The Epiphany of Our Lord—January 5th, 2025
Trinity Ev. Lutheran Church, Block, Kansas
Rev. Joshua Woelmer
Text: Isaiah 60:1–6; Matthew 2:1–12
“God’s Light Shines for the Gentiles”
Theme: Jesus is the light of the world, not just for the Jews but also for the Gentiles.
Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father, and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
The Bible often speaks in black and white terms, or in terms of darkness and light. If you were here for the Christmas Day service, you heard a lot of this from John 1: “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. … The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him” (5, 9–10).
The Gospels draw from Old Testament prophets as they connect Jesus to the light of the world. Isaiah especially prophesies that light will shine upon Israel, and the “glory of the Lord” will rise for Israel. What is vital for us to notice in Isaiah and Matthew is that this light is not just for Israel to horde for itself, but that it will attract the Gentiles who so desperately need the light.
Jesus is the light of the world. He is the glory of Israel because he is the light to lighten the whole world. In the Nicene Creed, we confess Him as “light of light.” This draws our minds back to the creation of the world, where God made light on the first day. That light came from God himself and was not yet encapsulated in the sun.
But Jesus as the light of God also came into this world, as we heard from John. He was conceived by the Holy Spirit and was born of the Virgin Mary. He is the Christ, the Anointed One of God, the Messiah. However, he did not come into this world with a halo on his head, marking him as the light of the world. Rather, there was another form of light shining that night, as the angels proclaimed the good will of God to all peoples to the lowly shepherds. So the true light that night was revealed in God’s word, that is, the gospel.
Jesus as the light of the world is connected to this message. That is why Jesus is also the Word of God from all eternity. The Word of God in the Bible also gives us light to our darkened minds.
The Magi from the East followed this light. They understood the power of the Bible to show them what to do. Clearly, they had some familiarity with the Old Testament. After all, Numbers 24:17 says this: “A star shall come out of Jacob, and a scepter shall rise out of Israel.” They knew enough to know from this that Jesus was the king of the Jews. They didn’t know enough to know he would be born in Bethlehem. They followed the star to learn from the Scriptures where to find Jesus. After learning from the Bible where he would be born, they set out for Bethlehem. The star they had been following reappeared until they came to Bethlehem.
What did they do when they saw Jesus? Listen to what St. Matthew says: “And going into the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother, and they fell down and worshiped him. Then, opening their treasures, they offered him gifts, gold and frankincense and myrrh” (11). They worshipped him. They saw his mother, but did not worship her. They worshipped baby Jesus. It is a sin to worship anyone but God. It is idolatry. The wise men did not commit idolatry when they worshipped Jesus, because Jesus is God.
The Magi teach us about seeking and worshiping Jesus. They were astronomers. They knew the science of their day very well. They paid attention to many lights in the sky, the sun, moon, and stars. But at the end of the day, they knew that there was one light, one star, whom all those other stars pointed to. The Magi tell us that this baby Jesus is the Lord of the universe and their Lord too.
God revealed his glory in his only begotten Son because there was no other way for us to find the light. We lived in darkness, thick darkness, deep, and impenetrable darkness. There was no spiritual discernment. There was only darkness and death.
We must distinguish between the light outside of us and the light outside of us. The light outside is the light that shines in the darkness. It is the light that brings spiritual enlightenment within. It is Jesus as Jesus reveals himself to us in his gospel. This gospel lies outside of us before it comes into us. This is very important. We find this gospel light outside of us. We don’t look inside of us to find it. We must find it where Jesus has personally chosen to reveal it.
Just as the angels told the shepherds outside of Bethlehem to find Jesus lying in a manger wrapped in strips of cloth; just as the prophet Micah told the wise men to find Jesus in Bethlehem, God tells us today to find Jesus in his gospel preached in his church, in the washing of Holy Baptism, in the Sacrament of his body and blood, indeed, throughout the Holy Scriptures, which are the cradle that bear Christ to his church throughout the ages. Don’t look for spiritual enlightenment anywhere but in Jesus.
There are false lights that would lead you astray. The Masons promise spiritual light. You ask them what it is and they appeal to the wisdom of the ages. Now, there is a place for the wisdom of the ages. I grew up reading Aesop’s fables. There is more wisdom there than in most of the so-called successful living books pawned off as Christian spiritual counsel by religious entrepreneurs today. Aesop’s fables weren’t compiled by Christians. But they do provide the light of the collective wisdom of the ages. But the wisdom of man can deal only with the things of this world. Call it horizontal wisdom. It cannot ascend up to God. It can help us succeed here on earth. It cannot find its way to God. Only he who came down from heaven, who is in heaven at the Father’s side, can give us the light by which we can see and know and trust in God.
Many people live in darkness. The religions of men surround them. Being of this world, they can advise, instruct, and guide only in matters of this world. The world’s religions all have one thing in common. They all teach us that the answer to our spiritual needs lies within ourselves. Find that wisdom. Search for that spark. Empty yourself of yourself. Whatever the specific answer to your spiritual needs, you can be sure of one thing. The answer lies within you: in your thinking, in your doing, in your feeling, in your submitting, in your working, in your praying, or in you putting into practice the secret of true spirituality. All human religions teach essentially the same thing: The answer lies within.
But they are all lies. They are the blind leading the blind. All human religions are deep darkness because the spiritual condition of fallen mankind is spiritual blindness. By nature, we do not think spiritually enlightened thoughts or do spiritually enlightened deeds. The spirituality of the Holy Spirit—the only spirituality that enlightens anyone—is folly to us, unless and until the Spirit of truth reveals it to us. St. Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 2:12–14:
“Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God. And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual. The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.”
The natural man—who we are by nature without Christ and his Spirit—thinks the gospel is foolishness. He cannot know, believe, or trust in Jesus because he is blinded by his own sin.
Arise, shine, for your light has come! You don’t draw him out of heaven. He comes of his own free will. You don’t bribe him or manipulate him into doing something for you. You don’t promise him a deal, which if he agrees to it, you’ll keep your side of the bargain. The light of the world comes to you who were in the blindness and darkness and ignorance of your own sin. He reveals grace to you. It’s a mystery. It’s the mystery of God’s grace, revealed in Christ. See Jesus and see your God and your brother. He comes to you to forgive you all your sins. He does so by taking your sins upon himself and bearing them: their guilt, their punishment, their curse. He gives you his Spirit. He opens your mind to the truth. The Spirit changes your heart. He enlightens you. He leads you away from trusting in lies to trusting in the blood of Jesus. He persuades you that you are a saint. He teaches you the gospel. He convinces you that you have received God’s favor. Then what happens? Isaiah writes, “Then you shall see and be radiant; your heart shall thrill and exult” (5).
Spiritual enlightenment isn’t a matter of how smart you are. Some geniuses are spiritually blind, and a little child who trusts in Jesus has wisdom greater than the wisdom of the greatest philosophers. To know Christ as he reconciles us to God and forgives us all our sins, is to be filled with the wisdom that comes from God. That’s what brings us here every Sunday. That’s what we want for ourselves and those we love. Amen.
Now may the peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Amen.
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