4th Sunday after Epiphany

Text: Luke 4:31-44
Vicar Gary Schultz

Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

And the people sought him and came to him, and would have kept him from leaving them, but he said to them, “I must preach the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns as well; for I was sent for this purpose.”

The people at Capernaum in Galilee didn’t want Jesus to leave. Here they had found a miracle worker to take care of all their problems. He showed His power over both spiritual and physical ailments. He cast out demons and healed fever. All those who had any who were sick with various diseases brought them to him, and he laid his hands on every one of them and healed them.

Here we see the mercy of our God. God is not some mysterious force in the sky who made things, set them on their way, and sits back and watches from a distance. Here is a picture of God that is completely foreign to how most people today view God – as some thundering sovereign being. Here is God, mercifully and tenderly coming to His people as a person, laying His hands one-by-one on broken, hurting people, restoring His creation to perfection. If you had been there, think about what diseases and illnesses that would be healed for you or your family: heart conditions, diabetes, cancer, pneumonia. Here is God who steps in to make things right. God came down from heaven in the man Jesus Christ to work His merciful forgiveness for our salvation. His miraculous healings both show His power over sin, death, and the devil; and His love for His creation.

Jesus came to preach the good news of the kingdom of God. Jesus tells about the good news – that is, the Gospel – by both His words and by His actions. Jesus, by His teaching and healing on the Sabbath, puts the Gospel into action. The Sabbath day was to be a day of rest. Jesus speaks and does miracles on the Sabbath so that those oppressed by spiritual or physical troubles may enjoy complete perfection on the Sabbath rest. How appropriate that on the Sabbath, Jesus gives the rest that only He can give.

St. Luke twice records that Jesus’ word possessed authority. They were astonished that His word of teaching possessed authority. They asked “What is this word?” in response to Jesus’ healing. Christ is the Word of God made flesh, so His teaching and healing are the very authority of God Himself.

A seminary professor once shouted at the top of his lungs at his students: “There is no God!” His bellowing voice echoed down the hallways, causing a fellow professor to stop in the class and see just what kind of teaching was going on. His point, of course, was that there is no God outside of Jesus Christ. It’s not like all religions worship God, and then we Christians also have Jesus. No, the person who does not know Jesus does not know God at all. For in [Christ] the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily (Col 1:9).

Jesus continues His work of preaching the good news of the kingdom of God to other towns as well. Before His ascension into heaven, Jesus gave the gifts of Apostles and pastors to continue the work of His office, to be present with His people gathered in other times and in other towns across the world – from Capernaum to Shorewood, from 30 to 2007. He has come to His creation, in the flesh, in His body and blood, to heal your fallen nature and to make you complete in Him.

Just as Jesus laid His hands upon the people for healing in today’s Gospel, so Jesus continues this “hands on” healing in the Sacrament of Holy Absolution. In the liturgy of private confession, the pastor places his hands on the head of the penitent and says: “In the stead and by the command of my Lord Jesus Christ, I forgive you all your sins in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” (LSB 293). We receive that forgiveness from the pastor as from God Himself. By it our sins are forgiven before God in heaven, giving us the greatest healing, returning to us the perfect Sabbath rest.

But what about my back problems, my asthma, my cancer, my stress, my arthritis, my heart condition, my addiction, my aging parents, my sick children, my mentally-handicapped relative, my other problems of mind and body today? When is Jesus going to come and take care of these things?
On the one hand, Jesus did not come just to do nice things on earth and make people’s earthly lives better. In the end, all of the earthly lives of those who Jesus helped were ended by one physical ailment or another. Jesus’ miracles served the purpose of proclaiming the good news of salvation, of proclaiming liberty to those captive to sin, and recovering sight to those who are blind in the eyes of faith.

But on the other hand, Jesus does not say: “Tough luck for you. See you in heaven.” Jesus has instituted various vocations of care and service through doctors, nurses, and other medical professionals, to diagnose and treat every imaginable medical problem. He provides care through those who care for us at the end of this earthly life. He provides scientists to make medical advancements in treatment, medical machinery, and medications. And He provides support through the prayer of the church, so that we may have open access to voice our concerns to Him, to receive the prayers and intercession of fellow saints on earth and the saints in heaven (Ap XXI), and to know that Jesus Himself is constantly interceding for us in heaven (Heb 7:25). Jesus promises: In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world (John 16:33). On the cross, Jesus bore not only our sin, but also sin’s curse. He took every illness, disease, and physical problem we experience upon Himself and it was nailed to the cross. His blood poured out on the cross – poured out in the chalice today – is healing medicine for all our sin and the evils it brings to our lives. The perfect healing awaiting us in heaven is far superior to healing on this earth. And our healing through the forgiveness of sins has already given us a guaranteed place in the perfection of heaven.

Jesus has come and brings healing – healing of body and soul. God does not work from a distance. He works “hands on” to bring you forgiveness each day as you remember your baptism, where He first brought you into His family and continually forgives your sins. He works “hands on” to bring you forgiveness each week as you receive His body and blood for the forgiveness of sins and strengthening of faith. He works “hands on” as He speaks His word of forgiveness over you, proclaiming you to be innocent. Through Jesus Christ, God works for the forgiveness of His people, to give them comfort in this life and also to bring us to our greatest deliverance – the Sabbath rest of eternal life in heaven. Amen.

The peace of God which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.

3rd Sunday after Epiphany

Text: Luke 4:16-30

HOMETOWN HOPES AND HILLS
Rev. Kenneth W. Wieting

To the church of God at Luther Memorial Chapel and University Student Center, called as saints, grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ; Beloved in Christ,

Many of you have come from towns much smaller than Shorewood such as Bonduel or Fremont or Gillett or Ironwood or Monfort or Plymouth or Suring or Redgranite or put the name from your childhood there. Small hometowns often possess a unique character. Sometimes they’re so small that everyone knows everyone else by name. There is such a thing as hometown familiarity and hometown pride and hometown expectations and hometown contempt. The population of my hometown when I grew up was about 250. It hasn’t been able to sustain those numbers in recent decades, however. The population of Jesus’ hometown as He grew up is estimated at about 500 people. It was just a little town, out-of-the-way, off the beaten path, set in the hills of Galilee. It was not known for anything special. Capturing its reputation was Nathanael’s question of Philip, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” (John 1:46)

Gathering places such as churches and schools and taverns are central to hometowns. Not much changes in perception in those gathering places even as the years and decades roll along. Relationships there are pretty set and stable. When I go back to my hometown and to my home church such as at thanksgiving, I’m still “Kenny” to everyone there. It takes you back and keeps you in place. There was also such a gathering place in Jesus’ hometown where the relationships were set and stable. It was the local synagogue. That’s where the events of backwater Nazareth recorded in our text take place. As was his custom, he went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day.

The word for “custom” in the Greek is ethos. It means habit or pattern or way of life. The weekly worship of Jesus is a powerful witness to us today. When our weekly routine omits that which Jesus saw as essential to his life as true man, we are in effect putting ourselves above Jesus. We are saying I’m stronger than you, Jesus. I don’t need what you habitually needed and received. For such thinking repentance is needed. We should fear and love God so that we do not despise preaching and His Word, but hold it sacred and gladly hear and learn it.

Synagogue worship centered on reading Moses and the prophets from which instruction was then given. It was very much like our service today for Psalms were also sung and prayers were raised. As we heard, Ezra the priest and Nehemiah the governor were fervent in restoring divine worship after the Babylonian exile. The ears of the people were attentive to the reading of God’s Word and the explanation of its sense. They answered “Amen, Amen” and bowed their heads and worshipped the LORD.

That’s what was taking place in the synagogue of Jesus’ small hometown of Nazareth. …and he stood up to read. And the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed and to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

Dear Christians, there is so much beauty here in the Old Testament! The blessings are summed up by the year of the Lord’s favor or the year of Jubilee (Lev. 25). Slaves were then set free and property returned and debts forgiven. Everything was renewed and restored! It was a clean slate! The word for “liberty” used here is the standard New Testament word for forgiveness. It indicates a total freeing from captivity to sin. Recovering of sight to the blind indicates eyes no longer held in the darkness of unbelief.

This text is teeming with Messianic marvels and magnificent promises! It is bursting with hope and comfort for people in captivity! And he rolled up the scroll and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. The people knew the rumors of his preaching and healing miracles just 20 miles away at Capernaum. What would He do and say now in His hometown? There were no straying thoughts, nor wandering attention in that house of worship. The eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. They had watched Him grow up as a boy. They had gathered with Him each week in this very synagogue. Their intense gaze was locked on Him as they wondered what He would say.

And he began to say to them, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing (literally – in your ears). What a wonderful gift! For a moment there was admiration at his gracious words. So long God’s people had waited. So wondrous were the gifts. But Jesus was clearly saying that these promises of rescue and release were fulfilled because He was speaking to them. He was also thereby saying that He was the anointed one, the Messiah, and that they were blind, captive, beggars whom God was rescuing in Him.

And they said, “Is this not Joseph’s Son?” (Pause) No, no, a thousand times, a million times, no! This is God’s Son, in the flesh, true God begotten of His Father from eternity and also true man born of the Virgin Mary! But in His hometown He seemed so ordinary. If He was someone special He would have to prove it locally. If He was someone special then they should have preference for the use of His power. Hometown familiarity boils over into hometown skepticism. Relationships that were set and stable boil over into this question, “Is this not Joseph’s Son?”

And he said to them, “Doubtless you will quote to me this proverb, ‘Physician, heal yourself.’ What we have heard you did at Capernaum, do here in your hometown as well.” And he said, “Truly, I say to you, no prophet is acceptable in his hometown. Then He gave two examples of God ministering to Gentiles. Elijah fed a pagan widow even when Israelites were starving. Elisha healed a pagan general of leprosy even when there were multitudes of lepers in Israel. Jesus was saying that not only was the salvation He brought not limited to Nazareth, it was also not limited to the sons of Abraham. The liberty He claimed to bring was for all. His words clearly rebuked pride in outward connections and presumptions of hometown favoritism.

Every Israelite knew these stories from childhood. But when Jesus spoke them to their selfish perspectives it was like He had spoken the obvious truth that the emperor had no clothes on and they were the emperor. When Jesus finished His sermon not a single face in the synagogue was smiling. In swift reversal, admiration turned to hatred. Their emotions exploded in fury. When they heard these things, all in the synagogue were filled with wrath. And they rose up and brought him to the brow of the hill on which the town was built so that they could throw him down the cliff. Pride and wrath combine to lead a hometown mob to a hometown cliff. They intended to take their life-long neighbor and hurl Him to his death.

What about us? What do we expect of Jesus this morning (evening)? Can’t it seem as if nothing much really happens in worship week after week? Isn’t it true that our hearts are tempted with the hometown hankerings of Nazareth? If Jesus doesn’t relieve my personal suffering or take away the struggles in my family or give me smooth sailing in school or make things in this parish perk along, then perhaps we should push Him out and get a different Jesus. I’ve been a Lutheran all my baptized life and what advantage has it gotten me? I’ve paid my dues and hung around, so where’s the payoff?

Thankfully, Jesus doesn’t allow Himself to be thrown down our hometown cliffs. Passing through their midst, he went his way so that He could come into our midst today. His way was the way of the cross. He would go to another hill, not first to be thrown down, but to be lifted up. Not only did His hometown reject Him there, but so did His disciples and the world He created, and His heavenly Father. As He was lifted up on that hill, Jesus was simultaneously hurled down the precipice of the damned. He was flung down our eternal cliff.

Risen from that hellish fall Jesus not only brings good news He is the Good News! He is the Savior of the world! He offers life and salvation to all the poor. Nazareth qualified. So does your hometown. So does this whole world of dying sinners. God use us and that by which He prospers us to bring the Gospel to those sitting in darkness.

He comes today not as our hometown, have-it-your-way buddy. He comes as our heavenly have-it-My-way Helper and Healer. He gathers with us each week in this place to keep the relationships set and stable. He is the Head, we are His body, He is the Shepherd, we are His sheep. He is the Bridegroom; we are His beloved and holy Bride. Gracious words still come out of His mouth, for it is He who says, “I baptize you” and “I forgive you” and “take and eat and drink”. As He speaks all of God’s promises are fulfilled in your ears. Amen.
The peace of God which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.

2nd Sunday after the Epiphany

Text: John 2:1-11

New Wine!
Rev. Kenneth W. Wieting

When the wine ran out, the mother of Jesus said to him, “They have no wine.” And Jesus said to her, “Woman, what does this have to do with me? My hour has not yet come.”

Dear hearers of the Word made flesh, called to be saints, grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord, Jesus Christ. This text overflows with good gifts; God’s good gift of marriage; God’s good gift of wine; God’s good gift of a sign, and God’s Gift of gifts, the Word made flesh!

Dr. Luther in preaching on this text said that young people should pray for a pious
spouse (that is a devout spouse who believes in Christ and gives love and forgiveness based on receiving Christ’s love and forgiveness). Luther said that young people should not be ashamed to call upon God in this matter. If a spouse is God’s gift and not our achievement, we need God’s help in beginning this foundational relationship
in life. So, young people, turn away from the fleshly idols of our time and keep on praying for a godly spouse.

Not all will marry. In Christ a single person is complete. But whether single or married we are to honor marriage. We are to pray for chastity in singleness for ourselves and others. We are to pray for faithfulness in marriage for ourselves and others. God will not permit us to be tempted beyond what we are able to bear. To our culture, saturated with sexual immorality, fascinated with the falsehood of same-sex relationships, Jesus’ presence at the wedding of Cana speaks a loving and healing word. Marriage, between a man and woman is God’s good gift! God in the flesh honors it and we are to do the same.

Wedding celebrations in that time and place could last for days, even a week. They involved considerable provisions of food and drink. To help celebrate God’s good gift of marriage at Cana, the wedding couple served their guests God’s good gift of wine. Dear Christians, never agree with those who call wine an evil thing. Such talk is really idolatry, putting oneself above God. Such talk comes from Satan, not the Holy Spirit. The abuse of wine in drunkenness is sin (Prov. 23:20; 31; I Cor. 6:10; Eph. 5:18). But wine itself is a sign of God’s love and blessing (Deut. 7:13; Is. 25:6-8; Psalm 104: 14, 15). Wine is God’s good gift!

That brings us to the wine in our text. Describing this miracle later, John said, this, the first of his signs, Jesus did at Cana in Galilee and manifested his glory. And his disciples believed in him. Now John does not speak of signs as we think of them. Often we think of a sign as a mere symbol standing in the place of something else. But for St. John the word “sign” means something that is linked with and reveals something else, hidden from ordinary sight. The Greek word for “sign” here could be translated as “mystery” in the same way that “mystery” in Latin is translated as “sacrament” in English.

So these signs in Holy Scripture reveal and give something you wouldn’t otherwise know or recognize. A “sign” is therefore something like a gift from God waiting to be opened. Martin Luther taught that God gives signs as something visible for our faith to hold on to. So it is that the Lord’s holy gifts of Baptism and His Supper are signs, mysteries, Sacraments. They are gifts from God continually to be opened and received.

What a good gift of God this first sign of Jesus was. At the beginning of time God spoke and it was so. He gave the sun to shine and water to refresh the earth. He formed vines to grow and yield grapes. These plants with seed in them that produce after their kind are not the accident of a fairy tale called evolution. God created them and then He created man to care for the vines and produce wine. But truly fine wine takes years. By the natural means God has given, shortcuts in time yield only sour wine or vinegar. Yet, at Cana, it an instant, Jesus created the fullness and sparkle of rich, smooth, well-refined wine. At Cana, in an instant, the Word made flesh gave what He desired to make and give, just like He did when the world was new.

This was the first of His signs, His mysteries. Invited as a guest, He soon became the host. Up to this time He had never performed a miracle. Here He spoke the first words that Scripture records after His baptism by John. In other words, these are the very first words of Jesus in His public work as our Redeemer that God reveals to us.

They may not seem like beautiful words, but hear them again. His mother said to Him, “They have no wine.” And Jesus said to her, “Woman, what does this have to do with me? My hour has not yet come.” Now when Jesus refers to His hour in the Gospel according to St. John, it is always a reference to His impending crucifixion. For example just before His agony in the Garden of Gethsemane on Maundy Thursday Jesus said, “Father the hour has come, glorify Your son, that the Son may glorify You” (John 17:1) (See also John 7:30; 8:20; 12:23; 13:1).

So the hour when the wine ran out is somehow a pointer to the hour when Jesus life would run out, the hour when He would willingly lay down His life on the cross. The reason is this: the things of this world all run short and ultimately fail us. Because of the destructive entry of sin into the world, things are always draining away, decaying, needing to be replenished. Our rebellion against God has brought a curse on the good gifts God created for us. They simply do not last!

Time races away, as does youth. Energy gets drained. Emotions get emptied. Food is purchased but soon needs purchasing again. Clothes and shoes keep wearing out. Cars rust and houses age and both need constant upkeep. Even our bodies fail us as eyes need glasses and then surgery and ears need hearing aids and joints need replacing and blood vessels grow narrow and on and on. And contrary to the fairy tale of evolution, mutations by and large don’t help us. They bring disease and deformity; they cause cancer and other cell disturbance that brings deterioration not advancement. Our bodies work their way toward empty and ultimately fail us in death. Like a flower that springs up in the morning by evening we are cut down and wither away. Heaven and earth are passing away. As the wine ran out at the wedding banquet, so the wine of our earthly lives is approaches empty as well.

When Jesus provided an overflowing, abundance of wine at Cana, He began reversing the draining force of sin so that there would be bounty once again. Just as Jesus used six stone jars in this miracle, so on the sixth day of the week, Good Friday, He broke sin’s curse. When His hour did come, He destroyed death by His own death on the cross. In the sacrifice of His flesh He did away with the temporariness and impermanence of the old order of things. As water and blood flowed from His pierced side, He brought about a new creation.

Truly of that hour it can be said, “He saved the best till last”. While His first miracle was changing water into wine, one of His last was making wine to be His blood for us to drink for the forgiveness of sins. As the wedding of Cana was on the third day so there was a glorious third day that followed after the hour of His glory. By Jesus’ power, the garden tomb sealed with a stone was not full, but empty. It was empty because the bridegroom lives to love His bride today. It was empty because the bridegroom rose to fill your future with a heavenly feast.

Dear Christians, you are so loved by Him! God rejoices over you as the bridegroom rejoices over His bride. As He brings you to His banqueting house today His banner over you is love. As He was present in the flesh to provide the needs for the wedding in our text, so He is present in the flesh to provide what you need. His grace doesn’t run out; there is always enough. You are never forsaken or desolate.
Whatever your marital status here the Lord delights in you as His bride, holy and without blemish. You will miss none of the eternal joys He has prepared for you.

You are His! Whatever sins have been in your past against His good gifts of marriage or wine or His holy mysteries, Christ cleanses you with the washing of water by the Word. Whatever emptiness there may be in your life today, Christ comes to fill you now with Himself. He is the new wine! He brings the new creation to you! “Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb of God (Rev. 19:9). In the name of Jesus, Amen.

Baptism of Our Lord

Vicar Gary Schultz
Text: Luke 3:15-22

Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

When Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, the heavens were opened, and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form, like a dove; and a voice came from heaven, “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.”

Today’s celebration of the Baptism of Our Lord proclaims to us the wonder of the first Christian baptism. Here is the first account of washing with water connected to the Triune God and the Word. The Father speaks from heaven; the Son, the Word Himself, stands in the water of the Jordan River; the Holy Spirit descends in the form of a dove.

These truths on Jordan’s banks were shown by mighty word and wonder.

The Father’s voice from heaven came down, which we do well to ponder:

“This man is My beloved Son, In whom My heart has pleasure.

Him you must hear and Him alone, and trust in fullest measure

The word that He has spoken (LSB 406:3)

Jesus’ baptism is good news for us! Jesus’ baptism connects us to His death and resurrection. In our baptism, we are connected to Him in complete assurance that we have forgiveness of sins. This is why baptism plays such a central and foundational role in the life of the church. This is why each Christian is called to daily remember their baptism into Christ and the new life that He gives.

With the story of Jesus’ baptism, St. Luke’s Gospel narrative makes a change in direction. The parallels between John the Baptizer and Jesus now draw to a close. John was the last and greatest prophet, and his work was now completed. Through his preaching and baptism of repentance, he prepared the way of the Lord, pointing to the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! (Jn 1:29). Now the focus turns solely to the ministry of Jesus. Jesus, as He begins His ministry for us by His Baptism, is recorded as praying, just as now in heaven He saves at all times those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them (Heb 7:25).

It’s no coincidence that last night we were celebrating the Epiphany of Our Lord. The celebration of the Epiphany shows that Jesus Christ is also true God. He is “God in flesh made manifest.” In many periods of church history, the Baptism and Epiphany of Our Lord were celebrated as one event. Jesus being made known as true God and the beginning of His ministry of forgiveness are two closely related events.

All the people were baptized, and Jesus also had been baptized. Jesus was baptized right along with the others. As true man, He’s just like us. But as true God, Jesus’ baptism sanctifies the sin-filled waters of the Jordan and makes them a blessed flood and a lavish washing away of sin (Luther’s Flood Prayer). Here we see the last parallel between John and Jesus. John’s baptism was for repentance, in preparation of the Coming One. Now Jesus comes and He is baptized for us.

St. Luke records that at Jesus’ baptism the heavens opened. The opening of the heavens signifies the forgiveness of sins. And our baptism opens the heavens to us because the forgiveness of our sins makes us heirs of the inheritance of heaven. Through our baptism, heaven is opened to us. We are connected to Christ our Savior, who tore through the curtain of the temple, giving us complete, free access to Our Father. Heaven’s forgiveness pours over us in the waters of Holy Baptism.

Jesus’ baptism is good news for us! You see, if Jesus’ hadn’t been baptized, then His suffering, death, and resurrection would have no connection to us. Certainly Jesus’ death and resurrection is a real, historic event. But Our Lord does not leave us simply to ponder these things as mere stories. He does not require us to somehow connect ourselves in our minds to his death and resurrection. He does not ask us to ponder if we were there when they crucified my Lord. We don’t need to make a pilgrimage to Bethlehem, to Jerusalem, to Golgotha, to any other place. Baptism puts us where we need to be: in His family, in His forgiveness – closer than if we were standing at the manger, in the temple, at the cross, or at the tomb. In His baptism, Our Lord takes the sins of the world in the waters of the Jordan River upon Himself, so that when we are washed with water and His word, His complete perfection is placed upon us. Jesus’ perfect life, innocent suffering, atoning death, and triumphant resurrection are all given to us in the waters of baptism.

There stood the Son of God in love, His grace to us extending;

The Holy Spirit like a dove Upon the scene descending;

The triune God assuring us, With promises compelling,

That in our Baptism He will thus among us find a dwelling

To comfort and sustain us. (LSB 406:4)

We have new lives! We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised form the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. Our old way of living in sin, as those who are hopeless, is put away. It’s buried in Christ’s tomb and crushed by Christ’s victorious resurrection.

But what about when we give into temptation and fall into sin? We certainly know that we have not lived the perfect life that we are called to live as God’s children. The devil, the world, and our sinful nature don’t just go away. Our baptism into Christ is always valid, always ready to pour forth forgiveness, always ready to wash away sin. Our baptism into Christ indicates that the Old Adam in us should by daily contrition and repentance be drowned and die with all sins and evil desires and that a new man should daily emerge and arise to live before God in righteousness and purity forever. Our life in Christ involves daily dying to sin in repentance and daily rising to new life through forgiveness, that through this saving flood all sin in us which has been inherited from Adam and which we have committed since would be drowned and die.
God grant that the prayer spoken at baptism would be our prayer each day, rejoicing that through our baptism we are kept safe and secure in the holy ark of the Christian Church, being separated from the multitude of unbelievers and serving [God’s] name at all times with a fervent spirit and a joyful hope, so that, with all believers in [God’s] promise we would be declared worthy of eternal life; through Jesus Christ, our Lord. (Luther’s Flood Prayer). Amen.

The peace of God which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.

The Epiphany of Our Lord

Rev. Kenneth Wieting
Text: Matthew 2:1-12

“Where is He who has been born king of the Jews? For we saw his star when it rose and we have come to worship him.”

Dear worshippers of the Word made flesh; we don’t know how many wise men there were, but we know that they weren’t Kings from the Orient. Wise men were the university professors of their day. They studied astronomy and medicine and religions. These particular wise men were also men of wealth.

What brought them to Israel was not just a star. Their question shows that they had heard of the King of the Jews. Biblical history tells us that Daniel and others were influential among the wise men of Babylon centuries earlier (Daniel 2). These men had heard of the promised Messiah. By God’s gracious leading, they had connected the presence of the star with the birth of the King of the Jews. They came from the east for one reason, to worship Him! “Where is He who has been born king of the Jews…we have come to worship him.”

Little Jesus wasn’t the only king in the Land. We also hear of the big king, Herod who resisted the coming of the little King. There is a bit of that big king, deep down inside of each of us. We have our own thrones, our own plans of ruling our lives. We may not be in open rebellion, but deep down, we want to be king. We are not able by nature to want God to be God (Luther, Heidelberg Disputation, 1518, thesis 17). Rather, like our fallen parents, we desire His place.

Please note both the similarities and the differences between the big king and the wise men over against the little King. The star had brought the wise men close – to Jerusalem. That stirred up a hornet’s nest. Herod was so troubled he assembled the whole theological faculty to find out where this was to occur. The question was asked. The answer was given, “In Bethlehem of Judea, for so it is written by the prophet…” Out of Bethlehem would come the ruler who would shepherd God’s people Israel.

Herod and the religious elite heard God’s clear Word right along with the Magi. Yet, it is the despised gentiles who believed God’s Word. The privileged insiders sit in the darkness of their own reason and stay in Jerusalem. Herod, the big king, wouldn’t even take a two hour journey to check out the prophetic word about the little one born King of the Jews.

After listening to the king, they went on their way. And behold, the star that they had seen when it rose went before them until it came to rest over the place where the child was. It led them not to a stable but to a house (v. 11). This event was sometime after the night of Christ’s birth – perhaps months later. King Herod’s subsequent order to kill all the boys two years old and younger (v. 16) was based on information obtained from the wise men.

Back to the heart of the matter! And going into the house they saw the child with Mary his mother, and they fell down and worshipped him. Then, opening their treasures, they offered him gifts, gold and frankincense and myrrh. These learned, wealthy adults fell to the ground and touched their foreheads to the earth before this little child. Nothing here was very impressive except their loving worship. Bethlehem was a humble city. The parents of this child were poor. No house in Bethlehem had the appearance of royalty.

The worship of the wise men, however, did not proceed from external appearance or from human wisdom. Their worship proceeded from the God given direction of His external sign and His prophetic Word. While God used a star to lead them, He has not connected his promises to the starry host today. Go does not want His people to consult the darkness of those into stars, the astrologers of today. The light of Christ has brought us liberation from bondage to the stars and to other forms of human superstition. As the prophet Isaiah said, “Arise, shine, for your light has come…” The deep darkness in which we Gentiles sat has been pierced by the light of Christ. The brilliant light of His Word and Sacraments still stand over the place where Christ the King is present for us today.

In that light, WISE MEN AND WOMEN AND CHILDREN STILL WORSHIP THIS KING! Such wisdom is foolishness to the world, for now it comes from the foolishness of the cross. Myrrh given to this little King is not mentioned in regard to His person again until Good Friday – there to embalm His body (John 19:39). The title “King of the Jews” is not used again by Matthew until Good Friday. This time it was placed above his head on the cross, “This is Jesus, the King of the Jews” (Mt 27:37).

No star marked his presence amid the darkness of that day. But that darkness could not extinguish the light of Epiphany! Arise, shine; Isaiah said, for your light has come. Arise, shine, Jesus did breaking through the deep darkness of our sin and death in His mighty resurrection. The glory of the Lord rose upon us!

Today we Gentiles rejoice in the mystery of Christ. We have been made partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the Gospel. We have boldness and access with confidence through our faith in Him. St Paul preached to Gentiles the un-searchable riches of Christ. Those un-searchable riches are still given today in the signs of God’s choosing. Through your washing of rebirth, through His treasures to you in word and bread and wine, God penetrates the thick darkness of your sin with His forgiving love. God continue to enlighten your hearts with His wisdom to worship Him! In the Name of Jesus, Amen.