READINGS FROM HOLY SCRIPTURE:
Isaiah 60:1-6
Ephesians 3:1-12
- St. Matthew 2:1-12
Mercy, peace, and love be multiplied to you.
Who speaks to you today saying:
Though today is technically the 11th day of Christmass, we are instead celebrating the Epiphany. For there is a church law that allows you to transfer feast days to the closest Sunday, sometimes even to the next available Sunday.
For example, this year, we were supposed to have celebrated the Feast of the Holy Innocents on the Sunday after Christmass, instead of the First Sunday of Christmass, and to have moved the First Sunday of Christmas to today. Similarly, since Transfiguration Sunday is a newer day compared to the Conversion of St. Paul, set for January 25th, Transfiguration gets bumped completely this year.
And this is just to help the Church organize what and when to celebrate.
Yet, this should not disgust us yet, for we consider ourselves a nation of laws. They are there for order and to keep the peace. If you break the law, you should be punished, for law-breaking hurts a society.
If only there was a way to pass the perfect law so that we could always be at peace. Something like, “No laws shall ever be broken”.
There was a wise man from Canada named Mr. Lee, who offered a parable about trees. The short trees felt they were being oppressed by the tall trees, because the tall trees were grabbing up all the light. The short trees formed a union and passed a noble law that all trees be kept equal by hatchet, ax, and saw.
The lesson about the law that begins to emerge is that no matter how noble your motivation is, you are not exempt from the laws you create. For example, during its two biggest, domestic upheavals, the Civil War and the Great Depression, the US did the same thing. It passed a noble law that said any rebellion against the government is illegal.
At first that makes sense, but what happens when laws are created for some and not for all? Or when laws are superfluous, having less to do with peace and more for taking and keeping power? For your good, comrade, you must give up all your rights, because they conflict with the government’s rights.
In our Gospel reading today, there are two laws in direct conflict with one another. The first law is God’s and in it we hear of three things. First is that there is to be a king in Israel, or rather the promise is that there will always be a descendant of David on the throne (Jer 33:17). Second, is that Bethlehem shall produce a Ruler Shepherd, and Third, there will be a star (Num. 24:17).
The opposing side includes Herod, but also all Jerusalem with him, meaning all sinners. For their law consisted of three things as well. Herod was king, matter-of-factly, Jerusalem is the real capitol for the Embassy, er, for the true king, and the only star is the king who produces real results, in God’s name of course.
Why the conflict? Because what sin has done to the Law of God is elevate the adjectives of the Law over the words. It is expressed this way: if you are a true Jesus-follower and you believe that God is loving and compassionate and just (adjectives), then you believe in a God Who values free will. God always consistently gives free agency to everyone in the Bible. He never forces anyone’s hand.
God leads with compassion, not control. He cares more about your heart and compassion, than stupid rigid rules. Look, says Herod, I was chosen in fairness. I might not be exactly from David’s family line, but I’m on the throne, that means God wants me here. Don’t judge me, bro. God meets us where we are, He doesn’t condemn from afar.
It is sin that makes the Herods so violent, because they must justify their presence on the throne. Justify with their own reason, against God’s reason. Herod is a false king. He has no claim to the title, properly understood. And yet, by law he is allowed to take up the throne and reign.
When human virtue becomes the main way we define God’s Law, we lose the law. When “unconditional” becomes the main adjective for the love of God, the cross becomes unnecessary, repentance becomes optional, and salvation becomes presumed.
In sin, our choices become the sacred. In sin, our decisions become the divine. In sin, our “god of love would never require suffering as proof of obedience.” In king Herod, we see the ultimate replacement of God. God is replaced by the human legalism that He gave, allegedly. That is, we have reduced God to contracts and our experiences.
Repent. You believe that since God is love and love, in your experience, is not making someone cry or suffer, then that is God. You also believe that God’s Law is the end of His revelation to us. That He has set down the rules and you either follow them or you don’t.
Then we are confronted with the Herod problem: what about Jesus? If we have God’s ultimate revelation in His Law, then what is Jesus doing here? We can handle it like Herod did and kill Him, then the problem goes away, even though it doesn’t. Or we can handle it like the Jews and make the law say: there can be no messiah, and the problem goes away.
The Law from God is our guardian, our schoolmaster, until faith arrives. There was something more that God had planned from the beginning. Not that the Law was insufficient or unholy or useless, but that it was unusable on the unrighteous. Meaning simply that lawbreakers break the law.
You can make any law you want, but in the face of someone who breaks the law, it is no good. In our Old Testament reading, it sounds as if you can just pay God off, if you break it. As long as you pay the fine, you will be fine.
But Isaiah 60 goes on, “Foreigners shall build up your walls, and their kings shall minister to you; for in my wrath I struck you, but in my love I had mercy on you” (v.10). By this we are led to believe that keeping the Law involves love, not just obedience.
And just in case the Herods and Jews of the world try to get ahead of everyone else using lawyers, Jesus declares that the Law of God is spiritual (Rom 7:14). Meaning, no matter what we do with our bodies, keeping the Law requires more. It requires faith. It requires the physical and the spiritual coming together.
Thus, Galatians 3, “the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith” (v.24). The Law doesn’t go away. The sting of death is still sin, and the power of sin is still the law (1 Cor 15:56), but Christ has been raised from the dead. What then?
The Gospel. The Gospel, as our Epistle reading says, which is grace, the unsearchable riches of Christ, the mystery hidden for the ages, and God’s eternal purpose. The Gospel is grace, because it is also for Herod and the Jews. It is unsearchable because no sinner expects God to be made man. It is a mystery, because it is in the world, yet remains holy and all of this because God’s eternal purpose is forgiveness.
Our confessions state: “This knowledge [of sin] comes from the Law, but is not sufficient for saving conversion to God, if faith in Christ be not added, whose merits the comforting preaching of the holy Gospel offers to all penitent sinners who are terrified by the preaching of the Law. For the Gospel proclaims the forgiveness of sins, not to coarse and secure hearts, but to the bruised or penitent” (SD V:9)
“For the Law says indeed that it is God's will and command that we should walk in a new life, but it does not give the power and ability to begin and do it; but the Holy Ghost, who is given and received, not through the Law, but through the preaching of the Gospel (Gal. 3:14), renews the heart…Therefore, as often as believers stumble, they are reproved by the Holy Spirit from the Law, and by the same Spirit are raised up and comforted again with the preaching of the Holy Gospel” (SD VI:11-14).
And again:
“since the Law is a schoolmaster unto Christ that we might be justified by faith (Gal. 3:24) and thus points and leads us not from Christ, but to Christ, who is the end of the Law (Rom. 10:4) [that we] be comforted and strengthened again by the preaching of the holy Gospel concerning Christ, our Lord, namely, that to those who believe the Gospel, God forgives all their sins through Christ, adopts them as children for His sake, and out of pure grace, without any merit on their part, justifies and saves them, however, not in such a way that they may abuse the grace of God, and sin hoping for grace” (SD V:24-25)
In this way, the Gospel, Jesus, slips out of Herod’s bloody fist and will go on to shed His own blood for the sins of the world. In this way, the Gospel, Jesus, passes directly in front of the Jews and they see it not.
For it is in Christ we see the full revelation of God in the flesh and that revelation is mercy. And mercy is what the Law cannot give to sinners, because we don’t want mercy. We want to be right, but only Christ is Right and the Law brings us to Christ, Who makes us right in His Blood.
So we return to the Gospel, which is the good news of our salvation in Jesus Christ, through which God gives forgiveness, faith, life, and the power to please Him with good works. The Law that said there will always be David’s Son on the throne, is now Gospel. It was a promise, not a legal demand, a promise only to be fulfilled by someone who can always be there: the Resurrected Jesus.
Then on to Bethlehem. It is not that Jerusalem wasn’t chosen, it is that mercy is chosen. Yes Jerusalem is mighty, but the older shall serve the younger (Gen 25:23). And as Jesus explains, “the greatest among you shall be your servant”, in Matthew 23:11. Christ shall suffer and die to serve forgiveness and salvation to His people. The cross is the throne, not the Temple mount.
And finally the star. In our sin we do not shine bright like a diamond and no amount of knowledge of the Law will make it so. God must give the light and that light is that He is made man to shepherd His people to the green pastures of eternal life.
And this mystery is not found in hearts, or pen, or paper, but in the Church, as our Epistle says. In the Church that preaches the pure Gospel and administers the sacrament according to it. In God’s mercy, He has brought the Gospel forward in time to us. He has brought forward the star, the Bethlehem, and the manger to this place.
Not because those actual things at that time were the Gospel, but His Promise in His Word was. That is what was missing from the Law. That Promise that the Law is good and wise and will bring us to the Gospel. This is what a good teacher does. He leads on and has the goal of making the student like the teacher.
In this case, the Gospel makes the Law digestible for sinners. Since we demand a king, Christ is our King. Since we demand justice, Christ stands on the cross. Since we demand love, Jesus loves more than we could ever love each other or ourselves.
For our love only excuses and accuses. It is a love restricted by sin and the law. We excuse those we “love” and accuse those we “hate”. True Love, that is True God, covers a multitude of sins and does not leave His people comfortless. True love allows access to God’s Grace, through Word and Sacrament, in His Church on earth. And in that Gospel, makes us like Christ, holy and righteous to God, now and forever.
Who speaks to you today saying:
“And you, O Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no
means least among the rulers of Judah; for from you shall come a ruler who will
shepherd my people Israel”
Though today is technically the 11th day of Christmass, we are instead celebrating the Epiphany. For there is a church law that allows you to transfer feast days to the closest Sunday, sometimes even to the next available Sunday.
For example, this year, we were supposed to have celebrated the Feast of the Holy Innocents on the Sunday after Christmass, instead of the First Sunday of Christmass, and to have moved the First Sunday of Christmas to today. Similarly, since Transfiguration Sunday is a newer day compared to the Conversion of St. Paul, set for January 25th, Transfiguration gets bumped completely this year.
And this is just to help the Church organize what and when to celebrate.
Yet, this should not disgust us yet, for we consider ourselves a nation of laws. They are there for order and to keep the peace. If you break the law, you should be punished, for law-breaking hurts a society.
If only there was a way to pass the perfect law so that we could always be at peace. Something like, “No laws shall ever be broken”.
There was a wise man from Canada named Mr. Lee, who offered a parable about trees. The short trees felt they were being oppressed by the tall trees, because the tall trees were grabbing up all the light. The short trees formed a union and passed a noble law that all trees be kept equal by hatchet, ax, and saw.
The lesson about the law that begins to emerge is that no matter how noble your motivation is, you are not exempt from the laws you create. For example, during its two biggest, domestic upheavals, the Civil War and the Great Depression, the US did the same thing. It passed a noble law that said any rebellion against the government is illegal.
At first that makes sense, but what happens when laws are created for some and not for all? Or when laws are superfluous, having less to do with peace and more for taking and keeping power? For your good, comrade, you must give up all your rights, because they conflict with the government’s rights.
In our Gospel reading today, there are two laws in direct conflict with one another. The first law is God’s and in it we hear of three things. First is that there is to be a king in Israel, or rather the promise is that there will always be a descendant of David on the throne (Jer 33:17). Second, is that Bethlehem shall produce a Ruler Shepherd, and Third, there will be a star (Num. 24:17).
The opposing side includes Herod, but also all Jerusalem with him, meaning all sinners. For their law consisted of three things as well. Herod was king, matter-of-factly, Jerusalem is the real capitol for the Embassy, er, for the true king, and the only star is the king who produces real results, in God’s name of course.
Why the conflict? Because what sin has done to the Law of God is elevate the adjectives of the Law over the words. It is expressed this way: if you are a true Jesus-follower and you believe that God is loving and compassionate and just (adjectives), then you believe in a God Who values free will. God always consistently gives free agency to everyone in the Bible. He never forces anyone’s hand.
God leads with compassion, not control. He cares more about your heart and compassion, than stupid rigid rules. Look, says Herod, I was chosen in fairness. I might not be exactly from David’s family line, but I’m on the throne, that means God wants me here. Don’t judge me, bro. God meets us where we are, He doesn’t condemn from afar.
It is sin that makes the Herods so violent, because they must justify their presence on the throne. Justify with their own reason, against God’s reason. Herod is a false king. He has no claim to the title, properly understood. And yet, by law he is allowed to take up the throne and reign.
When human virtue becomes the main way we define God’s Law, we lose the law. When “unconditional” becomes the main adjective for the love of God, the cross becomes unnecessary, repentance becomes optional, and salvation becomes presumed.
In sin, our choices become the sacred. In sin, our decisions become the divine. In sin, our “god of love would never require suffering as proof of obedience.” In king Herod, we see the ultimate replacement of God. God is replaced by the human legalism that He gave, allegedly. That is, we have reduced God to contracts and our experiences.
Repent. You believe that since God is love and love, in your experience, is not making someone cry or suffer, then that is God. You also believe that God’s Law is the end of His revelation to us. That He has set down the rules and you either follow them or you don’t.
Then we are confronted with the Herod problem: what about Jesus? If we have God’s ultimate revelation in His Law, then what is Jesus doing here? We can handle it like Herod did and kill Him, then the problem goes away, even though it doesn’t. Or we can handle it like the Jews and make the law say: there can be no messiah, and the problem goes away.
The Law from God is our guardian, our schoolmaster, until faith arrives. There was something more that God had planned from the beginning. Not that the Law was insufficient or unholy or useless, but that it was unusable on the unrighteous. Meaning simply that lawbreakers break the law.
You can make any law you want, but in the face of someone who breaks the law, it is no good. In our Old Testament reading, it sounds as if you can just pay God off, if you break it. As long as you pay the fine, you will be fine.
But Isaiah 60 goes on, “Foreigners shall build up your walls, and their kings shall minister to you; for in my wrath I struck you, but in my love I had mercy on you” (v.10). By this we are led to believe that keeping the Law involves love, not just obedience.
And just in case the Herods and Jews of the world try to get ahead of everyone else using lawyers, Jesus declares that the Law of God is spiritual (Rom 7:14). Meaning, no matter what we do with our bodies, keeping the Law requires more. It requires faith. It requires the physical and the spiritual coming together.
Thus, Galatians 3, “the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith” (v.24). The Law doesn’t go away. The sting of death is still sin, and the power of sin is still the law (1 Cor 15:56), but Christ has been raised from the dead. What then?
The Gospel. The Gospel, as our Epistle reading says, which is grace, the unsearchable riches of Christ, the mystery hidden for the ages, and God’s eternal purpose. The Gospel is grace, because it is also for Herod and the Jews. It is unsearchable because no sinner expects God to be made man. It is a mystery, because it is in the world, yet remains holy and all of this because God’s eternal purpose is forgiveness.
Our confessions state: “This knowledge [of sin] comes from the Law, but is not sufficient for saving conversion to God, if faith in Christ be not added, whose merits the comforting preaching of the holy Gospel offers to all penitent sinners who are terrified by the preaching of the Law. For the Gospel proclaims the forgiveness of sins, not to coarse and secure hearts, but to the bruised or penitent” (SD V:9)
“For the Law says indeed that it is God's will and command that we should walk in a new life, but it does not give the power and ability to begin and do it; but the Holy Ghost, who is given and received, not through the Law, but through the preaching of the Gospel (Gal. 3:14), renews the heart…Therefore, as often as believers stumble, they are reproved by the Holy Spirit from the Law, and by the same Spirit are raised up and comforted again with the preaching of the Holy Gospel” (SD VI:11-14).
And again:
“since the Law is a schoolmaster unto Christ that we might be justified by faith (Gal. 3:24) and thus points and leads us not from Christ, but to Christ, who is the end of the Law (Rom. 10:4) [that we] be comforted and strengthened again by the preaching of the holy Gospel concerning Christ, our Lord, namely, that to those who believe the Gospel, God forgives all their sins through Christ, adopts them as children for His sake, and out of pure grace, without any merit on their part, justifies and saves them, however, not in such a way that they may abuse the grace of God, and sin hoping for grace” (SD V:24-25)
In this way, the Gospel, Jesus, slips out of Herod’s bloody fist and will go on to shed His own blood for the sins of the world. In this way, the Gospel, Jesus, passes directly in front of the Jews and they see it not.
For it is in Christ we see the full revelation of God in the flesh and that revelation is mercy. And mercy is what the Law cannot give to sinners, because we don’t want mercy. We want to be right, but only Christ is Right and the Law brings us to Christ, Who makes us right in His Blood.
So we return to the Gospel, which is the good news of our salvation in Jesus Christ, through which God gives forgiveness, faith, life, and the power to please Him with good works. The Law that said there will always be David’s Son on the throne, is now Gospel. It was a promise, not a legal demand, a promise only to be fulfilled by someone who can always be there: the Resurrected Jesus.
Then on to Bethlehem. It is not that Jerusalem wasn’t chosen, it is that mercy is chosen. Yes Jerusalem is mighty, but the older shall serve the younger (Gen 25:23). And as Jesus explains, “the greatest among you shall be your servant”, in Matthew 23:11. Christ shall suffer and die to serve forgiveness and salvation to His people. The cross is the throne, not the Temple mount.
And finally the star. In our sin we do not shine bright like a diamond and no amount of knowledge of the Law will make it so. God must give the light and that light is that He is made man to shepherd His people to the green pastures of eternal life.
And this mystery is not found in hearts, or pen, or paper, but in the Church, as our Epistle says. In the Church that preaches the pure Gospel and administers the sacrament according to it. In God’s mercy, He has brought the Gospel forward in time to us. He has brought forward the star, the Bethlehem, and the manger to this place.
Not because those actual things at that time were the Gospel, but His Promise in His Word was. That is what was missing from the Law. That Promise that the Law is good and wise and will bring us to the Gospel. This is what a good teacher does. He leads on and has the goal of making the student like the teacher.
In this case, the Gospel makes the Law digestible for sinners. Since we demand a king, Christ is our King. Since we demand justice, Christ stands on the cross. Since we demand love, Jesus loves more than we could ever love each other or ourselves.
For our love only excuses and accuses. It is a love restricted by sin and the law. We excuse those we “love” and accuse those we “hate”. True Love, that is True God, covers a multitude of sins and does not leave His people comfortless. True love allows access to God’s Grace, through Word and Sacrament, in His Church on earth. And in that Gospel, makes us like Christ, holy and righteous to God, now and forever.
