1. Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Heavenly Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen. Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, in our text from Matthew chapter 2 for this Epiphany of Our Lord, Matthew shows us a Gospel filled with “people who do not belong” in the places they’re found.
2. We think first of the Magi. They were from “the East”—not from Jerusalem, not even from Israel. But of greater significance than their country of origin was that the Magi were Gentiles; they were not heirs to the messianic promise made to Israel’s patriarchs. Even worse, these Gentile outsiders, these Magi, were magicians! Now we’re not talking magicians like Harry Houdini, David Copperfield, or Penn & Teller. No! These Magi were spiritual magicians with whom the king could consult, men such as Jannes and Jambres, who served under the Egyptian Pharaoh in the days of Moses, or the court magicians who served Nebuchadnezzar in Babylon (Daniel 5). The Magi were probably not pure worshipers of Yahweh. They likely had some sort of mixed faith in which they had some knowledge of the God of Israel. No, the Magi did not belong in Jerusalem; they did not belong bowing before the King of the Jews.
3. But as we consider this, we find, too, that Herod was in a place where he did not belong. Herod was an Idumean—a descendant of Esau—who was seated on the throne of Israel not by a royal lineage back to David, but by the proclamation of the Roman Senate. Herod had no rightful claim to sit on the throne of David . . . but thanks to political posturing and strategic wedding vows, that was where Herod was found. And thanks to his ruthless and paranoid nature (along with the executions of any person who had legitimate claim to the throne), there he stayed.
4. So the Magi made a terrible mistake when they sought the newly born king in the palace of Herod—a mistake that made Jerusalem tremble. Herod’s wrath and jealousy would be stirred by such an error, and then heaven help them all. In fact, Jerusalem was right to tremble in fear, as Herod’s jealousy would soon produce great weeping and mourning among her daughters, the mothers of all the baby boys around Bethlehem.
5. But the King for whom the Magi searched wasn’t in the palace. He wasn’t even in Jerusalem. He was in Bethlehem, small among the clans of Judah. He was under the care of a carpenter and a young virgin whose husband was not his father. No, the King of the Jews was not where he should have been. He should have been in a mansion full of every comfort, dressed in fine clothing, and attended by servants on all sides. Instead, the King of the Jews was laid in a manger at his birth, without any kingly comfort, with shepherds as his only attendants. Later, the Magi attended to him as well, presumably in a simple house in Bethlehem.
6. This was not the last time that the King of the Jews would be found in unexpected places and in places where he did not belong: He was found in the waters of the Jordan, baptized among sinners, for sinners. John the Baptist noticed. This was not where the King of the Jews belonged. The King of the Jews was found eating and drinking with tax collectors, prostitutes, and sinners—hardly the people of high moral fiber or impeccable pedigree who should make up a royal court. The Pharisees noticed. This was not where the King of the Jews belonged. And who would have thought to look for the King of the Jews on a cross, enthroned and executed between two criminals? No, no one expected that. These were hardly the places to seek and find the King of the Jews, the heir of David’s throne, the Messiah. So, the star had to guide the Magi to the Virgin’s house in Bethlehem; the Spirit had to descend, and the Father had to speak at the Jordan; the prophets had to describe the work of the Christ as being for transgressors, the workers of iniquity; Pilate’s sign had to be written. All of this was not just for the Jews but also for the Gentile nations, so that all of humanity may be guided to Jesus, King of the Jews, expectation of the prophets, the crucified Savior, forgiver of sins.
7. Dear friends, Matthew shows us a Gospel filled with people who do not belong in the places where they are found. And in this we rejoice, for it does not take too much honest self-examination to realize that we do not belong in the presence of God. We have unclean hearts, and we live among a people of unclean hearts (Is 6:5).
8. Yet we come into the presence of God by his precious invitation, guided not by a star but by the Holy Spirit, working in many and various ways to bring us to the life-giving water of new birth. We come into the presence of God trusting in his promise that our bodies have been washed with pure water and our hearts cleansed by that sprinkling of Jesus’ blood (Heb 9:14; 10:22). We come into the presence of God knowing that our Lord has bid us come as his very own children, not to punish us but to give us his grace and blessing.
9. No, we don’t belong here among God’s chosen people or in this royal priesthood, this holy nation, in which we now stand. But here we are, drawn by God’s cruciform goodness and mercy (Jn 12:32), crowned with forgiveness and salvation so that we may be his own and live under him in his kingdom forevermore.
10. None of us merits this honor, but having been so called, gathered, and enlightened, we now go into the world as light for the world (Mt 5:14), proclaiming the excellencies of him who called us out of darkness into his wonderful light (1 Pet 2:9). The people of the world live in the darkness of unbelief and continue to search for salvation in places where it is not found. So like the star that led the Magi to Jesus, you serve as the Lord’s chosen instruments to lighten others’ paths and guide them in the way of Holy Scripture (1 Pet 3:15) so that those who walk in darkness, too, may see his great light (Is 9:2) and kneel before Christ and worship with outstretched hands, being given his precious gifts for the forgiveness of all their sin.
11. The people being drawn by the Holy Spirit from the darkness will not always “get things right.” They will often lean upon their own understanding (even as the Magi did when they stopped in Jerusalem, not Bethlehem; even as we do too). But the Spirit will continue to guide us truthfully and faithfully to Jesus, so that we may repent of our errant footsteps and, in the end, be found with Christ in his kingdom of glory. Amen. Now the peace of God that passes all understanding, guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, until life everlasting. Amen.
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