?  Their robes do not look like the fabric one finds in the textile market in Jerusalem.  What is that embroidery?  Is that Persian?  Is it Babylonian?  What is that accent they have when they talk?  Who are these people come to worship Jesus?

It is difficult to say much about them.  Many legends have grown up around them.  Tradition tells us there were three of them.  Tradition even assigns them names – Melchior, Balthazar, and Caspar.  But we don’t know how many there were or what their names were.  The Bible calls them “magi.”  “Magi” describes a class of men who quite simply studied a lot of stuff.  They were like research scientists.  One of the things they studied were stars and planetary movements, so that probably explains why the appearance of a new star would not escape their notice!  The other thing we can say for certain about them is that they were from the east.  How far east and from what country in the east we just cannot say for certain.

Here is something we can say for certainty about these people:  they made their trip for one reason.  They wanted to worship Jesus!  That was their stated goal when they arrived in Jerusalem:  Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews?  We have seen his star in the east and have come to worship him. (v. 2)  When they arrive in Bethlehem they bowed down and worshipped him (v. 11) What exactly had they heard in the east that formed in them this knowledge of, and this relentless desire, to worship a newborn Jewish king?

Here is something else we know about these people come to worship Jesus:  they are the fulfillment of prophecy!  Isaiah had written:  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. (Isaiah 60:3-4)  The word “nations” is the word used for all non-Jewish people.  God had prophesied that people from all nations would come to Jesus!  All along God’s plan to rescue people from sin included all people.  Jesus may have been born “king of the Jews,” but he came to extend his kingdom to all nations!  That is what Epiphany is all about!

The prophecy of Isaiah is still being fulfilled today!  As I look out this morning, I might very well ask, “Who are these people come to worship Jesus?”  As I look out, I am likely looking at some Germans, and some Swedes, and some Norskies (I who speak to you am one!).  Maybe there are some French and Irish and Russian and Italian.  What has brought you all together is the greatest rallying point in the history of the world.  What has drawn us here today is the same thing that drew those Magi so along ago.  We have come to worship him.

Dear friends, we hear so much these days about racism.  Some people don’t like other people because of the color of their skin – it’s too dark or it’s too light, or where they come from.   Some people believe certain races are genetically superior and other races are genetically inferior.  Some are filled with hate for people different than themselves, and they spend their time trying to recruit others to hate the people they hate.  And that is sad.  And we see the oftentimes pathetic attempts of this world to get people to love each other.  But the more the world pleads, the more divided people seem.  Is there a way to truly unite people?

There is.  Jesus.  We have come to worship him.  Worship of him is where it all comes together!  I don’t care what your clothes look like – if your wear shirts and ties, or robes, or turbins or sari or komono or kebeya or hanbok or kilt or lederhosen or gakti.  Wear whatever you want, just as long as it doesn’t restrict or prevent you from getting on your knees to worship Jesus!  I don’t care what language you speak – English or Mandarin or Arabic or German, just as long as you can find in it the vocabulary to worship Jesus!  You see, we’re really all the same. According to God, all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3).  That is the universal problem.  And so Jesus came to be the universal Savior – to live and die and rise for ALL.  America has been called “the great melting pot.”  Jesus Christ is the real melting pot where people of all races truly come together.  Jesus Christ is where “e pluribus unum” really, truly happens.

And let’s remember where this is all heading.  It is leading to that great throne room John sees in his vision in Revelation 7.  It is the throne room where John sees people from every nation, tribe, people and language standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb. (Rev. 7:9)  And John is asked, and I paraphrase, “Who are these people come to worship Jesus?”  The answer is simple and wonderful and profound:  These are they who have come out of the great tribulation; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. (7:14)  The non-racial, unprejudiced, wonderfully multicultural blood of Jesus brings all nations together in heaven, before Jesus throne, to worship him.

Who are these people come to worship Jesus?  It’s shepherds…and it’s Magi…and you…and me…and others who look like us…and others who don’t look a thing like us…and all who are far off who will yet come to the Word made flesh, the Light of the world.

Amen.

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