Matthew
1:18-2:11
18Now the birth of Jesus the Messiah took place in
this way. When his mother Mary had been engaged to Joseph, but before they
lived together, she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. 19Her husband Joseph, being a righteous man and
unwilling to expose her to public disgrace, planned to dismiss her quietly. 20But just when he had resolved to do this, an
angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph, son of David,
do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for the child conceived in her is
from the Holy Spirit. 21She will
bear a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from
their sins.” 22All this
took place to fulfill what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet: 23“Look, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son,
and they shall name him Emmanuel,” which means, “God is with us.” 24When Joseph awoke from sleep, he did as the angel
of the Lord commanded him; he took her as his wife, 25but had no marital relations with her until she
had borne a son; and he named him Jesus.
2
In the time of King
Herod, after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, wise men from the East came
to Jerusalem, 2asking,
“Where is the child who has been born king of the Jews? For we observed his
star at its rising, and have come to pay him homage.” 3When King Herod heard this, he was frightened,
and all Jerusalem with him; 4and
calling together all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired
of them where the Messiah was to be born. 5They
told him, “In Bethlehem of Judea; for so it has been written by the prophet: 6‘And you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by
no means least among the rulers of Judah; for from you shall come a ruler who
is to shepherd my people Israel.’” 7Then
Herod secretly called for the wise men and learned from them the exact time
when the star had appeared. 8Then he
sent them to Bethlehem, saying, “Go and search diligently for the child; and
when you have found him, bring me word so that I may also go and pay him
homage.”
9When
they had heard the king, they set out; and there, ahead of them, went the star
that they had seen at its rising, until it stopped over the place where the
child was. 10When
they saw that the star had stopped, they were overwhelmed with joy. 11On 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.
Sermon: “Signs and
Wonders”
I’ve
always wondered why, out of the 4 Gospels – Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John –
only Matthew and Luke decided to include the Christmas story – the story of
Jesus’ Birth. Mark and John never
explain why they don’t include it, but if you read each Gospel, you’ll find
that each writer isn’t merely writing to just write a biography, each is
writing to cast Jesus in a certain light – or to prove something about Jesus.
For
example, John begins his Gospel: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word
was with God and the Word was God…”
John is trying to prove that Jesus, God’s Son existed for all eternity
and was active in the creation of the world, and that he was both God and
Human.
But,
today, we heard the words from the Gospel of Matthew. And if you listened closely, you’ll find that the Christmas
Story was filled with Signs and Wonders.
Did they really happen? Yes. But Matthew chose to emphasize them to emphasize the miraculous nature of
Jesus coming and dwelling on earth.
First,
we find Mary pregnant by the Holy Spirit.
Now, if that isn’t a Sign or a Wonder, I don’t know what is! Things like this just don’t happen on a
regular basis! What would you say
if someone told you that she was pregnant by the Holy Spirit? What if that
person were your wife, sister, or girlfriend? Put yourself in Joseph’s shoes – I mean sandals – for a
moment. Think of what he thought
of the situation. Just because
this is in the Bible doesn’t mean we’re not dealing with regular people. We often think – Joseph – Bible – He’s
used to miracles. Well, let me
assure you…That’s NOT how it worked.
The
next sign that happened was that an angel appeared to Joseph in a dream telling
him it would all be OK. A dream? Now, think about that – Am I the only
one here who has weird dreams? Am
I the only one who has VIVID weird dreams? But still, Joseph trusted it was from God – and he was
right. Talk about a Sign – A
Wonder!
For
some reason, Matthew decides to fast forward the story 2 years or so. He doesn’t make it obvious unless you
pay very close attention to the details in the scripture – When the wise men
reached the baby Jesus, he was living in a house – he wasn’t in the
stable. It’s true our traditional
manger scenes show the wise men showing up on the same night Jesus was born,
but that’s not how it really
happened. But when you think about
it, does the date really matter?
The fact THAT they came is the sign – the wonder that is more
important. They came following a
star, and we’ll come back to that one.
But first, let’s look at the gifts they brought: gold, frankincense, and
myrrh. Are these signs of
anything?
Gold
is a sign of royalty. Gold is the
sign that the baby Jesus is King and would be King forever and ever. The frankincense was a sign of Jesus
being God in the flesh. In the Old
Testament, frankincense was used in the Temple worship whenever the name of God
was mentioned, so when people smelled frankincense, they associated it with
God. The final gift, myrrh, is a
resin that came from small thorny trees in the Middle East. This resin was used in the embalming of
bodies as well as in the Temple as incense. Myrrh was a sign of what Jesus’ future held – his life would
be a sacrifice for the world.
Now,
back to the star. The star had to
be the most significant sign and wonder of all. Astronomers have said that a Supernova occurred at the same
time of Christ’s birth. I’m no
scientist, but I do know that a supernova is an exploding star. Astronomers say this star would have
been visible exactly over Bethlehem.
So, God caused a star to explode to announce the birth of his Son. But, if that wasn’t wondrous enough, I
know enough about stars to realize that it takes years for the light of a star
to reach the earth – sometimes thousands and even millions of years. Even the light of our own sun takes
about 8 minutes to reach us. So
the light we see is 8 minutes old.
So, God essentially caused a stellar explosion thousands, if not
millions of years before Christ’s birth to mark the exact date of Christ’s
birth! Take a few moments to think
about that!
But
signs and wonders don’t end at Christmas time. God is still speaking.
The baby who was born in a manger is the same God-Man who rose from the
dead and is still alive today. We
can notice signs and wonders every single day if we just keep our senses open
to them. Some are huge, and some
are tiny.
Have
you ever gotten a feeling that you should do something or say something? Or the
opposite – you SHOULDN’T do or say something. We often call that a “gut
feeling” or your “conscience speaking.”
But, isn’t that just another way of saying God is giving you a sign? Have you ever been in a bad situation and
the “right words” just came out of your mouth? Afterwards, you probably looked back and thought, “Where did
that come from?” That’s just one
of God’s Wonders – Giving us the right words at the right time.
Did
you ever feel lost? I don’t mean lost in direction – I mean lost in life. You didn’t know what to do, how to
handle a situation, or even where to begin. Whatever you were facing was so drastic that it seemed as if
you were defeated before even beginning.
But look! Where are you
now? Maybe you’re still in the
middle of the situation, but you’re here – surrounded by people who love you –
and yes, people in this church love you – and more importantly, you haven’t
been abandoned by God. That’s why
you’re here. Isn’t that a wonder –
a miracle?
If
we want a sign from God, all we have to do is keep our senses open. Listen – you’ll hear God speaking
through others, through the laugh of children, through music, hear the
beautiful words of Scripture; See – you’ll see God at work in creation, in the work
of his people, in the Church, in the selfless unfailing love shown to people
who are given 2nd, 3rd, and even 10th and 11th
chances and even more, see the word of God written in the Bible; Feel the
breeze – the wind that is God’s breath, the touch of a friend’s assuring hand
on your shoulder, the feel of someone else’s shoulder as you place your hand on
their shoulder to comfort them; Smell the beautiful smells of nature – flowers,
pine, grass, rain, the smell of cold, the smell of a new born baby, the smell
of a home cooked meal made to say, “I love you,” or a last minute meal put
together to say, “I wish I could take your pain away, but I’m here for you –
Let this meal I made for you help take a little of your stress away;” Taste the
gift of food that God has given us, notice how food brings us together with
total strangers in the seemingly mundane act of eating, taste the simple taste
of bread and grape juice we use to remember the body and blood of Christ and
the entire story that recalls.
God
uses all of our senses to show signs and wonders. It only depends on how you decide to look at the world. The world can be “doom and gloom” if
you want it to be, or you could take God seriously – He sent his son at
Christmas for a reason – to give us Signs and Wonders in a never ending cycle
of Signs and Wonders – to let us know, in the words of Julian of Norwich (a Christian Mystic from the 1300’s): “All shall be
well, and all shall be well. And all manner of things shall be well.”
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