Our Sermons

Bible Passage: Matthew 2:1-12
Pastor: Pastor Schlicht
Sermon Date:  January 3, 2021

Lost in the deluge of headlines this past fall was a strange trend on Twitter called “Weird Christianity”. Disenchanted by their parents’ lukewarm religion and political-attachments to faith, many young adults have found something more authentic in traditional forms of Christian worship, a something which they affectionately call “Weird Christianity.” The trend inspired a lengthy Op-Ed in the New York Times, subtitled “Modern life is ugly, brutal and barren. Maybe you should try a Latin Mass.” A graphic with punk aesthetic proclaims, “Veils! Veils! Veils!” Tara Burton writes: “The coronavirus has led many people to seek solace from and engage more seriously with religion…More and more young Christians, disillusioned by the political binaries, economic uncertainties and spiritual emptiness that have come to define modern America, are finding solace in a decidedly anti-modern vision of faith…Many of us call ourselves “Weird Christians,” albeit partly in jest. What we have in common is that we see a return to old-school forms of worship as a way of escaping from the crisis of modernity and the liberal-capitalist faith in individualism.” 

For years, young people have said “We want authenticity. We want something real from the church.” And for years, church leaders have tried to make services more normal. Less commitment, less formality, less history. Sermons with more application and less Bible. The list of innovations goes on, but most of them only added to the problem. I’m not saying that we shouldn’t update things or change what we can to be welcoming or to communicate clearly. (I’m glad we don’t use the Latin Mass at Eastside.) But worship that primarily panders to the individual will always miss the mark of authenticity when Jesus’ own words were: “Deny yourself, pick up your cross, and follow me.” (Mt 16:24-26)

Buffet-style Christianity, even when well-assembled, leaves us so caught up in our personal preferences that we lose sight of the glory of God and the all encompassing commitment his grace deserves. Christ called his followers to commit unapologetically. Weird Christianity is trending because people have grown sick and tired of religion trying to sell them a product like every other company in America. Authentic, biblical Christinaity is weird because it doesn’t focus on us. It doesn’t care about being cool. It focuses on God and what he says, what he gives to us in Word and Sacrament.

Today, I want to talk about some weird Christians who were committed to worshiping Jesus. These men were weird but they were also wise. May we learn to be both weird and wise for salvation as well. We begin with Matthew 2:1-2 After Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, when Herod was king, Wise Men from the east came to Jerusalem. They asked, 2 “Where is he who has been born King of the Jews? We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.” First of all, against some unlikely alternatives, most scholars hold that these Wise Men hail from Persia. Whatever the Magi’s background, however, Matthew’s first century audience would recall the Wise Men from the book of Daniel. In Daniel’s story the Persian Magi were his clear enemies, portrayed as selfish, incompetent, and bloodthirsty pagans. But here in Matthew we find a group of wise men who decide to leave on an expensive, in some ways risky, journey to honor Jesus as King. Matthew’s narrative teaches that even the seemingly most pagan or surprising people may believe in Jesus. Therefore, in the Wise Men’s visit we find the undeniable truth that Jesus is the Savior of all nations. Christianity is by far the world’s most multicultural religion. We must be careful that we don’t present it as distinctly American. Christianity is bigger than America. It is a deeper identity than earthly citizenship and as such it transcends the boundaries of tribe, culture, and race. Weird Christians, like the Wise Men, hold to their faith more tightly than their national loyalties and politics. 

The second thing I want to draw out here is how costly this journey would have been for the Wise Men. (By the way, we don’t know how many wise men there were. We know they gave three gifts and so one gift per magi seems logical, but the actual number is unknown.) These men would have traveled with a large caravan of soldiers, servants, supplies, and animals. Caravans provided food and protection on the long journey from the East, a journey which scholars estimate would have taken around 5 months. I am sure that the people in Persia thought that the Wise Men were a little crazy to drop everything and undertake a long, expensive, and uncomfortable journey to worship an unknown king. And what would their ruler have thought? Some commentators wonder if they would have been demoted or penalized in some way for their absence. But, it didn’t matter what other people thought. It didn’t matter what the journey would cost in time and money. The Wise Men must have seemed weird, but they decided that the call to worship was worth the sacrifice.

Do you ever notice how empty the roads are on Sundays? A majority of people are not coming to church. Or if you’re tuning in online, you can see how many views our services get on average. We don’t have any viral videos, to say the least. And at some point, the question comes to all of us. When we are struggling to get the kids awake and dressed and then we aren’t sure how much of the sermon we will get to hear with them in the pew anyway. When we are stressed out and tired from the week before, and it seems so easy just to catch up on work or sleep in. Or when the internet is going in and out at home and the sermon audio is a bit hard to hear. When the quarantine blues have sucked all motivation out of us to sit and concentrate on the message. In these moments we wonder, “Is it worth it?” We wonder if the call to worship is worth the cost of the journey. We sometimes may feel like those crazy magi who spent so much time, money, and energy following a star, when no one else seemed to care. We are tempted to wonder if the offerings we bring our King could be better invested elsewhere. We are tempted to think that it isn’t wise to worship. We sometimes just want to be normal and not think or consider worshiping. We are even tempted to think sometimes that it may be foolish to worship our king.

You almost get that sense in the Wise Men’s reception in Jerusalem. They no doubt were probably quite surprised that they had to explain about this king of the Jews to the very people who should have been expecting him! And the people weren’t overjoyed at the news, they were alarmed! Look at verse 3: When King Herod heard this, he was alarmed, and all Jerusalem with him. Now, that King Herod is alarmed is not surprising. A star signaling a new Jewish ruler in his realm would undoubtedly trouble a ruler like Herod. But all Jerusalem was alarmed with him. And this indicates that they felt threatened by political instability more than they longed for their coming Messiah. The people were so  worried about their safety and security that they didn’t care about Jesus’ birth. And it gets worse…He gathered together all the people’s chief priests and experts in the law. He asked them where the Christ was to be born. 5 They said to him, “In Bethlehem of Judea, because this was written through the prophet…  This is so sad to me. The chief priests and teachers of the law immediately identify the place of Jesus’ birth from the prophet Micah. But while they know where the Messiah is going to be born, they do not join the Magi to go worship him. The Magi had traveled some 900 miles to get to Jerusalem and yet the chief priests won’t even travel the last six miles with them to Bethlehem. These were supposed to be the religious leaders, but they fail to act on the most critical biblical knowledge they have. They don’t want to kill Jesus like Herod, but they don’t care about him at all. Matthew is emphatic that the sin of taking Jesus for granted, like the sin of wanting him dead, is a sin that can especially characterize those who claim to be God’s people.

This is true today as well. The people who claim to be Christians are so often those who simply don’t care about worship. The ones sleeping in on Sundays or neglecting the services online aren’t primarily unbelievers in America. A majority of them are people who would call themselves Christian. They know what the Bible says about Jesus, they know that they ought to worship their Savior, but in the end they don’t act on this critical knowledge. I’m not talking about those who have serious issues with faith or a church and are working through them. I’m talking about so many people who call themselves Christian, but when it comes down to it they don’t seem to care about Jesus. They don’t seem weird at all, in fact their lives, their goals, their activities look exactly like any secular person. They aren’t willing to walk 6 miles to Bethlehem or drive 6 miles to church. Or even take 6 steps to their computer to connect online. They might become alarmed about national stability and other matters in the news, but there is no follow through on the critical knowledge they have about Jesus Christ. All of us would do well to remember that normal does not equal wise. My friends, it may be common, but it isn’t wise or logical to say that Jesus is Lord but never worship him. It may be normal these days, but it isn’t wise to act like the one who gave his life for you isn’t a priority to you. That’s the sad lesson from the people of Jerusalem in our text. 

But the good part is next: the Wise Men arrive at Bethlehem. After they went into the house and saw the child with Mary, his mother, they bowed down and worshipped him. Then they opened their treasures and offered him gifts: gold, frankincense, and myrrh. Here’s where I may ruin your nativity scenes. The text says that the Wise Men went into the “house”. So it seems that after Jesus was born in the borrowed stable, Mary and Joseph were able to find some, at least temporary, housing in Bethlehem. So we assume Jesus was about 1-2 years old at this time. The Wise Men offer Jesus gifts appropriate of men coming from the Persian court. Frankincense and myrrh were often used in the royal courts and were both items of great cost. (Gold was the cheapest by weight.) Also, in Leviticus we find that frankincense was part of certain sacrifices. And we also know from ancient sources that Babylonian Magi would burn frankincense on silver altars to their deities. So this spice perhaps especially demonstrates that the Wise Men recognized Jesus as more than a human king. And of course that is supported by the fact that they bowed down, literally prostrated, and worshiped him.

This great caravan of Persian Wise Men travel 900-some miles to worship an unknown, but divine king. And where do they find themselves? At some low-income mud-brick house in a tiny town of rural Judea. And when they knock who should answer the door but a 17  year old girl with a toddler on her hip. This is it? Is this the great King to which the star led them? They probably felt weirder than you or I driving on an empty highway to church. But the Wise Men, these men of prestige and wisdom bow down and worship a toddler. And I very much imagine the caravan of soldiers and servants all would have followed the lead of the Magi. Can you picture perhaps 50 people all bowing down in front of the toddler Jesus? And then can you imagine them offering him these incredibly valuable gifts? What toddler would even be able to begin to appreciate these gifts? It is probably unlikely that Mary or Joseph had ever seen frankincense and myrrh up close. This is such a special, sacred moment as Mary helps the little toddler Jesus open the gifts given by these great Wise Men.

Can you imagine what the neighbors thought? Why are all these foreign people bowing down in front of that toddler?!  It probably seemed pretty weird to worship Jesus that day in Bethlehem. But it was even weirder to worship him 30 years later when he hung lifeless upon the cross. And yet there, as nowhere else, he proved himself worthy of our worship. The eternal King gave up his perfect life for people so often wavering in faith like you and me. Right there he forgave our sins and showed us the love which inspires true worship, the grace which allows us to gladly give him gifts and commit ourselves to his name. My friends, remember the wise men with their faces in the dust before a toddler. Remember that the wisdom of God often seems weird, often seems foolish to men.

God’s people are becoming more distinct in America and that is a blessing. Christ-centered Christians become conspicuous in a culture defined by individualism. The call for complete commitment is authentic in a world sick of pandering and manipulation. An invitation to worship is a clarion call in the midst of consumerism. Be weird and wise for Christ in this New Year and may God bless us as we continue to worship our Savior. 

Amen.