Matthew 2:1-12 - What Appears at Epiphany? - January 10, 2021

By now I’m sure we’ve all seen the video and pictures of those experiments where scientists use a UV light or a laser to show just how far the particles from your mouth and nose travel when you speak, sing or sneeze. With the UV light and high-speed video, they can see microscopic droplets that are hidden from the naked eye. While these experiments are nothing new, they’ve taken on new importance lately as scientists attempt to figure out just how the coronavirus spreads from one person to another. It’s pretty gross actually – one of those things you’d like to un-see if you could. Now, we’re not here to discuss the principles of droplet distribution. But just like that ultraviolet light, Epiphany reveals what would otherwise be hidden from human sight. The word Epiphany means “appearing.” So the question is: what appears at Epiphany?

The first and most obvious answer is: the Wise Men. And that’s true. The Wise Men did appear. They followed the star from the east to worship he who has been born King of the Jews. Who were they? Our best guess is that they were kingly advisers and astronomers like Daniel in Babylon (Daniel 2:48). Where did they come from? We don’t know – Arabia? Babylon? Persia? In any case, based on the fact that Herod murdered all the baby boys two years old and younger in Bethlehem (Matthew 2:16) – we’re pretty sure that they had been traveling for years and had come hundreds of miles. Why? That’s easy, they had heard a prophecy like the one we heard from Balaam in Numbers 24: a star will come out of Jacob. A scepter will rise up out of Israel (Numbers 24:17).

But do you know what else appears with the Wise Men on Epiphany? Shame. These Wise Men put you and me to shame. What? Why? Well, because I have far less distance to travel and far more to guide me to the King of the Jews and I don’t go; I don’t go to where he wants to be found. Jesus is as close to me as my Baptism, where he promises to cover my sinfulness with his righteousness – and yet I go around guilty and depressed because I go days and weeks without remembering that I have been baptized into Christ, that I no longer live but he lives in me (Galatians 2:20). He is as close as the words of Absolution in which God pronounces me “not-guilty” and yet I put more stock in what society or my conscience or the devil says about me. He’s as close as the bread and wine of Holy Communion which offers me eternal life, and yet I spend more time planning and preparing a normal meal that will just leave me hungry again in a few hours. The wise men had nothing more than a star in the night that drew them tirelessly through the darkness from hundreds of miles away; I have the brilliant and unwavering light of Scripture shining day and night, and yet I hardly ever crack it open to it to guide me through this dark world. The Wise Men rejoiced with overwhelming joy when they saw the star over Jesus’ house – I see coming to God’s house as a burdensome obligation.

The Wise Men put me to shame by their heartfelt worship. They saw in that humble, helpless baby in Bethlehem their King, their God and their Sacrifice – I am often less than sincere in worshiping him – even though I know him as my crucified, risen and victorious Savior. They came to find the king who would govern their lives and defeat their enemies – I prefer to rule my own life and fight my own battles. They came to find their God, I like to imagine that I’m my own god; I think that I should be feared, loved and trusted by all people above all things. They came to find the sacrifice for their sins; I figure that if I do a mediocre job in the various roles God has placed me in – God should be pleased with that.

The wise men shame me by the gifts they bring. These Wise Men knew so little about Jesus and all that he would do for them and yet they give him the very best they could offer: gold, frankincense, and myrrh. I’ve never once risked a mortgage payment, a tank of gas, or even a single meal to give my best to Jesus. Have you? I take care of myself and give Jesus my leftovers. And, what’s more, I demand to be recognized. I want everyone to know and praise and thank me. And, the moment the stock market takes a dive or my job looks like it’s at risk, the part of the budget that goes to Jesus is the first one to get cut off. What appears at Epiphany is my shame. Like an ultraviolet light, it exposes all of the disgusting things that are hidden in my heart.

Thank God that’s not all that appears at Epiphany – my salvation appears there too. My salvation from the three things which would otherwise rule my life appears. Did you notice how Epiphany put big, bad Herod in his place? The birth of a tiny baby sent him into a frenzy. He frantically gathered his advisers, interrogated the Wise Men, and sent them out as his spies – only to have his assassination plan foiled by God in a dream. Epiphany reveals a Savior from politics. Do we need this Savior today? Well, a new president is going to be inaugurated in 10 days. No matter which media outlet you listen to, they all make it seem like everything in the world hangs in the balance: war and peace, freedom and tyranny, prosperity and poverty, life and death. But King Jesus comes along and says “No! I am the Alpha and the Omega…the one who is, and who was, and who is coming (Revelation 1:8); I hold the scroll of history in my nail-pierced hands and I unroll it for the good of my people (Revelation 5:6-14).” He sits in heaven and laughs as the kings of the earth gather together against him and his people (Psalm 2:2-5). Let the politicians in Washington D.C. and Madison pretend to be all self-important, let them give their speeches and write their laws – and pray for them as they do so (1 Timothy 2:1-2) – but Epiphany reveals my Savior from the madness, because on Epiphany baby Jesus appears as my true, eternal, conquering King!

King Jesus not only saves me from politics but also from the great idol of our age: science (or, more accurately, the false religion of scientism[1]). We live in an age where so-called “science” and her high-priestly “experts” control everything. They decide who you are and what gender you are and where you may go and what you must wear and what you must inject into your body. They decide if you may operate your business, send your children to school, and attend worship. They tell us which types of cars to drive and what types of food to eat and what kinds of behaviors are socially and morally acceptable. They claim that they’ve got our world figured out and our only job is to kneel in their honor and offer unquestioning obedience to their commands.

But the appearance of the God-Man smashes the scientific idol to pieces. He blows away the theory that science is the only objective means to establish societal norms and rules for everything and everyone. He destroys the laws of time by stepping out of eternity into human history. He annihilates the laws of biology by being born of a virgin. His miracles defy the laws of nature. And ironies of ironies: the best and brightest scientists of the time, the Wise Men, follow a star that obeyed none of the laws of astronomy to find him. It appeared and disappeared; it moved and then stopped and stood still over the non-descript house of the non-descript parents of a non-descript baby – and even though it made no scientific sense whatsoever – they bow down and worship him. Epiphany shows me that I’m not at the mercy of what science and her “experts” can know or predict or theorize; that I’m not at the mercy of the laws of time, space or nature; I’m at the mercy of a God who left heaven to become a man in order to become my Savior.

And that’s a very good thing, because politics and science have proven time and again that they are powerless to save me from the last and greatest enemy of all: death (1 Corinthians 15:26). The wise men recognized that in this little baby they had found a Savior from death. How? With myrrh. Myrrh was used for three things in those days: for embalming, as a sedative, and for the anointing of the high priest (Exodus 30:29). Jesus was offered myrrh three times in his life. Here, at the house in Bethlehem, as a confession that as high priest he would offer himself once for all for the sins of the world (Hebrews 10:11-12). On the cross, where he refused to receive it so that he could feel the full wrath of God’s judgment against our sins (Mark 15:23). And Joseph and Nicodemus used it to wrap his body after his death (John 19:39). Epiphany reveals that my destiny is not and will never be determined by the power of politics, science or even death itself. My destiny has already been determined by the holy life and innocent death of that baby in Bethlehem. He has given us the final victory (1 Corinthians 15:57)! Because of him my sins can’t damn me, death can’t really kill me, and the devil can’t claim me. He is my Redeemer and my Lord and no one and nothing else can rule my life. I can blissfully ignore everything the politicians, the scientific experts, and even death says about me – because my Epiphany Savior has declared: because I live, you also will live (John 14:19).

And, finally, one last crucial element appears on Epiphany: our guide through life. That’s a pretty major theme in our text, isn’t it? How God used divine GPS to lead the Wise Men to the cradle of his Son? And yet, while the star and the dream certainly played a role – let’s not overlook the fact that it was the Word of God that led them both to Jerusalem and Bethlehem. We don’t need to look to the stars or to dreams for God’s guidance because we have his written Word in our hands. We heard a sample of this guidance in our second lesson from Paul’s letter to Titus. I’m going to provide a literal translation so you can hear it for yourself: for the grace of God has epiphanied, bringing salvation to all people. It trains us to reject ungodliness and worldly lusts and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in this present age, while we wait for the blessed hope, that is, the glorious epiphany of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ (Titus 2:11-13). Those who ignore Jesus’ first Epiphany don’t live like this. They can only live in and for the here and now because there is nothing after this life for them. Those who have no hope of salvation can’t renounce worldly passions because this world is all they have. For them to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives is not to live at all because to them our Savior’s second coming doesn’t mean life and salvation but death and damnation. They must put their hope and their faith in politics and science because they don’t know about the King who reigns over both.

But, by God’s grace, we know better. God’s Word guides and energizes us as we live each day eagerly waiting for him to appear again in glory. We eagerly and energetically live self-controlled, upright and godly lives here and now because we know we’re not waiting for Someone to shove our faces in our sins to shame us but to lift up our heads because our redemption is near (Luke 21:28). We aren’t waiting for the latest, greatest hope of our political system but for the One who rules over all political systems for the good of his people (Ephesians 1:22). We aren’t waiting for Someone who can do only as much as science says is possible, but for the One who does what science says is impossible like being born of a virgin (Matthew 1:23), rising from the dead (Matthew 28:6) and raising us from the dead (2 Corinthians 4:14). Though hidden from the naked eye, Epiphany reveals that God’s Word is our only sure guide through life until our Savior appears again.

So what appears on Epiphany? Yes, some Wise Men appear from the east. But Epiphany isn’t about the Wise Men. Epiphany is about Jesus. Today Jesus appears as my King, my God and my Savior; he appears to wipe away my shame, to win my salvation, and to guide me through the darkness of this world until he appears a second time in glory. Happy Epiphany! Amen.  

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientism