Matthew 2: 1-12 What's it all about...Power!

            Today we are celebrating Epiphany, that moment when the “Three Wise Men” arrive at the home to see the young child, Jesus Christ. It took them twelve days to get there. Ya know, I never knew that until I was in my late 20’s. I thought everyone showed up at the same time the night he was born. I mean, that is how it is shown on television specials and in songs.  I used to literally think, they go into the stable, the baby is born, Angels get the shepherds, the wise men show up and everything is wrapped up in this one night. That is how I always thought that it went. So I am sitting in this church on a Christmas Eve and all the sudden I hear that it took the wise men 12 days to show up. That was the first time I started wondering “what else don’t I know about this story?”

            This story of Jesus birth that comes from the Gospel of Matthew has a lot of things that just seem “unbelievable” in it. We heard the story on Christmas Eve as our Gospel of Luke tells us. It is the beautiful story with the angels singing “Glory be to God in the highest heaven…” Matthew’s story is quite different. There is the beautiful story that tells of the birth of our Lord and Savior, Jesus the Christ. Side note: Christ is not Jesus’ last name. In this Gospel of Matthew is where we see Jesus’ calling is to be THE CHRIST and I will cover more of that over the course of the year. In Matthew’s Gospel, the story of Jesus, Immanuel, brings with it a struggle from the moment he was born.

            This struggle that is created is the struggle of power. This little-bitty baby born in a crib is more powerful than any king on earth; because this little baby is the Son of God; son of the God who created the heavens and the earth. This is the Son of the God who delivered Noah and his family from the flood, the God who delivered his people from captivity in Egypt. So This God is powerful and this child is special. This amount of power did not go over well with Herod. Another side note: Herod  was the family name and there were a bunch of Herods. This was the Father of them all. This was “Herod the Great.” This guy was so power hungry that he would and did have his own brother killed because the brother was a threat to his power. So this Herod did not want anyone taking his power.

            Herod was so concerned about losing his power that he had heard about this special child being born. He heard what was being said it he was not happy. In fact, he was so concerned about this child that he ordered what can and is often called the “slaughter of the innocence.” I encourage you to read the account of Jesus’ birth in this Gospel.

            I tell you all this to bring you to this point of where we are today. Today, the wise men have travelled so far to see this child. They have been following the star for days and now they are in the town of Jerusalem and ask to see the boy King. That sets everyone off …and even gets Herod worried. So begins this struggle. Herod starts worrying that there is a threat to his power, a threat to the land that he was given by Rome; a threat that he cannot do what he wants, when he wants, and no one is going to tell him otherwise.

This threat means that his armies become unstable, he loses his authority, and no one will listen to him or give him the respect he believes is required. There would be no more bowing down to him and worshipping him but that everyone will look to the “NEW GUY” or kid for all the answers. There won’t be any statues to Herod BUT they might even start building statues to this new person. That would be downright UNACCEPTABLE! Who knew that this one little bitty baby, born in a barn would cause so much trouble?

The Good this is that this is exactly what happened. This birth of Jesus did upset the world. This child came into the world and brought God’s light into the world. It would be a light of responsibility. A light of understanding that it IS God who created the heavens and the earth and it the God of Israel who delivered a people out of slavery AND that it is this God who is mightier than earthly kings.

This child…this light that comes into the world is also a light showing Mercy, Grace, and love. Jesus coming into this world brings the truth that God loves us; so much that he sent a son to walk with us so that we KNOW we are not alone. God walks with us through this world when there is pain and mourning and joy. The light that is Jesus shows God’s mercy in showing us that we can always turn to God…not as a crutch to make mistakes and say “God must forgive me.” But as our partner to say “there is another way” to help us learn from our mistakes so that we try not to make the same mistakes twice. This light that is Christ came into the world to show us the mercy in forgiveness; that when we come to God with repentant hearts asking for forgiveness, we hear the words “this is my body given for you…this is my blood shed for you.”

The light of Jesus the Christ that comes into the world brings us the gift of grace; the grace to know that we are loved by God. The grace to forgive one another, whether it is through mistakes or difference of opinion, and work together in the kingdom of God. It is the ability to share that grace with others and bring the light of God’s grace to others.

This birth of our Lord, Jesus changes our world. It turns things upside down for us. I don’t know about you but I always like to be in control of my life. I am sure we all at one time or another thought of ourselves as islands; invincible. We had control over everything we did, we have the power to do things; control our time, our jobs, social life. Yet Jesus comes into our lives and sets our lives on its ear. For example, Some of you might have thought you’d be single and all the sudden, God puts someone in your life that changes that. You might have thought you were stuck in your career and then a job opportunity comes up. You might have thought you were alone. Then a friends calls and helps you through a tough time or shares a moment of joy with you. A moment where you wonder if God is punishing you for something and then you hear God’s words of love for you.

Jesus has a funny way of shedding God’s light on our lives. Thank God that Jesus did come into this world to show us all the gift of love and mercy. Thank God in this season of light we now have the Son of God walking with us through this tough world. I would even say thank you to God who brings light and turns our world upside down with these most radical gifts of love, mercy, and forgiveness for a world so hungry with power and control.

May we give ourselves…our lives, our hearts, our minds over to the light of the world, Jesus the Christ: AMEN!