If the Messiah was shown to Gentiles even before He was to the Jews, then the Gentiles occupied a place in God’s created order that was far different than the Jews had ever considered. Jews had always believed that THEY were God’s chosen people God’s ONLY chosen people. That meant that the wall between Jews and Gentiles was to be broken down by this baby boy. What this said to Matthew’s predominantly Jewish audience was that Jesus’ identity and purpose was made known to Gentiles in just as magnificent a way as, and even before it was made known to Jews. Having Jesus’ first guests be foreigners who worshipped a different god was of huge significance to Matthew. Now I pray that I may simply ‘pass on’ your material, coupled with whatever the Lord gives me to add, that my sermon will also be a blessing to those who ‘have ears to hear.'”Ī thousand sparks to spark your imagination! The story of the visitation of the Magi was truly scandalous to Matthew’s early hearers.Ī SUBSCRIBER SAYS: “Many thanks, Dick! Not only was your exegesis very helpful, but also your sermon was powerful. His true identity was shown – in other words the epiphany of who this child was, the “aha,” moment – was made first to “outsiders,” or the “unclean,” before it was made manifest to the Children of Israel. But He was also different than other kings. Jesus was the King of kings – to be worshipped by all. Matthew’s message is clear from this story of early visitors to the Holy Family. But wherever they came from, Matthew’s message is clear they came from somewhere other than Galilee or Judea and they were astrologers, possibly Zoroastrian priests, which meant that they were NOT Jews. The predominance of the scholarship is that they came from Persia – or modern day Iran – while other scholars think Egypt and still others, Arabia or Chaldea. Somewhere along the way, someone said, “Gee, they had gold and frankincense and myrrh, they must have been rich so they were probably kings.” There is also some disagreement among scholars about where they might have come from. Calling them “kings,” comes from tradition rather than scholarship. In Matthew we hear about three wise men – that’s one of the translations for the word “Magi,” which is what they’re called in Matthew, wise men. Matthew’s Gospel is the only one that contains the story of the Epiphany. A modern writer described an epiphany as, “an AHA moment,” the moment when the light bulb goes on above our heads. The word, epiphany means, a “showing forth,” or the “revealing of something,” that previously had not been seen. What was it about the Epiphany – the showing forth or revealing of God as human – that made it more important than the birth of the Christ child? Until that time, it was Epiphany that was the “big deal,” of the Church year. It was not until Constantine’s time, when it had become legal to be a Christian that the date December 25th was chosen as the day to celebrate Jesus’ birth and the day became a holiday. But did you know that for the first three centuries of Christianity, it was NOT Easter and Christmas, but Easter and Epiphany that were the huge celebrations? Along with Pentecost – the day the Holy Spirit descended upon the Apostles, Easter and Epiphany were the early Church’s biggest celebrations.
Everybody knows about Christmas – and Easter – they’re the two times every year when almost ALL Christians go to church.
Today marks the end of the Christmas season in the Church. This is the celebration day of the Feast of the Epiphany of our Lord Jesus Christ. In the name of Jesus Christ who redeemed the world.
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