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+ + + In Nomine Jesu + + +
Please join me in prayer: May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be pleasing in your sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen.
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ. (Amen.)
“Location, location, location”—so goes the phrase sometimes attributed to Lord Harold Samuels in 19-44 when he founded “Land Securities”, one of the United Kingdom’s largest property companies, though the phrase apparently was already in popular use years earlier in the United States. Realtors may say “Location, location, location” to emphasize the fact that identical homes can have greater or lesser value because of their different locations. This morning, we may consider the phrase in regards to today’s Gospel Reading, in which the wise men first looked in Jerusalem for the King of the Jews but, by the leading of God’s Word and supernatural Star, eventually found Him in Bethlehem. The King Whom the wise men once worshiped in a house, later died on the cross for us, and now is worshiped on this altar. For us, “location, location, location” this morning in some sense is “house, cross, altar”.
The first location, then, is the “house”. As we heard in the Gospel Reading, wise men from the east appeared in Jerusalem, asking where the newborn King of the Jews was, for they had seen His star when it rose. The wise men are usually understood to have been experts in interpreting stars from Babylon, a group and place that at one time included the Old Testament prophet Daniel, who would have been familiar with and probably shared with them God’s earlier prophecy of a Jewish King associated with a rising star (Numbers 24:17; confer Genesis 49:10). Apparently lacking the later prophecy about the King’s birth in Bethlehem, the wise men figured that the capital city of Jerusalem was the logical place for such a King to be, and so they came there to worship Him, only to end up troubling Herod, the appointed King, and all Jerusalem with him, for fear of what he might do as a result. But, even Herod with his evil motive provided the Word of God that the wise men needed, and the supernatural Star got them to the Bethlehem house.
In our day, we also may be troubled by the political situation, our country’s current or future leader, and what he might do. We may forget or fail to fully appreciate, for example, that God rules over all for the good of His Church. Or, at times we may apply our fallen human reason to some single Bible passage or teaching and lead ourselves astray. We may not properly consider the full Biblical teaching, let others lead us in the right direction, and so we may, to paraphrase a country song, look for Jesus in all the wrong places. Or, we may not even consider what God’s Word says about something or be searching anywhere for His promised King and Savior. To be sure, as we confess with the Small Catechism, we cannot by our own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ, our Lord, or come to Him, but the Holy Spirit calls us by the Gospel, enlightens us with His gifts, sanctifies, and keeps us in the true faith. On account of our sinful nature and all of our actual sin, we deserve death here and now and torment in hell for eternity, but, when, enabled by God, we repent, then God forgives us for the sake of Jesus, Who died on the cross for us.
The cross is the second “location” of our “location, location, location” that this morning in some sense is “house, cross, altar”. As prophesied in today’s Old Testament Reading (Isaiah 60:1-6) and Psalm (Psalm 72:1-15; antiphon v.18), the wise men worshiped the Child Jesus as God and offered Him gifts: gold, frankincense, and myrrh. Their three gifts are often taken as suggesting that there were three wise men, and the gifts themselves are variously taken as confessing that the Child was King, that He was God, and that He would die, though some commentators dismiss such speculation about the gifts, while granting the truths about Jesus. Just after the prophecy that directed the wise men to Bethlehem, the Divinely‑inspired prophet Micah describes the coming forth of the King and Savior as “from of old, from ancient days” (Micah 5:2), as Eternal God. In keeping with Old Testament teaching, the wise men likely worshiped God in the flesh of the Child Jesus by seeking and receiving the forgiveness of sins (1 Kings 8:27-30, 41-43), and we know from later in the New Testament that, after Jesus died on the cross for those sins, myrrh was used in Jesus’s burial (John 19:39), though Jesus did not stay dead but rose on the third day.
The supernatural Star that guided the wise men to the Child Jesus is closely associated with Jesus but should not be confused with Jesus, though Jesus did refer to Himself as “the bright morning star” (Revelation 22:16), and other Divinely-inspired speakers referred to Him similarly (for example, Luke 1:78 and 2 Peter 1:19), as do we in several of today’s hymns (for example, Lutheran Service Book 872 and 395). Jesus is the Word become flesh in His conception and birth at Christmas and Who in this Epiphany is shown to be God in the flesh. Unlike bad shepherds such as King Herod and the Jewish leaders of Jesus’s day, Jesus, as the Good Shepherd, lays down His life for His sheep and then takes up His life again (John 10:11, 15, 17-18). Out of God’s great love, mercy, and grace, Jesus died on the cross for us, in our place, the death that we deserved. When we use our sanctified human reason to apply His death to ourselves, then God forgives us, our sinful nature and all our actual sin. God forgives us through His Word and supernatural Signs, which lead us to the altar, the third “location” of our “location, location, location” that this morning in some sense is “house, cross, altar”.
By His Word and supernatural Star, God led the wise men to the Child Jesus in the Bethlehem house, and later the Man Jesus died on the cross for us. Yet, we cannot go either to that house or to the cross in order to find Jesus today. Rather, God’s Word and the supernatural Signs of His Sacraments lead us to where we can find Jesus today: with water in Holy Baptism, with the pastor’s touch in Holy Absolution, and with bread that is His Body given for us and with wine that is His Blood shed for us in the Holy Supper. Especially on the altar we find the same God in the human flesh of Jesus that was in the house and on the cross. He is present on the altar, distributed by the pastor, and received by us who commune, to our benefit, as we receive Him in faith, for so we receive the forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation. As we are able, we fall to our knees, worshiping Him as true God in human flesh, seeking and receiving the forgiveness of our sins. As St. Paul described in today’s Epistle Reading (Ephesians 3:1-12), Jews and Gentiles are fellow heirs, members of the same body, partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the Gospel.
When the wise men on their way to Bethlehem saw the supernatural Star again, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy. They knew that the supernatural Star would lead them to the Child, and so it did. And, there, after worshiping Him as God and having opened their treasures, they offered Him gifts. Likewise in Christ’s presence and forgiven, we rejoice exceedingly with great joy and offer to Him gifts of what we originally received from Him. We do not store up our treasures (Matthew 6:19-21; Luke 12:33-34), but we offer them to Him on this altar, for use in His Kingdom in this place and elsewhere. We are not trying to buy our redemption, for we cannot, but we are responding to our redemption with gifts of thanksgiving.
This morning, we considered today’s Gospel Reading in regards to the phrase “location, location, location” that in some sense is “house, cross, altar”. The King Whom the wise men once worshiped in a house, later died on the cross for us, and now is worshiped on this altar. As we sang in the antiphon of today’s Psalm, so we say again: “Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, Who alone does wondrous things.”
Amen.
The peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
+ + + Soli Deo Gloria + + +