Trouble with Jesus
Matthew 2:1-12
January 5, 2020 anno Domini – Redeemer
When Jesus comes to you He brings trouble. That’s a mystery because you would expect the opposite. If Jesus comes my life should be a life of peace and love and joy. Jesus is God and has come to set things right therefore everything should be alright. But the Epiphany, the revealing of little Jesus to the Magi, the Wise Men, shows us that when we come to Jesus or better said when He comes for us there will be trouble.
Consider the journey of these wise men from the East. By their gifts, we assume that they were wealthy and while they were not kings they probably served Kings and Princes. They embarked on a long journey to follow a star. They couldn’t just hop on I-90 out of New York, hit cruise control and head west. They couldn’t stop at a Nelson Brother’s truck stop for every need under the sun. They couldn’t book their hotels ahead of time and be certain of lodging at the end of the day. Travel was dangerous, especially for rich people. They were used to the comforts of palace life and now they travelled in the open, not knowing where they would sleep or eat.
Saint Luke tells us the trouble just kept coming with Jesus. When the Magi told King Herod they were searching for a newborn King, “He was troubled and all Jerusalem with Him.” Herod was in the later years of his life and reign and was becoming increasingly paranoid – so paranoid that he had his wife and two of his sons killed to protect his throne. When Herod learned from these wise men that a Jewish king has been born right down the road he was troubled. When Herod was troubled there would be trouble for everyone. Herod would eventually send his soldiers to kill every baby boy in Bethlehem under the age of 2.
The closer God comes to you the more trouble it will be for you. If God remained far distant, stayed up in heaven where He belonged and you didn’t really know what He was up to or what He thought – you would be less troubled. He can be God and I’ll be me and I like being me. But when God draws near to you and lets you know exactly what He is doing, what He loves and hates, and that you are the reason He comes near, it is troubling.
God became a man. In so doing He came close to us, uncomfortably close. He did not come as an angel or any other creature but He took on human flesh, your flesh. He has the same deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) as you. He has 23 chromosomes. He has XY chromosomes like every man and boy here this morning.
But it gets more troubling. Jesus didn’t come to set an example for humanity. He didn’t come to give you pointers from God. He came to save you because His Father does not tolerate sin and sinners cannot stand in the presence of God. He came because you love yourself more than you love God and that will kill you. He came to save you from yourself, from being a sinner.
That’s good news, but it’s also troubling news. The good news is that God loves you and sent His Son not only as a man, but also sent Jesus to the cross with your sins. There is not a sin that you have committed for which Jesus has not atoned. You are forgiven – every sin, the sin you are born with, forgotten sins, sins against your mom and dad, sins against your little sister, sins against your spouse – forgiven.
The troubling part of this good news is that life no longer centers on you. Since we just celebrated the birth of Jesus, perhaps we could liken this trouble of the Christian faith to the trouble when a newborn baby enters a family. Now I’m the baby of my family, so I never had to deal with a younger sibling, but my sister did. She was troubled by my existence and she still reminds me of it. Bruce is the baby and he got everything and got away with everything. She had very tight restrictions in High School and my parents let me run wild – or so she says. Never mind the siblings, what about the parents, especially that first child? When God blesses a husband and wife with a child it is troubling. Your life, days and nights are lived for another. Your prayers and emotions and attention are directed elsewhere and it can be a troubling time. Life revolves around that child. But it is a good trouble because it is the trouble of new life with that child.
So when Christ is born in us by faith He brings with Him a good trouble, the trouble of new life with Him. It is troubling to learn that life is not about me, because I love me. It is troubling that some of the behaviors you thought are normal human behavior, gossiping, coveting, lusting, complaining – are sinful and unacceptable to God. In His mercy He forgives them. He takes them away from you and you shouldn’t want them back. It is troubling that life now is not governed by what you see with your eyes or feel with your heart, but governed by the Word of God, by Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection, by your faith in God your Father. It is not easy once Jesus comes to you. He’s going to cause all sorts of trouble in your lives – for now you should love your enemies and hate sin. Now you have more worry about your children’s faith than their success or happiness. Now you have another household to support – the church. Now God’s Word means more than your words. But all of that is a good trouble, because it comes along with faith in Jesus and faith in Jesus saves you, forgives you, and brings you life.
This also is the reason people don’t want to come to church or be in God’s Word or listen to their pastor. They don’t want the trouble – not just the trouble of getting up on Sunday morning or the trouble of sharing a portion of their paycheck with God, but the problem of fighting sin, of unseating yourself from king of your world, the problem of loving your neighbor and trusting God’s Word, of desiring all people to be saved, but knowing that many neglect and reject Jesus.
I got the idea for this sermon from a poem by T.S. Eliot that I heard over Christmas. The poem is called, “The Journey of the Magi” and this is how it ends,
Were we led all that way for
Birth or Death? There was a Birth, certainly
We had evidence and no doubt. I had seen birth and death,
But had thought they were different; this Birth was
Hard and bitter agony for us, like Death, our Death.
We returned to our places, these Kingdoms,
But no longer at ease here, in the old dispensation,
With an alien people clutching their gods.
I should be glad of another death.
Evidently it’s a pretty famous poem and you can hear it or read it on the internet. The Magi found death when they found Jesus – not His death, but theirs. They bowed down and worshipped Him as their Savior. They believed God’s Word and alive in Christ they died to themselves. They were no longer at ease in the kingdoms they served and in the life they enjoyed. They were saddened to see people all around them clutching their false gods. Yet, the Wise Man who speaks the poem says, “I would be glad of another death.” Perhaps he is speaking of himself confessing that if he continues to live in Christ he will continue to die to himself. Or perhaps he is thinking of a loved one in whom Christ has not been born. He would be glad to see that person go through the trouble of dying to self that he might live in Christ.
When you are brought to Jesus He will bring you trouble, but it’s a good trouble. It’s the trouble of newborn life, of death to sin and self, of living not for your name, but in the name of Jesus. Amen.