“Epiphany—The Rest of the Christmas Story”
Matthew 2:1-12

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Pastor Kevin Vogts
Trinity Lutheran Church
Paola, Kansas
The Epiphany of Our Lord (Transferred from January 6)—January 3, 2021

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

Some people might be a little surprised to find our beautiful Christmas trees, Advent wreath, and other decorations all still up today in our church, even though Christmas Eve and Christmas Day are past. It’s not just that we’re slow getting them down.  There is actually a reason WHY the Christmas decorations are all still up.  For, today we are observing, a few days early, the Festival of Epiphany, which falls every year on January 6th.

Epiphany comes from the Greek word meaning a revelation or an appearance.  During the Epiphany season, in January and February, we remember times when Jesus of Nazareth was revealed to be the Christ, the divine Son of God.  Beginning with Wise Men coming from the East to worship him as a child at Bethlehem.

The song “The Twelve Days of Christmas” refers to the 12 days extending from Christmas Day on December 25th to Epiphany on January 6th. These days, many stores put their Christmas items out already in October or even earlier.  By the time Christmas actually arrives, it’s almost an anti-climax, because we’ve been celebrating it since Thanksgiving.  As Dolly put it in the cartoon “Family Circus”: “Christmas is my favorite MONTH.”

But, when my parents were children, Christmas was still celebrated the old-fashioned way, like the song says: Not the four weeks before Christmas, but the 12 days AFTER Christmas.  The Christmas tree and other decorations were put up only on Christmas Eve, and taken down on Epiphany, the 12th day of Christmas.

Christmas celebrates the birth of God’s Son, Jesus Christ, into the flesh as the Babe of Bethlehem.  At Christmas we hear the story of how the angels sang of the Savior’s birth to the JEWISH shepherds, who came with haste to worship him at the stable.  But, the worship of this child and the celebration of his birth has spread, from a few Jewish shepherds in a small Jewish village, to every nation, and race, and language all around the world, so that Christmas is really the first and foremost worldwide holiday.  EPIPHANY is the REST of the Christmas story, telling us the beginning of how this JEWISH child’s birth was transformed into a WORLDWIDE celebration, when non-Jewish, Gentile Wise Men from the East also came and worshipped the newborn King of Kings.

“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.’”

Scholars tell us that at the time of Christ’s birth there was a remarkable “general Messianic expectation” among many different peoples all around the world.  The Jews were not the only ones expecting a divine Savior to be born into the world.  There are many amazing references in PAGAN writings to the great God-man who was coming, some of them eerily sounding very much like Biblical prophecies.  About 50 years before the birth of Christ, the Roman poet Virgil wrote: “The Son shall lead the life of Gods . . .  The jarring nations He in peace shall bind, and with paternal virtues rule mankind. . . earth shall . . . bring . . . her . . . offerings to her infant King.”  Isn’t that amazing!

The reason why there was this “general messianic expectation” is a mystery the scholars can’t quite figure out.  But, the answer is found in Genesis:  All of humanity descended from Adam and Eve, and after the flood from Noah and his family.  The promise of the Savior first given to Adam and Eve was passed down through the generations of humanity, and even among those who strayed from the true God there remained a vestige, a memory of this promise: God is sending a divine Savior into our world—that much they knew.

But, how did the Wise Men from the East get such specific information about the birth of the Messiah as the “King of the Jews”?  The answer is found in the book of Daniel: “The king promoted Daniel and . . . made him ruler over . . . all the Wise Men of Babylon.”  While the Jews were held captive in Babylon, Daniel taught the Wise Men there the wisdom of the Hebrews, most of all the Hebrew Scriptures, and its specific prophetic promises that the Messiah would be born among God’s ancient chosen people, the Jews.

That information was passed down among the Wise Men, the scholars of the East, until six centuries later they observed some kind of very special star in the sky.  What could this special star mean?  They understood immediately what it meant: The promises and prophecies had been fulfilled, the Messiah, the Savior, the God-man, the King of Kings was born!  “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.”  King Herod the Great was troubled because the crowning glory of his career was the HE had been declared the “King of the Jews” by Caesar Augustus.  Herod was so jealous of this position that over the years he executed several of his sons, his wife, his mother and various other relatives he thought might be trying to usurp his throne.  But now, out of the blue, royal ambassadors from the East appear at his court to pay homage to some OTHER “King of the Jews”!

“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.”’”

The Wise Men naturally expected to find the newborn “King of the Jews” in the capital city of Jerusalem.  But, the chief priests and scribes inform Herod of the prophecy from Micah, which places the Messiah’s birthplace ten miles south of Jerusalem, in the little village of Bethlehem.

“O, little town of Bethlehem, how still we see thee lie.
“Above thy deep and dreamless sleep the silent stars go by.
“Yet in thy dark streets shineth the everlasting Light.
“The hopes and fears of all the years are met in thee tonight.”

“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.’”  Of course, Herod’s plan really is not to worship the Christ Child, but to do to him what he did to his own sons, when he thought they threatened his throne.  As Matthew tells us a few verses later: “Then Herod, when he saw that he was deceived by the Wise Men, was exceedingly angry; and he sent forth and put to death all the male children who were in Bethlehem and in all its districts, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had determined from the Wise Men. . . [But] an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream, saying, ‘Arise, take the young Child and his mother, flee to Egypt, and stay there until I bring you word; for Herod will seek the young Child to destroy him.’”

“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.” 

The Greek word which describes Jesus in these verses does not mean a newborn “baby,” as in the Christmas story in Luke, but a “young Child,” in age up to what we would call a toddler.  Also in Luke, Jesus is laid in a “manger,” presumably in a stable, “because there was no room for them in the inn,” but Matthew tells us that the Wise Men came into a “house.”

We know from Luke that after Jesus’ birth Mary and Joseph stayed on in Bethlehem for at least 40 days, so that they could perform both his circumcision on the eighth day, and later the required sacrifice of purification on the 40th day, in the Temple at Jerusalem.  So, although the Wise Men are traditionally included in our nativity scenes, they probably actually made their pilgrimage to Bethlehem sometime after Christmas, days, weeks, or months after the night of Jesus’ birth.

“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.”

The best gifts are thoughtful ones, which really take into account the person to whom they are given.  The gifts of the Wise Men to the Babe of Bethlehem are not just any gifts, but they form a confession of the Wise Men’s faith in who this Babe is.  Gold, a gift fit for a king, is their confession that he the King of Kings.  Incense, the spice burned in ancient temples to represent prayers ascending to God, is their confession that he is more than human, but is God and man, God born in the flesh.  And myrrh, the spice of bitterness and used in ancient burials, indicates this Child’s suffering and ultimate death.  As the carols say:

“Nails, spear, shall pierce Him through,
“The cross be borne, for me, for you . . .
“Sorrowing, sighing, bleeding, dying, sealed in the stone-cold tomb.”

The Good News of Christmas is that the Babe born in a manger, the Child the Wise Men worshipped, was born to be YOUR Savior.  God’s own Son came down to earth and was made man to fulfill God’s plan of salvation for YOU, by living in your stead a perfect life, by suffering and dying in your stead upon the cross.  And his resurrection is God the Father’s announcement that he has accepted his Son’s life and death as a sacrifice which makes up for all your sin and makes you worthy of heaven. Like the Wise Men, come and worship him, the King of Kings, God in the flesh, born to die for your salvation.

On the 12th day of Christmas, Epiphany reminds us again of the real meaning of Christmas.  The celebrations are over; the decorations are coming down.  Maybe we didn’t get quite what we wanted for Christmas; maybe the Christmas presents that brought us so much satisfaction just one week ago are already losing their luster.  But the real gift and treasure of Christmas is the Holy Child of Bethlehem.

“Epiphany—The Rest of the Christmas Story”