A Sermon Based Upon Matthew 2: 1-12
By Rev. Dr. Charles J. Tomlin, DMin
Flat Rock-Zion Baptist Partnership
Christmas Day, YEAR A, December 25th, 2016
Did you come here today looking for the
child?
In the Christmas story we have today
from Matthew’s gospel, Mary and Joseph
have been in Bethlehem for quite some time.
The baby is now almost two years old.
The angels are long gone. This text normally comes later, but we reading
it today, on this Sunday Christmas morning.
We are reading and preaching from this text because it tells us about
Christmas presents. It tells us about
the very first gifts given at Christmas, and it tells us about the greatest
gift; the child. You can’t fully celebrate
Christmas without presents, can you?
FOR
WE OBSERVED HIS STAR…
Let me begin by asking you: Is your
present still under the tree? And you do
know what’s on top of the tree: a star? It is under the star, and this is exactly were
the wise men found ‘the child’;
under the star. Matthew tells us that
these wise men, or ‘magi’, meaning astrologers
or star gazers, came from the East and were searching for ‘the child,’ because they had seen ‘his star rising’ in the East.
Think about it. This is kind of strange, isn’t it? These wise men are coming from the east,
traveling west, yet they have seen his star rising from ‘the east (KJV).’ You don’t
have to be an astronomer to understand there is something out of sync with this
picture. Rising stars are not seen in
the west; the direction they were traveling.
Most stars, with exception of those in the northern sky, rise in the
East and set in the West, similar to the Sun and Moon. So what kind of ‘rising star’ is this?
Throughout history, scholars have
attempted to solve this mystery. Was it
a Comet? Was a supernova? Was it a meteorite? What exactly could it have been? All these attempts have been interesting, but
problem with all the attempts to solve this mystery is that Matthew’s star was
never intended to be just another star. Matthew
plainly tells us that this is “his star”
(NRSV, 2:1) in the sky, not merely one like the others. What Matthew is trying to tell us here, not
about this strange ‘star’, but about to whom this star is pointing. This should become clear when ‘the star stopped over the place where the
child was’ (2:9). This star that
guided them in the east and from the east---‘westward leading and still proceeding’, as the song says---has now and
‘stopped’ precisely over the place where
the child was.
What we should see immediately is that
this is neither astronomy nor astrology, but it’s theology. This is no ordinary star because this is no
ordinary child. His star does not rise up like other stars. His star
does not set like other stars. His star does not travel in the sky in
the same path of others stars. His star is not just another event in
history, nor can be reduced to a decoration on the Christmas tree, which you
will eventually put away after the celebration is over. This star is only mentionable because it
causes us to stop right where the child is.
His star, this Christmas star, brings us to God’s greatest gift, being
announced as the child ‘born King of the
Jews’ (v.2).
Though there are many wonderful,
traditional decorations that help us see that ‘his star’ is still shinning, but is these ‘wise men’ who continue to directly point us to the most important ‘gift’—the child. But you know how it is in many homes at
Christmas. The children are all
excited. They are ready to open the presents. But then mom, or Dad, or Grandma says, “No! first
we’ve got to read the Christmas story.
Children, we must think about the
true meaning of Christmas before we celebrate with gifts. Jesus
is the reason for the season and we give gifts because the wise men brought
their gifts to the child.” Then the
children say, “Can’t we open presents first? Oh, we know, we know, but we can’t wait.” And when Christmas falls on Sunday, it’s even
worst. “Do we have to go to church, today?”
“Yes, we have to go! Before
you get to have all your fun, you have to go to church.”
Having Christmas on Sunday sure sets us
preachers up for failure! How can this
gift, which is the greatest of all gifts, really compete with all those other
presents under the tree? Perhaps we need these ‘wise men’ more now than ever.
We need them because they sought him, just like wise people still need
to seek him. These wise men still point
in the most important direction. They take
us straight to Bethlehem again, and again, until we also ‘stop’ where the child is.
But do you realize who these ‘wise men’ were? They were “gentile sinners,” foreigners, astrologers,
pagan priests, even ‘magicians’ of their day.
They should have had no stake in this claim, no dog in this fight, and
no real ‘right’ to tell any Jew, or any of us, where, what, or who this child
is supposed to be. They'll are not even
supposed to be ‘seeking’ this child. This
child is to ‘born King of the Jews’,
not King of the East, nor the West, let alone King of the world. What kind of ‘wisdom’ takes us from seeking a child to be born as King of a
Jewish nation to being born to be King
for the whole world? This is where
Matthew says ‘his star’ ultimately leads
us, but how, why, and should we still make this jump?
It’s certainly not an easy one to make. Who can forget that puzzling moment in the
gospel of Mark, when Jesus was first approached by a Gentile woman, of Syrophoenician origin (Mark 7: 26)?
She came begging Jesus to cast the demon out of her daughter. Jesus responded, “Let the children be fed first, for it not fair to take the children’s
food and throw it to dogs.” This
text sounds so derogatory that no scholar disputes it came directly from
Jesus. Who would want to include such
harsh words like this? It’s almost like
your child coming to the Christmas party, but there is no present under the
tree with their name on it. All the
names have been read aloud, and you see that ‘sad’ expression on your child’s
face. Your blood starts to boil. You feel for your child. As the last name is
called out, you try to explain: “Honey,
Mommy and Daddy, have a big present for you when we get home. But before you get up to walk out the door
in disgust, you hear the next announcement:
“Now, if your child did not have a
present with their name on it, consider them our most special guests. We have a very special gift just for them, and
also one for you!”
When those Wise Men following that star;
they were Gentiles, outside of the blessing, not having the Scriptures nor the law
or the prophets, but they what they were given was ‘his star’. Because they were
willing to follow ‘the light’ they had
been given (Rom. 2:15-16), the star took them right to where the ‘child was’. The wise men should be considered similar to
the Syrophoenician as she rebutted Jesus’ denial to her request: “Sir, even the dogs under the table eat the
children’s crumbs.” Jesus then sent
her on her way saying, “you may go—the
demon has left your daughter.” The
woman went home and ‘found the child’ , that is, her own child,
’lying on the bed’ and the ‘demon
gone’ (Mark 7:26-30). This woman, like the wise men, through finding
‘the child’ discovered God also
intends his special gift to be for them.
This is how the good news of the gospel unfolds:
·
“He came unto his own and his own received
him not, but as many as received him, to them he gave the power…. (Jn. 1:12).
·
The gospel is the power of God for salvation to
everyone who has faith, to the Jew first, and also to the Greek’ (Rom. 1:16).
·
“There is no longer Jew or Greek, slave or free, male
or female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus” (Gal. 3:28).
·
In Christ… “there is neither Greek nor Jew,
circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond or free: but Christ
is all, and in all” (Col. 3:11).
·
“God shows no partiality, but in every nation anyone
who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him….He is Lord of all.” (Acts 10: 34-35).
The apostle Paul, who became the apostle to the Gentiles (Rom 11:13), once attempted to explain how
this Jewish Jesus became Savior for the
world. Interestingly, when he wrote,
the ‘shoe was already ‘on the other foot’, because the Gentile world was hearing
and accepting the gospel, whereas, the Jewish world had ‘hardened its
heart’. Paul writes to the Romans: ….
I want
you to understand this mystery: a hardening has come upon part of Israel, until
the full number of the Gentiles has come in (11:25)...so all Israel will be
saved (11:26); For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; the same Lord
is Lord of all and is generous to all who call on him (10:12), “Everyone who
calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved (10:13)”…God has imprisoned
all in disobedience so that he may be merciful to all…(10:32)”
Paul’s view is also the gospel view, of
how Christmas came to us, as a special gift for us, even from the back side of
nowhere. This ‘child’ has come to be the Christmas gift
for all the world.
WHEN
KING HEROD HEARD THIS…
Can you imagine anyone who would not
want this present? Who refuses the gift
who is this child? Who would not want
come and worship this child above all other gifts, all other traditions, and
all other treasures? It might be hard to
imagine, but you don’t have to, because right from the start, Matthew wants us
to see that it happens. There are always those who do not want the greatest gift.
And why would anyone not want the gift
of a ‘the child’? Matthew answers
that when “King Herod heard this, he was
frightened, and all Jerusalem with him…”(2:3). Why
would anyone be “frightened” at the
birth of a child? Well, any child can,
and should change your life, shouldn’t they? Children can determine what you have, what you
don’t have, how you live, and how you should live. “The
baby changes everything.” But in
this story, as in real life, Matthew wants us that people were frightened, and
are still frightened, because when ‘this
child’ is ‘born king of the Jews’,
they already have a ‘king’. People who are in power, who have power, or
who want everything to stay the exactly way it is, will not want this
present. They will fear it. They will not only reject it, but some will also
try to ‘destroy’ it (2:13), because
they want to ‘rule’ themselves.
So, on this wonderful Christmas morning,
as we celebrate those all those who ‘follow
the star’ and come to ‘worship’
this child, above all others, are also
reminded that we still live in a world where the truth of this child is still
refused, still repudiated, and still rejected.
Some still ‘fear’ the child, and many others do not ‘understand’ the
child, while others like Herod, will
‘pretend’ they want to ‘worship’, but their worship is just a ‘front’. Their heart is not in it. Unfortunately, this is how it has always
been, and always will be. But as
Scripture says, ‘but as many as receive
him, to them he gives the power to become sons and daughters of God’ (John
1:12).
What is most ‘threatening’ about ‘this
child’ is not just ‘who he is’’, but it’s also about ‘who we are’, and ‘who we
should and can become’. This is
exactly what this story of the wise men, the star, and this ‘birth of the
child’ always means: that this child who
was ‘born’ to be King of the Jews, will include us into his kingdom. This
King Jesus has come, not to exclude, to destroy, nor to condemn, but he has
come to save, ‘all’ and ‘anyone’ who will believe in him. This ‘king’ has brought God’s kingdom near,
and can set that kingdom now, right in our hearts, and even in our world that
still rejects him. He is the king, who
as Matthew says, ‘shall come to shepherd
my people Israel’ (Matt. 2.6). And
who is Israel? The Scripture says: “For not all Israelites belong to Israel,
and not all Abraham’s children are his true descendants…it is not the children of
the flesh who are the children of God, BUT THE CHILDREN OF PROMISE…(Rom.
9:6b-8)..including us… from the Gentiles.. (9:24)…For there is no
distinction…the same Lord is Lord of all and is generous to all who call on
him, for “Everyone who calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved… (Rom.
12-13). Again, who is Israel? Israel will be those follow the star, and are
not afraid to worship him.
THEY
OFFERED HIM GIFTS…
But feelings of joy and worship are not
enough. At the conclusion of the story of the wise
men, we read that upon ‘entering the
house’, at the very sight of this ‘child’,
they were ‘overwhelmed with joy’ and
‘knelt down’ and worshipped him, as
they opened ‘their treasure chests, they
offered him gifts...gold, frankincense, and myrrh’. (10-11).
Who this child is, and how child will be
king is fully unwrapped for the all the world to see, as these ‘gifts’ are
given by the ‘wise men’. They have not
brought him the ‘least’ of their treasures, but they have brought him their
best. These ‘wise men’ bring him ‘gifts’
which were expensive, valuable, and precious, but it is the most unusual one which
reveals just how ‘different’ this King is.
While ‘gold’ and ‘frankincense’ are gifts appropriate for royalty and
worship, ‘myrrh’ was an expensive aromatic
‘medicine’ offered to Jesus on the
cross (Mark 15:23) and used when they wrapped his body for burial (John 19:39). This ‘child’
is not just a King who rules, but he is a King who rules through his life, his
death, and his sacrifice to save ‘his
people from their sins.’
But Matthew really wants us to see, at
least for now, today, on this Christmas morning, is that what made these ‘wise men’ wise and what can make us wise as well, is that the
greatest ‘gift’ is not what they offered, but ‘how’ they offered them, when
they ‘knelt down’ to acknowledge the
child, and to ‘bow before this child’ as the one who was born to be their ‘king’
too.
No one knows exactly where Jesus’ birth
took place, but today, in Bethlehem, if you visit the ‘supposed’ birthplace of
Jesus, you’ll find the Church of Nativity.
It is a church build by Emperor Constantine in the 4th
century, placed directly over the ‘cave’
where Jesus was said to be born. Here,
is where it was first suggested by a Christian named Origen in 150 AD, that where
Jesus was born (Wm Barclay, Daily Study Bible, Matthew, p. 25).
But what makes this ‘church’ so
interesting, is not whether it was or wasn’t the actual place, but it is how
you enter it. When you approach the place, you find that the frame of the door is built
very low. It is built so low, that even
today, if you go to the place where Jesus is said to have been born, you still must
bend down and practically get down on your knees, to go through the doorway where
Jesus was born.
Isn’t that still what worship means? Those wise men knew it. The church has known it. We still need to know it. Today, on this Christmas day, we come again to
acknowledge this ‘child’ as the greatest gift.
The star still stops over him.
Wise men still seek him.
Because we need him most of all, we do
not worship our treasures, but we worship him.
We worship him because only this child is can save ‘his people from their sins.’
We worship him because want to be his people, and because he is unlike
any other king. He is the King who can
rule our world, because he is the only king who rules in our hearts. He is the child, who was born, to bring God’s
love, faith and hope, into to our world.
His star is still rising, as
long as there are people who are wise enough, to seek him. Amen.
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