Matthew 2:1-12 January 8, 2017 A+D
+ Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. +
The Epiphany season is the time of the church year when we see how God’s plan for His creation’s redemption through Jesus begins to be revealed. Our text for Epiphany Sunday is the Holy Gospel according to St. Matthew which tells how Jesus was first revealed to the Gentiles. God’s plan isn’t always so apparent at first, but His design fulfills all His promises and is first made known to the most unlikely of persons.
Let’s think this morning about builders and designers, one in particular who thought “outside the box” and came up with an idea that once revealed and explained seems obvious, but in reality, no one had ever thought of it before. But first, a question to think about in the back of your mind; perhaps one you’ve asked yourself before: Why didn’t the star take the Magi directly to Jesus and his parents?
In Florence, Italy stands there the Cathedral of St. Mary of the Flowers. The cornerstone was laid in the year 1296. Over 120 years later everything was finished but the dome. The massive brick dome had been planned from the beginning, but it was only a sketch. No one knew how to build the thing. For the technology of the day, it should have been impossible. The man chosen to build the impossible was the most unlikely of craftsmen, a goldsmith called Filippo Brunelleschi. He had no experience as either an architect or a builder, yet he was awarded the job. He kept his design secret, only revealing it as the dome was built. “You’ll see how I mean to do it, as I’m doing it,” he said. In only 16 years his dome was completed adding 375 feet to the height of the church and containing over four million bricks. By executing his grand design, and because of his patron’s trust that he knew what he was doing, the Goldsmith became renowned as a master builder.
God’s plan for salvation is very similar. He had it all worked out, but it was not at all obvious to His children. He sent prophets to foretell Jesus’ coming, and what He had to do, and why He had to do it. God also revealed His Son to some unlikely people, and they didn’t understand it either – but they trusted Him, and followed after Jesus. Shepherds, Magi, fisherman, and tax collectors, sinners all, followed Jesus. Uncomprehending, but trusting – like children – they followed. They became bricks in God’s masterpiece. We sinners today are no different; we’re thick headed, stubborn, and just don’t get it. It is simply too awesome in scope, too much to digest all at once.
When you look down on Florence from a nearby hillside you see the great cathedral and think, “Man, that church is really, really big.” When you go down into the old city and turn out of a narrow alley and suddenly find yourself standing in front of it, you just look up its full 546-foot height in awe. Your mind just can’t take it all in, it’s overwhelming and you don’t know where to look first. Finally, if you stand inside and look up to the top of the dome, you are utterly speechless at its sheer size, magnificence, and beauty. The dome is to this day the crown jewel of Florence’s cityscape.
How much more incredible then, is the majesty of God’s plan for our salvation in Jesus, born under humble circumstances and revealed to the most unlikely of witnesses?Brick by brick, God revealed His design to His children. His children didn’t understand it. God revealed His Son’s birth first to the Jews, his chosen people. But he did not announce His birth to kings and wealthy merchants or High Priests, but to simple shepherds - outcasts of Jewish society, lowly and lonely laborers. He then revealed Jesus’ birth to the Magi, astrologers, and men of science from what are the modern-day Arab lands. These men were pagans, in other words, Gentiles. God did this for an important reason! You see, God had his plan all figured out to the last detail when He first told Adam and Eve that He would send a Savior to redeem mankind. Through the prophets, He foretold His plan, through hundreds of prophecies and signs. Each one a brick! All would be fulfilled, but all would not be revealed until Jesus came. Only then do we begin to see how God did everything in good order, unveiling the blueprint of salvation a little at a time until like Brunelleschi’s dome you can see the whole laid out in all its majesty. And what majesty it was! Not a magnificent palace with a little King robed in purple, but first laid in an animal food trough wrapped in rags and later growing up in an ordinary house, surrounded by ordinary people.
To see what God did to make His Son known to the Gentiles, we have to look at King Herod, and to the prophecy of Jacob. Herod, called “the great” was the puppet king of the Jews put in place by the Roman government to keep the peace in the province of Judea. Granted, he did much to feed the hungry and to build the new temple, but the truth is, he was not very great. His apparent good works served only his vast ambition, and he would do anything to maintain power.1 He executed rivals and close associates, including at least two of his sons and even his wife. He wasn’t even a Jew; he was an Edomite, a descendant of Esau. God used Rome and Herod so that the prophecy would be fulfilled: “The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler's staff from between his feet, until the Messiah comes, to Whom it belongs; and to Him shall be the obedience of the peoples.”2 In other words, the Messiah would come when non-Jews ruled Judah. One brick in God’s building of salvation becomes apparent. But not to Herod or the Jews.
Next, we hear about the Magi. These were highly educated men who studied the stars for scientific and mystical purposes. God created a star to lead these astrologers to Jesus. It was natural for these people to notice a new star in the heavens, to wonder what it was for... and for Whom. As it is written, “A star shall come forth from Jacob, a scepter shall rise from Israel.”3 So they gathered their gifts and followed it. It led them Eastward. Word must have gotten to Herod that these men had arrived, and they appeared before him in Jerusalem. The Magi explain why they are there, and inquire “Where is this newborn King of the Jews?” Herod, being the power hungry puppet of the Romans that he his, is obviously disturbed. He gathers the Sanhedrin and scribes to see what the Scriptures had to say on the matter. They consult the books of the prophets, and quote Micah: “But as for you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you One will go forth for Me to be ruler in Israel. His goings forth are from long ago, from the days of eternity.”4 Another prophecy fulfilled, another brick in God’s design: Jesus is born in Bethlehem, Mary having been taken there by Joseph on account of the Roman census. But here again, sinners resist. Herod and the Jews thought the prophecy was about an earthly king. They twisted the Scriptures around to make it mean what they wanted it to mean, instead of listening to God’s plain speech. “His goings forth...are from the days of eternity” - the Son of God who was there at the creation, who is from before there was time. The King of all creation, not the king of a backwater Roman territory! How often we do the same, cherry picking a verse of scripture to mean what we want it to mean, rather than take the whole in context and listen to God’s will. As we will see together, God’s construction project is built of thousands of bricks, each mortared to the next until they become one glorious whole.
The Magi depart Herod and go to Jesus, as the star guides their way to our Savior. There, the Christ is revealed not to kings or Jews, but to these pagan Gentiles. Still another prophecy is fulfilled, another brick in God’s plan! Simeon praised God when Jesus was present in the temple “I have seen Your salvation… A light of revelation to the Gentiles”5 quoting Isaiah, “...by way of the sea on the other side of the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles, the people who walk in darkness will see a great light.”6 Jesus came for Jews and Gentiles. He came for all mankind. Even the Magi’s gifts of gold and costly scents were prophesied, again in Isaiah.7 Add another brick! After the Magi worshiped Jesus and gave Him their gifts, they were told in a dream not to go back to Herod and returned to their own lands, fulfilling the final prophecy in their part of the salvation story, where God says “If there is a prophet among you, I the Lord… shall speak to him in a dream.”8 Another brick!
Like a builder whose methods are a mystery until the eye sees the entire construction completed, God’s tapestry of salvation became visible only after thousands of years. Finally, in the birth of Christ, His plan begins to become clear. It is complex yet so simple at the same time; clearly this is the work only Almighty God can achieve. Pull on one thread, and the whole weave comes unraveled. Were one prophecy not to be fulfilled, redemption would be in doubt. Pull out one brick, and the whole structure will collapse. Why then, did God choose to build the story of salvation in this manner? Again, the answer is simple, if not at first, obvious. God chose this elegant construction of our salvation in Christ Jesus so that you can be assured that the Scriptures are trustworthy. Why didn’t the star lead the Magi right to Jesus, instead of to Herod and the scribes, who poured over the Scriptures to see what was written about Him? Luther said most elegantly that it “happened that we might learn to cling to the Scriptures and not to our own opinion nor follow the teaching of any man. He does not want to have given His Scripture for nothing; He wants to be found there, and nowhere else.”9 They are the inspired word of God. You can be confident that what is written about what Jesus has done for you is a matter of fact. Scripture was written for you. Jesus is the cornerstone upon which everything rests. Rock solid, the Scriptures reveal all about Him. These things are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God.10 You see, our Italian friend became known as a master builder when he completed his dome. God is THE master builder, and His magnificent design was put together for you. It’s all about Jesus and His cross. Jesus is for you. Born for you. Died for you. Conquered hell and satan and rose from the dead for you. Today at this altar He is here for you and given to you as He forgives you, strengthens you, makes you whole, and keeps you as His own. Rest assured, God built HIS church on a solid foundation. Not one brick can be moved to tear it down. We will not comprehend the majesty of what God has built for us until we reach heaven, but we do understand this: Jesus is the cornerstone and the capstone, the beginning and end. Christ IS the master builder, and he got his hands dirty on the cross and in the grave to build salvation and eternal life in Him. For you. Repent and believe!
+ In the Name of Jesus, Amen +
And now may the peace which surpasses all human understanding keep your hearts and your minds focused on Christ Jesus.
+ Amen +
“The words of the wise are like goads, and like nails firmly fixed are the collected sayings; they are given by one Shepherd. My son, beware of anything beyond these. Of making many books there is no end, and much study is a weariness of the flesh.” Ecclesiastes 12:11-12
1Gibbs, Jeffery A., Concordia Commentary: Matthew, Concordia, St. Louis, 2006, p.122.
2Genesis 49:10 NASB (AMP: “Shiloh” = “The Messiah”).
3Numbers 24:17 NASB.
4Micah 5:2 NASB.
5Luke 2:30-32 NASB.
6Isaiah 9:2 NASB.
7Isaiah 60:6.
8Numbers 12:6.
9LW Vol. LXXVI, Church Postil II, p..81.
10John 20:31 paraphrase from LSB Divine Service IV, p.205.