Our World's Saviour King - Sermon for the Feast of Epiphany (January 5, 2025)

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

"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." (Isaiah 60:1-3).

Happy Epiphany everyone!

The season of Christmas has come to a close, and now the Church turns to the next chapter of Christ’s story: to the joyful revelation that Yahweh, the Living God, is not only determined to be the God of Israel, but the God of all the earth… the divine sovereign of the Gentiles too.

Today we proclaim the Good News that Jesus Christ, God’s Son, is both Israel’s Messiah and the Lord of All, drawing all peoples to Himself, and to one another in His name. 

Two thousand some odd years on, this may not seem like that big of a deal to us. After all, we Christians have, from very early on, seen the Gospel of Jesus as a having worldwide implications. But if we sit with this claim for a while, in the light of both our own circumstances in the world, and the story of Scripture, the surprising message of Epiphany may begin to shake us up. 

I mean, how often do we really reflect on the idea that the Living God is not content with just one people or nation… one little corner of the world… and instead to believe that God is actually after all of us?

Not in the sense of what we could call colonialism… the process of one country or empire deciding that it’s their right and duty to simply take over other peoples and nations… forcing others to serve the empire’s interests against their will. But, rather in the sense that the Lord cares deeply for the true wellbeing of the world that He has made… and that He longs for His estranged but still beloved creatures made in His image to be reunited… reconciled both to Him, and to one another… and willingly making incredible and costly sacrifices to make that possible. 

This vision of God’s worldwide concern… God’s cosmic Kingdom… stands in such contrast with the kinds of ‘kings’ and ‘emperors’ who are throwing their weight around the Earth today.

More and more it seems, those who are rising to power these days are intentionally pulling back from any sense of international co-operation, and mutual responsibility... empowered by stirring up suspicions, fears, and hatred of others, instead of pursuing justice and peace for all. 

This is no surprise, I suppose. After all, insecure tyrants have always tended to lash out against anyone… even the most vulnerable and lowly, in order to preserve their own power.

But Epiphany reminds us that our Saviour Jesus Christ chose to become both vulnerable and lowly in order to bring about God’s good Kingdom… laying down all Earthly power and glory, to rescue the world that He loves.

The story of Epiphany is told in the Gospel of Matthew Chapter 2. We hear that strangers from the East, non-Jewish scholars and astrologers, see a new star in the sky, and set out after it, seeking to honour the newly born King of Israel. 

In some ways, this episode might be a surprising story for St. Matthew to include in his Gospel, which spends a lot of time focussing on Jesus as Israel’s Messiah… the fulfillment of God’s promises to His covenant people to rescue them from their oppressors, and to bring about God’s holy reign at last.  

But even though St. Matthew clearly wants us his readers to believe that Jesus truly is Israel’s Messiah, He also wants us to see from the start that God’s Kingdom is much greater than we might have imagined… and that what God was doing in and through Jesus might be centred on Israel at first, but would one day come to encompass all nations, to the very ends of creation!

And even though we tend to think of the Old Testament story as basically Israel’s story, from the start it’s a the story of the Living God’s work to rescue and be reunited with His world. 

The people of Israel, Abraham and Sarah’s descendants, were of course chosen to play a pivotal role in God’s great rescue plan… but this was not because of their own elevated status or moral perfection. No, the Scriptures make clear that God loves to choose the least likely… the lowly, and vulnerable, to be lifted up… defying all expectations of what is possible to draw humanity back to Himself.

And St. Matthew’s account of this episode in Jesus’ life highlights this contrast between our ways and God’s ways… between our sense of how the world really works, and what God alone can and will do to bring about His Kingdom.
 
In Matthew Chapter 2 verse 1 we’re told that the magi, or wise men, arrive from the East and head straight to the capital city, Jerusalem, expecting to find the newborn king within the local centre of power, in Herod’s royal court. But King Herod is caught off guard by their visit. He saw himself as the sovereign over those lands, at least, as long as the Emperor in Rome could be appeased. 

So, Herod hears of this new child king only as a serious threat to his authority… a challenge to his own power… and from his own experts, he learns that God’s promised Messiah was to be born in Bethlehem. Ironically, Herod believes just enough to trust the prophecies about where God’s chosen King would come from, but not enough to bend his knee and offer up his allegiance. 

How many today are still towing Herod’s line? Believing just enough to recognize that Jesus is the One sent from God, but not enough to actually change our ways and offer Him all He is due?
 
Back to Matthew Chapter 2, King Herod tells the magi to go to Bethlehem, find the child, and then let him know where this newborn King can be found… so that he too may worship Him… or so he claims.

The wise men go, and find Jesus, not among the wealthy or glamourous, or powerful… but among the common folk… the poor and seemingly insignificant ones. Jesus, the Son of God had become wholly unremarkable… that is, apart from the witness of the star shining high above the holy family’s home… recognizable only to those with eyes to see.

And as St. Matthew tells it, these strangers, these Gentiles, these non-Jews see, and they believe. They don’t know the whole story yet, far from it… but they know that this is the One that they’ve been searching for.

So they respond: They give Him gifts, and worship Him, and return home without a word to King Herod, serving as a first glimpse of how the whole world will one day search for and find their Saviour, and bow their knees to this One who was once a little boy born in Bethlehem.

And this is how God’s Saviour King comes into the world… His world: mistrusted and rejected by the ones who claim to be faithful, but selfishly cling to power… and honoured by strangers and outsiders… drawing near those who are far off, and dwelling with the poor and lowly… entering into the truly dark and dangerous circumstances of our world to save us. 

St. Matthew’s Gospel goes on after our reading today to recount how King Herod, enraged that the magi would defy his plans to get rid of Jesus, orders the execution of all the boys born in Bethlehem two years old and under.
Sit with the horror of that for a minute. Just a minute. Give thought to those innocent toddlers and infants. These truly vulnerable ones… and their families… Herod’s own subjects… put to death just because of one man’s selfish ambition… out of his fear of surrendering control.

Maybe in some ways, this brutal, self-centred desperation calls to mind some of the decisions made by leaders across our world today… those who seem willing to burn the world down… to abandon or brutalize their neighbours… and even sacrifice the lives of their own people, if they think it’s in their own interests.

But Epiphany reminds us that Jesus the Messiah, God’s Son, and our world’s Saviour King, is so unlike the leaders of the Earth. He came in complete humility, and deep compassion for the lowly. He brought God’s light into the darkest places, setting free those bound by shame, and illness, and brokenness of every kind. He gave His life at the cross, not only to rescue His friends and followers… or even simply His own covenant people… but to bring God’s forgiveness and New Life even to His enemies… even to you and me.

Jesus Christ, God’s Son, our Saviour King gave His life in love, once and for all, to save us all! So that all who turn to Him in faith may share in His eternal life.

And we who believe and follow Him today, are tasked with sharing this Good News… with passing on the story of Jesus, and all that He has done to the world all around us, and living out the story of His Kingdom in our daily lives.

The truth of Epiphany, that Jesus Christ has come to be the Saviour King of all the Earth, calls us all, like the magi all those years ago, to offer our own responses: we too are summoned to lay down what we have… our allegiance… our choices… our lives at His feet, and so to honour Him not only with our words, but with all we do.
 
So if Jesus our Saviour King drew near to and brought help and hope to strangers and the lowly, what are we to do?

If Jesus our Saviour King rejected the ways of selfishness and pride, and the worship of power, what are we to do?

If Jesus our Saviour King gave His life in love, not just for those who were closest to Him, but for those farthest away… for even those who hated and rejected Him… how are we called to share His holy saving love with our world? With those both near and far?

Jesus our Saviour King will come again, and before Him every knee will bow, from the lowest to the highest. So, with the Holy Spirit’s help, may we live today as lights shining in the dark, showing the world around us even a glimpse of what God’s good Kingdom of self-giving love really looks like, so that they too might come to see and believe. Amen.​