Epiphany

The Star Shines Above It All

Today is the last day of Christmas.

It’s twelve days since Chistmas Day itself.

This is our last official chance

to celebrate the coming of our Lord as a baby.

There’s something a little sad about that.

Soon the world will move on from this holy day, or holiday.

The decorations will all be put away. The arrangements of tables and chairs will return to normal. The stores will begin marketing for the next commercial holiday.

Actually, they’re already setting up for Valentine’s Day.

There are some who share in the joy of Christmas,

but find it hard to take at the same time.

It brings back memories of happier times,

of the departed saints whose memories we cherish.

There’s joy, but it’s bittersweet, and tempered with sorrow.

With Christmases like that,

it’s good that the celebration doesn’t last all year.

In truth, the Christian’s entire life is the same way.

We have our little victories,

but our sustaining joy is in our certainty of eternal life.

Meanwhile, we also have many sorrows,

making our lives bittersweet,

with longing for our salvation.

Life on earth for Christians is not perfect,

but life in heaven will be.

Sometimes earthly sorrows can seem overwhelming.

Especially then, we need to look heavenward,

to the tokens of love that God has granted us.

For the magi, one of those tokens was the star in the east.

It meant that their Savior had been born in Judea.

The same star teaches us the use of God’s Word.

The Star shines above it all.

Because it transcends the earth. Because it guides us to the King of the Jews.

Matthew 2:1–12

Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men 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.”

When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him. And when he had gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people together, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born. So they said to him, “In Bethlehem of Judea, for thus it is written by the prophet: ‘But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, Are not the least among the rulers of Judah; For out of you shall come a Ruler Who will shepherd My people Israel.’ ” Then Herod, when he had secretly called the wise men, determined from them what time the star appeared. And he sent them to Bethlehem and said, “Go and search carefully for the young Child, and when you have found Him, bring back word to me, that I may come and worship Him also.”

When they heard the king, they departed; and 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. And when they had opened their treasures, they presented gifts to Him: gold, frankincense, and myrrh. Then, being divinely warned in a dream that they should not return to Herod, they departed for their own country another way.

Because it transcends the earth.

These days airplanes and boats navigate by satellite global positioning.

Only a few years ago, navigation was done by fixed radio beacons.

I learned some of that myself in college,

and my father used a similar system fishing on George’s Bank.

There were many calculations to do what they call

dead reckoning.

It’s a good name for it,

because those who reckon wrong may well end up dead.

Before radio beacons,

navigation was done by means of heavenly bodies:

the sun, the moon, and the stars.

It’s easy to find the North Star.

You can always use it on a clear night

to get your bearings.

The important thing you need to navigate

is some kind of fixed or predictable reference point:

satellites that can stay put, stationary radio transmitters, or stars like the North Star

and others that move across the sky

in predictable ways.

We don’t know exactly what star the magi saw.

It could have been a planetary conjunction, or even something miraculous.

We know that it guided them west to Jerusalem by simply appearing,

and that it later led them eastward to Bethlehem,

stopping over the very place where Jesus was.

(This wasn’t the stable from Christmas, but a house somewhere in town.)

What we know is that the magi used this star

to navigate from their homes far away

to the place where they found their Savior.

How is that possible?

This star was provided by God.

Back where the magi came from in the East,

(We don’t know exactly where that was.) they had joys, sorrows, and problems of their own.

There were family tensions and disputes, There was hardship making ends meet. There were tough decisions between work and home life. There were criminals and swindlers, and worse.

How do I know this?

Because they came from somewhere in this world we still live in.

But one night the magi were found looking up in wonder,

because they knew what that star meant:

God was sending His promised Messiah, the Savior.

The star was expected,

and it was above all the joys, sorrows, and problems on earth.

No matter what family tensions or disputes there were, no matter how hard it was to make ends meet, no matter how many tough decisions had to be made and followed, no matter what criminals, swindlers, or even murderers did:

that star kept shining, because God put it there.

The same applies to us:

it doesn’t matter how good or bad our lives have been, it doesn’t matter what anyone else may think of us:

our shining star is God’s Word, and it means

that God has given us His promised Messiah, our Savior.

Just as the star of the magi transcended the earth,

and always shined down regardless of what may have happened here,

so also God’s Word transcends the earth,

and always shines brightly in the darkness of this fallen world.

Do you know why?

Because God has etched our salvation permanently into His will. That’s what it means in the text from Malachi 3: For I am the LORD, I do not change; Therefore you are not consumed, O sons of Jacob.

The star shines above it all, because it transcends the earth.

Because it guides us to the King of the Jews

The star shines above it all,

because it guides us to the King of the Jews.

For the magi,

the star was a visible point of light in the sky.

For us,

the star is the Word of God, which is the Bible.

Just as the magi were guided by the star

to Jerusalem, to Bethlehem, and finally to the place where Jesus was:

So may we be guided by the Word of God

to the Church, the spiritual city of God, to the sacraments, where we are reborn and fed in a new life, and finally to heaven itself, where Jesus reigns eternally.

The Magi stand out in our text,

from Herod, from the people of Jerusalem, and from the chief priests and scribes.

They did not stand out because of what they said,

because they all claimed the same thing:

they wished to worship the King of the Jews.

That sounds good, doesn’t it?

We should all say that we want to worship Him:

in the Divine Service on Sundays, by studying His Word in our Bible classes, and in our regular private and family devotions.

But the magi stood out from the others by what they did:

they alone traveled to Bethlehem,

seeking out their Savior.

they alone bent the knee before Him with joy, and they alone brought Him rich thankofferings.

All of this leads us to an important question:

are we like the Magi, or are we like Herod,

the people of Jerusalem, and the chief priests and scribes?

Do we only say that we are Christians,

or do we seek out our Savior, bend the knee before Him, and bring Him our own thankofferings?

This question is important for a surprising reason.

Some would tell us that we haven’t served God well enough.

That’s true enough, isn’t it?

But the more pressing problem is that

we haven’t received enough of God’s service.

Consider the time when Jesus washed His disciples’ feet.

It says in John 13:

Then He came to Simon Peter. And Peter said to Him, “Lord, are You washing my feet?” Jesus answered and said to him, “What I am doing you do not understand now, but you will know after this.” Peter said to Him, “You shall never wash my feet!” Jesus answered him, “If I do not wash you, you have no part with Me.”

Peter wanted to be a good disciple and serve his master.

He wanted to be the washer of Jesus’ feet.

But Jesus was teaching them what is truly necessary:

that He should serve and wash us.

If we refuse to receive it,

then we do not belong to Him.

So we are washed by God Himself in holy baptism,

reborn and renewed in righteousness by the Holy Spirit.

So we are also served by our Lord

every time we receive the Gospel message:

the forgiveness of our sins,

and every time our communicants receive

the body and blood our Lord gave and shed to redeem us.

When we come to Him, gathering around His Word and Sacraments,

Jesus is certainly present too, with His Church.

He’s present to cleanse us again

of all hypocrisy, of all malice, of all laziness, of all selfish ambition, of all covetousness and greed, of all immorality and indecency.

Right now, all of these sins are washed from you

by the power of God’s own Word.

He returns you to the new life of your baptism.

Let us imitate the faith of these magi,

as we also wish to imitate the faith

of Mary and Joseph, of Simeon and Anna, of John the Baptizer and his parents, and all the saints who have gone before us.

So the bittersweet life where we find ourselves

is seasoned with the certain hope

of everlasting life in heaven.

All of this because of the baby born to Mary,

found under the star in Bethlehem.

Thanks be to God.

Amen.

Soli Deo Gloria!