“Arise, Shine, for Your Light Has Come; and the Kingdom Is at Hand”
Matthew 2:1-12
Associate Pastor Doug Forsberg
January 1, 2006
I wonder how your New Year’s resolutions are going? Did just one cup of coffee do the job? How did that long run through the neighborhood go? Were you able to read through the whole book of Leviticus this morning? I guess I’m somewhat of a cynic about New Year resolutions, but don’t let my cynicism get in the way of your resolutions, for there is something noble about making a plan and sticking to it. There is something honorable about seeing an area of your life that is in need of correction and then setting out in a disciplined fashion to change. Some resolutions we make are easy to joke about because we really don’t intend to keep them very long, but the reality is that there are areas in all of our lives that need to experience the light of Christ and be transformed. What better time for new beginnings than our marking of this New Year?
Last Sunday we celebrated Christ’s birth, and we made bold proclamations about who he is and what he came to do. We aren’t the only ones to make such proclamations. Such announcements have been made for 2,000 years concerning this baby born in Bethlehem, and those who have heard of this child have had to decide what to do with him. Is he the Son of God or is this all a bunch of nonsense?
The wise men faced the same questions, and their actions teach us the proper way to approach the King of the Jews. When the wise men heard about Jesus (actually they saw a sign about him) they made a diligent search for him. Upon finding the child Jesus, they fell on their knees in worship, and after worshipping him, they devoted the best of themselves to their king. We would do well to follow the example set by the wise men.
After the birth of Christ, the wise men, who were from the east, saw a star in the sky that indicated to them that the King of the Jews had been born. They set out to worship this newborn king. We want to know more about these men. Where exactly were they from? How did they know about the Jews and their coming king? How did the star tell them that a king had been born? Many have sought to answer these questions, but the text is silent about them. The Gospel is only concerned with telling us that these wise men knew that the King of the Jews had been born and that they went to worship him.
These Gentiles, these wise men who had been far off from God’s promises, set off on a long journey and made their way to Jerusalem. Since we don’t know where they were from, it is hard to say how long the journey was, but the text does give us some clues, for there is a passage of time between the birth of Jesus and the coming of these men. We know that by the time the wise men found Jesus, he was living in a house and we’re told he was a child and not a baby. Surely, the men traveled some distance to find Jesus, and their trip involved a personal sacrifice of time, energy, and riches.
Once Jesus comes to us, he wants all of us. He wants each part of our lives to be conformed to his image. This takes work. So often we point our accusing finger at those who do not know Christ and wonder how they could miss all of the signs pointing to him. We wonder how they could neglect him or ignore him or even insult him. All the while, we avoid shining that accusing light toward ourselves.
It takes sacrifice on our part to journey toward Christ with our time, energy, and riches so that he can shape the way we work, the way we live in our families, the way we steward our resources, and even the way we relax. If there are areas of your life that have yet to experience the light of Christ, its time for you to start on a journey, seeking him and desiring his lordship.
After their long and arduous journey, the wise men arrive in Jerusalem and start asking around for the King of the Jews. In those times and in that place, with Herod as king, this was just about the most politically incorrect question that the wise men could have asked. It would be like dressing up in a Yankees uniform arriving at the Red Sox clubhouse and asking to see Johnny Damon’s locker. You just don’t do those sorts of things. The wise men needed to know though, so they asked around, and sure enough, they were taken straight to the top. Herod, the king, spoke to them secretly and told them to look in Bethlehem.
Herod seemed to be a friendly man. He even says that he too wants to worship this newborn king. We know better. We know that Herod was ruthless and was willing to kill his own family to keep his crown. Not only would he kill family members, he was even willing to kill untold innocents in Bethlehem in order to protect his kingdom. Herod is not interested in the light that pierces the darkness. So it is that there are many Herod’s in our own lives that seek to keep the light of Christ away from us.[1] The fact is that there are powers at work that want to extinguish the light of Christ, and when you start searching for him, these powers will begin to fight. I don’t know what these powers might be in your life, but I know they are there, and I know that they try to prevent the light from penetrating the darkness you face. But dear friends, the darkness can never hide the light; light always bursts through the darkness. So it is that the Herod’s in our lives cannot have the final say, for God has defeated all such powers.
The wise men left Jerusalem and went toward Bethlehem only to encounter the same star they had seen that led them to begin their journey. The star leads them to the house where they find Jesus, and these wise men are filled with great, abundant joy. They are joyful because they have found Jesus, but I think their joy also stems from the fact that God has been faithful to them on their journey. When they see Jesus, they bow down and worship him. This is the kind of adoration a king deserves; and these men show their true wisdom as they bow before a mere child.
Notice that worship is the motivating factor for this whole journey. These wise men weren’t looking for a blessing from the king; they weren’t looking for riches from the king, nor were they looking to be awarded powerful positions in the kingdom. They came to the king, having traveled for a long time in a difficult climate, in order to worship him. I wonder if the same could be said of us as we approach our king?
After searching long and hard for Jesus, the wise men find him, and they worship him who was born the King of the Jews. The first result of their act of worship is that they search their hearts and bring to the king the best of their treasures. The giving of gold, incense and myrrh to Jesus is not an afterthought for the wise men. It is not as if they suddenly remember to give Jesus the gifts they had picked up at Wal-Mart on the way to his house.
Instead, it is clear that these gifts were thoughtfully given and that the wise men had brought them on their journey. Many have wondered why these items were given to Jesus. Let me share one possibility with you. The wise men brought gold to Jesus because it was the treasure of kings. They brought incense to Jesus because it was sign that he was God; incense was often burned for divine pleasure. The wise men brought myrrh to Jesus as a sign of his humanity, for myrrh is a perfume that makes the “life of man more pleasant and his pain less dreadful.”[2] In these gifts, we see the special character of Christ: his lordship over all creation, his divinity, and his humanity. We also see again the true wisdom of these men who traveled so far to meet the King of the Jews.
Whether you have not yet sought Jesus, have only recently found him, or have been his disciple for as long as you can remember, the wise men are worthy examples for all of us. When they sense God’s call in their life, they begin a journey that comes to its climax when they worship Christ and present their offerings to him. They have no idea what their journey will be like when they start out, but they go and search diligently until they find Christ. We don’t know what became of these men after they saw Christ and went home by another way. I imagine they had quite a story to tell those they encountered at home.
That’s what the life of faith is like. Its not a neat little package that we can easily grasp with a few catchy slogans or bumper stickers. It involves a journey, a searching for the light of Christ, and it involves our being transformed while on that journey so that more and more we are like Christ, and as we come to him it involves our worship and our sacrifice.
Friends, as we enter the New Year it is appropriate for us to look at our lives. It is appropriate for us to seek Christ’s transformation of our lives and what better place to do that than here in worship where together we discern the Word of God and where together we partake of this bread and cup. All those who take up these elements announce to the world that they belong to Christ, that they have been claimed by the King, for in this bread and cup we are reminded of the great work our Lord has accomplished for us and we bow again in humble adoration, promising the best of who and what we are to him and to his kingdom.
May we all be like these wise men as we seek Christ in the coming year.
[1] Credit for this idea of Herod’s in our own lives goes to M. Craig Barnes, Pastor of Shadyside Presbyterian Church. He preached about this very thing in a sermon on December 25, 2005: Salvation in Ordinary Wrapping, Luke 2:25-35. http://www.shadysidepres.org/worship/Sermon%20Texts/2005-12-25.pdf
[2] William Hendrickson, New Testament Commentary: Matthew, Grand Rapids: Baker, 2002, 173.