Gifts for God's Good Kingdom - Sermon for the Feast of Epiphany (January 4, 2026)

Scripture Readings: Isaiah 60:1–6 | Psalm 72 | Ephesians 3:1–12 | ​Matthew 2:1–12

“On entering the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother; and they knelt down and paid him homage. Then, opening their treasure chests, they offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.” (Matthew 2:11).
 
This weekend, the world was surprised by the news that President Maduro of Venezuela had been arrested… seized from his home along with his wife during a covert military operation, and transported to the U.S. in order to face criminal charges. Now, whatever you may think about all this… (and even if you don’t think about it much at all), this surprising act remains a pretty serious assertion of American power, and the claims of authority from those leading it… setting aside and dismissing the expectations and concerns of many people, both at home and abroad, in order to pursue their own goals, and present an image of their own ‘greatness’ around the globe.
 
And while this bold raid may have caught lots of people by surprise, it’s actually a part of a pattern that should be no surprise to us at all.

After all, all rulers have their agendas. All presidents, prime ministers, politicians, and kings make use of their powers and authority to try and achieve their ends, and to acquire their desires, as diverse as they may be. This is not an excuse, or a justification, just an observation: everyone has goals, and ways to pursue them. The question then becomes: how good are those goals… and how good are the ways of getting them?
 
Today, we at St. Luke’s are celebrating the Feast of Epiphany, the still surprising revelation that Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of Mary, is also the Eternal Son of God… the promised Messiah of Israel, and the Saviour King of all the peoples of the Earth. Today we recall that the Living God took on our human flesh and became one of us… in order to turn our sad human story around again for good.
 
And on top of that, Epiphany also offers us important insight and clarity about the agenda of God’s good Kingdom. About what the Living God does with His power and authority… and what He really seeks to acquire.
 
The story of God’s Kingdom, and our King Jesus in St. Matthew’s Gospel starts off in complete contrast to the example of King Herod ‘the Great’… the puppet ruler of Israel under the authority and power of Rome. Despite his relatively marginal significance on the borders of the Empire, King Herod desired to make a ‘great name’ for himself. He invested in massive building projects, including the grand reconstruction of the Temple of God in Jerusalem… and mercilessly dealt with anyone who threatened his reputation or who stood in his way… including a number of his own sons and relatives who he had executed.
 
Last Sunday we heard about what Herod did after the visit of the magi… ordering the death of all of the children in and around Bethlehem two years old and under, hoping to get ride of the newborn Messiah… slaying the innocent just to hold onto his royal position a little bit longer.
 
St. Matthew tells this story in ways that draw very clear parallels between Herod and the Pharoah from the Exodus story… making the case that the ruler of God’s own people had now become just like the wicked tyrant that had once oppressed and enslaved them. And Matthew does this to make a particular point: that if King Herod is a new Pharoah, then we are to see Jesus as a new Moses… as the chosen Saviour of God’s people, who will not only bring them to freedom, but also reveal God’s very heart and His holy ways to them as well. Right from the start, Matthew wants us to see Jesus as the fulfillment of Israel’s hopes and dreams… rescuing them from all their enemies, even if those enemies happen to be their own rulers.
 
But here’s where the Epiphany comes in… the surprising revelation of a mystery long hidden from humanity, as St. Paul puts it in our second reading: that is, that Israel’s Messiah is not just Israel’s Messiah… He’s also the Saviour of the world! The One who has come, not to crush or overthrow the Gentiles, but to share God’s light and life with them, and draw them near.
 
Who does Matthew tell us shows up to honour the newborn King of the Jews? Not the great and the good of Jerusalem, or even the scribes that Herod consulted. It was the magi… the wise men and astrologers from the East… from the Gentile lands beyond the borders of the Roman Empire… the lands of Mesopotamia and perhaps further, where God’s people had once lived themselves in the darkness of Exile.
 
It's unclear from the biblical text itself what these magi would have known about Israel, or the ways of the Living God… but they know enough to leave their homes behind to search out this newborn King, and to pay him homage… to honour Him with precious gifts… precious in both value and significance.
 
Gold and frankincense were gifts fit for royalty… for those with authority and power over human subjects, and also those who were close to the divine. In the ancient world, incense was closely associated with gifts offered up to ‘the gods’, and it was often reserved for use in temples and in acts of worship, for both Israelites and their Gentile neighbours.
 
For St. Matthew’s audience, these gifts would have also brought to mind the promise of hope from the Prophet Isaiah Chapter 60, which we heard in our first reading this morning. This passage speaks to God’s people about the future arrival of God’s good Kingdom… a future where they will no longer be scattered among and threatened by powerful foreign Empires… and instead they will enjoy the blessed life of the Living God together.
 
Isaiah 60:1-6,
“Arise, shine; for your light has come,
and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you.
For darkness shall cover the earth,
and thick darkness the peoples;
but the Lord will arise upon you,
and his glory will appear over you.
 
Nations shall come to your light,
and kings to the brightness of your dawn.
Lift up your eyes and look around;
they all gather together, they come to you;
your sons shall come from far away,
and your daughters shall be carried on their nurses’ arms.
Then you shall see and be radiant;
your heart shall thrill and rejoice,
because the abundance of the sea shall be brought to you,
the wealth of the nations shall come to you.
 
A multitude of camels shall cover you,
the young camels of Midian and Ephah;
all those from Sheba shall come.
They shall bring gold and frankincense,
and shall proclaim the praise of the Lord.”
 
This vision of hope for Israel’s restoration was tied to their expectations for the Messiah… the Chosen Anointed One sent from God to bring about His good Kingdom at last. And so, when St. Matthew tells us that the magi from the East bring such gifts and lay them at the young Jesus’ feet… the Gospel writer wants us to see that in Jesus, God’s good Kingdom has indeed come! That Israel’s long awaited Saviour has arrived, bringing their hopes and dreams to life at last.
 
And yet, there is one more gift the magi bring… the gift of myrrh… a precious gift used in the process of anointing someone special for burial. And in this gift, St. Matthew offers us an important glimpse into how the surprising story of Jesus the Messiah, and God’s good Kingdom will eventually unfold.
 
But aside from the symbolic significance of these three gifts… what does this part of Christ’s story have to say to you and I today? Did God’s Son come to bring about His good Kingdom to extract tribute and receive precious gifts and resources from the peoples of the Earth? Is God just after the material goods that we have?

Well no. Scripture is clear, again and again, that the Living God doesn’t need anything from our hands. All the gold, and precious gifts in the world exist because of Him! He’s the Creator, after all. Material existence itself is the LORD’s handiwork… and the Universe itself, everything seen and unseen is already in His hands.
 
And yet, offerings and gifts do have a positive role to play in the life of God’s good kingdom, and they are a very practical way to participate in the ministry of the Church, the community of God’s people. That said, it’s really important to remember that God still works through the lives of His faithful people even when they are without money, or buildings, or access to all of the material resources that we can often think of as essential.
 
But even more to the point: our offerings are intended to be a tangible way of expressing something important to God. Of saying thanks, and acknowledging that He is far more precious to us than silver or gold… worth the time and effort of leaving our homes to lift Him up in worship… to elevate His holy Name… and to make known to the world what the LORD has done, for us, and for all.

In other words, our gifts and offerings to God are meant to be an expression of our love… of our devotion… and of our trust in Him. That’s what God wants from us. Gold and incense and myrrh might be nice, but what God is really after is our hearts! Our lives! Our love… not just offered blindly, but as an intentional act… a choice… and as an active response to the great gift of love He has already given to us… God’s great gift of love that finds its focus and fulfillment in the life of His Son, Jesus Christ.
 
To put it yet another way… you are God’s treasure! You and I are the objects of His desire… the precious gifts that He longs to receive. And by ‘you’ I mean the ‘you’ that may still have a lot of healing, and learning, and unlearning, and growing to do. The ‘you’ that you may even struggle to love at times. That’s the you God is after! The real you, ‘warts and all’ as they say. Sit with that truth for a moment. God doesn’t really want something from you. What He wants is you. []
 
And at the same time, Epiphany reminds us… if God is after us… our hearts, and our lives… the way that He goes about getting us is not at all like the way the Pharaohs and Herods of the world go after what they want… seizing things by force, and through self-aggrandizement. No, God the Almighty Creator of all uses His ultimate power and authority to make Himself small… to set His heavenly glory to the side and become incarnate for us… and enter into our humble, fragile humanity… born in a small town, as a baby forced to flee the country with His family… living among the poor, and the lowly, and reaching out to the outcasts, and those who were still dwelling in all sorts of darknesses of body, mind, and spirit.
 
The surprising Good News of Jesus Christ that we celebrate at Epiphany is that God’s Eternal Son has taken on human flesh, and bore for us the burden of all the world’s brokenness… laying down the precious gift of His own life at the cross, and rising again from the grave… and in so doing, He offers us all the gifts of forgiveness, and freedom, and eternal life… not waiting for us to make ourselves perfect, but while we were all still estranged and His enemies… drawing not only the people of Israel, but all peoples together back into the arms of the Living God, and into His good Kingdom.

Epiphany reminds us that God is after the world… not as something to be grasped and hoarded, but to be saved… to be loved, and drawn into the unending life of love that the Holy Trinity has always enjoyed… and created us all for.
And this great gift of love has been offered to us all… to our whole world in Jesus Christ, who commands us to follow His holy ways, and put our enmity and greed, and prejudices aside, entrusting ourselves to His loving care as we take the risks of loving one another, and those around us.
 
So this Epiphany, may we respond to the gift of God’s love for our world in Jesus Christ by offering Him our hearts… our whole selves… our hopes and dreams, our attention and our intentions… and humbly draw near to Him in faith, and in hope, and in love.
 
And may we all do our part to help our world… our loved ones and neighbours, and even strangers come to know the Good News of God’s love for them as well. Acting and talking in ways that help to tell this sacred story, offering up each day as a gift of thanks and praise to our great Saviour King.

I’ll close now with the final verse of In The Bleak Midwinter by the poet Christina Rossetti.
 
What can I give him, poor as I am?
If I were a shepherd, I would bring a lamb,
if I were a wise man I would do my part,
yet what I can I give him, give my heart.
Amen.