Long Unexpected Jesus Page 1 of 8 Long Unexpected Jesus Matthew 2:1-12 Today is January 6, the church holiday called Epiphany, and it s the official end of the Christmas season. You know the song, The 12 Days of Christmas? It refers to the 12 days of the Christmas season, beginning December 25 and wrapping up on January 5. Epiphany is the day we traditionally celebrate the arrival of the Magi, also known as wise men, who visited Jesus after His birth. Most people start taking their Christmas decorations down right after Christmas or on New Year s Day, which has always kind of bothered me because that s right in the middle of the 12 days of Christmas. Besides, how can you take down your nativity scenes when the Magi haven t even gotten there yet? Well, the first Christmas after Mackenzie and I were married, I was in seminary and I was set on celebrating the full season of Christmas as well as Epiphany, and I was set on having a theologically correct nativity scene. So, after Thanksgiving, Mackenzie put out all our Christmas decorations including all of our nativity scenes, and I went behind her and moved the Magi out of the stable and put them across the room, to the east of course. Then, starting Christmas day, I moved the Magi a little bit closer each day until finally on January 6, they would reach Mary, Joseph, and the baby Jesus. After five years of trying this, I ve failed to convince Mackenzie that this is an acceptable practice, and I think she s getting a little tired of it. This year I left the house to run some errands on New Year s Day, and when I got back all the Christmas decorations, including the nativities, were in a box up in the attic. Truth is, I know she s right: people don t really celebrate Epiphany anymore. Epiphany actually used to be the bigger holiday compared to Christmas. Beginning in the 18 th century, though, Christmas began to overshadow it. Today most of us don t even know what Epiphany is. The story of the Magi just gets wrapped up into the Christmas story, and when January 6 rolls around, we ve already moved on. But as a result, we can often miss what an important and what a strange story the visit of the Magi is. Let s listen to the story as Matthew tells it in chapter 2 of his gospel:
Long Unexpected Jesus Page 2 of 8 Matthew 2:1-12 1 In the time of King Herod, after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, 2 asking, Where is the child who has been born king of the Jews? For we observed his star at its rising, and have come to pay him homage. 3 When King Herod heard this, he was frightened, and all Jerusalem with him; 4 and calling together all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Messiah was to be born. 5 They told him, In Bethlehem of Judea; for so it has been written by the prophet: 6 And you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for from you shall come a ruler who is to shepherd my people Israel. 7 Then Herod secretly called for the wise men and learned from them the exact time when the star had appeared. 8 Then he sent them to Bethlehem, saying, Go and search diligently for the child; and when you have found him, bring me word so that I may also go and pay him homage. 9 When they had heard the king, they set out; and there, ahead of them, went the star that they had seen at its rising, until it stopped over the place where the child was. 10 When they saw that the star had stopped, they were overwhelmed with joy. 11 On entering the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother; and they knelt down and paid him homage. Then, opening their treasure chests, they offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. 12 And having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they left for their own country by another road. The word epiphany means manifestation, appearance, or revelation. It is so called because the visit of the Magi marked the day when the baby Jesus was revealed as the Son of God and Savior of the world. If you read the story closely, though, you ll see that Jesus isn t just revealed to the Magi. He s also revealed to King Herod who reigned over the region of Judea at that time, and to the chief priests and scribes the religious scholars of the day. We actually get three different revelations with three different responses. And the story challenges us to ask: Do we recognize Jesus when He s revealed in our own lives, and if we do, how do we respond?
Long Unexpected Jesus Page 3 of 8 Herod The first response I want to look at is King Herod s. The Magi show up to his palace in Jerusalem and ask him, Where is the child who has been born king of the Jews? And Matthew tells us that he was frightened. The reason Herod was frightened when he heard that there was a new king of the Jews is that he was the king of the Jews. Herod was king over the region of Judea, which was under the rule of the Roman Empire at the time. But the Romans had a deal with Herod. As long as he collected taxes to be sent to Rome and as long as he kept the peace, he was allowed to rule with a good bit of autonomy over Judea, the territory of the Jewish people in that day. So, for the Magi to come to Herod, the king of the Jews, asking where they could find the new king of the Jews, it was a bit like if someone showed up to your place of work and asked for the new person in your position. That d make you feel a little nervous, wouldn t it? It turns out, Herod knew exactly what these Magi meant by asking about the king of the Jews. They weren t asking about just any old king; they were asking about the Messiah. The Messiah was supposed to be the king who would deliver Israel once and for all and restore the nation to prominence. Herod knew that the Jewish Scripture (our Old Testament) was full of prophecies about this Messiah. So, he called for the chief priests and the scribes, who knew the Scriptures better than anyone, and asked them where the Messiah was to be born. And he asked the Magi when they had seen this star rising that signaled the child s birth. You see what he s doing? He s trying to pinpoint the place and time when this child was born, but not to pay him homage like the Magi. No, we later find out that he Herod intended to kill the child. Herod was threatened, and kings do not like to be threatened. Kings don t like to give up their power to another king, even if he s the Messiah. Herod isn t the only one who was frightened, though. That s the interesting part: Matthew says that all Jerusalem with him was frightened as well. Now why would that be? The Messiah was supposed to be the Savior of Jerusalem. He was supposed to deliver them out from under Rome s thumb. Why would the people be afraid? Well, deliverance doesn t typically
Long Unexpected Jesus Page 4 of 8 come easily or peacefully. Herod and Rome were not going to pave the way for this Messiah, and so the people feared being caught in the crosshairs. No matter how great the prophecies were of what this Messiah would bring to Israel, there was just too much risk involved. Better to simply muddle on with what you ve always known. Who knows how this Messiah might turn their lives upside down. The people of Jerusalem felt as threatened as Herod. Truth be told, I think people feel threatened by Jesus even today. A lot more people admire Jesus than actually follow Him. Following Him can be awfully demanding. You never know how Jesus might throw your life for a loop. You might suddenly find yourself caring about the needs of people you previously would have ignored. You might find yourself called to serve Him in a way that takes you out of your comfort zone. There s a family in Birmingham, AL I heard about a couple years ago, who learned that the city had a crisis in their foster care system. They had more children than they did homes, and no one was sure what could be done about it. When this couple heard the stories of some of these children, they said they both felt like God was calling them to help. But as they talked about it, they just didn t see how they could afford to care for more children; they already had two of their own. Until they finally came to the realization or better yet, they had the epiphany that they couldn t afford more children given their current lifestyle. But there was one thing they could change. So, they downsized their home, and moved to a more affordable neighborhood. They sold their boat and downgraded their cars. They completely changed their lifestyle so that they could adopt two more children in need of a home. I don t know if you ve ever felt threatened by Jesus, like He was placing a challenge in your life that you were scared to accept. But I am convinced that there comes a time for everyone who wants to be a follower of Jesus in which He calls you to a place you do not want to go, to do something you do not want to do. That was certainly true for all of His apostles. One of my favorite lines from Jesus comes after a rich aristocrat asked Jesus what he must do to inherit eternal life. Jesus told him to go and sell all his belongings and give the money to the poor. This was too much for the man so he went away disappointed. But my favorite part comes after the man walks away, when
Long Unexpected Jesus Page 5 of 8 Peter, one of the apostles, says to Jesus, Look, we have left our homes and followed you. And Jesus replies, Truly I tell you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields, for my sake and for the sake of the gospel, who will not receive a hundredfold now in this age houses, brothers and sisters, mothers and children, and fields, with persecutions and in the age to come eternal life. Did you catch that little addition, with persecutions? In other words, Jesus is saying, Yes, following me is worth it a hundred times over, but that doesn t mean it will be easy, that doesn t mean it won t cost you. When Jesus reveals to you a challenge that threatens your comfort and ease, how will you respond? You could respond like Herod and all Jerusalem with him, in fear, just wanting the threat to go away. Or you could respond like the Magi, who braved a long, difficult, and dangerous journey from the east to come find this child who had been born Savior of the world, and to bow down before him. Chief Priests and Scribes Of course, I realize that not everyone refuses to follow Jesus because they feel threatened by Him. For most people, it s more like they just don t care or haven t thought about it. If I ask most of my friends who aren t Christians why they don t follow Jesus, almost none of them have an intellectual issue with our beliefs or a moral issue with our ethics. Most simply don t care. They feel like they re doing just fine without Jesus, so why bother? I can t help but think that s how the chief priests and the scribes responded in Matthew s story. These are the top religious scholars in Jerusalem. They know the Scriptures forward and backwards; their entire lives are supposed to be devoted to discerning God s will. They knew all about the Messiah, so they of all people should have been watching and waiting for this news of a child born King of the Jews. In fact, even the Magi themselves should have been a sign to them, because there are all these prophecies about how foreign rulers or wise men from the east will come to pay homage before the Son of God. In fact, in Isaiah 60, it even says, They shall bring gold and frankincense, and shall proclaim the praise of the Lord.
Long Unexpected Jesus Page 6 of 8 But these theologians just come in, give Herod the answer he s looking for, and walk out. They don t go with the Magi to worship Him; they don t bring Him gifts; they don t even try to intervene when Herod wants to kill Him. Instead, they spend the rest of Jesus life trying to get Him to quiet down, stop talking about this Kingdom-of-God stuff, and stop stirring up the people s hopes, stop acting like the Messiah. How could these professionally trained religious scholars have missed the Messiah when He was revealed right in front of them? Well, when you don t think your life needs saving, you re probably not going to be looking for a Savior. The present arrangement was working quite nicely for them. They had money, power, and prestige. They were called on by kings and revered by the people. They had it made, so what use did they have for a Messiah, a Savior? That s most Americans today. Most of us have our basic needs all taken care of. Many of us have more than that. You can have a successful life without Jesus, at least as the world defines success. So why bother? Better to just not think about it. Why mess with a good thing? The problem is that our success, and our ability to provide for ourselves is just a façade that masks an emptiness we don t realize is there until the façade is stripped away. Many of us came to church because our life was suddenly rocked we lost a loved one or lost a job, our life was uprooted or our family was pulled apart. It s why church attendance across the country spiked after 9/11 and after the Great Recession. Sooner or later, we realize that we do not have what it takes on our own. For all that we ve got going for us, there is a deep longing that just won t go away, a guilt we can t shake, a loneliness that we can t explain. So, it turns out that you can ignore all the signs, you can dismiss the epiphanies just like the scribes and the chief priests, as long as your life is going the way you want it to. Until sooner or later it doesn t, and you realize that it was Jesus you ve longed for, it was Jesus you needed all along. And the question is, how will you respond? I may be reading between the lines here, but it seems to me that the Magi must have had some unfulfilled longing that led them to seek out Jesus. They said that they knew about the child who was born king of the Jews because they saw a star that was a sign to them. But that doesn t explain
Long Unexpected Jesus Page 7 of 8 why they followed it. It doesn t explain why they would make such a difficult and dangerous journey that may have even taken them a couple years. It doesn t explain why they left their home country with the wealth and prestige they enjoyed there to present such costly gifts to a baby. And it certainly doesn t explain why when they found the house where Jesus was, they were overwhelmed with joy. I don t know what their life was like back east, but for all their education and wealth and wisdom, they were still missing the one thing that could fill them with joy Jesus. Magi You know, we re so used to seeing the Magi in our nativity scenes that we forget how odd it is for them to be there. The Magi were the least likely ones to seek out Jesus and bow before Him. They were foreigners who didn t even know where Bethlehem was. They didn t know Israel s Scriptures with its prophecies. They didn t worship Israel s God. They didn t know about the long-expected Messiah. All they knew was that they saw something that drew them out of their comfortable, familiar lives and they had to follow it; they had to see what they were missing. And when the Messiah, the Son of God, the Savior of the world was revealed to them in the baby Jesus, they fell down and worshiped Him and knew that nothing would be the same. One day when I was working at the church office, a young man showed up wanting to speak with a pastor. I sat down with him, and I could see he was clearly shaken. He told me that he d had a dream the night before that was so disturbing, he couldn t sleep and he couldn t get it out of his head. In the dream, he was lying in his bed completely unable to move. He kept trying to get up, but it was like some force was keeping him down, almost like he was tied up, but he couldn t see what was keeping him from moving. He told me even after he woke up, he just couldn t shake that feeling. His roommate could tell how rattled he was and, to his great credit, told him to go talk to a pastor about it. Then he said, So I just stopped at the first church I drove past, and here I am. He asked me what the dream meant. Now, I guess I missed the dream interpretation course in seminary, because I was not trained for this and didn t quite know what to make of it.
Long Unexpected Jesus Page 8 of 8 So, I said to him, I m not sure I know exactly what your dream means, but I do think I know what that feeling is like when you feel stuck, trapped, held down like your life is out of your own control and all you want in the world is to be set free. And if that s how you feel in your everyday life, not just in a dream, then you ve come to the right place, because Jesus came to set us free. In fact, I love this one verse from the Bible, it says, For freedom Christ has set us free. Since you re asking me, I d say that your dream means you re looking for the freedom that can only come from Christ. Well, he wasn t quite ready to accept that, but he wanted to hear more. We met a few more times in the next several weeks, and he even started coming to worship. Then one day he dropped by my office again and told me that he was moving home, back to Ohio where he grew up. And he said, I just wanted to let you know that I m going back a different man than I was when I left. I m going back a believer. Matthew tells us that after the Magi had seen Jesus, they were warned in a dream and returned to their home country by another road. Can you imagine what it must have been like for them to return home, to be the only people around who had seen what they had seen? Can you imagine how everything must have seemed different to them after they had seen the Messiah? When Jesus reveals Himself in your life, once you ve had your epiphany about the Son of God, you can never really go back to business as usual. You ve seen something you can t un-see. You can return to your normal life, but there won t be anything normal about it anymore. It ll be as if you are going back by another road. For the rest of your journey through life, you go guided not by a star, but by the Son of God, Emmanuel God with us. Reflection Questions: 1. What epiphanies of Jesus have you had in your life? When have you felt Him calling out to you? 2. What do you think motivated the wise men to make that long journey? 3. Have you ever felt called to something you were scared to do? 4. What gifts do you have to offer Jesus?