Baptism of the Lord Sunday/Epiphany Message

Call to Worship

L: Arise! Shine!

P: God's light has come to reveal The Way in this New Year.

L: Arise! Shine!

P: The glory of the Lord has risen upon us.

L: Arise! Shine!

P: God's light penetrates the darkness that covers the world.

L: Arise! Shine!

P: Nations shall come to God's light and kings to the brightness of God's dawn.

ALL: Arise! Shine! For the Glory of the Lord has risen upon us.

First Reading: Isaiah 60:1-6

“Arise, shine, for your light has come,

and the glory of the Lord rises upon you.

2 See, darkness covers the earth

and thick darkness is over the peoples,

but the Lord rises upon you

and his glory appears over you.

3 Nations will come to your light,

and kings to the brightness of your dawn.

4 “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 hip.

5 Then you will look and be radiant,

your heart will throb and swell with joy;

the wealth on the seas will be brought to you,

to you the riches of the nations will come.

6 Herds of camels will cover your land,

young camels of Midian and Ephah.

And all from Sheba will come,

bearing gold and incense

and proclaiming the praise of the Lord.

The New International Version (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2011), Is 60:1–6.

Second Reading: Matthew 2:1-12

After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem 2 and asked, “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.”

3 When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him. 4 When he had called together all the people’s chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Messiah was to be born. 5 “In Bethlehem in Judea,” they replied, “for this is what the prophet has written:

6 “ ‘But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,

are by no means least among the rulers of Judah;

for out of you will come a ruler

who will shepherd my people Israel.’”

7 Then Herod called the Magi secretly and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared. 8 He sent them to Bethlehem and said, “Go and search carefully for the child. As soon as you find him, report to me, so that I too may go and worship him.”

9 After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen when it rose went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. 10 When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. 11 On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. 12 And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route.

The New International Version (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2011), Mt 2:1–12.

Sermon

In many churches today is the celebration of the Baptism of the Lord. No doubt a focus will be made on Jesus’ conversation with his cousin John, his baptism including Go’s voice affirming “This is my Son, whom I love,” and the move from baptism to wilderness temptation. But this morning, we are looking once more at the events surrounding Christ’s birth, and more specifically, the arrival of the Magi, or the wise men.

Now, when I read the account we heard this morning, I immediately identify two groups. One group I call the insiders. King Herod and all of Jerusalem are in this group.. The second group is made up of the magi and are called the outsiders.

I call them insiders because they were the people with whom God had made a covenant. They were the great great grandchildren of Abraham and a part of the covenantal promise. They had received the law from Moses and they were waiting for the promised Messiah to come and to save them .

And the Magi are the outsiders for obvious reasons. They didn’t have the promises of God. They weren’t, as far as we know, God’s people. They didn’t have the law handed to them. They didn’t necessarily expect a Messiah to come and save them.

Yet, it seems as though the Magi bring to Jerusalem the message of the King’s arrival instead of the other way around. Have you ever been surprised that it’s the Magi that tell the Jews their Messiah has come? And notice the response. Matthew records for us that when the Magi come and tell King Herod they are looking for the new Jewish King, “When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him.” Not excited, not encouraged, not filled with joy, but disturbed, troubled, concerned.

And Herod’s response is particularly troubling in the fact that when he finally realizes the Magi aren’t coming back he puts out the order that all male children under two years of age should be killed. But even the people who should be the most excited about the idea that God is doing something new are disturbed, and troubled.

Maybe they are troubled because instead of knowing of the Messiah’s arrival themselves, instead of being aware that this new King had come, these outsiders, these wise men from the East had come with the news. Maybe they were embarrassed about being told something had happened in their own backyard by someone not “from there”.

But how did these wise men know before all of Jerusalem? Very simply, they were watching. They had been attentive. They had been actively waiting for God to show up. So they were ready when He did.

Sometimes as Christians who receive the bread and the cup, even regularly, we take these moments as “ordinary” or “usual”.