January 3, 2021 – Epiphany                                                                    Text:  Matthew 2:1-12

Dear Friends in Christ,

            Can’t you picture the Epiphany story played out in a silent movie with the exciting music in the background?  The setting exotic.  The characters are royal, magical, mysterious.  You’ve got the essential ingredients.  You’ve got a villain in King Herod who is trying to trick the Wise Men who are dashing in their bright clothes.  If we could we would be booing Herod and cheering on the Wise Men as they make their way to Jesus.  Good over evil as the Magi complete their quest.  We could just leave it at that and the sermon would be over, but that won’t do.

            This isn’t an overboard melodrama.  These are not larger-than-life characters playing their parts.  There is something ordinary and real life about this narrative.  The storyboard is complete so let’s watch it play out . . .

“EPIPHANY MELODRAMA”

            We get right to some of the main characters right away.  Wise men come to Herod looking for the one born King of the Jews.  This disturbs Herod and it seems the whole city . . . the drama starts to build.

            Herod is a dichotomy, which means he has many aspects to his personality.  We always play up his ruthlessness and his killings of his family but as with many dictators he also did some noble things.  He built the last temple.  He eased people’s taxes when times got tough.  He used his own wealth to feed starving people.  Under the surface this guy did not respect human life.  He felt power meant he had to destroy those who threatened him.  Whether they did or not they had to go.  And so it is with Jesus.

            The Wise Men were perhaps remarkable men of their day, but by no means unique.  They were philosophers and astrologers and soothsayers.  These Magi may have been sincere seekers of the truth but it wasn’t their great wisdom that got them to Bethlehem.

            God put the star in the sky.  Did you see what they call the Christmas star in the sky two weeks ago?  Didn’t it look like the star as you have always seen it or imagined it?  I stood on our deck, looked southwest and marveled at this occurrence.  I thought to myself, “Thank you Lord, in the midst of everything surrounding us, you shine a star as a reminder that it is your working in our daily lives that leads us on.” 

            That is what God did with the Wise Men.  These Gentiles are led by God something that the Lord has been doing for thousands of years.  The encompassing love of God for the world and every human being is played out again and again.  He wants all to come to a knowledge of His truth and under the shelter of salvation in Christ.

            How were they brought to Bethlehem?  Not by their astrology knowledge.  It was God and God alone.  He spoke to them with a star, something they were looking for.  What a wonderful backdrop to our melodrama.  God had prepared the world for the coming of the Prince of Peace.  When we are not seeking Him, He finds us.  This is what the Magi were brought to see – their salvation and ours, as the Son of God had been born in the likeness of men.

            Could the opposition prevail against God’s practical love?  Nada.  No.  Herod actually enlightened these Gentiles with the truth of which he and his people were custodians – the truth of God’s Word, profitable for correction, reproof, and teaching because God inspires it.  Micah centuries ago had directed people to the town of Bethlehem and the clans of Judah.  The prophet still points the way for us.  And God’s grace is not thwarted.

            In the drama the Wise Men finally arrive and we rejoice with them.  What is their response?  They had great joy.  Then they worshipped.  Then they gave their gifts.  They are not paying a price they are paying homage to a King. 

            This King would eventually gift us the gift of redemption, not with silver and gold, but with His holy, precious blood and innocent suffering and death.  This brings us great joy day after day after day.  We are part of the story.  We too worship.  We too give our gifts.  We too have been led to the star and the main character of the melodrama – Jesus the Christ. 

            Many of the silent movies always had “The End.”  This was so you knew when to leave.  We have no such thing.  This screenplay continues on.  We have an eternity waiting for us.  We are going to be with the star forever.  That is a drama I can’t wait for, what about you?

                                                Amen.

December 31, 2020 – New Year’s Eve                       Texts:  Matthew 1:24-25, Luke 2:21

Dear Friends in Christ,

            What you are named is important.  It identifies who you are, it tells others what you are about.  It shapes how you think of yourself.  Do you like your name?  Have you ever wanted to change it?  Modify it?  Take on a nickname? 

            I have always given my parents credit for my name.  In 1965 it was different.  Not many had my name.  It set me apart.  It has been a huge part of my identity.  I have always been comfortable going against the crowd, if needed, and I believe it all started with my name. 

            Jesus is now eight days old.  It is time to get him circumcised and more importantly it is time to give him a name.  His parents have already been told what his name will be.  His name will set Him apart.  His name will identify what He does.  His name will be a blessing.  His name will be improperly used and become a profanity.  He will be comfortable going against the crowd.  His name will mean life for some and others will struggle to identify with it.  It is time for . . .

“THE NAME”

            What I hold in my hand is a piece of paper Toni and I used to name our children.  I keep it in my desk drawer at home.  Since we did not know the sex of our children before their birth we had to have a male name and a female name.  The boys know what they would have been named if they came out of the womb a girl.

            Many of you who have been at Good Shepherd for years already know the story.  Toni put a list of names she liked on a piece of paper.  I put down names that I liked.  Toni’s list came from names she had heard through the years.  My list came from AAA maps of Europe.  We go back to my name and thinking outside the box.  We then set down one night at the dinner table and just started matching names.  We would sound them out.  Do they flow?  Will we scar our kid for life?  We they still love us and invite us to their home someday?  This led us to Karson Calder Lueck.  Karson from Toni’s list, Calder a community in Scotland from my list.  A few years later the same exercise, Holden Shay Lueck.  Holden a community in England from my list and Shay from Toni’s.  It is really the boy’s opinion and we pray they like their names but we have had a few people say to us that the names fit our boys. 

            The name we see given tonight fit the person.  “And at the end of eight days, when he was circumcised, he was called Jesus, the name given by the angel before he was conceived in the womb.”  The angel had told Joseph in Matthew that they would have a son “and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save people from their sins.”  Joseph then woke from the sleep, did as the angel told him and he took Mary as his wife but did not have sexual intercourse with her.  “And he called his name Jesus.”

            All of this is important for you and me because we are sinful people living in a sinful world.  A world that for the most part wants nothing to do with the Triune God.  Being a person in that kind of world means that I have and will have…problems…anxieties…worries…some traumatic situations.  Does Jesus know all this and relate to me . . . to the person who knows himself?  You bet He does.  The very act of circumcision was an act of His willingness to put Himself under the law in order to pay for my sin.  The Jewish Law required that baby boys be circumcised on the eighth day after birth.  Circumcision was for a sinful, fallen people that God would claim as His own.  Jesus became like us – but without sin.  I’d say He knows us quite well.

            P.E. Kretzmann writes, “For here (in Jesus’ circumcision) He paid the first drop of blood as the price for our souls, the full payment being completed when He committed His soul into the hands of His heavenly Father on the cross.”

            Doesn’t it all make sense?  The Lord promises and gives us a new start.  What an appropriate thought on New Year’s Eve.  It gives us the assurance of forgiveness and peace, anxiety free living in the work and person of Jesus Christ as we cross over into 2021.  Jesus stands before us with open arms to clean up our messes of sin and death and hell.

            You can count on his abiding presence.  You can call on His name at all times.  You can look to His wisdom and power when faced with questions that seem to have no answers.  As you exist down here, Jesus the name that is above every name, will provide comfort and stability in a shaky world.  

            We do not know what is before us and that certainly makes daily living interesting.  He has our attention, doesn’t He?  Rest assured that He who bears the name “Savior” will never leave you nor forsake you.

            It has been a wonderful journey these last few weeks.  Celebrating with Joseph and Mary.  Traveling with them.  Being at the birth.  As we all did with our own children – what will they become?  You know the outcome, but it never gets old for those who know the name . . . JESUS THE CHRIST.

                                                                                                Amen.