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The Gentile's Christmas

Rev. Jeremy J. Schultz
The Epiphany of our Lord 2009
January 4, 2009

Epiphany has long been called The Gentile's Christmas. And for a Gentile like me...I guess it's always been something of a big deal. In my family, we always waited to open up the Christmas stockings until the day of Epiphany. There we sort of celebrated with Balthazar, Melchior and Caspar (though we don't really know their names) and of course, the child Jesus! And so the 12th day was a little like the first. So it's always been an important day for an outsider, like me and I suspect like most of you, because we are not Jews by birth. So Christ did not come directly to us. Think about it. Our ancestors did not receive the covenant of circumcision or the giving of the law through Moses. The prophets did not foresee the coming of the Messiah as anything other than the fulfillment of these things that had been given to the Jews. But here we are on the day of Epiphany, along with the Wise Men, because the light of the Gospel and the truth behind the mystery that we also belong to Jesus through faith has now been made known.

Paul writes of this mystery in the Epistle lesson today. It is something that has been revealed, as all mysteries are. George Washington Carver, the scientist who developed hundreds of useful products from the peanut said: "When I was young, I asked God to tell me the mystery of the universe, but God answered, 'That knowledge is reserved for me alone' so I said, 'God, tell me the mystery of the peanut.' Then God said, 'Well, George, that's more nearly your size,' and He told me."

Mysteries are hidden things that are not easily discovered. People with magnifiers who know how to follow breadcrumbs, like Sherlock Holmes, Nancy Drew, Angela Landsbury or even Scooby Doo are experts at solving mysteries. The Magi were too – for they certainly had to piece some things together. They were men who were probably descendants of the Jews who never came back to the land of Israel, but who remained after the exile to Babylon in Daniel's day. That's why they saw the star in the east. They were religious men who constantly searched for truth. Men who took to heart words of prophesy from Numbers 24:17, "A star will come out of Jacob; a scepter will rise out of Israel." And somehow they knew that this Star had risen and the King of the Jews had been born. The mystery had been solved. But there is a different kind of mystery that Paul talks about today – this mystery was revealed. The mystery is that through the Gospel, the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel, members together of one body, and sharers together in the promise of Jesus Christ (3:6). The mystery is that the Gentile believers are saved too!

This was certainly good news to the Ephesians! Formerly, circumcision and the covenants and traditions of the people and adherence to the law had marked the Jews as God's people. But now it had been revealed to Paul that by faith in the atoning work of Jesus Christ on the cross – the Gentiles too are heirs! This was certainly good news to them – and it's certainly good news for you!

Maybe you're the kind of person who has felt like an outsider in the past. Maybe you have been kept away from certain jobs or certain people because of your race or gender or educational background and degree. Or maybe it's not anything about you at all. Maybe it simply IS you. It's your actions, your attitudes, your doing that has kept you out and away. Our sins have a way of doing that. Have you ever felt the isolation and silence of broken and severed relationships within your families? Have you ever felt as though you couldn't even talk to God because of your sins? Then you know what it's like to be an outsider. Because that is exactly what our sins have done. They have rendered us as outsiders with no help from within. Just think how you would feel if you thought that there was no hope or rescue or help available at all! Now you’re starting to understand what was happening in the first century. The Gentiles were the outsiders, because Christ was born the King of the Jews.

But now Paul is revealing the mystery that had been hidden for age long – Jesus is not just the King of the Jews – but He is the King of all. And we all have access to draw near to the Father in freedom and confidence because of Christ. In Him and through faith in Him – all your sins are atoned for. There is no separation based on race or gender. Likewise, there is no type of sin that could not be atoned for. And there is no sinner who cannot be covered by the blood of Jesus Christ through repentance and true faith. Jesus Christ has made peace with God for you and through faith in His blood, all of you belong to Him! Through faith – which is the only way anyone can belong to Him!

There's a cute little story that I probably have told you before, but it bears repeating. There was once a young Hebrew boy named Jhan. And every day he would walk three blocks from his father’s shop to school where he would learn his Hebrew lessons. And this walk always took him right past a Christian church. One cold December day, after that church had put up it's outside nativity display, Jhan started out from the store and not five minutes had passed when he came running back. He hollered to his father, "Dad, Dad – those people have got OUR king!" For above the nativity, a sign proclaimed, "Born is the King of Israel!" But this great mystery that is revealed to Paul and is being proclaimed to you is – He's our King too!

This may not seem like news to any of us here this morning. Many of you have probably even committed this summary of it to memory, "God wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth." And some of you could probably even point our verse after verse after verse from the OLD Testament which proves that this was always the desire of God and should now come as no surprise. But you see, God also revealed all of this in these last days with a great purpose in mind! Verse 10 tells us. "His intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known!" That means through you and me – it should be made known.

For the great fun of mysteries is found in broadcasting the answer once it's been discovered. Just think, there always comes that time in any unfolding of any mystery where the answer is revealed for all! And that's what the church gets to do! We get to reveal it to all! That's God's great intent that the good news that Christ is the Savior of all who call upon His Name in faith will have forgiveness of sins and will thus approach God with freedom and confidence. 2009 should be this kind of a year for our church – a year in which we are making known God’s wisdom and making plain the administration of His grace – a time when we are telling all what has been revealed to us.

That's the gift us Gentiles get this Christmas. Like the Magi who came searching for a King and offered Him their gifts, so we, like they, have received much more. Christ is not just their King. He's our King too. This is the mystery that's been revealed. This is God's wisdom that we must now make known. Amen.