Howdy.
Well, that's what I get for going on vacation.
I end up losing my voice on my word.
Don't worry.
Like I was thinking about, you know, telling you about all the different things I got a chance to do on my week long cruise.
You know, getting a chance to go out and do some paddle boarding and some snorkeling.
And then there was definitely some spots where you get a chance to journey into the jungle, see the monkeys, you know, did some karaoke, some dancing.
You know, met some new friends, had some great food, but I didn't want to make you feel bad, so I won't tell you about all that.
But you know, of course, you end up having, you know, a great time and you end up using up all your energy and bring yourself out.
And then you're like, oh wait, where's my voice?
Oh, let's substitute it with Kermit the Frog over here.
So, sorry for that.
But the wonderful part is to be able to have an opportunity to be able to see more of the world and a chance to be able to step away and to be rejuvenated,
to be able to take on the next part of this new year.
And I hope that all of you have had an opportunity to be able to spend time with people that you care about and to be able to rest and be restored for this new year.
But as I was thinking through this time that I was, you know, on the boat, what was funny is that as I was getting toward the end of it,
I'm actually thinking in my mind and thinking to myself, I really want to be home.
I know it's like you're like, you're out there, you're seeing all these interesting sights, eating great food, living a fun life, why would you want to be home?
But you know, there's a part of you where it's like you want to be in your own bed, you want to be around people that you know you don't want to constantly be trying to do something different,
and that there's a place where you're on your journey, but after a little while it just becomes a little bit taxing.
And that's the thing about this is that this was only for seven days.
What would it be like if you're having to do this for the next few years?
And that's something that I think about when we look at our story of the Magi.
See, when we ask this question of who were the wise men, we actually don't have a lot of information.
There's not a lot that we know, but what we'll do is we'll touch base on a few things that we discussed in previous years before we go forward with the rest of the sermon.
You know the phrase from the Christmas song, We Three Kings of Orient Are?
It's actually completely made up.
So first off, I don't know that we're actually supposed to use the term orient.
I don't think that's actually appropriate anymore, but even if it were, there's no reason to think that the Magi were actually from that area.
All we know is that they were from the East, maybe Babylon, early on Babylon and Persia.
But also we don't know for sure it was three of them.
We know there were three gifts, but we don't know for sure that there were three wise men.
But then on top of it is, why would we think that they were kings?
Well, in Psalm 72, it says, May the kings of Tarshish and of the coastlands render him tribute.
May the kings of Sheba and Siba bring gifts.
May all kings fall down before him. All nations serve him.
So a lot of people took that idea and thought that it meant that whoever was coming to see him must have been kings themselves.
But in reality, Tarshish was actually in the West instead of the East.
So taking this passage completely literally doesn't quite work.
But even the idea of whether they were writing on camels is even an assumption as well.
It comes from the part in Isaiah 60, 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 bring good news, the praises of the Lord.
So basically your Christmas carols growing up completely deceived you.
And I am sorry to ruin your childhood.
But with that though, is to realize that these particular people who were wise men, that term magi, in the Greek, magoi,
the idea of wise men, it implies the idea that they were people who studied astronomy and astrology.
Now, I bring those both up because back then, people didn't necessarily understand a distinction.
Between the two, they didn't think of astronomy as the science of the stars and planets moving in their orbits.
And astrology as the idea that somehow you're trying to predict or change the future based on what you see.
They thought it all went together.
Well, we don't know a lot about the magi.
But we wonder if maybe they were those who had learned of the Hebrew scriptures from Daniel.
That when Daniel had been taken into exile off to Babylon, which would eventually be conquered by Persia,
that maybe they learned from Numbers 24 that a star will come from Jacob and its scepter will arise from Israel.
Maybe they learned from Daniel about the prophecies that pointed to the king coming from Bethlehem.
Maybe they learned about what the Psalms were saying and heard from Isaiah.
And that was where they knew to bring the gold and the frankincense, though the myrrh we can only speculate.
All of these things leave us wondering, how is it that these people who were using things that we reject
about astrology and everything else, how are they using that to somehow know who God is and that he was going to send his king, King Jesus?
The thing is, is that there's a lot that we don't know for sure.
But what we can see, though, is that even if they were using some king planet and a king star to align
and to create this bright star that would be seen that they were following,
is that even if they started off in one place of what they believed to be true,
they were still able to hear and know from God because they were able to come to the Christ child in the manger.
But as they're doing so, it does make me wonder, how do you handle traveling for more than four years when you're not even sure what you're about to see?
How do you end up spending all of this time going there?
Couldn't you imagine what it would have been like day after day as they're traveling along to try to find what they thought might bring them to the future king?
However many people that there might have been, it might have been two, it might have been three, it might have been a dozen, it might have been more.
But imagine how many times that they're having to travel every night because you had to follow the star and sleeping every day
and then having to go one piece at a time to follow something you're not even understanding.
Could you imagine the discussions that they would have? It's been a month, two months, half a year, going on a year.
Are you sure we're going the right way? I mean, you know, my map quest said we're supposed to go this way.
Who uses map quest anymore? You must be like a millennial. Yeah, absolutely. It's ridiculous.
But with it is to even be trying to understand are we even going the right way at all? And if we get there, would we even know it?
Day after day, night after night. But that's why it was important to be traveling with those who had a similar mindset.
Because if there are people there who don't believe the same thing and are following in the same direction, what's going to happen?
We know that you can get off course whenever everyone's not on the same page. That's why it is that the children of Israel spent 40 years in the wilderness instead of just two.
But every day, night after night, no matter how hard it got, they needed the other people with them to keep encouraging them and saying,
you see that star the same way we do. We need to keep going.
But it's more than just that. It's the fact that you had to stay focused on that light.
Is that there could be any number of things that can distract you all around you.
There could be any number of caravans and groups of people that passed by them telling them all sorts of interesting places to go and things to see.
But they had to stay hidden at daytime and travel only at night.
Because that was the only time they could brightly see that star they were following.
Isn't it so easy that in the darkness, the darkness can sometimes be so overwhelming, but we're supposed to still keep pointed at the light.
Because as much as we may doubt or wonder what it is that God is doing, is that he is still leading us each and every day.
But even beyond that, think about the fact that these were people who did not grow up in a home where they were worshiping God the Yahweh that we know.
How is it that they understood that a planet and a star or whatever it was that was together brightening up the sky?
How did they know it was going to take them where they needed to go? Because God's Word had told them so.
And that's the thing is how often are we taking it for granted.
We come up with great ideas in our head about what we think matters in life and what we think we should be doing and saying and where we should go forward.
But how often are we comparing it to what God has said in His Word?
Because as they kept looking, they didn't just have a star.
They had God speaking to them with His Word, continuing to show them the hope that they had to look forward to.
But as much as we keep trying to move forward and walk in the direction that God is leading us, we get off track sometimes.
And it's easy to sometimes get diverted away from the light and focus on things like power.
Sometimes instead of following the light, we sometimes get distracted.
See, what I found interesting is that they may have gone across by Jericho. We don't know for sure exactly.
But if they did, you don't have to go through Jerusalem to get to Bethlehem.
And instead of going straight there, they veered off.
They went to the place where they assumed that the wisdom would be coming from the one in power.
They assumed that they could go there and find what they were looking for, because that's where the seat of power was.
But you know that time whenever you just need to tell somebody, hey, read the room?
So sometimes where it's like you realize that if you would just pause for a second and maybe made eye contact with people,
or maybe just listen to see what people were talking about, and you might realize this is not the time or the place for something.
And then they could have realized that Herod was not actually a king.
It was just a formality, a ceremonial title.
Herod was not a descendant of David and part of the kingly lineage.
He was just somebody put in power, not even from the Jewish community, put in power by the Roman government.
If they had just paused and slowed down, wouldn't they have been able to realize that he would have no idea where they needed to go?
Or even more than that, we know that when they were heading back, God was able to speak to them to let them know not to go there.
Couldn't God have also spoken before they got there as well?
And that's the thing is that oftentimes we are trying so hard to find something or someone of power and strength that we can feel confident in,
because sometimes that journey, it's so dark.
Sometimes that journey is so long, and we're trying to follow, but we just don't know where it's leading sometimes.
We know we're supposed to go that way, but where is it going?
And that's the thing is that they already had the direction.
But because they decided to go and find someone or something of power,
then all of the children, the boys who were two years and younger, would have to suffer the consequences because of a king who was jealous and insecure of the one who was to come.
See, that's the thing is that influence and power do not always determine wisdom.
As much as we may look for something that ends up being bold enough or strong enough, is that it is not always where we're supposed to go.
That's the thing about knowing who God is and what his word is revealed, is because the only way that we can truly continue to know this,
they only knew to follow because they knew so much of the Scriptures that was able to guide their minds and guide their lives.
And so when they get there to bring the gifts, they were finally able to see who Christ is for who he truly is,
not to assume that they knew who Christ was, not to sit back in their homeland wherever it might have been and just make assumptions based off of the stars and what they thought they read,
but they went to follow.
And that's sometimes something that we don't realize is that we need to stop assuming that Christ is only ours to follow.
Christ is not just ours.
See, oftentimes we assume too much and we think that anybody who did not grow up in this environment with this background,
that they would never really want to know about Jesus. That's the thing about this, is that many of us grew up in the church hearing about Jesus.
Many of us were baptized young, were taught all the stories. We had our little archbooks that we could open up with all the cartoon drawings.
I didn't know growing up that Lutherans were actually teaching me about the Bible and I was like, oh, archbooks are Lutheran. That's really cool.
But you end up having all of these stories that end up shaping you as a kid and then we go out in the world and people are hesitant and they come from all these different backgrounds and we just assume that they're not going to want to embrace Jesus themselves.
But the thing is, is that whenever something is good, right, true, lovely, is that it is all meant to still bring us back to knowing who God is.
And the world wants to see things that are good, true, right, and lovely. But they just don't always know that that is based in who Christ is.
And it may be difficult at first. You may get hesitation from people because that's all that they've known is something different.
And you may be willing to pause and say, would you like to know who this Jesus is that I worship? And they may say, hey, that's really great for you. I'm really happy about that.
It's just not my thing. And you may have to say, OK, I understand. And then still be willing again the next opportunity to say, would you like to know this Jesus?
Because that's the thing about who God is, is that the experiences may come from all over.
But they are still meant to follow the star to know who Christ is because the light is meant to lead us to one place.
There is one place that the light is meant to take us. Why are we afraid to bring others along on that journey with us?
But you see, sometimes it's because we're trying so hard to make sure we get certain things across.
I know I do that sometimes. It is very easy to spend the time trying to make sure that everything that I say and everything that I do, even as a pastor, is exactly what I want everybody to get across.
But in reality, I'm not the last word.
And even everything that I say to you, even from up here, is for you to know God's word so well that you don't take my word for it, but that you keep going back to the scriptures and seeing if it fits.
Because that's the thing is that oftentimes we're so ready to say what we want to get across.
But are we willing to listen more than we speak?
And to be able to listen, not just to what God's word is saying, but also to listen to the people who need to know Him the most.
Because we oftentimes don't take the time to understand where they were coming from in the first place.
We're so confident that we are the ones who know what needs to happen. But in reality, we come from our own backgrounds, our own ways of doing things, our own ways of seeing things.
And that's why it is that God wants His word to be proclaimed to all people.
Because no matter where people may be coming from, whatever their background may be, is that God's word is meant for them.
And so there are different parts that speak to any number of places in our life where we may find ourselves.
Times of warfare, times of conflict, times of depression, times of lack of purpose,
times when we wonder if God has even anything to say to us, or times whenever we think that we have no place in the story.
And yet this is filled with those who have been brought into God's story.
Are we willing to listen to what God's word is saying to us more than what we want it to say?
And are we willing to listen to where people are coming from so that we know how to speak God's word to them?
Because if all we're doing is just making sure that we know how to say all the Sunday school stories for the people who grew up in church
and are willing and happy to hear it, then how do the rest of the nations hear?
And if we wonder why it is that the world doesn't know who God is,
maybe it's because we haven't been ready and willing to go forth with it.
So the truth is that we know that the story will lead people to see their need for a Savior as they draw closer.
So it's okay to take time to walk with them, even as others have walked with us.
Because it won't happen tomorrow or the next day or the next week.
It may take years.
But the more that we continue to follow that light and we bring others to walk alongside,
and they may decide, you know what, I want to go this way.
But I'm still going to keep going.
And when you're ready, I am happy to bring you to follow after that.
We know that God's timing is perfect.
Even if we don't know where we're going or how we're getting there,
we do know that as long as we continue to follow after Christ,
it is exactly where we're supposed to go.
So however long the journey may be, however much encouragement and strengthening you may need to go along it,
may we, as the people of God, continue to hear His word and let it point us to the light,
even as we bring others to follow that light with us,
no matter where they may be coming from in the first place.
Thanks be to God.