Matthew 2:1-12 [Epiphany—CWS A]
Pastor Ron Koehler
Grace—Benson/Vail, AZ
January 5, 2019
In the name of our Savior Jesus, the Light of the world, dear friends, As I mentioned in the Welcome this morning, Epiphany means “appearing” or “appearance”. The Christian Church has celebrated Epiphany, the “appearing” of Jesus as the Savior of the whole world going all the way back to 361 AD at least! It seems that January 6 (or the equivalent date on ancient calendars) was used and it was set in stone as that date at a Church Council in 567 AD, which also established the 12 days between Christmas and Epiphany as the Christmas season. Instead of having church tomorrow on the 6th, we typically celebrate Epiphany on the closest Sunday. We want to remember and rejoice over the fact that, although Jesus was born a Jew, God says that the salvation he earned is for all nations and people. The historical account from Scripture that illustrates this best is the account of the Magi from the East—non Jewish wise men—coming to worship the baby Jesus. That is our lesson from God’s Word today. As we hear it, we’re interested in what happened then, and we also notice something interesting: THE PURSUIT OF THE CHRIST CHILD CONTINUES 1. SOME ONLY WANT TO PERSECUTE HIM (3-8) 2. GOD LEADS OTHERS TO WORSHIP HIM (1-2, 9-12)
The time had come for the Savior of all people to enter the world. The prophets had talked about this for centuries. You heard our First Lesson this morning from Isaiah say, your light has come, and Nations will walk to your light (60:1,3). A world enveloped by a thick, black cloud of sin needed the light of holiness and righteousness. Jesus is that light and he was born in Bethlehem, as the very first verse of our lesson reminds us. Notice that although Jesus was born in a manger, at this time, Jesus and his parents were in a house. They were still in Bethlehem, but at the time the wise men came to see the Christ child, he was anywhere from days or weeks old to even 2 years old. The Savior’s birth and some amount of time had passed without King Herod or most people even noticing. It was the wise men, the Magi, who brought it to Herod’s attention as they came looking for Jesus. Immediately Herod assembled all his advisors—the people who should have known something about this. He called on the Jewish church leaders—the chief priests and teachers of the law. They were the ones knowledgeable in the Hebrew Scriptures. They would know what the prophets had written about a king of the Jews who was to be born. And they did know! They quoted the prophet Micah who foretold that the Savior would be born in Bethlehem.