Mat 2:1-12 — They Pointed out the Savior
Every time I go to the airport, I am reminded of how important signs are. There are countless ways in and out, lanes for rental cars, lanes for arrival and lanes for departure, service roads, and the list goes on and on.
Thankfully there are a lot of signs, signs that point out the right way to the place I'm looking for.
This past Friday, we entered into the season of Epiphany. The word Epiphany comes from the Greek word, ἐπιφαίνω, which means “to make manifest,” “to reveal,” or “to point out,” so this is a season of pointing out the Savior and making Him known to the world, and so we turn to the holy writers and to the signs after that first Christmas to see how they pointed out our Savior.
The first people who wrote about Christ were Moses and the Prophets. They wrote by prophecy, that is God told them what to write so that every word that they wrote was by inspiration of the Holy Spirit and was true and correct. In some cases, God revealed the future, and that was certainly the case when He caused Moses and the Prophets to write down the signs that would point out the Savior.
The first sign that Moses wrote down was a big detour sign. When I lived in Florida, it was a yearly occurrence that, somewhere in town, a big sinkhole would open in the middle of a street. The road crews would come and put up detour signs to route drivers around that big pit. God showed Moses the big detour sign for the human race, and had him write about it.
The road had been straight and level. Adam and Eve we are told could have walked straight to heaven at their own direction, but when they sinned that sin dug a yawning pit straight to hell right in the middle of that road to heaven. They could no longer make their way to heaven by that path, but would surely die if they tried.
So the Lord gave them a detour sign when He said, “And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, And you shall bruise His heel.” This was a long range sign that God would provide a new way to reach the Promised Land of heaven. Moses pointed out the need for the detour in the Law, and Moses pointed out the Savior of the Jews, so we those signs to the Jews.
The Prophets, like Isaiah, who wrote our Epistle lesson this morning, wrote the medium range signs. Isaiah said, "Behold! My Servant whom I uphold, My Elect One in whom My soul delights! I have put My Spirit upon Him; He will bring forth to the Gentiles that which causes justice.” God wanted the Jews and the Gentiles, the whole world, to know that He loves all mankind and would soon lay the keystone of that new bridge which reroutes man back onto a road of righteousness leading to heaven. This isn’t man’s road, but God’s road and Christ’s righteousness. The prophets pointed out the Savior, so we follow the sign to the land of Israel.
At the time of Jesus birth God even installed a light, a bright, shining star over Bethlehem to lead us there. The wise men, the magi, were believing men most likely from Babylon, who had heard some of the previous signs, and were looking for the next sign from God. And there it was shining brightly in the western skies.
So they followed the sign to the Jews, to Israel, to the city of David. It was most likely at least a year after Jesus’ birth when they arrived, and even though the Jesus’ family had carried him back from Bethlehem to Nazareth and then later back to Bethlehem, the wise men knew where to find the Savior, because the sign was clear.
Our traffic lights don’t move around with us to tell us when it’s safe to go and when not, or which way to go, but the star did. The star led the wise men from east to west, from Babylon to Jerusalem, and then after they had received directions from the Book of the Prophet Micah, the star turned and headed south to lead them to Bethlehem Ephrathah, to the house that Mary and Joseph and the infant Savior were staying in. I wish we had signs like this on the roads; it would be a lot easier to find places, especially in this town.
And what did they do when they found the Savior? “When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceedingly great joy. And when they had come into the house, they saw the young Child with Mary His mother, and fell down and worshiped Him. And when they had opened their treasures, they presented gifts to Him: gold, frankincense, and myrrh.” They gave Him an offering worth a king’s ransom, and they worshiped Him.
They gave us a sign. They pointed out the Savior to us Gentiles. They worshiped that infant. They understood that this Child was the Son of God, God in the flesh, come to earth to die so that all men would be forgiven. They showed us that at the direction of the Word of God we can approach the Savior in faith and worship Him and in gratitude offer Him our gifts. We have the great privilege of being able to worship the true God and even give offerings of thanksgiving to Him, just as the wise men did.
But will we point out the Savior? Epiphany is a time of thinking about the work of the Church in this world. We have certainly been lead to the Savior by God’s Word. We have been directed by the signs to the Christ child of Christmas. We confess about this child with the Apostle John:
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God.” We know that “All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.” We see that our world is in darkness, that “the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.”
Will we “bear witness of the Light, that all through us might believe.” Will the future look back to our words and thoughts and legacy, and see the Savior, as we have looked back and seen that our parents and teachers and pastors have shown us the signs that God has provided?
Will we point out the Savior in this difficult time of spiritual apathy by our words and our actions, so that future generations will be able to see the way of God more clearly? Let this be our goal in our congregation and in our homes.
Sure, we will stumble; we might occasionally even get lost; we are weak human beings after all, but look at the signs that God has provided us in His Word, then turn around in faith, repent and follow the right road, not the one that God is trying to help us avoid, the one with the big hole in it. Follow that straight path that is level even through mountains and across plains; the one that leads to the Savior. It leads away from danger and into the heavenly places.
Since the very beginning God desired to bring us home. That is why He sent Moses and the Prophets, the Star, the Magi, the Apostles, and even our parents and teachers and pastors. In this new year let us resolve to point out the signs that lead to the Savior to our children, our neighbors, and our community, so that they too may receive faith and follow the Word to heaven. Amen.