2. Corinthians 4,3-6. The Feast of the Epiphany of our Lord

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The Word of the Lord Endures Forever

Verbum Domini Manet in Aeternum

2. Corinthians 4,3-6 0714

Fest der Erscheinung des Herrn (Epiphanias) 013

Simeon, Prophet. Luke 2,25-36

05. Januar 2014

1. O Lord God, Heavenly Father, who by the leading of a star did manifest Your Only-begotten Son to the nations: Mercifully grant, that we, who know You now by faith, may also be led to behold Your Divine majesty and glory (Löhe 455). Amen. 

2. »Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, Magi from the East arrived in Jerusalem, saying: „Where is the king of the Jews who has been born? For we saw his star when it rose and have come to adore him.“« 

3. These Magi were members of a caste of gifted sages in the Persian Empire who specialized in everything from astronomy to religion, including Judaism. (A large Jewish community existed in Baghdad from 586 BC - AD 414, and these Magi would have been familiar with the Messianic prophecies in Moses and the Prophets from Daniel and other Jews who had entered the magi caste.) As such, they studied the signs in the heavens and applied religious and political significance to conjunctions, the position of the constellations, eclipses, novae and other astronomical phenomena. 

4. Our 21. Century Western ears hear stars and constellations and we immediately think about horoscopes and astrology. This is not exactly what the Magi were about. They believed that important events or rulers were heralded by God in the heavenly realm. Looking for portents in the heavens has Scriptural precedent. Jesus Himself teaches that the heavens herald the great Heilsgeschichte (salvation history) of Yahweh: »And there will be signs in sun and moon and stars, ... and then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory« (Luke 21,25.27). The Psalmist proclaims: »The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament shows His handiwork. His going forth is from the end of the heaven, and His circuit unto the ends of it: and there is nothing hid from the heat thereof« (Psalms 19,1.6). The Holy Scriptures teach that the Holy Spirit reveals His saving work through natural phenomena and His Prophets. The Spirit uses both natural revelation and Divine inspiration to tell both the Jews and the nations the salvation that appears in Jesus. 

5. Thus the Apostle Paul writes to the Corinthian Christians: »And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the Icon of God. For what we preach is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your slaves for Jesus’ sake. For God, who said: »Let light shine out of darkness,« has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.« St. Paul tells us that the gospel is veiled to the uneducated and the unbelievers who fail to see and ponder the heavenly portents that proclaim the advent and appearance of the Christ. 

6. In both creation and redemption, the Light shines forth from the darkness. The star is the symbol of the Christ, and thus a star heralded the birth of Jesus. The Magi saw this sign in the heavens and heeded its message: a king of kings is about to be born in Judah. Moses had prophesied this birth when he told Israel: »A Star will come from Jacob, and a Scepter will rise from Israel« (Numbers 24,17). So the Magi loaded up their camels with their gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh to journey west to adore Christ Jesus the Lord. 

7. King Herod perceived the Infant Jesus as a threat to his throne. He summarily rejected Jesus as his King and ordered all the young boys in Bethlehem murdered in order to assure the Herodian lineage and rule. Thirty years later scribes and Pharisees rejected Jesus as their King and swore their allegiance to Tiberius Caesar. Today countless people eject Jesus as their King and only see Him as a cute little baby to be thought about at the end of December. The Magi, however, read the signs and believed in their hearts that Jesus is the King, the Christ and the Savior. 

8. Does the star point the way to Bethlehem and Jesus in your heart? Do the portents and the Prophets illuminate your lips to confess Jesus as the King of kings? Do the Apostles unveil the mystery in your mind that Jesus is the Icon of God and the Christ? If the Holy Spirit has so moved in your life and stirred faith within you, then bear testimony of that Christian faith with good works done for your neighbor. The Magi brought their gifts to Jesus, and your good deeds are likewise gifts, perhaps unexpected, to your neighbor. 

9. Perhaps many in Jesus’ day thought the Magi’s arrival to be unexpected. The Christ, after all, was God’s promise to Israel; why do the Gentiles show up to adore the Jewish Christ? The promised Christ is for all people and nations, but as Yahweh unfolded His Heilsgeschichte (salvation history) He chose a specific nation from whom the Christ would be born.  „The Magi fell down and worshiped Jesus, gave their best. The Magi were His men, then they were shepherded away. They had their little moment on stage, then they were heard of no more. Are they lost? No, they were the first of many people who would come from the East and sit at the table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob“ (Nagel 41,1). 

10. The Magi were the first Gentiles to worship and believe in Jesus as the Christ. Jews and Gentiles, Greeks and Romans, slaves and freemen, men and women from all the nations of across the world have knelt before Jesus and confessed Him as Lord and Christ. „There is one Lord, one Christ, one Israel, one church, and one plan of God for our rescue and completion. They are gathered from the east and west to sit at the table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob“ (Nagel 42,6). The nations with all their cultural diversity „proclaim the continuity of God’s Israel and show how the unlikeliest people are included“ (Nagel 42,7) in His Church. First the Magi, now you and me, and still many more around the world, this day and the next adore Jesus and confess His Name.  Amen. 

11. Let us pray. O Son of God, full of Eternal Might, all the nations praise You, and all the people laud you! Keep us in Your Providential hand so that we remain among those who praise You so that we remain enlightened by Your glorious Light unto salvation.  Amen.  

To God alone be the Glory 

Soli Deo Gloria

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All Scriptural quotations are translations done by The Rev. Peter A. Bauernfeind using the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia, 4. Edition © 1990 by the Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart, and the Novum Testamentum Graece, Nestle-Aland 27. Edition © 1993 by Deutsch Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart.  

Book of Common Prayer, The. Copyright © 1990 Oxford University Press.

ELKB. Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche in Bayern. www.bayern-evangelisch.de/www/index.php. Copyright © 2013 Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche in Bayern. 

Löhe, Wilhelm. Seed-Grains of Prayer: A Manual for Evangelical Christians. Wartburg Publishing House, Chicago circa 1912. Concordia Publishing House; Concordia on Demand. 

VELKD. Vereinigte Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche Deutschlands. www.velkd.de. Copyright © 2013 Vereinigte Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche Deutschlands.