Luke 2:39-40 What’s Missing?
Good morning! Turn with me in your Bibles to Luke 2:39-40, page 858 in the pew Bibles. Over the last few weeks we have been working our way through the very early days of Jesus’ life on earth. We’ve talked about angels and shepherds and mangers and virgin births. All the elements that we associate with Christmas… Right? We’ve hit all the pieces that fit on our Christmas cards, right?
Let’s look at our text for this morning and talk about what’s missing.
39 And when they had performed everything according to the Law of the Lord, they returned into Galilee, to their own town of Nazareth. 40 And the child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom. And the favor of God was upon him.
Let’s pray.
So as I read this account of the infancy of Jesus that Luke brings to a close in these two verses, there are two things to me that are glaringly absent: the wise men and the flight to Egypt.
If you’ve been with us for many Christmases here at CrossRoads the absence of the wise men in our talk of Christmas should not surprise you at all because, as the Bible makes clear, the wise men were not at the manger, they did not meet the newborn Jesus as our Christmas cards and carols so often incorrectly depict.
Luke doesn’t mention them at all, which I find surprising, but just because he doesn’t mention the wise men nor the flight to Egypt doesn’t mean they didn’t happen, it simply means that Luke didn’t feel it necessary to include them in his orderly account of the ministry of Jesus.
The coming of the wise men to Bethlehem and the subsequent flight to Egypt by Joseph and Mary happen during the first comma of verse 39 of Luke 2.
And when they had performed everything according to the Law of the Lord [comma] they returned into Galilee, to their own town of Nazareth.
Well I’d like to focus on the comma this morning to make up for the last ten Christmases of ignoring the wise men.
To find the information hidden behind Luke’s comma we have to look at Matthew chapter 2 which is on page 807 in the pew Bibles, the very first page of the New Testament.
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, 2 saying, “Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.” 3 When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him; 4 and assembling all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born. 5 They told him, “In Bethlehem of Judea, for so it is written by the prophet:
6 “ ‘And you, O Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for from you shall come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel.’ ”
7 Then Herod summoned the wise men secretly and ascertained from them what time the star had appeared. 8 And he sent them to Bethlehem, saying, “Go and search diligently for the child, and when you have found him, bring me word, that I too may come and worship him.” 9 After listening to the king, they went on their way. And behold, the star that they had seen when it rose went before them until it came to rest over the place where the child was. 10 When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy. 11 And going into the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother, and they fell down and worshiped him. Then, opening their treasures, they offered him gifts, gold and frankincense and myrrh. 12 And being warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they departed to their own country by another way.
13 Now when they had departed, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, “Rise, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you, for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him.” 14 And he rose and took the child and his mother by night and departed to Egypt 15 and remained there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet, “Out of Egypt I called my son.”
16 Then Herod, when he saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, became furious, and he sent and killed all the male children in Bethlehem and in all that region who were two years old or under, according to the time that he had ascertained from the wise men. 17 Then was fulfilled what was spoken by the prophet Jeremiah:
18 “A voice was heard in Ramah, weeping and loud lamentation, Rachel weeping for her children; she refused to be comforted, because they are no more.”
19 But when Herod died, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt, 20 saying, “Rise, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who sought the child’s life are dead.” 21 And he rose and took the child and his mother and went to the land of Israel. 22 But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning over Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there, and being warned in a dream he withdrew to the district of Galilee. 23 And he went and lived in a city called Nazareth, so that what was spoken by the prophets might be fulfilled, that he would be called a Nazarene.
The church I grew up in had a live nativity every year, they would have all kinds of animals and a manger set up outside in the snow. Mary and Joseph would arrive with Mary on a donkey, all the little boys would be dressed up as shepherds and all the little girls as angels. On top of all that cuteness there were always three men dressed up as kings that would ride horses to the manger and offer their gold, and frankincense, and myrrh to the baby in the manger just like the old song says.
“We three kings of Orient are, bearing gifts we traverse afar, field and fountain, moor and mountain, following yonder star. Ooooh, star of wonder start of night, star with royal beauty bright, westward leading still proceeding, guide us to thy perfect light.”
So what’s wrong with that? As far as the wise men are concerned, most of it, most of it is wrong.
They weren’t kings for one, the Greek word for them was “magos,” or, “magi.” The term is used of men who had an unusual capacity for understanding based on astrology. Such persons were regarded as combining both secular and religious aspects of knowledge and understanding. These men were most likely scientists in an age where theology and science were not at odds. (They still aren’t by the way.)
These scientists, the scholars believe, were from Persia or Babylon, in modern day Iraq. We also don’t really know how many of them there were. I think the song says three because of the three gifts they brought, gold, frankincense and myrrh. But we have no way of really knowing and the truth is it’s really not important.
The star that they mentioned is also worth considering.
2“Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.”
9 After listening to the king, they went on their way. And behold, the star that they had seen when it rose went before them until it came to rest over the place where the child was. 10 When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy.
It’s not my purpose this morning to delve into the realm of astronomy and talk about how stars move or how earth is moving in relation to the rest of the galaxy, but I can tell you that stars don’t appear at one moment and then disappear, nor do they move in such a way as to come to rest over any particular house. While the north star will always lead you north this particular star lead the wise men west, disappeared, then reappeared, and stayed over a particular house in Bethlehem.
And they went to a house where the child was, not a manger where the baby lay. Later on in the story Herod would have all the boys in Bethlehem two years old and under killed based on when the wise men first saw the star appear.
The point here is that this star was not a natural occurrence, this was the hand of God moving, and shaping this story. Whether this was an angel or some other kind of thing, only God knows, what’s important is that we recognize that it was Him working to accomplish His will.
And that’s really the point of this account: that God is always, always, always at work to accomplish His will and purposes on the earth according to His Word. It’s not coincidental in the least that the wise men started with a star but ended up with the Scriptures that finally led them to the Son. That’s the way that it works!
God used the wise men to show Herod where the Christ was to be born according to the Scripture. Quoting Micah 5:2, 6 “ ‘And you, O Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for from you shall come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel.’ ”
God warned the wise men not to return to Herod in a dream so they went home another way, God warned Joseph in a dream of Herod’s murderous wrath and told him to take Jesus and Mary to Egypt in order to fulfill the words of the prophet Hosea from Hosea 11:1, “Out of Egypt I called my son.”
In Herod’s jealous rage he had all the boys of Bethlehem two years old and under killed when he learned that the wise men tricked him so that the Scripture would be fulfilled from Jeremiah 31:15, 18 “A voice was heard in Ramah, weeping and loud lamentation, Rachel weeping for her children; she refused to be comforted, because they are no more.”
And after Herod died an angel appeared to Joseph in a dream again and told him to take his family back to Israel but in fear he didn’t dare go back to Bethlehem so instead went back to his hometown of Nazareth so that the Scripture from Judges 13:5 would be fulfilled, “He shall be called a Nazarene.”
The wise men, the shepherds, Simeon, Anna, Mary, Joseph, John the Baptist, all the different people that we have looked at throughout this study of Luke’s Gospel so far, just like us, all had different journeys to Jesus. But none of them came to a Messiah of their own making or imagination. Jesus was and is the Messiah that God the Father sent according to His Word.
Persia and Babylon had their own gods, they had their own religion, they had their own explanation of how and why the world worked, yet the wise men followed the star to worship the new King. Why would God prompt them to do that? Because there is no other Name in heaven or on earth by which we may be saved!
John Calvin wrote, “God has more than one way of preserving His people. Sometimes He makes astonishing displays of His power; while at other times He employs dark coverings or shadows, from which feeble rays of His power escape. This wonderful method of preserving the Son of God under the cross teaches us, that they act improperly who prescribe to God a fixed plan of action. Let us permit Him to advance our salvation by a diversity of methods; and let us not refuse to be humbled, that He may more abundantly display His glory.”
God is always, always, always, at work to accomplish His will according to His Word, and though we all have different journeys to Jesus, we all come to faith in Him according to His Word, by His grace.
Amen.