The Star of Wonder Leads Us Every Night :: Matthew 2:1-12
Twinkle, twinkle, little star / How I wonder what you are.
Up above the world so high / Like a diamond in the sky.
One of the things I love about living here in the pastures of west-central Missouri is the ability to see the stars. You see, I lived most of my life east of the Mississippi, and there are only a handful places there where you can see the stars; none of them are in Illinois. The light of mankind absolutely floods the night sky there. While Kansas City to the north, Springfield to the south and St Louis to the east spoils the night sky for most folks in Missouri, we here in Appleton City are just a few miles north of one of the first dark zones west of the Mississippi where you can see the twinkle, twinkle of little stars.
When you live in an actual dark zone, and if you are young enough, on a clear night astronomers say you can probably see about 3,000 stars in the night sky. The older you get, the fewer you can actually see.
Was it one of those twinkles that led you to this place tonight?
Two thousand and twenty some-odd years ago, it was the twinkle, twinkle of a little star that set up our Gospel reading from Matthew chapter 2. Strangers from far away ... Magi, or you could say, Wise Men from the distant East ... saw the Christmas star twinkling like a diamond in the sky. And so they followed it ... knowing that it would lead them to the Christ child. That’s amazing! We have seen his star in the East, they said.
When they finally found Jesus, they worshiped him as Savior and King and they presented to him the gifts of the faith he had given them: gold for a king, frankincense for a priest, and myrrh for one who was about to die. In Jesus, they recognized the light of the world piercing the darkness, and they believed. They recognized that God had come to them in the flesh. And they worshiped him. These Magi may have been the first Gentiles to worship our Savior.
4.
This account of the Magi has stirred the imagination of artists and poets and songwriters alike. That may be due partly to the cloak of mystery that surrounds these strangers from a foreign land.
Who were they? How many were there? Where did they come from? When did they actually find our Lord? And what kind of star twinkling in the night sky actually caught their eye? How did they know that that was the star that would guide them?
We don’t know the answer to any of these questions: Our Gospel reading doesn’t provide that information. But make no mistake, they all saw the Light of the World piercing darkness.
Legends have been woven around this event, giving the Magi some type of identity. Some of those legends led to the construction of the Shrine of the Three Kings in Cologne, Germany. Visitors there are told that there were three wise men; that their names were Caspar from Tarsus, Balthazar from Ethiopia, and Melchior from Arabia. But Scriptures tell us nothing of that ... no number ... no names ... no place of origin. Matthew says only this: Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod, the king, behold, Magi from the East came to Jerusalem, saying Where is He who has been born King of the Jews, for we have seen his star in the East and have come to worship him (NKJV vv 1-2).
Unlike the profiteers of Cologne, these words reveal an abundance of truth about who these men actually were. Behold, they were wise men ... Magi really ... and they came from the East. In other words, they weren’t Israelites ... they were Gentiles ... and they had been waiting for this day all of their lives. God had made them wise unto salvation. As Jesus tells us later in Matthew, everyone who hears these words of mine and does them will be like wise men (7:24).
In other words, they knew God’s Word. They had faith in God’s Word. They had been hearing God’s Word. And they believed it was true. Talk about amazing! They recognized the historicity of God’s word. They knew it. And they assented to it. That is the essence of faith.
3.
The world around us ... and them ... certainly doesn’t believe God’s Word. They deny creation. They deny the flood. They deny the Exodus. They deny the Law. They deny the virgin birth. They deny the resurrection. They deny that a star could actually lead men across the fields and fountains, the moors and mountains ... westward leading still proceeding ... guiding us to thy perfect light. No, the world reduces scripture to being not much more than a good word about good living.
Yet here are the Magi hearing and believing and turning toward God.
There is only one way that comes about, and it wasn’t by the imagination of their heart. It wasn’t simply because they saw the twinkle of a little star and said they wondered what you are.
Brothers and sisters in Christ, you cannot find God by looking at the stars ... you cannot find him in your heart ... you cannot find him in your logic. That is mysticism, moralism, and rationalism, all of which deny the Real Light that has come into the world .... to live with you and for you ... to die for you and to rise for you. You can, though, find him in the Word.
The Magi were drawn to Christ the only way any of us can come to believe: By the Light of God’s Word. They undoubtedly had heard it from the Prophet Daniel when he was in exile in Babylon (Dan 5:13-14). They then preserved and treasured that Word through the centuries. They listened to all of God’s word ... not just the passages they wanted to hear. They recognized the historicity of God’s Word. And they believed.
They would have heard the word of Balaam’s fourth prophecy in Numbers 24, which told them that: A star shall come out of Jacob; a Scepter shall rise out of Israel (Num 24:17). They would have heard the prophecies of Isaiah ... such as our Old Testament reading tonight revealed ... how the light of the World would come and the glory of the Lord would rise from Israel ... that his glory would be seen and that the nations would come to his light (Isa 60:1-3).
While the world around you denies it, God’s word is that powerful and life-changing ... leading all of us from afar. God’s Word is always working. As Paul tells us in Romans 15[:4] it was written so that we might have hope.
And the Magi certainly did.
When they lifted up their eyes, they saw what they had never seen before ... Behold, the star which they had seen in the East went before them, till it came and stood over where the young Child was. When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceedingly great joy. And when they had come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary His mother, and fell down and worshiped him (NKJV vv 9b-11a).
2.
And that’s why you’re here, too, isn’t it?
Brothers and sisters in Christ, the wondrous star of God’s Word that you have been treasuring all of your lives has led you to Christ once again. And now you can rejoice with exceedingly great joy. It is the Gospel you are now hearing and seeing tonight. Like the Magi before you, the prophecies of the Old Testament have been pointing you to Christ, and the epiphanies of the New Testament have been revealing him. They show you this child is so much more than a prophet, priest, and king. He is Christ the Lord. Jesus is bringing to light the mystery of salvation ... that he would fulfill all righteousness ... living his life without sin for you ... that he would suffer the punishment of your sin on his cursed cross ... that he would rise from the dead and ascend into heaven, where he is preparing a place for you.
Some might call us naive and simpleminded for such faith that God Christ would die for you. So be it. But through his resurrection, he is giving us new life ... his eternal life ... so that we can live before him in his righteousness and purity forever.
This is the light that is rising upon you.
1.
So come, follow the twinkle of the Christmas star, and let us worship him. He has come to serve us.
If the world knew how to hear and see this truth they would gladly rejoice with us when they saw our worship, for this is where God comes to us. This is where God delivers his gifts of forgiveness. This Divine Service ... that is, God’s service of Word and sacrament ... his service to you, for you, with you ... is what EVERYONE needs to see. It is what everyone should love receiving. God’s service to you, for you, with you is where God in Christ meets you.
Here, he proclaims his Gospel that gives the wisdom of God in the crucified Christ. He has reconciled himself to you so that you can now see him, touch him, believe in him, and
be saved by him. Behold, your light has come. He is enlightening you, sanctifying you through baptism, and clothing you in his robes of righteousness so that you can join the feast where he delivers to you his life-giving body and blood given and shed for the forgiveness of sins.
As the wise men gladly fell on their faces at the feet of Jesus, you can now do the same, kneeling in joyful submission to Him, hearing His Word, and receiving His forgiveness.