For out of you shall come a Ruler Who will shepherd My people Israel

 

 Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, saying, "Where is He who has been born King of the Jews?  For we have seen His star in the East and have come to worship Him."  When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him.  And when he had gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people together, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born.  So they said to him, "In Bethlehem of Judea, for thus it is written by the prophet:

'But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,

Are not the least among the rulers of Judah;

 For out of you shall come a Ruler 

Who will shepherd My people Israel.'"

Then Herod, when he had secretly called the wise men, determined from them what time the star appeared.  And he sent them to Bethlehem and said, "Go and search carefully for the young Child, and when you have found Him, bring back word to me, that I may come and worship Him also."  When they heard the king, they departed; and behold, the star which they had seen in the East went before them, till it came and stood over where the young Child was.  When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceedingly great joy.  And when they had come into the house, they saw the young Child with Mary His mother, and fell down and worshiped Him.  And when they had opened their treasures, they presented gifts to Him:  gold, frankincense, and myrrh.  Then, being divinely warned in a dream that they should not return to Herod, they departed for their own country another way.

 

- Matthew 2:1-12 

 

Yesterday we read that when the Sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome brought spices to the tomb where the body of Christ had been laid, that they might come and anoint Him.  Very early in the morning, on the first day of the week, they came to the tomb when the sun had risen.  And they said among themselves, "Who will roll away the stone from the door of the tomb for us?"  But when they looked up, they saw that the stone had been rolled away -- for it was very large.  And entering the tomb, they saw a young man clothed in a long white robe sitting on the right side; and they were alarmed.  But he said to them, "Do not be alarmed.  You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified.  He is risen!  He is not here.  See the place where they laid Him.  But go, tell His disciples -- and Peter -- that He is going before you into Galilee; there you will see Him, as He said to you."  So they went out quickly and fled from the tomb, for they trembled and were amazed.  And they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.  Now when He rose early on the first day of the week, He appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom He had cast seven demons.  She went and told those who had been with Him, as they mourned and wept.  And when they heard that He was alive and had been seen by her, they did not believe.  After that, He appeared in another form to two of them as they walked and went into the country.  And they went and told it to the rest, but they did not believe them either.   Later He appeared to the eleven as they sat at the table; and He rebuked their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they did not believe those who had seen Him after He had risen.  And He said to them, "Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.  He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned. And these signs will follow those who believe:  In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues; they will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover."  So then, after the Lord had spoken to them, He was received up into heaven, and sat down at the right hand of God.  And they went out and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them and confirming the word through the accompanying signs.  Amen.

 

  Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem . . . Today the lectionary turns us to readings in the Gospel of St. Matthew, following our readings in St. Mark's Gospel.  This king Herod was the king of Judea.  He ruled Judea from 37 - 4 BC.  My study Bible tells us that he was a great builder (he was also known as Herod the Builder), but a very cruel leader.  There existed an ancient prophecy of Jacob which indicated that the Messiah would come when a king ruled who was not of the tribe of Judah (Genesis 49:10).  Herod was a non-Jews calling himself the king of Judea, the time of the Christ was surely at hand.  But these wise men, or magi, who come from the East (most likely Persia) where Gentiles, and they were the scholars of their time.  In the Old Testament, my study Bible notes, Balaam (Numbers 23; 24) was one of their predecessors; that is, a Gentile who anticipated the Messiah.  As such, these foreigners prefigure the Church, in which membership is determined by faith and not by ethnic lineage.

 

. . . saying, "Where is He who has been born King of the Jews?  For we have seen His star in the East and have come to worship Him."   The star proclaims the extraordinary birth of Christ.  My study Bible explains that to ancient pagans, a star signified a god, a deified king (Numbers 24:17).  Christ being born under this star is the fulfillment of prophecy found in the Septuagint version of Psalm 110:3:  "With You is the beginning in the day of Your power, in the brightness of Your saints; 'I have begotten You from the womb before the morning star.'"  My study Bible tells us that it shows all of creation participating in the Incarnation.  See also Psalms 19:1, 148:3.

 

 When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him.  And when he had gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people together, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born.  So they said to him, "In Bethlehem of Judea, for thus it is written by the prophet:  'But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are not the least among the rulers of Judah; for out of you shall come a Ruler Who will shepherd My people Israel.'"  My study Bible explains that Herod had to summon the Jewish leaders because he knew little about the Jewish Messiah and he was afraid of losing his throne to this newborn King.  The chief priests were the political and religious leaders of the Jews, and the scribes were high cabinet officers.  They quote from the prophecy of Micah.  My study Bible comments that they knew where the Messiah was to be born, but in spite of all the signs being in place, they had no idea that He had come (see Jesus' scathing reference to their lack of discernment at Matthew 16:3).

 

 Then Herod, when he had secretly called the wise men, determined from them what time the star appeared.  And he sent them to Bethlehem and said, "Go and search carefully for the young Child, and when you have found Him, bring back word to me, that I may come and worship Him also."  When they heard the king, they departed; and behold, the star which they had seen in the East went before them, till it came and stood over where the young Child was.  When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceedingly great joy.  And when they had come into the house, they saw the young Child with Mary His mother, and fell down and worshiped Him.  And when they had opened their treasures, they presented gifts to Him:  gold, frankincense, and myrrh.  Then, being divinely warned in a dream that they should not return to Herod, they departed for their own country another way.   My study Bible comments on the text telling us that the wise men went into the house where the young Child was with Mary His mother.  It notes that whereas, according to St. Luke, the Jewish shepherds worshiped the Savior in the cave on the day He was born (Luke 2:8-20), the Gentile magi came to worship Him some time later.  By then, Joseph and Mary had found a house in which to stay.  It says that this is an indication that Christ first came to the Jews and then afterward was worshiped by the Gentiles.  The significance of the Magi's gifts is told in an Orthodox hymn sung at Compline of the Nativity:  "Gold is for the King of ages.  Frankincense is for the God of all.  Myrrh is offered to the Immortal One, who shall be three days dead."

 

 The poetry of the Gospels is always remarkable in how, when the lectionary switches from one Gospel to another, there are echoes of one in the either.  It doesn't matter that we take up one Gospel thinking of it as the beginning of Christ's life, while the previous one finished at the "end," or really, if we think about it, at the beginning of the story of the Church and the Christian era in which we presently live as we await Christ's return to the world.  As we ended St. Mark's Gospel, we read that He was buried by Joseph of Arimathea, in a tomb hewn from rock.  In other words, in a type of cave.  In this beginning of St. Luke's Gospel, Christ is born in a cave (used even today in the Middle East as a barn for animals).  The poetic sense of Christ's birth and death has never been lost in the tradition of the Church.  The three wise men, or magi, bring gifts to Christ of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.  My study Bible quotes from the Orthodox hymn naming myrrh as the gift for the immortal One, even as we just finished reading of the myrrh-bearing women attending to Christ's body for burial, myrrh being a kind of beautifully scented preservative used for anointing.   At Christ's death on the Cross, we read in St. Mark's Gospel that there was darkness at noon covering the whole earth.  In today's reading, the three wise men follow the star that tells them of the birth of Christ, and leads them to the Child and His mother.  My study Bible commented on the understanding that the whole of creation -- signifying the power of Incarnation -- is participating in the Incarnational life of Christ, including even His human death.  For, after all, it is Jesus who tells us that the bread of heaven is His flesh, "which I will give for the life of the world" (see John 6:33, 51).  That word translated as world is κοσμος/cosmos, indicating the whole of creation, not just our world and the people in it.  The Incarnation is central to the whole of Christian faith, both in His life and in His human death, and central to the Resurrection which redeems us all through to His Ascension -- even divinized human flesh entering heaven.  Let us be grateful for such a powerful and complete redemption in which the whole of creation participates, for a new heaven and a new earth.  Let us also work the work of faith  in Him so that God's kingdom is present in our world.  Like the wise men, let us honor the Child and His mother, Christ born for us all.  Let us also rejoice, and worship Him.