Go West
Matthew 2:1-12
January 7, 2024 anno Domini
When Adam and Eve got kicked out of the Garden, God put angels on the East side of the garden with a flaming sword to guard the entrance to the Tree of Life.
When God called Abraham to go the land of Canaan, Abraham was in the East – in the Ur of the Chaldeans and he moved West to Canaan.
When Lot and Abraham separated, Lot went East and settled in Sodom and Gomorrah. It was not a good neighborhood to live in.
When the Israelites entered the promised land, they entered from the East.
In the book of Ezekiel the word “East” occurs 53 times. Ezekiel was given a vision of the Temple. The main entrance to the Temple was on the East. The steps up to the altar were on the East. You entered the most holy place from the East.
The Wise Men came from the East.
In all these Bible stories East is away from the Lord and West is toward the Lord. The Lord by His Word and by the sign of the star gave the Wise Men and gives us a specific direction for our life to go – toward His Son, toward the Lord, toward Jesus.
How did the Wise Men know of the star? How did they know to seek the Messiah among the Jews as their Savior, to seek God in the boy Jesus? They knew because they remembered the sermons of Daniel. About 600 years before the Wise Men came to Bethlehem Daniel was taken captive by the Babylonians – a pagan nation East of Judah. There, as you might recall, he rose in stature among his captors because of his ability to interpret dreams. He became chief among of the Wise Men of Babylon. Daniel was faithful. By word and deed, he confessed his faith in the Lord God of Israel in that pagan nation. The Wise Men were keepers of wisdom. They recorded the stories of their people. They studied the texts. They looked to the heavens for signs.
Daniel hold told them something Moses prophesied a thousand years beforehand. A star shall come out of Jacob. (Num 24:17). Then one day, those pagan astrologers who were sitting in darkness saw a great light – a new star. God’s Word told them where to look and they followed that star. They headed West because that’s where God was.
How did Daniel know what Moses said a thousand years earlier? How did the Wise Men know what Daniel said 600 years later? They heard it. They spoke it. They prayed it. They memorized it. They wrote it down.
Do you need direction in your life? Direction for your family? Your marriage? Your work? Your future? Your purpose? Learn from the Wise Men. Hear God’s Word. Read the Word. Write down the Word. Pray the Word. Memorize the Word. The Word will lead you to Jesus and it will direct your life.
Do you know the best and chief way to begin doing that? Attend the Divine Service. Pay attention. Fight the distractions and immerse yourself in the liturgy. The orderly worship of the Divine Service, which is simply God’s Word, brings you Jesus, takes you through His life, but also makes His life, death, and resurrection your life.
Let me give you some examples.
When we sing the Gloria in Excelsis – Glory to God in the Highest, you are joining the shepherds outside Bethlehem on the night Jesus was born. You’re hearing the good news with those shepherds and singing with the angels.
When we sing the Kyrie – Lord, have mercy, Christ, have mercy. Lord, have mercy, you are with the 10 lepers on the road to Jerusalem and with the blind man outside Jericho and host of other broken and battered sinners who have been found by Jesus.
When we listen to God’s Word in the readings, you hear from the prophets of the Old Testament, from King David in the Psalms, from the Apostles through their letters – the Epistles, and from Jesus Himself in the Gospel reading.
When we sing the Sanctus – Holy, Holy, Holy, you are with Isaiah getting a glimpse of heaven, as the angels worship in the presence of the Holy God. That same canticle then takes you to Palm Sunday as we sing Hosanna – save us Jesus. In the Lord’s Supper you join Isaiah because heaven meets earth at the Lord’s Table. You are in that Palm Sunday crowd because Jesus is coming to you in His true body and blood to save you.
As we come to the Lord’s table we sing the Agnus Dei – Lamb of God you take away the sin of the world. Now you’re standing with John the Baptist on the banks of the Jordan as he baptizes sinners for forgiveness, and then sees Jesus. “Look the Lamb of God.” You’re also standing with Mary and John before the cross as the Lamb of God is sacrificed for your sins. That canticle is ultimately pointing to the altar – for under the bread and wine is the Lamb of God, present for you as He was in the Jordan and on the cross.
What greater gift could the saints who have gone before us give us than such an orderly direction to Jesus, to the story of Scripture, to our salvation. The Liturgy is the star that leads us to Jesus just as the Wise Men were led.
But that star did more than lead the Wise Men to Jesus. It changed the direction of their lives. First it took them away from their homes in the pagan East. They travelled for several months to see Jesus. Their lives were now lived for and in Jesus. They confessed Him in Herod’s palace at the risk of their lives. They worshipped Him not with leftover change from their pockets but with their precious treasures – gold, frankincense, myrrh.
Once again, the liturgy orders the direction of your life. The Invocation begins the Divine Service “In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.” Begin every day of your life with those words. Is there a better way to order your day than to start with that truth, “I am baptized into Christ. God is My Father in heaven. He put His name on me, and I am His. O Holy Spirit, grant that I walk as His child today.”
The invocation is followed by confession and absolution. If you want to be a bright shining light of Christ in this dark world confess your sins and forgive those who sin against you. In the pagan eastern land in which we live, people hide their sins and point out everyone else’s. It is not so for Christians and the liturgy teaches you that.
We do a lot of singing in the liturgy – joyous singing – with the angels outside Bethlehem, with Isaiah in heaven, with John the Baptist on the banks of the Jordan and the crowds on Palm Sunday, with Simeon when He holds the 40-day old Jesus in arms. Can you imagine the joy of those events? The joy for all these people as they saw God present in their midst for their salvation.
Christians ought to be a joyous people. In this grumpy, dark, complaining, and angry world your joy is a bright shining star. You belong to a kingdom that evil cannot topple. You’re under the rule of a gracious King who is not only for you but with you. Every week you can gather with your fellow citizens as the King debriefs you and delivers His plan to bring His victory to you and to the world. If you need direction for your life, learn from the wise men. Go west, to God’s Word, go to Church, go toward and in the name of Jesus. Amen.