What Now?

Isaiah 60:1-6; Ephesians 3:1-12

 As full disclosure, I want to tell you about the sermon title for this morning, “What Now?” Two weeks ago, caught up in planning for the last Advent sermon, two Christmas Eve sermons, and a Christmas Day service, it hit me that the church office was closed the week between Christmas and New Years … which meant I needed to have bulletin info to Kim by December 22^nd at the latest for all the services, this one included. At that point, I had no idea what I’d be preaching this morning and just wanted to make it through Christmas. So, I stuck in “What Now?” figuring that I’d come up with a “real” sermon title and just let you know this morning. Except I got to thinking…

Looking back to the time of Jesus’s birth, there had to be people asking the question, “What now?” the following day. Mary and Joseph had been visited by angels informing them that the child to be born would be the Son of God, but it’s the day after his birth and what now? It seems that there was something special about Jesus that people immediately noticed, and yet he also seemed like any other baby. The shepherds found him in the manger and shared with Mary and Joseph the words spoken to them by the angels; the magi from the East followed a star came offering gifts and, upon seeing Jesus, were overwhelmed with joy; and, just days after Jesus’s birth, when he was taken to the temple in Jerusalem in accordance with Jewish custom, a man named Simeon immediately recognized him as the Messiah, sent by God to redeem both Gentiles and Jews. But there were even more people affected than Mary and Joseph or the shepherds or the wise men. There was King Herod and the chief priests and scribes back in Jerusalem. There was Zechariah and Elizabeth who had given birth to a child they named John, born to proclaim the coming of the Messiah. And because these people knew, I’m sure others knew as well … because certainly they shared the good news of what they had heard and seen. But, what now? God had finally, after centuries of prophecy, come to be present on earth … and then, nothing happened. For the next thirty years nothing. Other than one story about Jesus in the temple in Jerusalem when he was twelve, we hear nothing from him until one day the adult Jesus walked to the Jordan River where John the Baptist was preaching about the coming of one more powerful than himself and asked to be baptized.  When I thought about the years between Jesus’s birth and the beginning of his ministry, I wondered about the reactions of all those who had witnessed his birth. 

One of the reactions, seen through the person of King Herod, was fear. Matthew 2 tells us what happened. Herod was at his palace in Jerusalem when magi, wise men or kings, traveling from the East arrived in Jerusalem asking a question: “Where is the child who has been born king of the Jews?” Herod claimed that title for himself and, yet, as a Jew he knew the prophecies spoken of by Isaiah and other Old Testament prophets concerning a Messiah who would come. When the wise men came to his court with their question, he brought in the chief priests and scribes and confirmed the prophecy: the Messiah would be born to a virgin and the birth would take place in Bethlehem. Herod and the learned Jewish scholars had the answers. We might have thought that they would have gone to Bethlehem with the wise men, even if only based on a rumor that their Messiah was born. But that was not the case. They stayed in Jerusalem. Herod was so afraid of the child that Matthew relates how, after the wise men failed to return and give him specific details regarding the child, he ordered the deaths of all children in and around Bethlehem who were two years old or under. But I think that for the rest of his life – and it wasn’t a long life – Herod had to wonder if his order had been, from his point of view, successful. After all, if the child born in Bethlehem was really the Messiah, the Son of God sent by God after centuries of waiting, would God permit that child to be killed on the order of a human king? I think fear was also likely the reaction of those chief priests and scribes called by Herod to hear the wise men’s story. Some of them would die before Jesus began his ministry at age thirty, but others would live to see his life, death, and resurrection. Would they remember the appearance of the magi from the East, the story of the star, and the message of the child born king of the Jews?

Then there was the reaction of the shepherds and the magi. We know that they left Jesus praising God, but then what? The shepherds returned to their sheep and I have to believe they expected something to happen. Did they believe in a Messiah who would deliver them from Rome? Or was their view of the Messiah one of forgiveness and redemption? We aren’t told. Since they had seen a baby in a manger, I’m sure they expected not to hear anything further for a while, but I doubt they expected it to take thirty years. I wonder if they didn’t experience some doubt and confusion as the years passed. Their memory of what happened in the stable may have dimmed with the passage of time as memories often do. They probably had shared the story time and again over the years, and I can imagine people beginning to question their story. We’ve heard you say the angels came and led you to a child … but how come nothing has happened? Where is our Messiah? We are oppressed by Rome, and nothing has changed. 

Then there were the magi, probably Gentiles, who travelled from the east and followed a star not to Bethlehem, but to Jerusalem. I say probably Gentiles because we’re not certain, but either way, their understanding of prophecy was limited. The Bible tells us they followed the star to Judea, and then went to the capital city of Jerusalem and to Herod’s palace. After all, that’s where one would expect to find a king. With help from Herod, who has an ulterior motive, they get to Bethlehem and find Jesus in a house with his mother, offer Jesus their three gifts, and then return home without revealing to Herod where they found Jesus. That’s it. They drop out of the story. Scripture doesn’t even tell us exactly how many of them there were – we only assume three because of the gifts they bring. Where the Bible is silent, early church history offers some additional, possibly true, information about these men. One tradition affirms there were three and even gives their names as Melchior, Caspar, and Balthasar. Another tradition says that they came from the three continents of the Old World: Europe, Asia, and Africa. Finally, tradition reports that they were deeply affected by their encounter with Jesus and later became Christians upon meeting the disciples who came to their countries following Jesus’s resurrection and ascension. Church history reports that Andrew preached around the Black Sea getting to Ukraine, Romania, and Russia; James made it to Spain; Nathanial went to India, Ethiopia, Mesopotamia, and Armenia; Thomas went to southwest India; and Simeon and Jude went to Persia, which would include modern day Iran, Iraq, Syria, and Libya. But, still, for well over thirty years these men who had traveled so far heard nothing. As with the shepherds, I wonder if they sometimes asked the question, “What now?” 

Finally, what about Mary and Joseph? After all, they are the ones who heard the angels, saw the reactions of others to Jesus, and lived with him daily as he grew. But I think even they had to wonder. Luke 2 relates the story of how, when he was twelve, Jesus deserted them and stayed behind in the temple in Jerusalem when he was supposed to be returning with them to Bethlehem. Luke records their panic as they returned to Jerusalem and their exasperation with Jesus when they found him in the temple. On one level, at least, Jesus’s presence in the temple could be expected. But then almost twenty more years pass. Joseph, by all accounts, dies before Jesus begins his ministry and never sees it. John, in his Gospel, relates how Mary, at a wedding in Cana where the wine ran out, had to tell Jesus the time had come for him to start doing what he had been sent to do. Then there’s the story in Mark 3 where Jesus is preaching and healing and crowds are gathering, and Mary, his mother, and other members of his family come to get Jesus to restrain him because, we are told, people were saying he was out of his mind. It makes you wonder. In the midst of Mary’s faith, it seems she had, if not moments of doubt, moments of fear and frustration.     

What about us? We’ve just celebrated the birth of Christ and it’s January 1 of 2023, and what now? Three years ago, on January 5, 2020, I preached a sermon focused on new beginnings as I looked forward to our first year together as a church. We all know what happened three months after that. I certainly didn’t see that “what now” coming. But I think that the reactions of those who were witnesses to the first Christmas have something to teach us when it comes to our own reactions to Jesus. They were waiting for the first coming of the Messiah; we are waiting for the second coming. We have experienced not only the birth of Jesus, but his life, death, resurrection, and ascension. We have read about his miracles and studied his teachings. We have heard him say he would come again. Years have passed. Not thirty years, but two thousand. And we wait. Now what? 

Some this morning may be waiting in fear, not wanting to think about it. Perhaps because you’re not convinced of your salvation, you’re not sure about your eternity. Perhaps because you want to hold onto this world because you’re afraid of what comes next. Some may be waiting in doubt and confusion. Why hasn’t something happened by now? A part of you believes that Jesus will come, but another part believes it won’t happen during your lifetime. Like the shepherds and the wise men, you believe in what you have seen, but … And then there are those waiting in faith. That doesn’t mean there aren’t moments of fear or frustration, but you are certain that whether Jesus returns in your lifetime – or not – you will spend eternity with him in that place he has prepared for you. 

In Ephesians 3, the Apostle Paul notes that there is a mystery to Christ and to our faith. Then he tells us that while we don’t have all the answers, we can have an understanding. What can we know? That God’s grace came to us through the Christ-child born in the manger. That through faith in the Christ who died for us, we are adopted into God’s family and made joint heirs with Christ. That through faith in the Christ who was resurrected from the dead we can share in all the promises made in Scripture, including the promise of an abundant, fulfilled life on earth and an everlasting life with God to follow. That we can live our faith boldly and confidently, individually and as a church, because our faith offers us access to God and God’s eternal purpose. 

The answer to “What now?” comes down to the faith we have in Christ. My hope for each person here, in 2023, is that you find your answer to this question. If you haven’t accepted Christ as your Lord and Savior, accepted the forgiveness of sin and the life he offers through his death and resurrection, my hope is that you do so this year. If you have accepted Christ but aren’t sure of his promises because you haven’t read enough, studied enough, or prayed enough, then my hope for you is that you make 2023 a year to grow in faith. And, finally, if you are sure of your belief and assured in faith, my hope for you is that you continue to grow in the knowledge and love of our Lord Jesus Christ. And what now for our church? Let’s continue to do what Jesus commanded us to do – share the good news of Jesus, love God, and love others. Amen.