The sermon for Jan. 6 was based on Matthew 2:1-12.

Grace and peace to you from God, our Father, and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.

Christmas has finally given way to Epiphany. There have been twelve days of shepherds and angels and now come the wise men. They might have been noblemen. They might have been kings. But none of them could trace his family tree back to Abraham. They were foreigners and strangers in the promised land, but they were aware of God's promise to redeem all sorts of people. One of the great themes of Epiphany is that Jesus is the Savior of all, not just of he children of Israel.

I want you to look at the people involved, though. I want you to see yourself in this lesson and learn something about who you are in Christ. King Herod and the wise men stand in stark contrast with one another. Herod was a king of sorts, not the ultimate authority but certainly very powerful. The wise men were kingly in their own way too. Where the magi came to worship the infant Christ, Herod sought to kill Him. You might think of yourself as being more like the wise men that Herod, a great person come to pay homage to One who is likewise great. But when you are honest with yourself in the light of God's Law, you are almost always more like Herod, weak and terrified, unsure of your place in the world.

Deep within you is the very dangerous idea that you are sovereign and autonomous. You live with the understanding that you are accountable chiefly and usually exclusively to yourself. You envision yourself riding up to Jesus' home on your camel and tipping your hat politely to a fellow monarch. This is the way you like to imagine the wise men too; a band of first century tough guys who saw in Jesus one of their own. Anything else seems like weakness, and if there's one thing Americans hate, it is weakness.

Jesus, though, will not let you get away with that kind of thinking. He has a name for it, an ugly name: pride. God demands humility, which can be described this way: knowing your place in the scheme of things. However powerful you may be at home or at work or in the world at large, you remain a sinful, fallen failure before God your maker, a child gone bad and given over to the enemy. There can be no illusions of royal autonomy. In addition to humility God demands obedience and this can be described as simply as doing your duty. Autonomous people rarely feel they have a duty to anyone.

Humility and obedience are often considered indications of weakness. Real men and strong women stand up for themselves force others to acknowledge their ideas. Real men and strong women make things happen. In Christ, however, you see how wrong this idea really is. Christ Jesus, King of Kings, Lord of Lord, very God of very God, is the picture of perfect humility. He is longsuffering. He is completely willing to be put upon. He does not consider Himself above being impoverished for the sake of others. He knows His place in the world: He is your Lord and servant.

You also see in Him the very essence of perfect obedience. He was obedient to the Law. He submitted to every demand that God ever made of humans. He let Himself be circumcised. He let himself be presented as an infant in the temple. He did whatever the Law demanded. He fasted when He had to and feasted when He had to. He obeyed His Father's every will. And when it was His Father's will that He be crucified by an angry mob, He obediently went to the cross, having made no protest of any kind. His was and is a Man of flawless obedience.

Your Lord knows His place and is content with it. He knows His duty and He does it. He is not too good to serve, either. He isn't too self important to get right down with the creatures of His own creation. He isn't too great to weep with you in your griefs or laugh with you in your joys. His place is with His people and with His Father. His duty is likewise to His people and His Father. Whatever He may be considered to owe you as our creator is more than offset by the fact that your sins make you unworthy of life, let alone daily bread; and yet He gives both to you and so much more.

But Jesus isn't just humble. Nor is He simply obedient. He is humble and He is obedient . . . for you. Because you cannot and will not be as humble as you should, Jesus is humble on your behalf. Where you insist that you are more deserving than you are, Jesus insists that He is less deserving than He is. Where you imagine that you are free from any obligation to your fellow men, Jesus makes Himself the servant of all men. He comes to serve the children of Abraham as well as the children of Gentiles, for all men are children of God and He would have them all be saved.

Consider the concrete examples of Jesus' humility and obedience shown you in the Means of Grace. To you who are born an enemy of God and a despiser of His Word, Jesus speaks His words of Law and Gospel and gives His promises of mercy. To you who caused His death by your sins, He gives His very Body and Blood to eat and drink. He lets Himself be killed by sinners, and you are considered humble. He bathes you in His own blood at the font, and you are credited with His obedience. He sacrifices Himself on the cross, and you are counted righteous, for His sake.

But then something else wonderful comes to light. Not only does He declare you righteous, He begins to make you righteous too. You who have been forgiven so much begin to let go of your grudges against others. Rather than look for ways to nurse hostilities, you look for ways to serve and sooth your neighbors. True Christians put others first. They become less concerned with their own reputations or their own dignity. They start looking for what is best for their neighbors. As Christ binds Himself to you, you become a peacemaker and a servant and a doer of good deeds otherwise impossible.

Your Lord doesn't simply demand obedience, He gives it to you with His Body and Blood. He doesn't just require humility. He imparts it to you with His saving Word. And when you are weighed down by the burden of unbelievers who are proud and arrogant, those who are deluded about their place in the world or their obligations to you, Christ is there to comfort you with the assurance that your place is with Him and that He will never forsake you, not even in the grave.

Those wise men are comforting examples of what God's grace can do for sinners like you. Your Lord elevated the shepherds, glorified the Virgin and honored the carpenter. Then, just as beautifully, He humbled the kings and caused the great to bow down. That is the compassion and the power that declares a sinner like you to be a saint and an heir of everlasting life. Amen.

The peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.

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Last Updated: 7/15/2008