This was the final sermon of the skipping Advent/skipping preaching series. I enjoyed preaching this series, but as often happens when I enjoy a sermon, I received no feedback about the sermon. I was fascinated to discover that the first words spoken by a human in Matthew were from the wise men. As we continue to read news of conflict and turmoil in Israel and Gaza, I find it hard to preach any sermon that does not have some reference to the brokenness in the world.
“Skipping Christmas: No Wise Men”; Matthew 2; Dec 31, 2023; SAPC, Denton; Dr. Richard B. Culp
13Now after they had left, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, “Get up, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you; for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him.” 14Then Joseph got up, took the child and his mother by night, and went to Egypt, 15and remained there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfill what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet, “Out of Egypt I have called my son.”
16When Herod saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, he was infuriated, and he sent and killed all the children in and around Bethlehem who were two years old or under, according to the time that he had learned from the wise men. 17Then was fulfilled what had been spoken through the prophet Jeremiah: 18“A voice was heard in Ramah, wailing and loud lamentation, Rachel weeping for her children; she refused to be consoled, because they are no more.”
19When Herod died, an angel of the Lord suddenly appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt and said, 20“Get up, take the child and his mother, and go to the land of Israel, for those who were seeking the child’s life are dead.” 21Then Joseph got up, took the child and his mother, and went to the land of Israel. 22But when he heard that Archelaus was ruling over Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. And after being warned in a dream, he went away to the district of Galilee. 23There he made his home in a town called Nazareth, so that what had been spoken through the prophets might be fulfilled, “He will be called a Nazorean.”
Introduction: I’m not a big on displaying nutcrackers. I have always found them to be a bit scary. but, my wife loves them and has a display of them she puts out every Christmas.
A few years ago, I decided to order what would surely be the perfect Christmas gift for her - a Texas A&M Nutcracker;
I ordered it the second week of December - not early, early, but it was due to arrive by Dec. 21,
then Dec. 22,
then the 24th,
then, without explanation, due to arrive on January 2;
it finally arrived on January 4;
I didn't even wrap it. I took it out of the package, my wife Leslie looked at it, and then it went straight into the storage box;
straight from the mailing box to the storage box on its way to the attic.
Christmas gifts that arrive late are a bit anti-climactic.
although Christmas pageants have the wise men arrive with the shepherds from the fields, many biblical scholars believe that the wise men arrived much later.
Perhaps after Jesus was crawling around or maybe even taking his first steps (the decree from King Herod to kill male babies two years or younger suggests that Jesus is no longer a newborn).
The wise men have arrived to see Christ long after the excitement of his birth, long after the heavenly pronouncement of his birth, long after the shepherds have come and gone.
Likewise, they arrive at the end of the sermon series in which we have been skipping Advent and now skipping Christiams. It would be easy to skip the wise men.
But if we did so, if we skipped the wise men, we would miss out on some important things, and not just some gold, frankincense, and myrrh.
Move 1: without the wise men, we would miss out on the universal impact of Christ’s birth.
a. the wise men are not part of the Jewish tradition
1. they were not people who had been told by the prophets to look for the coming Messiah.
they would not been on the list of Top Ten people to notify when the Messiah arrives.
2. They are strangers from far away places.
outsiders.
4. Yet their lives are impacted by the birth of Christ.
b. Interesting fact, the first words spoken by humans in the Gospel of Matthew were spoken by the wise men (you can go home and fact-check me on that if you want!)
1. the first word spoken? “Where.”
as in “Where is the child who is born king of the Jews.
as in, where is the one in whom we can place our hope
as in, where is the one who can give our lives significance.
as in, where is this one who will change our lives.
2. . The wise men reflect the desire all people have for their lives to have meaning,
3. The Gospel of Matthew presents the birth of Jesus as the fulfillment of God’s promise to the Israelites, but the coming of Christ is also the hope for all the world.
b. Do not mistake the universal impact for some type of generic God.
1. “Where” is both a general question, but also a very specific question - they want a location for where God has arrived.
2. The wise men are looking for a particular baby born, the appearance of a particular God.
3. In Christ, we discover the particularity of God.
4. Not just any god,
not just a god so with no shape and form
not a god that is so generic it makes no difference to the world.
5. But the God of the particular
who comes in a real person,
who knows us by name
who claims us in particular ways as God’s chosen ones.
c. Part of our calling is to recognize the universal need people have for what God can do
and then point people in the particular to the God we have come to know in the particularity of Jesus Christ.
1. King Herod wants to limit access to God because King Herod does not care about the needs of others, he only cares about himself and the preservation of his power.
2. As people who have discovered the hope we have in the God who comes in Christ, we are called not to limit, but to share and expand people’s access to God.
3. Instead of plotting to kill Christ and those who seek him, we are called to invite people to know Christ,
to point people to the hope we find in the God who comes in Christ.
Move 2: Without the wise men, we would not get a sense of the shifting in our lives that takes place as we respond to God’s calling.
a. we notice the impromptu starts and stops found in Matthew’s telling of the birth of Christ.
1. Wise men wander and do not know quite how to find the baby born who is the king of the Jews.
They miss the mark by showing up in Jerusalem (not a bad guess if you are looking for the king of the Jews) where they discover they need to head to Bethlehem.
From Bethlehem, they suddenly have to take another route home.
Mary, Joseph, and their little child Jesus have to disappear in the night and flee to Egypt.
then, when King Herod dies, they end up returning to Nazareth instead of Bethlehem out of fear of the next king (go back and read Matthew and we get the sense that Jesus and his parents might have gone back to Bethlehem, otherwise).
Bottom line - the arrival of the Christ-child demands changes, sometimes sudden changes, from everyone connected to him.
b. Cartoon sent to me by one of you: the outline of three wise men on camels in the dark with a bright star off in the distance in the sky. One of the wise men appears to be looking at his cell phone as he says, “Head east, keep going east…go east. some more recalculating.’ To which one of the other wise men says, “Balthazar, put that thing away. Let’s just follow the star.”
1. that’s the point, isn’t it?
2. Follow the star in our lives.
3. maybe not a star in the sky literally, but set our sights on Christ,
go where the Holy Spirit sends us,
never lose sight of the God who is ever before us.
4. the path we travel may shift unexpectedly, but as long as our focus remains on following Christ, the path will be true.
The wise men may not have followed a direct path, they they went where God sent them.
We should do the same.
Move 3: Finally, without the wise men, we would miss the reminder that God will be at work in the midst of the evil and tragedy in the world.
a. After hearing the story of the wise men as told by the Gospel of Matthew, we know why we generally read about the birth of Christ from the Gospel of Luke:
the kind of fun story of the angel talking to Zechariah or the angel talking to Mary;
John the Baptist leaping in the womb of his mother when she greets the pregnant Mary as they gather to share a special time in their pregnancy
or the heavenly host and the grand announcement of the Messiah having arrived.
Even “no room at the inn” takes on sort of a magical quality to it.
And, of course, Luke finishes with the image of Mary treasuring everything in her heart.
1. King Herod’s actions offer no magical moment, no special stories.
2. No way to spin King Herod’s death decree for children under the age of two.
3. King Herod exemplifies the use of power for evil purposes.
His actions serve as a reminder that there is tragedy and heartache,
violence and bloodshed in the
world.
one world leader waging war against a helpless group.
this is the world to which God arrives in baby Jesus.
b. We can look at the news in our day and see more than one story of those in power lashing out.
1. We might ask - Where can we find God in a world such as this?
1. Lots of places, I suppose.
I do not want to limit your imagination or your experiences when thinking about where we can find God.
The Holy Spirit blows where it chooses.
We can all share stories of where we have seen God at work in our world and our lives.
2. But if you are having trouble finding God, Look for God with those who are suffering at the hands of others.
2. Look for God in the midst of the pain and heartache.
3. look for God at work in the struggles of the world.
c. At Christ’s birth, 2 yr olds will die for no reason, except the one in power was afraid of the new king, and he used his power to kill.
at his death, Jesus hung from a cross, crucified for no reason by those in power who feared him.
1. The tears of Rachel that Matthew uses to mark the birth of Christ will be matched by the tears of Mary, Jesus’ mother as she watches him crucified on the cross.
2. In those tears, we are reminded of the God who joins us in the suffering,
the God who calls us to extend ourselves to those who are suffering;
the God who is ever at work transforming the world from a place of suffering to a place of hope and love.
the God who calls us to be part of that transformation.
Conclusion: We need the wise men, better late than never, because they take us to the God who comes for all the world, the God who comes in the particularity of Jesus Christ, the God who comes to be with us in all things. Amen.
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