Three Kings --- Two Kings --- One King

Three Kings --- Two Kings --- One King

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 and asked, ‘Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star in the east and have come to worship him.’” Matthew 2:1-2

Today is the day we celebrate Epiphany in the church calendar. Epiphany comes twelve days after Christmas and means “appearance, manifestation or the shining forth of the Christ as the Messiah.” Epiphany is normally associated with the Wise Men visiting the Christ Child.

Our readings this morning come from the Old Testament prophet, Isaiah, and from the Gospel of Matthew. Our reading from Matthew is the familiar story of the Wise Men on a quest to visit the new-born king. As we hear these words again, I ask you to put yourself into the story. Are you like Herod, the priest and the scribes, or are you like the wise men bearing gifts? Let us listen for God’s word to us this day as we celebrate the Epiphany of Christ.

Isaiah 60:1-6

Arise, shine; for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you. 2 For darkness shall cover the earth, and thick darkness the peoples; but the Lord will arise upon you, and his glory will appear over you. 3Nations shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your dawn. 4Lift up your eyes and look around; they all gather together, they come to you; your sons shall come from far away, and your daughters shall be carried on their nurses’ arms. 5Then you shall see and be radiant; your heart shall thrill and rejoice, because the abundance of the sea shall be brought to you, the wealth of the nations shall come to you. 6A multitude of camels shall cover you, the young camels of Midian and Ephah; all those from Sheba shall come. They shall bring gold and frankincense, and shall proclaim the praise of the Lord.[i]

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 in the east 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 Christ was to be born. 5 “In Bethlehem in Judea,” they replied, “for this is what the prophet has written: 4“‘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 be the shepherd of 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 make a careful search 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 in the east 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 and of incense and of myrrh. 12 And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route.[ii]

This story in Matthew has many characters: King Herod, chief priests, scribes of the people, the people of Jerusalem, wise men, Mary, Joseph, shepherds and animals and the child born to be king!

Herod was a crafty and wicked king. Herod was distrustful and untrusting. Herod was a cruel and merciless king who was extremely jealous. Herod had killed a brother-in-law, a wife and several sons because of his extreme paranoia regarding his Kingship. Let me tell you that all of Jerusalem was frightened when these out-of-town visitors showed up looking for another king!

We are not told much about the chief priests and the teachers of the law except that they knew from the Scriptures where the king of the Jews would be born. They knew he would come from Bethlehem. As smart as the chief priests and teachers were, they were not looking for a king at the time—there had been over 400 years of silence. Many of them had given up. It had been close to 600 years since the prophet Isaiah told the people that a light would come, and shine and the glory of the Lord would rise upon them. These scholars had read from the prophets—like Isaiah and Micah--Sabbath after Sabbath. They knew a child would be born in Bethlehem to be king. But I suppose after a few hundred years, they grew weary of waiting.

Wise men from the East! Exactly where from the east were they from? Who were these wise men? How many were there? Matthew does not tell us and neither do any of the other writers of the Bible. The scholars through the years have debated the facts concerning the wise men --- how many wise men were there, where was their place of origin, how did they have their ability to interpret dreams, how did they know how to follow a star and look for a king. I think the reason all these facts are left out of the text is that they are not as important as to WHY they came.

Matthew tells us several times that they came to worship the new-born king. “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star in the east and have come to worship him.” “On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him.” The actual Greek word used here is “proskuneo” which means to bow down or prostrate oneself. The wise men came to bow down and kiss the feet of the new-born-king. What a powerful image! Grown men, very wealthy, extremely influential, tremendously respected leaders and wise teachers bowing at the feet of a little babe in a manger, opening their treasure chests and offering their gifts to a new-born-king.

In his commentary on Matthew, William Barclay records three reactions to the Messiah:

The reaction of Herod --- hatred and hostility.

The reaction of the chief priests and scribes --- total and complete indifference

The reaction of the wise men --- adoring worship.[iii]

Hatred and hostility, total indifference or adoring worship! That’s what we’re going to look at today.

What's the most-visited home in America? That's a no-brainer. It's the White House, of course. What's the second most-visited home in America? It's Graceland: Elvis Presley's opulent mansion in Memphis. Tourists flock to Washington to visit the mansion of the President. Others trek to Memphis to ogle the mansion of "The King." The Magi originally had a more conventional idea of the sort of king they were looking for, so they made their famous pit stop at Herod's palace. After taking measure of the sly Herod, they crumpled up their MapQuest directions and threw them away. Eventually they found their way to a far humbler "house," as Matthew describes it. Anybody can find the White House. So, too, with Graceland. Yet, the location of the house where these visitors from the East bowed down and offered their gifts has been lost to history. Can you imagine how many pilgrims and tourists would visit that house every year, were we somehow able to recover the address It's probably just as well that Matthew stays mum on its location. It makes a far better spiritual destination than a physical one.

When Herod heard there might be a new king in town, he flew into a jealous rage. Herod’s kingship was being threatened. Was he going to lose his power? Were his influence and position being reduced? How much are we like Herod? How do we react when our positions of power and influence are threatened? Herod responded with hatred and hostility—with a little defensive trickery inserted into the mix, too. “I want to go worship the King, too, please go find him and come and get me.” But as we keep reading the story, Herod ends up killing all the baby boys in that town soon enough. He’s hateful and hostile.

Now let’s talk about indifference. The Chief Priests and the Scribes were indifferent to the news of the star and the baby King. Herod demanded to know where this new king was going to be born. The priests and teachers knew, but they just didn’t care. I can just imagine them saying with a sigh, “Oh, over in Bethlehem—five or six miles to the South.” Five or six miles? What town is five or six miles away from here? Upland, Fontana, Rialto, Ontario? Can you imagine waiting so long so for something that you talk yourself out of the very thing? Here is a caravan of wisdom riding into town. These Magi are carrying GOLD and spices and incenses. There could have been a thousand people with them, this was one well-organized camping trip.

Are we like the Chief Priests and Scribes?

They were comfortable and complacent. What would you do if you knew that the Messiah, the Redeemer, Restorer, and Savior—was going to be born in Fontana, Rialto, Crestline, Corona or just on the other side of Rancho Cucamonga? What would do if a geologist told you that there was a huge oil gusher just five miles south of here. These guys didn’t do anything. After 400 years of silence, they were totally indifferent to the good news. God had sent angels to announce Christ’s birth. Ho hum. Bah humbug? That’s indifference.

Reactions: hatred and hostility or total indifference?

Next we look at the Wise Men? Tradition has limited the number of wise men to three because of the three gifts given but many scholars believe there were hundreds of people traveling in the caravan. What would make hundreds of people leave their homes, families, and jobs—to follow a star? They went to look for a baby? Do you think people made fun of them? “Hey, where ya going?” “West!” “When ya coming back?” “Don’t know.” “You’re going follow a star and give your gold, frankincense and myrrh to a baby? What’s the point? What are you going do if you find the baby?” “We’re going to worship the baby and bless him with our gifts.”

SO WHAT?

Today we gather to celebrate Epiphany—the appearance of the Messiah. Today we come to celebrate the sacrament of Holy Communion. In many churches, the holiday Sundays after Christmas are called “down” Sundays—nobody goes to church, everyone stays home. Why? Why would any Sunday be a down Sunday—especially when the baby king has been born? The “so what” for us today is for us to figure out our own personal reactions to the birth of Jesus Christ. Are there parts of us that are prideful, insecure or jealous like Herod? Do we want to be king? Do we respond with hatred or hostility when things don’t go our way? Are we ever like the Chief Priests and Scribes? We’ve grown indifferent to the Christmas story. We’ve lost our sense of the real meaning of Christmas. Here’s what I’m hoping: perhaps we’re here today because we need a little bit of Kingly wisdom infused into our lives from some very wise people. Today’s story is about following, worshiping, and giving.

The “so what” of the Wise Men comes down to 3 directions: follow, worship, give. They followed a star! They knelt down to worship the Christ Child. They gave their best gifts to the King. The “so what” for us—will we follow, worship and give?

I encourage you to read a chapter of a Gospel every day. Just one chapter! Start with Matthew and work your way through John—89 chapters --- 89 days!

“Hey, what are you doing?” --- “Reading a chapter of the Gospel.” ---“Why?” “Had an Epiphany. I’m learning how to follow Jesus, worship Jesus and give the gift of my life to Jesus.”

Friends, we aren’t called to leave all to follow a star—that’s already been done. We are called to follow Jesus, to worship Jesus and to give our best to Jesus. Now, that’s a real live, 2018 Epiphany!

Jesus is our Epiphany!

Let us pray….

The Seed Christian Fellowship

Rancho Cucamonga, California 91701

www.theseedchristianfellowship.com

January 7, 2018

Pastor Dave Peters

[i] The Holy Bible : New Revised Standard Version. 1989. Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers.

[ii] The Holy Bible: New International Version. (1984). (Mt 2:1–12). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.

[iii] William Barclay, The Gospel of Matthew, 1975, Philadelphia, Westminster Press