“Be wise men”

One of the great themes of God’s Word is the contrast between wisdom and folly. St. Matthew says that when the wise men went into the house [notice they weren’t in a stable anymore] “they saw the child with Mary his mother, and they fell down and worshiped Him” (Matthew 2:11). True wisdom is in recognizing who Jesus is. Notice that the wise men aren’t even the main characters; they are just actors in a drama that was written, directed, and produced by God the Father, who wants to show us how to be truly wise men.

In fact, the wise men showed very little wisdom except when God was directing them by Word and sign and they followed. God called them to Judea by the sign of the star, but then these “Wise Men” wrongly assumed that the King would be in the capital city of Jerusalem. So the Wise Men were lost without a Word to guide them to their destination. They had to rely on the chief priests and scribes looking up the birthplace of the Christ in Micah 5:2, which said that the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem. But even after that, they had to rely upon God’s special star to guide them to the house where Jesus was residing. And finally, if God hadn’t sent the angel to warn them in a dream not to go back to King Herod, they would have handed Jesus over to His executioner!

So it turns out that the Wise Men weren’t so wise after all, except when they were following a sign sent from God, listening to His Word, and listening to His messengers. But in spite of the wise men’s lack of wisdom, God used these Gentiles as a way of giving all of us the wisdom to know who Jesus is. As we see them bowing before the toddler Jesus, we see the fulfillment of an Old Testament passage from Isaiah: Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you. For behold, darkness shall cover the earth, and thick darkness the peoples; but the Lord will arise upon you, and his glory will be seen upon you. And nations shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising … They shall bring gold and frankincense, and shall bring good news, the praises of the Lord. (Isaiah 60:1-3, 6) The glory of the LORD has risen upon this world — for the Word has been made flesh and dwells among us, and we have seen His glory, glory as of the only-begotten Son of the Father, full of grace and truth. And He has come to reveal His glory because of the thick darkness that has covered the earth and all people, the thick darkness of sin, the thick darkness of foolishness, the thick darkness of death and eternal condemnation in hell. With the Epiphany, we see the glory of God arising not only upon the chosen people of Israel, but now also upon us Gentiles, those who once were far off from God and without hope in the world; now we Gentiles too have been called near to Jesus Christ where we may be made wise unto salvation from the thick darkness of sin, folly, death and hell.

For the Wise Men brought not only gold and frankincense and myrrh but also, as Isaiah says, they brought good news, the praises of the LORD. As they bowed down to worship the child, Immanuel, God in the flesh, they bring to us praises of the LORD, the good news and wisdom of the Gospel. For unlike the Wise Men at the time, we today, 2000odd years later, can look at this event and appreciate the whole story. That child, the God-Man Jesus Christ, would not stay a toddler, but He would grow up to lead a perfect life of obedience to God’s Law in your place, and then He would lay down His life on the cross for you and all people. Although you were born dead in sin, condemned to death and hell, now by the suffering, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, you have been reconciled to God. By the blood of Jesus Christ you have been brought near to God, granted eternal life and salvation in heaven, basking in the glow of God’s glorious, life-giving light. Before you were at enmity with God, but by Baptism into Christ’s death and resurrection you have been given eternal peace. In Christ you have absolution, the forgiveness of all your trespasses, by His precious blood. And in the Lord’s Supper you are given to drink that very blood and to eat the very body that the Wise Men worshiped, the body that was given on the cross for your sins and raised on the third day for your justification. And you have been given the gift of gathering here in the Divine Service to worship King Jesus, like the Wise Men did so long ago, but even better, since you know the whole story.

And so for you to be wise men today, you must not follow your own instincts as the Wise Men did at various points; you must not seek God on your own, where you think you can find Him, in your feelings, or in your heart, or in miracles, or in a health, wealth, and prosperity false gospel. Instead, you can only be sure that you are on the right track when you are following God’s signs and Words and messengers, which are what really led the Wise Men to Jesus. So listen carefully and follow the Words that the Lord has given you through His messengers in the Holy Scriptures, the Spirit-led apostles and prophets, and look constantly to the signs of God’s grace that He has given you in the Word and Sacraments in the Church.

Signs tell you where you can find things, and Baptism, Absolution, and the Lord’s Supper all have signs pointing to them saying: God’s grace in Jesus Christ is found right here; come here and be given forgiveness of sins, eternal life, and salvation in the words, water, bread, and wine that are the Gospel, Baptism, Absolution, and the Lord’s Supper. Those are the houses where the Savior King resides for you to find Him and His grace; those are the places where wise men today still look for and find the King and the salvation He brings. So come, let us worship Him! “Oh, come let us adore Him, Christ the Lord!” Amen.

Rev. Roth pastor of Grace Lutheran Church in Elgin.